If e-bikes are going to replace cars, they should be taken seriously and maintained properly by people who know what they are doing.
As we often say on TreeHugger, e-bikes will eat cars. On Forbes, Scott Kramer reviews an e-bike and writes, “I am officially selling my car to ride an electric bike full time. No, this isn’t a publicity stunt. It’s a real thing. I ran the numbers and it makes perfect sense.” A Juiced CrossCurrent X convinced him.
First of all, it’s fast. I can easily get it to 28 miles per hour and feel completely stable and in control on it. Secondly, it’s just plain powerful with plenty of torque you can feel…. It also has a thumb throttle, which is incredibly handy at times — even though I prefer to pedal.
28 MPH and 750 watts makes this a Class III e-bike under California rules, although they are not supposed to have throttles. The Crosscurrent X is a very nice bike, with a “custom spec 750 Watt geared hub motor that is not found on any other e-bike.” It’s a lot of bike for the money at US$2,499, far less than a comparably spec’ed bike from a bike shop. That’s the big benefit of the Internet: no store, no staff, no property taxes, no overhead makes for a much cheaper bike.
