Hello,

I am a student attending Cal State Los Angeles and I am currently
working on an electrical-assisted bicycle as a project. I am looking a
way to get a torque reading from the bike to control the assistance
level, and was wondering what you think is the best way to get this done?

Torque throttles are rare in the US.
Panasonic's electric bikes use them (and I believe Giant sources their's from Panasonic).

Panasonic's sensors are built into the bottom bracket.
The bottom bracket also has a freewheel because they use a motor inline to the chain.

There's a whole thread on this topic here:

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/elec...html#post62512

Cheers, Dan