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Comment by odiroot | Hacker News Reader

This is a scooter, not a moped. Then again I don't see why does Honda feel the need to introduce pedals.

It has a motor and pedals. Isn't that exactly what a moped is?

edit Apparently some jurisdictions around the world use the term "moped" to refer to small motorcycles even when they don't have pedals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moped

I assumed that moped is a contraction of "motorised pedestrian" but sadly that doesn't seem to be correct.

I remember many years ago when in France to be a moped (technically a cyclomoteur, that could be driven by 14 years old without a license) there was the need to have pedals, so there were "funny" motorbikes with pedals clearly added on as an afterthought or however explictly added for the French model only.

Example of a 50 cc Vespa with pedals:

https://vespasmallframeforum.proboards.com/thread/7725/vespa...

What's the difference? It fits within the 50cc drivers license.

It fits with a history of these hybrids; the aforementioned Puch [0] brand has been around for decades. My grandma would come over to visit on a Spartamet [1], predating electric pedal-assist bikes. These things are underpowered; enough to chooch you along on a flat road, but here and there they may need some assistance, or they run out of power / fuel.

[0] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puch#/media/Bestand:Puch_Maxi_... [1] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spartamet#/media/Bestand:Sachs...

I think vehicles like this have pedals so that they can pass legally as a bicycle on the road (in certain jurisdictions) and be exempt from requiring insurance and license.

The reasons are legal, it (and the speed limit) allows all people to use them without a motocycle license.

> allows all people to use them without a motorcycle license

Also (and I think more notably) the DMV does not require registration in most US states.

There's a fair number of people who end up on them after getting DUI's as well (although technically this is not legal since you're still required to have a valid driver's license almost everywhere... but they probably don't get caught that often).

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