Best no hassle commuter ebike?

[scaramoosh]

I just want something with no gears to index, no chain to align, no spokes to adjust and that requires no effort to clean or anything like that. I'm only going 20 miles a day so battery life isn't too much of a concern, but I also know these companies lie about mileage and so I don't want it to be tight, I'd like to know I could make at least two trips in case I forget about charging it.

I'm just bored of having to adjust spokes and indexed gears, I want something to get me from a to b with no maintenance required. I decided to go for an ebike because the hills around where I live take it out of me and I'm sweaty and smelly at work all day. So then I end up driving in instead and just getting fat..

I looked at the gtech Bicycle and it looked great, but the wheels have spokes and since the hub is on the rear wheel it's not something I can change. The GoCycle G3 looks good but idk I reckon it's too over engineered and it'll constantly go wrong and be more effort to live with.

I'd like something that's like the gtech but with solid wheels, just really simple and basic and it only being £1000 it could get stolen and I could replace it.

Thanx.

 

[McApple]

Best is a relative term, what is best for one, may be unsuitable for another. Some things you would probably want to consider: Mag wheels (no spokes); 500 watt motor, 48 volt battery; throttle capability (you don't have to pedal); rear hub motor (more rear hub motors support throttles).

You don't have to worry about gear indexing if you just pick one gear and stick with it, I am not aware of any ebikes with cvt. Bikes and chains are kind of synonymous, that's going to be a tough one to get around, your budget could present problems as well.

Good luck with your search, let us know what you choose.

MACKY

 

[James Kohls]

You're not going to find a 100% maintenance-free bike...at least I don't know of any. The GoCycle still requires maintenance like changing brake pads, bleeding the hydraulic brakes, shifting may eventually need adjustment, bolts and screws start to come loose on any bike. The bike's manual has over 30 pages dedicated to maintenance. For the cost difference between the GoCycle and the GTech, you could have a professional tighten the spokes with great frequency for the life of the bike. There are a number of single-speed bikes out there. In addition to the GTech, there is the E-Glide and Easy Motion makes a single speed. If you never clean it, grease and dirt can wear on components like brakes.

As far as range goes...its not so much manufacturers lie. There are just too many variables that affect range from temperature, road surface, tire inflation, tire tread, wind, rider weight, a riders relative power input, battery age, incline, etc.

 

[J.R.]

Since you note a price in pound sterling, I assume you are in the UK? Which, as far as I know, would mean 250 watt drive, 15.5 mph limit and no throttle. The good is you have access to plenty of dealers and the UK pedelec forum is a good place to get info on EU spec bikes. EBR has plenty of EU and UK riders, but when trying to get suggestions for a bike, we need to know what you can and can't get or have.

 

[MLB]

What you are really saying is you don't want to maintain your bike whatsoever, but you want it to reliably haul your butt 100 miles a week with zero attention.
What are you 14?
Good luck with that..........................

 

[Nirmala]

What you are really saying is you don't want to maintain your bike whatsoever, but you want it to reliably haul your butt 100 miles a week with zero attention.
What are you 14?
Good luck with that..........................

Good point as any bike will need some maintenance. But that said, there are also big differences in how much maintenance different bikes require. No one has mentioned it yet, but a belt drive is typically cleaner and easier to maintain than a chain drive. Internal gears if they are set up properly can require less maintenance. And there are actually flat proof tires you can have installed like these: http://www.tannus.com/

Some of these features would obviously increase the cost.....so it may be a trade off between low cost and low maintenance. You could put flat-proof tires on the Faraday Cortland (or Porteur) ebike and have a relatively lightweight and extremely low maintenance bike, and add their extra battery if needed for more range: https://electricbikereview.com/faraday/cortland/

But again all of those qualities and features increase the cost.

 

[Dunbar]

The maintenance for a single derailleur setup and chain is not that significant. At 5k miles per year that would be a once per year job that you could outsource to your local bike shop if you don't want to do it yourself. Your alternative would be some sort of internally geared hub with a belt drive. A fairly expensive alternative to a traditional derailleur shifted and chain driven setup.

 

[Nirmala]

The maintenance for a single derailleur setup and chain is not that significant. At 5k miles per year that would be a once per year job that you could outsource to your local bike shop if you don't want to do it yourself. Your alternative would be some sort of internally geared hub with a belt drive. A fairly expensive alternative to a traditional derailleur shifted and chain driven setup.

That is the logical conclusion.

 

[ranny_v]

Do spokes really require frequent adjustment? With a quality wheel build, I think not. A had a mountain bike with the same wheels and beat the crap out of it on single track trails. Never needed to adjust spokes.

 

[opimax]

Additional weight, additional speed, and add a hub motor to the mix, yes it will needs adjustments

 

[Dunbar]

I would say the issue with spokes is with them breaking/popping. It's going to be more of an issue on hub motor due to the higher weight/loads seen by those spokes. The issue is that, in order to save cost, less time is spent during the wheelbuilding process evening out the spoke tension (popped spokes usually happen when a spoke has too little tension relative to the other spokes). In theory a more expensive bike is more likely to have a higher quality wheel but that is not necessarily true in practice. The best bet is to have your dealer even out the spoke tension and true the wheels before you take delivery. If they can't do it find somebody who specializes in wheelbuilding to do it for you.

 

[Nirmala]

This is a unique take on a low maintenance commuter bike: (Link Removed - No Longer Exists)

The folding feature makes it easier to take the bike inside with you for theft protection, and it does roll when folded.

I am not sure you will be able to find everything you want in a bike with spoke-less wheels, so Dunbar's suggestion about making sure the wheels are trued by someone who knows what they are doing is probably a good alternative.

 

[Chris Nolte]

My recommendation is to get a bike with a Bosch motor with few proprietary parts. The Bosch system requires practically no maintenance and uses a shift sensing technology which will limit the wear on your drivetrain. A belt and IGH is nice, but a properly setup derailleur is just as well.

Keeping the motor out of the wheel you will be less likely to have issues with spokes and your wheel going out of true.

I hope this helps. We see a lot of high mileage bikes and this is what I recommend.