Originally Posted by
veganbikes
Not saying people cannot ride e-mopeds (plenty of excellent roads for other throttled and motorized vehicles) and enjoy them but classifying an e-moped as a bicycle is just wrong. A bicycle has been and always will be a pedal operated machine, it may also have a assistance from a motor but if it is throttled that takes the bike out of the equation and turns it into a moped.
Again being an e-moped doesn't mean you cannot ride it or people with issues should be allowed to ride where throttled vehicles are legal it is just simply classifying it properly. If someone decides to ride a throttled vehicle with pedals on their city streets, go for it have fun.
Curious what you would consider my ebike then. It started out as a typical bicycle, then I added a kit to it. The kit happens to have a throttle, but literally the only time it ever gets used is when I have to traverse a deeply rutted icy alleyway in the winter, as being able to move forward without pedaling lets all of my body movement be focused on keeping it upright. Otherwise it spends all of it's time in use either doing the typical pedal assist thing, or sometimes even being ridden with no assist at all when going on slow group rides. Functionally, it gets used the same as a pedal-assist only bike, it just has an extra lump of plastic and wires attached to it. I could even remove the throttle if I felt like it.