Japanese "family" ebike

[Aaron]

While looking in a giant camera store in Japan I saw some ebikes. They were pretty interesting, many were kind of the minivan of the bike world like this Panasonic I took a picture of. The front thing is for putting a kid in and you can get another child seat for the back too. No idea what specs are other than they say it can go 63 Km. I doubt they are worried too much about speed since everyone goes pretty slowly on the sidewalks without helmets there. The price is 143,310 JPY which converts to about 1,150 USD (this was the most expensive bike they had). I really like how utilitarian the bikes were there. Seemed like 1 in 10 bikes had an electric motor there, which meant I saw a lot of ebikes since there's bikes everywhere.

 

[DWEBiker]

Interesting ....i wonder what the weight limit is

 

[stevenast]

Pretty cool. Looks like mid-drive. A dynamo for light(s). Good name brand. Nice price. Like you say, utilitarian, heavy (steel?), long wheelbase, 20" wheels.

 

[DWEBiker]

 

[Aaron]

Nice video DWEBiker, that looks like pretty much the same thing. I love the kickstand, seems like that was the most common style of kickstand there, even on non-electric single person bikes. Everyone's got to load cargo I guess.

Another fun bike accessory I saw was a handlebar mounted umbrella holder. Keep your head dry in the rain, but also lots of people use them for sun protection too.

 

[stevenast]

Really is the minivan of ebikes!!

 

[Brian(J)]

I saw similar in Barcelona, a bike-crazy town. Folding bikes in every office and mom's with kids in Ebikes, same kid in front thing but kid seat much lower, smaller front tire out in front of the kid carrier. I think it was a 'keep the weight low' thing.