If former champion cyclist Kieron McQuaid is to be believed, the future is electric.

He may not have been on an electric bike when he took part in the 1972 Olympics in Munich but he is determined the time of the power assisted bike has come.

"There have been electric bikes in the past all right but I think there is a lot more interest today in both keeping fit and a clean environment - and electric bikes allow you to do both. But also, I think that traffic has gotten so bad that people are going to be forced onto bikes."

The fact that there is no hard physical effort in getting about on an electric bike means, he says, that people can use them to get to work and not arrive out of breath and sweaty - something that puts many an office-worker off push-bikes.

As managing director of Veloworld, the distributor for the Giant brand which manufactures the latest electric bike on the Irish market, he has a vested interest in winning us to the "electric way".

However, if he is right, and if this reporter's experience of whizzing through Dublin's traffic on this latest mode of transport is an accurate sample of things to come, the commute of the future is going to be fun - as long as it's not raining. I took Giant's Lafree E-World for a week-long trial.

There are fewer than 100 Lafrees on Irish roads, but as the weather improves McQuaid expects sales of the electric to do likewise. There have been electric bikes on the Irish market for about five years, but the Lafree is the first to have Variable Power Control - throttle, to you and me.

Shane Connaughton, manager of Cycle Ways in Dublin - one of the 18 bike stores selling the Lafree - says this is "head and shoulders" above other electric bikes he has sold, which he describes as "too heavy and too unuser-friendly".

This bike uses a removable, rechargeable battery. Like an ordinary push-bike, it is initially powered by the cyclist pedalling. However, when you get going, the battery power kicks in to assist the effort. The result: whizzing at effortless speed around town, up hills and with any manner of load strapped to the back-carrier. The throttle means that when the cyclist comes to a steep hill or wants to pick up the pace a little, all she has to do is twist the handlebar for a moment to tap into extra power.

The model tried out by The Irish Times was a 26-inch bike with an aluminium frame which can reach 25 kmph - at which stage the battery cuts out, leaving the cyclist dependent on pedal-power. Also, put on the brakes at any time and the power cuts immediately.

The manufacturers estimate the battery should last the average Irish cyclist more than 25 kms before it needs recharging (by plugging it into the mains for about 31/2 hours). If you miscalculate and run out of power, there's a tough cycle home ahead.

My first electro-cycle took me from Dublin's city-centre to Booterstown, about five miles. First impression was that the bike was very heavy. At traffic lights or stop signs, I had to push hard to take off. And then I was unprepared for just how immediately it would spurt into powered action.

It also seemed stiff and lacked the fluidity of movement I was used to on my lady's racer. Weaving between grid-locked traffic was difficult . . . of course, many would view a non-weaving bike as a good thing. In any case, this would be a matter of getting used to it. On my usual bike I would normally allow myself about 30 minutes to complete the journey to Booterstown. I calculated that this powerful new vehicle would whisk me out in 10 effortless minutes: in fact it took a little over 20. As soon as I started pedalling the bike seemed to take on a life of its own, surging through traffic with very little effort. The real joy came when zooming up a long hill, up Booterstown Avenue. A little throttle and I could almost stop pedalling altogether.

There was a fairly constant element of exercise - I had expected physical input on my part would be next to non-existent. However, at no time was I out of breath, sweating or flushed.

The bike looks a little different from the ordinary push-bike, with a large battery, key and flashy lights indicating how much power is left, and I had expected interested, bemused looks while I was on the move - but these in fact came when the bike was parked.

If I left it locked outside shops, half the time I would return to find two or three people, typically teenage boys, looking quizzically at it. Several asked for "a go on it", and wanted to know exactly how it worked, how fast it could go, how much it cost and where could they get one.

I allowed one youth to zip about while I held his rucksack. After zooming around North Earl Street for about 10 minutes, he returned with the pronouncement: "She's a little flyer she is".

Legally, this bike-cum-moped is a bike. There is no age restriction and no requirement for tax or insurance - or even that the cyclist wear a helmet - a fact which some might find alarming. Key to its not needing tax and insurance is the fact that it is power-assisted and not powered by electricity.

"You still have to pedal," as McQuaid puts it.

And, he argues, although these bikes are expensive - £879 to £959 - because there is no further outlay on tax and insurance, or on petrol they are "extremely economical". The electric bike, he says, combines the attractions of a moped with the savings of a push-bike. THE Irish Cyclist Federation would "love to see electric bikes catch on," according to its spokesman, Ciaran Mulhern. "They are marvellous and getting more popular by the month.

"We would like to see county councils and local authorities pushing cycling in general and I think electric bikes would definitely be a way of getting a lot more people off the roads and onto cyclepaths."

Shane Connaughton agrees, citing his target market as the older cyclist who wants to get about with some - but not too much - effort. "It's not a bike for people who want to cycle a lot to get fit. I think it's good for getting around the city, up hills, for people who want to get out in the air, get a little exercise but make minimal effort.

"We started taking deposits on them before Christmas and we've had a lot of people wandering in, taking the leaflets," he says. "We've sold about 10. But I'd expect we'll start selling more as the summer comes in."

For this cyclist, however, the bike goes back to McQuaid, and it's back on the tread-mill and the end, for now, of all those electric dreams.

www.lafree.com