Gareth

But I am not in the Netherlands, I just travel there on business and to visit family 5/6 times a year. Norwich to Amsterdam is only 45 minutes by air.

I live in Norwich in the UK and Norwich is a city built on hills and we have a constant NE wind coming in off the North Sea. The hills vary from the 1 in 5 gas Hill, I live off the top of the 1 in 7 Ketts hill which is a primary route into out of the city. Gurney road, another primary route is 1 in 6, the city centre access is off Grapes Hill and that is only a moderate 1 in 10, then we have Carrow hill which is also 1 in 6 and Bracondale which is an easy 1 in 13, and then the city centre itself is far from flat with Gaol Hill, Timber hill, Ten Bells hill and Castle Hill to name just a handful more. In fact every road route into and out of the city is on a hill We've got two cargo bike delivery companies: Outspoken and The Last Mile on the Argos and Amazon routes along with a few independents running cargo bikes for DHL and UPS and we have gradient changes every few hundred metres.

I don't dispute that mid drives can deliver more torque but here in the UK we are limited by law to 250 watt motors and 18mph under electric drive, yet we have 250kg/550lb gross (rider, bike and load) raw pedal and pedal assist cargo bikes running about all over the city, alongside the Uber delivery and deliveroo riders on their bikes.