Can you recommend to me a good bike for 1500 or less, details follow

[Eviltwin]

I repeat, the Bulls bike for sale here is a nice bike at your price range.

I repeat, the Bulls bike for sale here is a nice bike at your price range.

Yes it is, but it is in Seattle and I am in Virginia.

 

[reed scott]

Yes it is, but it is in Seattle and I am in Virginia.

There are professional bike shipping outfits. Costs about three Benjamins.

 

[reed scott]

Thanks for all the replies. I checked out the Yuba site, I had never heard of them. Cargo bikes not really my style, but I looked through what they had. Found one for 1200, figured it might have possibilities and looked at the details and finally realized that it wasn't electrified, just a regular bike with a steel frame for 1200 bucks. I'll pass.

I get that some folks feel like you have to spend 3 or 4 grand or more to get something decent and that anything less is garbage, but I just dont see it. Prices are also quite hyped up right now due to Covid and it's not just bikes. But I gotta wonder what you are getting for 3-4 grand in a bicycle, even an electrified one that makes it worth that price. One of my current bikes is a BMW and its not the first. It was over 10 grand new and its one of the cheaper bikes they sell. BMW's cheapest small bike right now goes for around 5500 but for that money you are buying a fuel injected motor, frame, abs, machined gears, all the integrated engine electronics, wheels, axles, brakes, tires, lights, battery and everything else. The engineering and manufacturing and materials in that lower end motorcycle far outpace what is in a bicycle, but a mid grade bicycle is worth about 60-80% of that motorcycle? And that is a Chinese built (Loncin) motorcycle, not one of the Berlin built bikes. Are any bicycles still being built in the US or Europe or have they all been outsourced to Asia?

Getting back to what I am looking for is something with at least 26" wheels, a 500w motor or better and something without a top bar since I have problems swinging my leg over anything high. Prefer a 48v or better battery with name brand cells. A fat tire bike maybe, but something with around 2 inch tires is fine. I may take a ride out this Saturday to a store in Va Beach that has some electric bikes just to see what they have and maybe sit on a few. But as much as I like high end products like BMW and MB, this is not going to be one of them.

I had the same opinion as you regarding the price of ebikes in my first couple months of research and I still think most people spending over $7k or so are either kidding themselves or they just have so much money it doesn't matter to them. BUT ... If you want a solid bike from a name maker with any real power and reliability ... the price hovers around $5k to $6k. It's just what it is. If you're just going to poop around the neighborhood you can get away with half that but a lot of folks end up loving this activity so much that they soon bite the bullet and get an upscale bike. Most lose their initial investment on the first 'cheap' bike.

 

[GenXrider]

I sold a 2020 Espin Flow that my wife had previously as she did not like the ride at all, hope this one does the trick.

What was it she didn't like about the Flow? Did it have to do with the old Espin PAS system? I know they changed that for the 2021 model - apparently much improved.

 

[Eviltwin]

I took a ride this afternoon to look at a bike, it was a Raleigh Misceo Sport. From best I can tell it was a 2017 model with a mid drive Shimano motor. Nice bike, it was an aluminum frame with carbon fork, hydraulic brakes, quick release for and aft, 9 speed derailleur and what looked like an older brooks leather saddle. It also had a second battery, 36v, about 500 watts. Best I can tell it retailed for about 2600 when new. He was asking 1500. https://norfolk.craigslist.org/bik/d/yorktown-bike-for-sale/7355284959.html

There is a story behind the bike. Lou, is 85 and the bike belonged to his friend that passed away last year. The family gave the bike to Lou and he can't ride anymore either. Since he has very little equity in the bike (he paid to have a couple of keys made for the battery lock) he wants to take the money and donate it to the place where his friend spent his last days. He listed the bike in the ad as the Retroglide 2.0 IE, but when I searched for it online, the drive motor didn't match. That bike uses a Bosch setup, this one uses Shimano Step which I figured out was a 250W motor. This is pretty much the bike I saw today if anybody is interested:

