There's no doubt that fashion now plays a large part in the market for bicycles, as it does in the market for everything else. Many people buy based on image rather than substance. Their bike is some sort of frock.
However, some articles manage to retain the substance even when overlaid with image. These road e-bikes that look like any other road bike (except for a rather fat down tube perhaps) are configured to retain the advantages of road bikes of the racey or semi-racey ("endurance" et al) road bike. They're comfortable but efficient and so suit those who primarily ride for fitness, employing the efficiency and agility of a raceyish bike.
Many e-bikes are more utilitarian - made for transport, primarily, rather than out & out fitness, even though they are a true aid for getting fit amongst those who would otherwise find getting fit too hard. Such bikes would be less efficient than a racey-style e-bike for purely getting or staying fit, though. They're not very suited to going on typical club rides, for example, where the objective of the e-bike is to keep up with other relatively speedier and fitter riders.
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Of course, the gearing on non e-bikes is also far too high, as has been discussed in these forums many times. A 50/34 and 11-25 cassette is still suitable for real racing, not the faux kind practiced by MAMILs and others wanting the image of being a racer without the substance of ever actually racing. In this sense, the racey e-bikes are falling victim to the same fashion nonsense as are their non-motorised equivalents.
Cugel
“Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”.
John Maynard Keynes
