So, I bought a beachman a couple weeks ago and it's shipping out tomorrow. I've done some searching about it and I seem to see a lot of hate for it coming from this subreddit specifically. I guess I'd like to know what about it is so bad?

The two main thing I've seen is that they're just cheap Chinese crap/a knockoff. Maybe I'm brainwashed but both the owner of Beachman and Old Soren have stated in this subreddit that their frames simply came from the same designer, and there's no bad blood between them. As for the Chinese thing, as far as I can tell all of the parts are good quality, and Beachman supposedly stopped getting parts from China a while ago.

Secondly is that it shouldn't be an Ebike, and that 20 mph isn't a great top speed. The thing is, the low speed and Ebike legality are features to me, not bugs. This is the first real vehicle I've owned, so starting off with it being slow and able to use bike lanes sounds like a good deal to me. I can remove the limiter to bring it to 30 mph, and I'll be able to upgrade it to 40 mph after that with the new parts they're rolling out.

I guess I'm making this post to ask whether I should just skip the Ebike part and get it registered as a moped to start with. If the only real issue is that people will think it's a motorcycle, I can live with that while I'm getting the hang of it.

It's also important to note that I live in Austin TX, and I see plenty of ebikes that are modelled after cafe racers. None are as faithful to the design as Beachman, but I figure people won't be so quick to assume that I'm driving a motorcycle in the bike lane. Wouldn't be surprised if all the tech bros in Austin already know what a Beachman is.

Edit: I'd also like to point out that I don't plan to take the bike on any trails. This is just going to be my commuter vehicle, I'll be driving it down back roads around the city, and once it becomes a moped I'll be driving it on roads.