@JoePah , I agree that the bike is probably overpriced but at least for me but I wanted a bike first and foremost with the ebike/motor being a secondary feature in terms of importance to me. I did a lot of research/reading on other forums on the components of the Faraday... The closest "regular" bike I could find in terms of components was a Cannondale Bad Boy 1 as is has the Shimano Alfine 8 speed internally geared hub (but with a chain drive vs the gates carbon belt of the Faraday Porteur) and hydraulic disc brakes... that bike is $1700. At a little more than double the cost, I figured the additional cost of the batteries+motor+carbon belt and additional engineering/design of the Faraday was worth it and it seemed to be a fair price given the comparisons I did.
Anyway, as for the mechanical brakes, yes, they could have put on hydraulic brakes but from what I've read on other forums about mechanical vs hydraulic people seem to be 50/50 on what they like more. So far the mechanical brakes haven't been a problem for me. Also, I don't claim to be an expert but it would seem that mechanical would be slightly easier to maintain given that it doesn't have the oils/etc of a hydraulic system.
As for the chromoly frame, again I don't claim to be an expert but it seems that from what I've read people seem to like the chromoly frames due to the absorption of shocks/etc with bumps in the road. From my riding so far on streets and trails with the Faraday, I'd say that the ride is pretty smooth compared to my old road bike.
From what I've read about the battery, it is replaceable as you can remove it from the down tube. The Faraday website has an FAQ that says the battery could be replaced by any bike shop (at a cost of roughly $400 for a new battery)... I'd be willing to guess that it's not a complex process to remove/replace the battery. Another thing I like about the battery being in the down tube is that it's out of sight so that for the most part the bike looks like a regular bike. That being said, I do hope that in the future if and when battery/motor technology becomes better and more efficient that Faraday would offer upgrade kits to the bike given how expensive the bike is in the first place.
Anyway, I test rode an A2B, Kalkoff, and Faraday (Porteur and Porteur S) at my local ebike shop and the Faraday won for me primarily because the ride was "normal" when the motor wasn't turned on and I liked the way it looked compared to the other bikes. The other bikes were just too big and heavy to make it enjoyable with the motor turned off and the other bikes screamed EBIKE whereas the Faraday just looked like a nice commuter.
In any case, the other day I rode a paved trail about 20 miles with the Faraday with my kid in a Thule Ridealong and for the most part I did not have the motor engaged as I didn't really need it except for a few extended climbs. When I finished my ride I had more than 3/4 battery left according to the display read out on the bike. I'm not sure I could have done the same ride on the other bikes I test rode since those bikes were much larger/heavier than the Faraday...
Anyway, I don't work for Faraday but am a new owner. I am, of course, biased to the Faraday given that I just dropped $$$ on it but just wanted to share my thoughts on the bike and why there might be an attraction to such a bike vs the majority of other ebikes out there.
