Quote:
Originally Posted by Kal
Although street legal electric bikes are not as fast as most people would like them to be they are a great help especially in hilly areas and especially to older or unfit people. Regular cycling was always hard work to me.. even when I went touring in my youth and would ride up to 100 miles in a day and I still only averaged around 12 mph. The point is.. electric bikes make riding EASY and more of a pleasure 
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Yes I can see that even with the restrictions they are a very valuable form of transport for a large minority of people. My initial impressions of legal bikes as a young reasonably fit rider haven't been good its true but I've only done a few hundred meters on the bikes outside the cycle shops. Obviously I wasn't tired at the time and could easily have whipped up to 30 on a normal bike. I might have really felt the benefit after a few miles of cycling, its just so hard to tell.
I don't know the reasons for the 15 mph speed limit, maybe there are good ones. To me it would make more sense to allow motor assistance up to normal cycling speeds for young fit riders, say 25-30mph. That way the bikes really would go mass market and make a difference in tackling congestion and pollution etc. There would obviously be more accidents but the benefits massively outweigh the inevitable problems.