I wasn't sure about the fitment of the bike, but I figured it was worth the 40 min drive. Took my wife and the dog and we emptied out her suv and took off. As soon as I got there I saw that it was a Raleigh Misceo. He had the battery charged and tires filled. We got it outside and I figured out how to turn it on. As it turns out, I was able to straddle the center tube, but just barely. I set the mode to normal and took off. Didn't feel all that much extra push out of the motor. I downshifted it a bit and stopped and set the mode to high. Even on that setting there was no kick in the pants feeling out of the motor, but I did get it up to over 17 in one of the higher gears. I also felt like I was leaning a bit too forward, I tend to favor a more upright relaxed position. The hydraulic brakes were very nice btw and I think the bike weighed in at around 45 lbs with the rear rack and fenders. Going through all the settings, it looks like the bike has about 3700 miles on it right now. Tires looked good, I think they are 700c and it has presta valves.

So I passed on the bike and thanked him for his time and let him know what I had found out about it online. I told his wife I would post the information on the bike here in case anybody else might be interested. Glad I took the time to see what this one was like, it has reaffirmed my decision to go with a step through frame to make getting on and off a bit easier.

 

[Eviltwin]

I thought I would follow up to this thread since its the first I started looking for a bike. I took a trip yesterday down to Raleigh and brought back a very slightly used Himiway Cruiser with less than a mile on it but with a few bumps and bruises.

The lady that bought it hadn't gotten too far away from her driveway when she took a fall on it. The bike fared better than she did. She had some significant injury to her face and upper body. It was way too much bike for her, too heavy, too tall a seat and way too hot out of the box with the factory settings. All she wanted to do was to get rid of it. I saw it on an extended CL search and communicated with her, but wasn't able to go see it last weekend. So this weekend rolls around and I contacted her Friday about going to see it. Its about 200 miles away or 3 hours +. Typical of CL, you dont get any hits on an ad for a week or two then all of a sudden everybody wants it. But since I had contacted her first and she is of an older generation, she didnt sell it to somebody else but held it till I came on Saturday.

The bike was like new except for a damaged right grip and scuffed brake lever. A small scrape on the back rack and one on the rear fender were all the marks from the accident. I took it for a quick ride around the neighborhood just to make sure the battery and motor worked and got back and gave her her full asking price for the bike, $950 bucks.

Today I messed with the settings and set it up for PAS 0-9 from 0-5 and made the bike a bit less "hot" so that it wouldn't get me into trouble either. I'm used to motorcycles so the weight and speed I can deal with, but still, for a bike it is a heavy mother. The step frame isnt much of a step either, I still have to lean the bike way over to get my leg on the other side. If I had bought one new, I would have probably gone with one of the Ride1up models.

Speaking of R1U, I had another offer for a slightly damaged (cosmetic so they said) LMT'd for 1600. Their initial offer was 1695, but I told them it would have to be lower to make up for no fenders and lights. But truthfully I wasn't keen on the color of the bike. If it had been the 700 or the 500 for a reduced price, I probably would have gone for one of those. The other thing was that this was a straight 1600 paypal payment with no state tax or delivery charge, but it came with a new warranty.

I've put about ten miles on the bike today. It's very hot and humid, so I didnt push it. I have gone over the bike and tightened things up and made some adjustments so it fits me better. I did use the gears but frankly, it would be just and easy to leave it in 7 and just pedal with the throttle to get it moving a bit.

 

[PedalUma]

Cool! That was a score.
Mike's Bikes has these grips. They are real leather and I often use them on bikes. The price is right too. To get free shipping you would need to add one more thing to the order, such as a bell or BikeSmart cellphone bag. As for the scrapes those can be touched with matte black nail polish from the local beauty store. I use that stuff all the time. I do not like this stock twist shifter and replace them with the trigger shifter from MicroShift. It works so much better.

 

[AHicks]

We all find out we SUCK as new riders of e-bikes. That FACT doesn't set in for a few miles though. There's just WAY more to riding an e-bike efficiently than first meets the eye. It's not until we get up oover 100 miles or so that coordinating your PAS level, what gear you're in, your speed, and the riding conditions your in starts making more sense. Until then, just ride the darn thing. All that falls into place a little piece at a time, until you get pretty good at it!

"I did use the gears but frankly, it would be just and easy to leave it in 7 and just pedal with the throttle to get it moving a bit."

