E-bike vs E-Moped

 E-BIKE vs E-MOPED

Both of these have two wheels, pedals and electric motors, but they're far from the same thing.

Zio calls the one on the left an E-MOPED. Maybe you have to be of a certain age to remember the original - a cheap, gas-powered (usually a stinky, smoky 2-stroke engine) that most described as "beats walking" and little else.

This one isn't smoky, stinky or noisy but it's pretty much the same. Just like with the original the pedals don't do much..you would NOT pedal one of these very far without the help of the motor. They're really heavy and the pedal action (if they don't have an actual controller on the handlebar) doesn't do much but tell the motor how fast you want to go.

We see these all over Italy, ridden for transportation and for fun, especially by foreign tourists who'd rather be outside than inside a tour bus. The one pictured was one of a large group that "rode" to our hotel in Monferrato from Torino, (about 60 miles) in one day they said! The next day they "rode" back. Few of 'em were dressed in any sort of cycling clothing, just casual cargo shorts and sneakers or sandals.

What's wrong with that? Nothing at all. But to us it's really NOT cycling...it's enjoying the countryside from the seat of an electric moped.

The one on the left is what we call an E-BIKE. Perhaps Pinarello's Nytro was the first in the "performance" category - a lighter weight, kind of racy road (or gravel) bike with drop bars for cycling enthusiasts to play with. These go nowhere if you're not pedaling, in most cases the e-assist (assuming you have it on and are using it) stops when you stop pedaling. But other than being 3-5 kg heavier than a similar bike without the battery/motor, you WILL happily pedal one of these along with no e-assist, at least until the road tilts up.

THAT is where they shine. You can select various levels of assist to your own pedaling, shifting the gears when needed as you climb that hill or slog into that headwind. In the EU the assist cuts off at 25 kph, but if you're using it to go uphill, that's fast enough...they're not designed to chase anyone's KOM records! But you ARE cycling, even you have the assist cranked-up to the max.

We're not going to suggest that young, fit and fast cyclists buy these. Enjoy going fast under your own power for as long as you can, but when/if that becomes so tough that riding's not that much fun anymore - a real E-BIKE will get you out there and provide as much exercise/physical challenge as you want. You control that by using (or not) the electric assist.