Modern electric bicycles hail from a project at Bosch which took the power steering module from a VW Golf and used it to enhance a bicycle with the power output determined by the amount of effort the rider pushed onto the pedals. Aprilia’s eMTB of 1996 predates this by over a decade and a half, but the principle today is the same: embrace technology to multiply the effort from your legs to enhance your ride, opening up greater distances for the same effort.