The Best of Both Worlds or Just Weird?
Pedal-assist electric bicycles are really cool. I rode one all over Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, one time and had an absolute blast. It made me wonder if I shouldn’t trade in my loud, dirty Tomos moped for cruising over to a coffee shop. However, what ultimately convinced me to keep the moped was I can still go faster on the little two-stroke than I can on a pedal-assist ebike. Well, eROCKIT might be the answer to my prayers.
Basically, the eROCKIT is a pedal assist bicycle that kind of looks like an electric motorcycle and has performance much closer to a motorcycle. The thing can travel up to 75 miles per charge and travel speeds up to 50 mph. You don’t have a typical twist-n-go grip on the handlebar. Instead, the power of the electric motor is applied to the rear wheel based on your pedal input. Yep, this thing has pedals and the harder you pedal, the faster you’ll go.
I don’t see this as a downside. So you get a little exercise while you ride. What’s wrong with that? Noting. Especially if it doesn’t take so much effort as to leave you sweaty by the time you reach your destination. Whether or not these things take off will likely depend on price and how the riding experience really is.
According to electrek, the price comes in at $13,000. That’s a lot for this kind of bike. I’d be more inclined to buy a Zero or Lightning Motorcycles model. If the company could bring the price down around $7,000 or $8,000 I think they could have a winner on their hands. Right now it’s only for sale in Germany, but the company plans to start exporting in 2020.
