Any help or suggestions appreciated

[PaulHarding]

Hi all, my name is Paul Harding, old retired guy in eastern NC trying hard to save up for my first ebike. I am looking for sub $1000 folding fat tire.
My passion is photographing black bears on a local refuge here and I walk for miles on end on woodland trails and fire roads looking for them..... walking is good but I could cover so much more ground on one of these machines.
My dilemma is that I don’t need a bike that can zoom along at 28 mph..... 20 mph is more than enough to get me to some of my favorite spots but once there I need the ability to ride very SLOWLY. I am a complete novice about these machines but from what I gather.... most of these bikes low speed electric assist is around 12 mph ? or so. That is too fast for my intended purpose. Do any of you know of a folding fat tire that has the ability to e power along at a slow walking pace ? Appreciate your thoughts and thank you for your time.

 

[FlatSix911]

Take a look at this EBike... a bit more than a hub drive, but better suited to off-road travel with a mid-drive motor.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products...icycles/ebikes-electric-folding-bikes-ef3.htm

 

[6zfshdb]

The Dolphin from Ecotric might be what you're looking for:

Ecotric black Portable and folding fat bike model Dolphin

The Dolphin contains so much of our design philosophy: to make it easier for customers to carry. Equipped with comfortable but compact 20" x 4" tires, the Dolphin-MBL can be conveniently folded to store and transport the bike more easily. But don't underestimate its performance: aluminum frame...

www.ecotric.com

Keep in mind the PAS stops providing assist at around 12 MPH. You can pedal most ebikes as slow as you want. You can also turn off the PAS and pedal slowly in low gear. If you get a bike with a throttle, you can also go very slowly without pedaling at all.

I occasionally photograph wildlife on some remote trails I ride. Ebikes are very quiet and you can easily approach game if the wind is right. I had a rather scary encounter with a family of Black Bears a couple of years ago. I was down wind and came up on a sow with two cubs in a field adjacent to the trail.



I managed to get a few shots before the sow caught my sent. She started toward me and I got the heck out of there! Even at 20 mph, she could have easily run me down but fortunately, she lost interest as I moved away.

 

[Dewey]

There's also the Lectric XP that has generated a lot of discussion on this forum. The owners manual says it ships with a Class 2 20mph default speed setting.

 

[PaulHarding]

Take a look at this EBike... a bit more than a hub drive, but better suited to off-road travel with a mid-drive motor.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products...icycles/ebikes-electric-folding-bikes-ef3.htm

View attachment 47233

Thank you....that looks nice but would be way past my budget.

 

[PaulHarding]

The Dolphin from Ecotric might be what you're looking for:

View attachment 47239

Ecotric black Portable and folding fat bike model Dolphin

The Dolphin contains so much of our design philosophy: to make it easier for customers to carry. Equipped with comfortable but compact 20" x 4" tires, the Dolphin-MBL can be conveniently folded to store and transport the bike more easily. But don't underestimate its performance: aluminum frame...

www.ecotric.com

Keep in mind the PAS stops providing assist at around 12 MPH. You can pedal most ebikes as slow as you want. You can also turn off the PAS and pedal slowly in low gear. If you get a bike with a throttle, you can also go very slowly without pedaling at all.

I occasionally photograph wildlife on some remote trails I ride. Ebikes are very quiet and you can easily approach game if the wind is right. I had a rather scary encounter with a family of Black Bears a couple of years ago. I was down wind and came up on a sow with two cubs in a field adjacent to the trail.

View attachment 47241 View attachment 47242

I managed to get a few shots before the sow caught my sent. She started toward me and I got the heck out of there! Even at 20 mph, she could have easily run me down but fortunately, she lost interest as I moved away.

View attachment 47240 View attachment 47243

Thank you much.....I had no idea that throttle only gives you ability to go nice and slow !

 

[FlatSix911]

The Dolphin from Ecotric might be what you're looking for:

View attachment 47239

Ecotric black Portable and folding fat bike model Dolphin

The Dolphin contains so much of our design philosophy: to make it easier for customers to carry. Equipped with comfortable but compact 20" x 4" tires, the Dolphin-MBL can be conveniently folded to store and transport the bike more easily. But don't underestimate its performance: aluminum frame...

www.ecotric.com

Keep in mind the PAS stops providing assist at around 12 MPH. You can pedal most ebikes as slow as you want. You can also turn off the PAS and pedal slowly in low gear. If you get a bike with a throttle, you can also go very slowly without pedaling at all.

I occasionally photograph wildlife on some remote trails I ride. Ebikes are very quiet and you can easily approach game if the wind is right. I had a rather scary encounter with a family of Black Bears a couple of years ago. I was down wind and came up on a sow with two cubs in a field adjacent to the trail.

View attachment 47241 View attachment 47242

I managed to get a few shots before the sow caught my sent. She started toward me and I got the heck out of there! Even at 20 mph, she could have easily run me down but fortunately, she lost interest as I moved away.

View attachment 47240 View attachment 47243

Great photos... you may need a Class 3 - 28 mph bike to keep your distance from the big Sow next time.

 

[vincent]

Unfortunately all of these bikes can be very similar. In components but be programmed very different, they are not all programmed to go 12 miles an hour in level one, there will be some that are slower

guessing they’re probably three or four in the thousand dollar range, ecotric And maybe a couple of others

my suggestion would be to get on the Facebook pages of those brands and see if you can find someone to meet and test ride them


and ask on the exact brand forum here and maybe someone can tell you the mile per hour cut off on each pass level for the bikes you’re interested in

most likely throttle will do what you want but sometimes those can be a little on off so best bet would be to get feedback from actual owners on those brands and/or try to ride them if you can find someone on Facebook

 

[PaulHarding]

Great photos... you may need a Class 3 - 28 mph bike to keep your distance from the big Sow next time.

Good one !

 

[Melluedtke]

Unfortunately all of these bikes can be very similar. In components but be programmed very different, they are not all programmed to go 12 miles an hour in level one, there will be some that are slower

guessing they’re probably three or four in the thousand dollar range, ecotric And maybe a couple of others

my suggestion would be to get on the Facebook pages of those brands and see if you can find someone to meet and test ride them


and ask on the exact brand forum here and maybe someone can tell you the mile per hour cut off on each pass level for the bikes you’re interested in

most likely throttle will do what you want but sometimes those can be a little on off so best bet would be to get feedback from actual owners on those brands and/or try to ride them if you can find someone on Facebook

I actually have this bike and I wanted to know if I could get the upgraded controller that has the LCD screen on it instead of the one that does not I don’t like the three levels of assist that are on the bike currently level one I believe goes too fast for me I would prefer it to be a little bit slower does anybody know if that is something that can be done by just getting a new controller and having my husband add it on to my bike?

 

[FlatSix911]

Which bike specifically... make and model?

 

[PaulHarding]

Take a look at this EBike... a bit more than a hub drive, but better suited to off-road travel with a mid-drive motor.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products...icycles/ebikes-electric-folding-bikes-ef3.htm

View attachment 47233

Thank you for input

Take a look at this EBike... a bit more than a hub drive, but better suited to off-road travel with a mid-drive motor.

http://www.bikesdirect.com/products...icycles/ebikes-electric-folding-bikes-ef3.htm

View attachment 47233

Thank you for input...... have to take a pass, it's too pricey for my budget but sure looks like it would have fit the purpose !

 

[PaulHarding]

Great photos... you may need a Class 3 - 28 mph bike to keep your distance from the big Sow next time.

Thank you..... I will for sure consider this Dol
phin bike...... (I like the step through frame idea)