I just bought an Iaccoca "enviro e-bike". My best guess is that it is a 2004. It just got new batteries and is oh so very fun. When you get the rhythm going, you can average about 18mph. I also got the screamingest deal ever.

Where do you put the water bottle?

sooo...like a normal bike just more embarrassing?

The more I think about these bikes the more I realize the attraction for commuters who have a long haul. Maybe I am thinking too much in the context of the dog days of summer we in N. Texas are just coming out of, but arriving at work a little less heat exhausted and drained can't be a bad thing.

There is also that single most devastating phrase ever that a techie can have enter his mind, "How can I get more power out of this thing?"

The water bottle goes in your pocket, I suppose.

I'm never embarrased by anything, I don't really care about the opinions of people I don't know.

I have a 15 mile one way commute, and I didn't buy it for my commute, I bought it cuz it is fun and was too cheap to pass up. However, after riding it around for a few days, I will say that I'm looking very hard at my MTB and considering a hub motor.

The E bike is way fun, and I'm hoping it will get my wife riding to the park w/ my daughter and I. Even when I'm hauling the trailer she complains that I'm too fast, so maybe this will allow her to keep up.

Plus it's fuuuuuun.

i was just giving you a hard time. i would never call something like this a classic though.

what gets me chuffed is when im hauling up a hill at a decent speed and some e-bike person zips past me. i think they treat these bikes more like a moped than "electric-assisted".

I am not sure I would want a watter bottle on an eletric bike

you dont get thirsty.

This one isn't going to zip past anyone on a big hill - it can be ridden without pedaling, but it would be a very slow ride. You don't need to pedal much, but when you do it's like turbo boost.

I guess if you need water you can wear a camelbak - what is a little more dorkiness, huh?



Probably not a classic, but I think the story behind this one makes it a curiosity - Iaccoca thought that it would be a good idea to sell these through car dealerships rather than bike shops.

I admit to having one of these as well. It is a 1999 model. I love road bikes but this ebike is a great thing to have as a complement to C&V bikes. It has great ligthing. I use it more in the winter for the lighting than the power. I will also climb steep grades and can go on trails.
They are very heavy (65lbs) with batteries. If you don't use the power you get a good workout riding them.
A great idea, developed for in the wrong time (cheap gas then) and for the wrong population (US).
Ebikes are fastest growing segment in India and China where distances are not so long.
Tehcnologically, their weekness was the battery chemistry. In 1999 the only chemistry that was cost effective was lead acid. Today we have increasing more opions with Li-Ion as a very promising alternative.
Though about commuting with it, but with LA roads and traffic its equivalent to committing suicide.

The lights are awesome, I agree.

My commute is mostly bike path/protected lane, so I might use it in the winter once or twice, just for fun.

Correct that last one - I will use it, and probably pretty soon. I will post a photo when I put my Brooks on it. I'm glad to know it's a 1999. Do you know what they cost new?

And I see yours is multigeard - mine is a single.

The couple had two bikes - this and an electric Mongoose. This one reminded me of a moped I used to have when I was a kid.

As a disclaimer - I ride real bikes a lot.

Mine sold for $1200 new at car dealerships (Chrysler and Mercedes).
I think yours is called the Europa and came later. They took cost out of it and made it single speed. Yours can be 2004 as you stated.