Buying from local store vs ordering online

[fooferdoggie]

even if not for the cost as said above is what they feel liek to ride. there is no way you can tell that except by a test ride. locally there are two dedicated e bike shops and several others that have a smaller selection. the big three plus brands like bulls and eg Haibike and several others.

 

[lenajc]

Just a bit of a gripe here - even in bike-friendly Austin Texas (at least compared to other Texas cities), bike stores do not many e-bikes. Me being short is an especially limiting factor. Even small sized high step frames do not work for me, which is why I pretty much have to go low or midstep. Bicycle Sport Shop is the big store here. I contacted Mellow Johnny's and they do not have anything in stock that would work with my height.

I can try go to Peddler's Bike shop and try a Giant LaFree (medium size). That would be my next stop and probably Electric Avenue which should have smaller brand electric bikes (i.e. Gazelle, GenZe, etc).

I'm complaining but I guess this is probably better than what a lot of you experience in other places.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

(Buy a step-through Turbo Vado and you'll be very happy) said a small devil in my person

 

[Browneye]

As popular as they are, and gaining all the time, any given shop in our locale, of which there are MANY - out of 50 bikes on display they may have 5 electrics. Frankly I think the dealers are a little afraid of them, for several reasons...
1. They don't want to get stuck with leftover or outdated inventory
2. They're twice the cost of pedal bikes, sometimes more, so it's a bigger investment for each inventory item. I don't know what kind of flooring plan they have for bikes - probly 30 day terms if they're lucky. Evidently there are not nearly as many prospects looking to shell out the $$ for an ebike compared to a regular pedal bike.

3. There are still some hold-outs that think ebikes are not real bicycles, ESPECIALLY in the mountain biking sector. DAMHIK

I've been into a couple of high-end name-brand shops asking for ebikes and they give you the deer-in-the-headlights look "No, we don't carry those". WHAT???
When I was eMTB shopping I wanted to try the brand new TREK RAIL5. NONE of our local shops are even going to bring them in. In my mind, how do you sell them if you can't show and tell them? Oh yeah, "We're only going to stock the carbon fiber one". Oh, the one that sells for eight grand????

 

[Deleted member 18083]

I’ve had three ebikes (Kalkhoff–4,000 km; Trek–8,000 km; Riese & Müller–16,000km). With each there has been at least one catastrophic failure directly related to being an ebike.

Ride before you buy and assume that you will need expert service. If in doubt, stick with the Big 3 and make sure that you purchase from a Giant, Specialized or Trek-branded store.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

An example from my playing field: There is a quite large company in Warsaw called Sklep Rowerowy. They keep at least three separate LBS, each of them carrying a different brand: Trek, Specialized (not sure what they have in the third one). The Trek store has a single Trek Powerfly 5 for the demo. The Specialized store has no e-bike on the display. If you are interested in a specific model, partly pre-pay it and the LBS will import one.

I was lucky so far. A Czech hub-motor e-bike bought directly from the manufacturer and that company really cares. The Specialized one bought with part pre-payment luckily met my expectations.

Don't complain for being in the United States. You at least have Crazy Lenny's

 

[smorgasbord]

There are so many considerations when choosing an e-Bike, it's hard to give advice. But, from what you've said, here goes:

1) If you're uncertain as to whether you need a local bike shop or not, then you do need one. Only people who already know they are handy enough to deal with mechanical and electrical issues should even consider it.
2) Online shops like Rad and Evelo do give very good support if you're handy enough to debug and replace components. With Rad you can pay a couple hundred bucks (I think) to have a mobile shop come to you. With both Rad and Evelo, you can have the bike shipped to a friendly LBS to assemble it for you (which is probably the better route since that same shop will be inclined to give you support later).
3) The RadCity step-through is a nice bike for the money. Great range on its large battery. Major downsides are the heavy weight (do you need to lift the bike onto a car rack or up stairs?) and that the brakes are not hydraulic. That said, you're saving enough that you could pay a LBS to install hydraulic brakes on your RadCity.
4) The LBS eBikes don't have throttles. Will you miss that?

 

[PatriciaK]

Just a bit of a gripe here - even in bike-friendly Austin Texas (at least compared to other Texas cities), bike stores do not many e-bikes. Me being short is an especially limiting factor. Even small sized high step frames do not work for me, which is why I pretty much have to go low or midstep. Bicycle Sport Shop is the big store here. I contacted Mellow Johnny's and they do not have anything in stock that would work with my height.

I can try go to Peddler's Bike shop and try a Giant LaFree (medium size). That would be my next stop and probably Electric Avenue which should have smaller brand electric bikes (i.e. Gazelle, GenZe, etc).

I'm complaining but I guess this is probably better than what a lot of you experience in other places.

You might even need the small size frame with the La Free - Hope you can try both to see which is most comfortable for you. Actually, that's one of the plusses with ANY bike you get from a local shop - more personalized service and you can be betterassured of getting the right frame size.

 

[tomjasz]

The mid-drive motor is the must for hills

Another opinion.

"For us (ebikes.ca) though, a majority of our customers are using their ebikes for daily use commuting, riding on roads where maintaining a steady speed regardless of the hill grade is important. For that requirement, a mid-drive offers almost no advantage and we continue to believe that hub motor kits shine the strongest for reliable and low maintenance commuter ebike conversions, and that's the bulk of who we serve."


While I support, sell, and ride mid-drive bikes I've transitioned to gear dive hubs. Much more take-off power and the option for great torque sensing bottom brackets. My direct drive front hub on a steel fork is incredibly fast off the line. Although a BBSHD mid-drive will take the abuse of throttling off the line in a gear that would damage other mid drives.

 

[tomjasz]

purchase it from REI seems pretty safe.

My niece bought a Bosch Townie from REI and it's been a good experience. Those dividends are great too!! BTW my REI membership goes back to 1966. #204554. A great company. A local fella has the same bike and 6000 miles trouble-free.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Mid-drive motor e-bikes from big brands and bought at LBS are good, because:

1. They give the maximum boost from relatively small motor power, especially on climbing
2. Small motor power means smaller battery (charging a smaller battery is faster, safer and better for the battery health, too).
3. Small motor and smaller battery make the e-bike relatively lightweight
4. A lightweight bike means less power use, meaning smaller battery... Go back to point (1).
5. It is easier to lift the lightweight e-bike, for instance up the stairs or onto the car
6. Replacing a punctured tube is easier with the mid-drive motor e-bike
7. In case anything breaks, there is the LBS to help you and the warranty is solid
8. You get the e-bike ready to ride and often fit for your body at the LBS; with online purchase you typically have to setup the bike on your own. "My new e-bike doesn't work!" I have seen that phrase too often on this Forum. Check if such a bike was bought at the LBS or online.

Yes, you get what you pay for.

 

[lenajc]

So I went to my local REI a few weeks ago to get my regular bike a tune up and I saw that they had in stock a few ebikes, and one of them was an Electra Townie Go! 8i that I had been eyeballing online. I was able to test ride it and take it up a flight of stairs to see if I could carry it up to my 2nd floor apartment (54 pounds). Both were a success so that is what I ended up getting. I commuted with it to work twice this week without any issues, 14 miles is the round trip. Getting up hills with my weight was a bit more challenging in the sense that I had to pedal harder, but I didn't have to walk it uphill and that is a vast improvement. And I wouldn't recommend this bike for places like Seattle or San Francisco (or even west Austin) but for my commute with some minor hills, it works. I am happy so far!