The lads at Wednesday coffee know the recent issue of the status of my 1990 Marin mtn bike, that its gear set and accompanied shifter setup is legitimately worn out after estimated 35,000 miles. $600 in repairs. Probably my recent collision with a Tesla put the final nail in the coffin with my derailleur. Kinda sad about it but hey, its done me well.

    I thought this might be a great opportunity to finally get an electric assist bicycle, in particular a Yamaha. Turns out Yamaha USA has a sale on right now, $1198!!! Smoking deal! Compared to Yamaha Canada's $3700 + $425+ 175+ GST. So I ordered one.
 Got a call this morning from Yamaha USA Dealer in Phoenix, they are completely sold out. And the news he gave me, Yamaha USA and Yamaha Canada are completely abandoning the North American market end of 2024. The reason, a totally overloaded flooded market as far as number of manufactures, most Chinese based, with inferior battery technology, higher risk of fire, low price, and the Japanese and German based powered units cannot compete.

 Plus I found out that Transport Canada has a duty free status on e-bikes, as well as no PST, if they have a 29km/hr top speed. Turns out the US models all have a 48km/hr top speed, so that means $550cdn duty plus both taxes at the border.

 So, back to looking for a non electric bike.

I don’t plan on buying an electric bicycle anytime soon. 

Here’s a pic of the drive train on my mountain bike.  11 gears in the cassette.

I bet if you took the batteries and motor out of an e-bike and got the weight down to 23 pounds or so, like a normal bike.

It would be pretty quick and easy to pedal.

And…if you cut some weight off of the operator.

LOLOLOL,
            Remember Ross, muscle weighs 30% more than fat by volume.

Starvation diet.

Money not spent on food can be applied to buying a faster bicycle.

  Bought a new bike, tomorrow. 2024 Kona Dew. The bike shop called me up, dropped $100, a deal on factory option fenders, and will swap all stuff off the old bike, rack, bush bars, etc. 5 yr guarantee, lifetime on frame, free service for a year. 

I'm currently riding a Kona Dawg Delux, but thinking of electric.  The pillar for the seat post is broken.  The gears and chain are done.  Probably the bottom bracket is done too.  I looked at Yamaha and really liked them.  Also looked at Mercedes.  Very nice!