Frank Lee: Do you have a picture of your electric bike, or can you tell us the make/model so I can google it? Also good point about the pedaling at red lights... it would be impractical but...
I don't know the mechanics of it, or how to imagine such a gear setup... but the idea is that the pedal assist is only in first gear to add some extra torque to that first push (or to take some of the heavy lifting off the motor for going up hills, so maybe gears 1 and 2). Then after that the pedal would stop aiding the motor and really only act as a pedal powered charger for the batteries. The other inspiration behind that function is the idea I posted about it having a "neutral" gear specifically to function as a pedal operated power generator (like those exercise bikes you can get plans for online that generate enough power to charge cell phones, run laptops/tv's etc.). The idea was that at home in the garage it could function as a pedal powered generator, and could be taken out as a commuter/errand running bike.
So obviously the scooter frame is a dead end, but I'm concerned that starting with a mountain bike setup will not be big enough to support the batteries, engine, and possible cargo space in the future. So if a mountain bike isn't beefy enough (IMHO) and a scooter is ergonomically insane for this application, what's next?
Edit: Ryland, I took a look at the honda gyro... I think you might be on to something there. Perhaps there would be someway to modify it with a recumbent pedaling setup. I like the idea of a 3 wheeler if only because I've had a few bad experiences riding my scooter in the rain/frost, plus the front and back seem to have pretty generous cargo areas (good for batteries and/or errand related cargo). Here's a pic of the model I'm looking at as I write this:
Thoughts?