Congrat's on the new bike! -Al

 

[st0ut]

Thanks for all the replies. I checked out the Yuba site, I had never heard of them. Cargo bikes not really my style, but I looked through what they had. Found one for 1200, figured it might have possibilities and looked at the details and finally realized that it wasn't electrified, just a regular bike with a steel frame for 1200 bucks. I'll pass.

I get that some folks feel like you have to spend 3 or 4 grand or more to get something decent and that anything less is garbage, but I just dont see it. Prices are also quite hyped up right now due to Covid and it's not just bikes. But I gotta wonder what you are getting for 3-4 grand in a bicycle, even an electrified one that makes it worth that price. One of my current bikes is a BMW and its not the first. It was over 10 grand new and its one of the cheaper bikes they sell. BMW's cheapest small bike right now goes for around 5500 but for that money you are buying a fuel injected motor, frame, abs, machined gears, all the integrated engine electronics, wheels, axles, brakes, tires, lights, battery and everything else. The engineering and manufacturing and materials in that lower end motorcycle far outpace what is in a bicycle, but a mid grade bicycle is worth about 60-80% of that motorcycle? And that is a Chinese built (Loncin) motorcycle, not one of the Berlin built bikes. Are any bicycles still being built in the US or Europe or have they all been outsourced to Asia?

Getting back to what I am looking for is something with at least 26" wheels, a 500w motor or better and something without a top bar since I have problems swinging my leg over anything high. Prefer a 48v or better battery with name brand cells. A fat tire bike maybe, but something with around 2 inch tires is fine. I may take a ride out this Saturday to a store in Va Beach that has some electric bikes just to see what they have and maybe sit on a few. But as much as I like high end products like BMW and MB, this is not going to be one of them.

sorry you are over simplifying things.

eg if is isn't an ICE propelled machine it should be dirt cheap.

Read up on how much a serious downhill bike is or a TT bike is. Or a Pinerallo Dogma. Your the kind of guy that looks at a BMX from wall mart and cant understand why a Cult cost 9 times as much. it s just a toy to you.

Engineering a bicycle is one of the MOST challenging transportation engineering problems for the simple reason you cannot add power or add weight. Ebikes solve this to a point but not completely.

2ish to 4ish grand is about the sweet spot.

Tell me what you get on your motorraad that you cant get on a honda or yamaha? Why did you pay a premium for the BMW?

As a motorcyclist there is a desire to lean heavy and hard into corners remember you dont have a sidewall so you need to stay far more upright than you naturally feel from the moto.

 

[Eviltwin]

sorry you are over simplifying things.

eg if is isn't an ICE propelled machine it should be dirt cheap.

Read up on how much a serious downhill bike is or a TT bike is. Or a Pinerallo Dogma. Your the kind of guy that looks at a BMX from wall mart and cant understand why a Cult cost 9 times as much. it s just a toy to you.

Engineering a bicycle is one of the MOST challenging transportation engineering problems for the simple reason you cannot add power or add weight. Ebikes solve this to a point but not completely.

2ish to 4ish grand is about the sweet spot.

Tell me what you get on your motorraad that you cant get on a honda or yamaha? Why did you pay a premium for the BMW?

As a motorcyclist there is a desire to lean heavy and hard into corners remember you dont have a sidewall so you need to stay far more upright than you naturally feel from the moto.

Lets just agree to disagree. If you want to spend 4 grand on a bicycle, electric or otherwise, thats fine. The complexity of a bike compared to a motorcycle, even two that are priced the same new, say 4-5k is easy to distinguish. A working motor, brakes, electronics, tires that can travel up to highway speeds compared to a bike that is largely handmade with two wheels, a crank, chain, manual brakes and skinny tires. On the 4 grand bicycle, you are paying for the exclusivity of the brand and components, on the motorcycle, you are paying for the engineering and manufacturing.

And please don't try and stereotype me or anybody else with "your the kind of guy" statements. Save the all the newbs to electric bikes are stupid if they dont agree with me attitude. My butt has been on bike seats since the 1960's, I've been working on bikes and cars and everything else mechanical since then.