Yep. It's there. If you're deft with your gears and downshift to make starting from a stop easy, it's not an issue. You'll get the heavy bike moving instantly using human power with minimal effort from a standstill and then a moment later the PAS will engage and you can work your way to higher gears appropriate for the selected PAS level. It's probably a safety consideration. Each manufacturer assesses different "pilot error" risk factors and either does something in the hardware to mitigate them, or doesn't. This manufacturer is more concerned about the liability of a bike lurching into traffic because of too quick/accidental PAS engagement at a stop. Others are not as concerned with that particular risk scenario.