Hi, I'm new to bikeforums.net. My name is Karen, I live in the Oakland hills near Berkeley, CA. I used to love biking around flat cities in Europe, but never had a bike here because of the hills (I have steel in my hip, steepness is bad for me). Years back I lived in Chicago and biked there, even in winter, and loved it. I'm not at all mechanically talented, so I'm grateful for all the helpful techies on this forum.

I'm looking to get a bike for commuting, light exercise and fun errand-running around town. If you look in the ebike forum, you'll see my very long question with all the details about what kind of bike I might want, what my restrictions and goals are, and so forth.