speaking of title, in my search for a ebike I've looked at used ones and get a lot of excuses when I ask about proof of ownership? Is there a title for these bikes?
As far as I know, no, no title. I used the term loosely. There are bike registries though, and, in my case, Rad knows the bike with my serial number belongs to me. The bike registries, which I haven't gotten around to using yet, seem like a great idea. There is this one Bike Registry and there are others. If your bike is lost or stolen you let them know and if it is recovered by the police or someone nice, they can check the registry and get it back to you. Or you can check the registry when buying a bike off Craigslist, for example.
As for bike titles of ownership, they would come with a fee, which probably most people don't want to deal with. Might be worth it though.