e-bike Rookie | 1st e-bike purchase advice

[Scooterbub]

First-time poster, future first-time owner!

Looking for some advice on my first e-bike purchase:

1. I won't be commuting, but looking for a bike to enjoy around town, up and down the hilly roads of Atlanta.
2. As strange as this sounds (since it appears that most of the higher-quality ebikes are mid-drive), I've enjoyed the experience of being "pushed" by a hub motor vs. the more natural feeling mid-drive on my test rides - I've test ridden a couple bikes with these configurations, and I think I prefer the hub motor pedal assist with a throttle - it was the most fun in my opinion!
3. I'm a bit hesitant about pulling the trigger on an e-commerce-only brand (Rad/Juiced), as I've read a lot of the horror stories.
4. I hope to keep it <$3k
5. Looking for commuter/city, relatively traditional style; would love something that can handle slightly more rough terrain/trails (not planning on aggressively mountain biking) and still function well on surface street trips to restaurants.
6. 5'10" male ~31" inseam, if this helps with fit.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Here's the current list of the bikes I'm considering:

Juiced CrossCurrent X
RadCity 4
Aventon Level or Pace 500
Edison (A local Atlanta shop/manufacturer - anyone have experience with it?)
Ride1Up 700 Series
Pedigo Ridge Rider (definitely more of a mountain bike, but really love the look and feature set, despite the higher price point!)

Others I'm not considering but should?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dewey]

Re: Edison, have not heard of them before, the non-removeable battery could be an issue in the hot summer if you have to store the bikes outside. The bike appears to use standard components, 36v 500w hub motor, cadence PAS sensor plus throttle, I'd check the display can program top speed down to 20mph if you want to keep it Class 2 legal for riding on bicycle paths under Georgia law

 

[Scooterbub]

Re: Edison, have not heard of them before, the non-removeable battery could be an issue in the hot summer if you have to store the bikes outside. The bike appears to use standard components, 36v 500w hub motor, cadence PAS sensor plus throttle, I'd check the display can program top speed down to 20mph if you want to keep it Class 2 legal for riding on bicycle paths under Georgia law

Thanks Dewey! Edison makes a sleek, fun bike, but they are a super small operation right now. While I love the idea of supporting a local business, I worry about the long-term customer service available.

Any thoughts/opinions on the other bikes I listed? Any one to stay away from?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Dewey]

Most on your list are Direct to Customer brands so support will vary, I have a DIY kit motor so am used to using a multimeter to troubleshoot electrical problems and am comfortable using email with the shops that supply my components, but I still use a local Giant dealer to do bike shop work on my gearing/chainline, heavy jobs like removing a bottom bracket & most anything to do with my brakes. If you don't have a sympathetic local bike shop or don't like the idea of cobbling together support for a mail order ebike, Pedego stores offer full flight customer service eg my local Pedego store offers a loaner ebike when yours is in for service - more of a motorcycle dealership type service experience.

 

[richard.rivers]

Did you test ride hub motors on hills ? As that is the part mid-drives shine and let you feel the difference. On flat surface you can feel nothing better about mid-drive motors.

 

[byunbee]

Dost Kope seems to fit your needs with suspension fork integrated battery a powerful and reliable Bafang BBS02 motor with throttle.

DŌST KOPE Review

Price: $3199 | Model Year: 2020, 2021, 2022 | A sturdy, highly-functional, high-step hybrid electric bike with upgraded components and optional second battery pack. Adjustable angle stem improves fit, 100mm spring suspension fork offers compression lockout and preload, high quality 2.4" wide...

electricbikereview.com

 

[tomjasz]

powerful and reliable Bafang BBS02 motor with throttle.

Remember this motor is for riders, taking off from a dead stop and not having shifted to an appropriate gear to pedal away in PAS or with throttle can cook a BBS02B.

 

[GenXrider]

Espin Sport
Ride1UP 500
Ride1UP LMT'D (is hub drive, but has torque sensor)

The Aventon e-bikes seem to have too much assist in PAS 1 for my liking, if that matters to you:
https://electricbikereview.com/foru...orque-vs-rotational-sensors.35203/post-296737

 

[Seymour Sea Monster]

First-time poster, future first-time owner!

