Originally Posted by
Squeezebox
Some folks will say it's not bicycle touring unless self propelled. Some will say whatever you want to do. Get out and do something. It's better than sitting around waiting for someone to wipe the drool off your chin. E-bike touring will never get everyone's blessing. So give that up and move on to watts, hub mount vs mid mount motors, batteries and the rest of it.
E-bike touring has some obvious limits. Stay within the limits and you should be fine.
Drop bar-- I get the impression a lot of the e-bike stuff comes from a few manufacturers. (Correct me)
AFAIK the motors & batteries
do come just a few manufacturers. But in Europe it seems like some big bike companies are very serious about the e-bike market while in US not so much. A friend has an Indian-made A2B Galvani which is supposedly made with "German technology" & marketed as a touring/city bike. Quality seems pretty good w/hydro discs etc but range is not great, rear ride is punishing etc. Broken spoke took a month to repair since it was a special order item.