Clever Cycles

Fellow Xtracyclist Juergen Weichert alerted me to the news that the Canadian province of Ontario has lifted a ban on electric assist bicycles.

The law changed just in time for Ottawa’s Project Porchlight to distribute 200,000 compact fluorescent lightbulbs throughout the city, free. By electrically-assisted, Xtracycle-equipped Electra Townies, of course, because we all know that the best way to screw up an energy-saving campaign is to get cars involved, no matter how powered:

This is good in general, but particularly good for Jeurgen, because he sells such bikes in Ontario. Juergen equipped the lightbulb delivery rigs with Bionx hub motors, one of the better-designed and executed “pedelec” systems out there.

Yes, there are more ways to power an Xtracycle than Stokemonkey, starting first of all with solely your own fine legs. If that won’t be entirely satisfactory, then are then at least three other assist options besides Stokemonkey worth considering, depending on your needs and preferences. I’ve contemplated reviewing them at length here, but I’m too biased to pull that off fairly and credibly.