I like the poetic sing-songy tone of the article -- it does convey the joy of moving through the world on a bike. An electric one, even more so. My city has a

I like the poetic sing-songy tone of the article -- it does convey the joy of moving through the world on a bike. An electric one, even more so. My city has a rental bike system (Bixi, or City Bike elsewhere) and they're clunky tanks, made to be abused. In the past couple of years they've expanded their fleet with e-assist bikes. They're amazing. They're still unwieldy tanks, but the boost makes them fly up hills with little effort. In my limited experience with different types of e-bikes, the ones where you need to pedal to make them go seem better than the ones with some kind of a throttle / lever etc. The act of pedalling engages the rider more completely than sliding some thumb lever, it feels safer and more connected with the ride.