For years I had wanted to take up cycling, but had been putting it off. Increasingly painful arthritis in one knee has made it impossible for me to ride uphill, although I can manage to pedal OK on flat ground.

I read an article in The Age about electric bicycles, and specifically about The Electric Bicycle Co. I had never heard of electric bicycles before, but this seemed to be the answer to my problem.

The bicycle is fitted with a rechargeable battery. You don't need to use battery power if you don't want to; you can pedal it just like a normal bicycle, for as long as you want. But whenever you want a little extra power, or when you're tired of pedalling, you just twist the throttle on the handlebar, the battery kicks in, and away you go. Release the throttle, and the power stops. You can use pedal power alone, battery power alone, or both at the same time - the choice is yours. Obviously, the more assistance you give it by pedalling, the longer the battery will last between recharges.

You recharge the battery at home by plugging the charger into a power point. It takes several hours to recharge, depending on how flat it was when you started. If you're recharging it from a completely flat state, the best time to do it is probably overnight.

There are two types of batteries you can get: lead acid, and lithium. The lead acid one is much cheaper, but it's also MUCH heavier. I could barely lift it. For that reason, I decided to go with the more expensive lithium battery. It's still pretty heavy for its size, but nothing compared to the lead acid one.

I was concerned that electric bicycles might need some kind of special licence; I don't have a motorcycle licence, and am unlikely ever to get one. I needn't have worried. From this company's website: "As the power output rating of the motors does not exceed 200 Watts, they are below the maximum allowable across Australia and thus no license or registration is required." All you need is a bicycle helmet, and you can ride it wherever you are permitted to ride an ordinary bicycle.

I fell in love with this bicycle as soon as I gave it a test ride outside the showroom. There's something truly exhilarating about being able to sail uphill on a bicycle without pedalling.

I get a lot of comments and questions about my bicycle when I ride around my local shopping centre. One person asked me what its top speed is. Hell, I don't know! I've never taken it anywhere near its top speed! I'm a nervous rider in traffic, so I ride fairly slowly, in bike lanes where they exist, and preferably along off-road bicycle tracks. I ride slowly enough that I'm not likely to frighten any people walking along those bike tracks. So I haven't a clue how fast it can go. Put me on a big motor racing track like the airfield on Top Gear, with no obstacles and no other vehicles, and I might be able to tell you. Until then, I'll just keep tootling along at my own modest pace.

The Electric Bicycle Co sells a range of different bicycles. At the time of writing this, there are pictures of at least five different models on their website, plus a conversion kit if you want to convert your existing bike to electric. There's even a tricycle; as the caption on the picture says, "Perfect for Seniors". I chose the Trekker Folding model, not because I ever need to fold it very often, but because I have short legs and only feel comfortable on a bike that's low to the ground. The Trekker Folding has 20 inch wheels whereas most of the others have 26 inch wheels.

The person who sold me my bike was Tony, who I see from their website is also the managing director of the company. Tony was a very patient salesman. He gave me lots of advice, didn't do any hard-selling - he pretty much let his bikes speak for themselves - and he let me sail up and down his driveway on his test bike for as long as I wanted, until I was completely sure that I was making the right decision.

So far I haven't needed any follow-up service from the company. The only problem I've had was a brief period in the middle of winter, lasting about a fortnight, when the power would cut out for no apparent reason while I was riding the bike. To get it going again, I'd have to get off the bike, turn off the ignition key, turn it on again, twist the throttle - and it would immediately cut out again. Recharging the battery made no difference; it would happen even on a fully charged battery. The manual didn't offer any advice - in fact the manual is pretty light on for ANY advice concerning the electrical parts of the bike, probably because they don't want amateur DIY-ers fiddling around with the electrical components and making the problem worse. I was on the verge of phoning The Electric Bicycle Co for help, when I spoke to a couple of car-enthusiast friends about it. They said the problem might be condensation, and one of them put some of that moisture-displacing stuff on it - what's it called? WD-40? - and since then the bike has behaved OK. The real test of the company's follow-up service will come if and when I encounter a problem that I can't fix myself - or, more accurately, that my mechanically-minded and long-suffering friends, bless them, can't fix for me.

Approximate cost: $2000