Enlarge (credit: John Timmer)
The arrival of e-bikes has blurred the lines between bicycles, mopeds, and scooters. Depending on what country or state you're in, some e-bikes can legally hit 45 km/hour (28 mph), yet they don't require a license, registration, or insurance, unlike their competitors. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends on whether the bike riders in your area ride like lunatics or not.
Regardless of how you feel about the state of things, it's definitely true that most e-bikes are relatively bike-like compared to mopeds and scooters, lacking things like brake lights, directionals, and other components that make navigating in urban environments a bit safer. Most, but not all. Heybike offers a number of scooter-substitute e-bikes that come with a powered horn, brake lights, directionals, and a zippy motor. As a bonus, they're foldable. We checked out its latest model, the $1,499 Ranger S.
Let's address one thing right away: In our review of the Ranger S's sibling (the Tyson), we ran into a number of mechanical problems that threatened to make the bike unusable. The only real issue we saw on the Ranger S was a rapidly fluctuating reading of battery capacity. Otherwise, the bike was solid.
