The idea of being able to quickly switch a bike back and forth between a regular one and an e-bike seems cool. They lost me at the "smart" though...

Specialized Vado SL 5 would be my entry level. But anything with a Bosch/Shimano Steps/Giant (same mfr as Specialized) mid-drive. Smooth as butter, and these brands still ride like a normal bike.

Pretty nice bike. I bought a Evelo with a belt drive and a automatic CVT transmission that is really nice to ride.

I also noticed that some people who used to pedal switched to e-bikes due to laziness.

How can they be the same? One requires much more physical effort. That sounds like junk science. Perhaps they are similar type of gain but the difference in actual result must be a canyon wide.

I have ridden a pedal assist ebike and the amount of push I apply to a pedal is 100x less effort than I would to a standard bike. There is no way the physical benefits are remotely the same. Good for you for avoiding exercise though. Also I live in Brooklyn with plenty of long hills. I also have plenty of friends with ebikes here who swear by them like you do. They struggle with health issues related to physical activity. Obviously having some sort of engine, pedal-assist or not is convenient but do you really understand the cost. You might as well drive and move the non-gas pedal foot up and down for the same benefit.

> Do you not know how e-bikes work, perhaps?

I suspect not. Even though ebikes are common now, I often hear this comment. Ebikes assist your pedaling; they don't pedal for you. (Well some can pedal for you but you learn quickly that if you let the motor do all the work you'll run the battery down and then you will have to do all the work pedaling a 65-lb bicycle home.)

Lots of people seem to think if a motor is present, then the motor is doing all the work. Ebikes are not motorcycles. What the motor actually does is make the hills less steep and less long. It's a lowpass filter for terrain.