Originally Posted by
livedarklions
otherwise you're asking to set up a loophole where there's an incentive to market what are essentially motorcycle equivalents with pedals in order to skate licensing, inspection and off-road infrastructure limitations.
That's exactly what's happening. Around here actual pedal assist setups are rarely seen, it's all motorcycles pretending to be bikes in order to use bike lanes and avoid registration. And even though pedal assist is legal, people whine that they can't (well, couldn't) have a throttle - pedal assist doesn't fill the desire for an unlicensed motorcycle.
The irony is that those who want their motorcycles have now gotten proposed legislation written which in "compromise" will introduce new restrictions banning actual pedal assist from the most heavily used commuter greenway where it used to be allowed.