I think they all start out with: "I got this eBike and it is fun, but I have some thoughts I'd like to share. Why don't I try a YouTube video?"

Monetized of course.

The guys who then spend the time to edit & polish their videos end up getting approached by mfrs, then quit their day job and before they know it, it IS their job to do polished, positive reviews, or at least minimize the negative aspects. It takes a lot of time to make a video that's not done in one take and to edit it properly. Enough that it would have to be one's hobby at first.

To me, the real problem is the reviews that are 100% honest and not as polished don't even get seen because people flock to the videos with the most views. The ones that are mostly shill videos.