Well, I can tell you that he purchased it as a bit of an impulse buy, and and used it for casual, infrequent use for a few months. And then at some point I realized that since it was always free during work hours and I’d already been commuting by bike to work, it was just a nice casual little luxury I could afford myself on days where I felt like doing less work. Particularly if the weather is a little off, and it’s a bit chilly. And after that, I basically realized that it made for a pretty good ride even on days when I wasn’t in need of the assist, and I generally came to view the electric element as less of a binary between when I wanted an electric bike and when I didn’t. It was just a bike, and it was like I could adjust its weight and handling based on conditions and my mood.

Eventually we moved, and I moved to a different job where I was no longer commuting, and it went back to being just a bike that my husband mostly used to get to and from the bar on his usual bar night, or to go out to meet up with friends. And now my husband is switching jobs to one that is very close by, and so he’s the one who’s going to start using it to bike to work.

So at this point, it’s had a lot of roles, and it’s been used over and over and over and over so many times that we both already feel like if the whole thing just fell apart --and to be clear, it’s somewhat showing age – we’d consider it to have been an outstandingly good investment in terms of fuel and car cost savings and the convenience and flexibility it’s provided.

While I don’t think they’re necessarily for everyone, if you’re at all considering getting one already, I would suggest you follow that instinct. I think you’ll find it at least as useful as you expect, and probably a bit more so.