Are these electric bikes or electric cycles?
It's got an engine and wheels, so it's a motorcycle, right? Er...
WHEN SOMETHING has wheels and has an engine, it’s a motorbike, right? Historically, yes. However, with the advent of electric power as a semi-reasonable alternative, the lines of what is a motorbike and what is a cycle have been blurred.
The RCR by San Francisco-based Onyx Motorbikes is such a line-blurrer. In full-power mode, it can hit 5400 watts for short bursts – that's 7.2hp, which might not sound like a lot, but it’s enough for 60 mph. That's a pretty
Hit a button, though, and you can change it down to a low-power eBike mode where it makes 750 W (1hp) and limits its top speed to 20 mph. Those figures are rubbery as you can set power and speed limits to whatever you want in each mode to suit regulations.
In terms of using one in a cycle lane, this is probably a no-no but then again, if you pretend to pedal and put on a lycra/spandex top, who would know?