Looking for some advice on my first e-bike purchase:

1. I won't be commuting, but looking for a bike to enjoy around town, up and down the hilly roads of Atlanta.
2. As strange as this sounds (since it appears that most of the higher-quality ebikes are mid-drive), I've enjoyed the experience of being "pushed" by a hub motor vs. the more natural feeling mid-drive on my test rides - I've test ridden a couple bikes with these configurations, and I think I prefer the hub motor pedal assist with a throttle - it was the most fun in my opinion!
3. I'm a bit hesitant about pulling the trigger on an e-commerce-only brand (Rad/Juiced), as I've read a lot of the horror stories.
4. I hope to keep it <$3k
5. Looking for commuter/city, relatively traditional style; would love something that can handle slightly more rough terrain/trails (not planning on aggressively mountain biking) and still function well on surface street trips to restaurants.
6. 5'10" male ~31" inseam, if this helps with fit.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Here's the current list of the bikes I'm considering:

Juiced CrossCurrent X
RadCity 4
Aventon Level or Pace 500
Edison (A local Atlanta shop/manufacturer - anyone have experience with it?)
Ride1Up 700 Series
Pedigo Ridge Rider (definitely more of a mountain bike, but really love the look and feature set, despite the higher price point!)

Others I'm not considering but should?

Thanks in advance!

I don't know much about all the Ebikes out there but in the summer of 2018 I barely got lucky enough to get a white RadCity ST after 4 different tries because the bike was so in demand. (plus I'd rather have orange or black, white is just so hard to keep clean)

It's plenty durable as I take it on some offroad trails mostly to get to beaches and good fishing spots. During winter I put on Schwalbe Winter Marathon tires and I take it downtown to my medical appts. I use this thing as a total mule as I have a huge custom cooler bolted to the rack in back and I use 2 wald 582 folding baskets when I discovered the bike was too wide to fit any of my standard dual rear basket designs that I used when I delivered 350+ papers as a child aftet school job. I average 30-42 items home from my grocery store in this configuration. Roughly 4 bags of groceries (but I'd still like a trailer) which is plenty ample.

I'm curious what you mean by horror stories. I've got about 2000 miles on mine and the main bummer was a chain breaking in icy conditions. Plus we have awful road chemicals this far north. But a KMC replacement was only $8 so I can't complain much about that. I think some ice got wedged into the chain because it broke on the back half of the chain roller pin and in all my years of riding I have never seen one break quite like that. I bought some hi-tech triflo and am making sure to lubricate the new chain more often.

The disc brakes need adjustments 1-3 times a year depending on your breaking habits. Good news is that adjustment is tool less. Usually just rotating the bottom cable nut to take out the worn brake pad slack on the system. Even with some very hard breaking I have not had to replace the pads just yet. I bike in a highly populated area and with those dual disc breaks I feel very secure.

I like what I have so much that I have been very tempted to buy the RadWagon 4 which was just released.

If I had to make one complaint about Rad Power Bikes as a company it is in their policy of printing only 5 star reviews on their site. I feel this is very descriminatory to people like me who honestly gave it 4 stars. Oh, and the front rack & basket was not available when I ordered the bike so I don't get the free shipping on those. They're already a bit on the pricey side of around $200 which does not include shipping.


I put a Schwinn map bag on the front handlebars and apparently this causes the front headlight to unplug as the bag bounces and stretches the wire until it unplugs the wire. You'd think they design for this as the front handlebar bag is probably the top selling bag people install DIY. For sure it's in the top 3. So the front headlight needs an electrical extension cord to work. They only sell this with the front rack kit, if it's ever in stock. I never did end up getting one as a separate headlight system was far cheaper and far better. But the purist in me would like that factory headlight working. 6-9 inches more of wire in the beginning would fix this whole problem. It's that simple.

The tubes use longer stems but normal ones will work. Also I did wear through their Kenda tire around mile 750 and it wore out in a very strange way -- cords started showing near the rim. What's bizarre about this failure is that nothing touches here. I think it might be unique to the stresses & torque of Ebikes. Maybe the motor torqueing on the tire as it gets up and go. My PSI was always between the recommended 50-65 PSI so it couldn't have been that.

The only thing I really hate is the front headlight's non-existant brightness, but I bought a Nestling 3 LED headlamp that is powered by 4 18650 batteries that is super bright. This thing illuminates about the same as one car headlight and worth every penny of the $23 I paid for it off Amazon. My other reccommendation would be to get a head mounted lamp that uses 2 18650 batteries. Super bright and turns with your head so you see what you need to when you need to.

But don't get me wrong, even with all these issues I would buy one again. Lately after the day's summer heat is gone I get on it and spin around a local lake just for the childish thrill it imparts in my spirit. And since I've been the first to have one around here every one asks me about it so it's quite the conversational piece.