First e-bike for a 68 year old - buying help needed

L

Logwog

New Member
Region
USA
Hi - I’m a 68 year old woman, reasonably fit and want to purchase my first e-bike. Hopefully, I want to be able to ride it comfortably it without a lot of maintenance hassles for 10+ years. (No back problems, just crummy knees, after lots of hiking over the years!)

I would be using it primarily for 25-50 mile rides on mostly paved bike paths. I am hoping to do some 4-5 day bike trips with it. Some hills in my area (Midwest US), but not a lot. No riding in snow, urban commuting, dirt biking or cargo hauling needs.

I want a step through, mid hub bike with natural pedal assist. am considering a Gates carbon drive, like Gazelle C380 - but they are expensive. If worth it, I would cough up the $! But wonder what other bikes would meet my needs that are moderately priced.

I am not a super experienced cyclist. I just want something that will hold up well, is simple/logical to operate/shift and not super heavy. I do not need a lot of fancy/high tech stuff on it - just a bike that will provide a really comfortable/smooth ride for trips lasting a couple of hours.

Any help/suggestions would be sincerely appreciated Many thanks.
 
Not that this suggestion will be worth much....

I am 68 and my wife is 55 and we both bought Specialized Turbos. Mine is a Tero and hers is a Como 3. She had elbow surgery last year and needed an upright seating position and not a lot of weight on her arms. The bike is very comfortable for her. She is ~ 5'6" and bought the medium frame. The only modification is that we both added a Redshift ShockStop Suspension Seatpost. The longest ride we typically take is on mixed gravel/pavement and just under 30 miles.
 
twy said:
Not that this suggestion will be worth much....

I am 68 and my wife is 55 and we both bought Specialized Turbos. Mine is a Tero and hers is a Como 3. She had elbow surgery last year and needed an upright seating position and not a lot of weight on her arms. The bike is very comfortable for her. She is ~ 5'6" and bought the medium frame. The only modification is that we both added a Redshift ShockStop Suspension Seatpost. The longest ride we typically take is on mixed gravel/pavement and just under 30 miles.
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Thank you for your input!
 
69 y/o here. I've had a Trek Allant+ 8S for eight months/725 miles and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. Mine is a standard but they also offer a Stagger, not quite a step though but lower standover height. Your requirement of 50 miles per trip is going to require a big battery, which is where a lot of the weight is. My Trek weighs 56 lbs with a rather large 625Wh battery. On the highest boost level (Turbo), I consistently get about 40 miles per charge with about 3-4 miles left according to the display. Using lower boost levels will get you well over 100 miles. It's a classic Trek quality build and I haven't had an issue with it other than the badly designed built in smart phone holder that I replaced with a Quad Lock case/mount.
IMG_5778.jpeg
 
offthewall said:
69 y/o here. I've had a Trek Allant+ 8S for eight months/725 miles and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. Mine is a standard but they also offer a Stagger, not quite a step though but lower standover height. Your requirement of 50 miles per trip is going to require a big battery, which is where a lot of the weight is. My Trek weighs 56 lbs with a rather large 625Wh battery. On the highest boost level (Turbo), I consistently get about 40 miles per charge with about 3-4 miles left according to the display. Using lower boost levels will get you well over 100 miles. It's a classic Trek quality build and I haven't had an issue with it other than the badly designed built in smart phone holder that I replaced with a Quad Lock case/mount.View attachment 172322
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Nice setup......ditto on the Trek 8s. I also own one, no problems to date, and Trek is great with customer service, in my opinion. Also take a look at the Specialized Vado 4 which is on sale. Another option might be the Ride1up Prodigy V2. Hope that helps.
 
I'm 73. Total agreement on the step through.
If you are only going to ride in good weather, tie yourself to a mid-drive like a Gazelle/bosch. I ride 12 months a year, and the battery stays in the garage under a heating pad near or below freezing. A bosch drive, those months, unpowered you will drag the motor with your feet (except the top of the line of four models). Kona & yuba shimano steps mids, giant yamaha mid drives, you do not drag the motor with your feet unpowered. I forget which bike sells brose drive, but those have the slip clutch also.
I ride a geared hub motor, which has so little drag unpowered I leave it on the bike all winter. These are unsuitable for mountain states: a long slow slog up a long steep grade will burn a geared hub motor winding. I live in the midwest, and my motor is fine on the 77 hills of my weekly 3.7 hour commute to summer camp. I ride unpowered about 70% of that, the flatter parts. Unless the wind is over 12 mph in my face, then on goes the power to keep my speed up and time even.
A warning about frames. I do not know how much you ride unpowered, and you may not have this problem. When cruisers & mountain bikes changed to "quick steering" early nineties, bikes started throwing me over the handlebars on my chin. 5 times 2008-2017. Two mountain bikes and a cruiser. Manufacturers are not going back; shortening the frame to where there is insufficient trail saves $1 per frame. I checked 200 26" frames on a database 2017, they all had the same trail. My hands are strong enough to play a wood piano, but not strong enough to hold the handlebar straight when it snaps sideways on a high pavement separator, bad pothole patch, gravel ridge, speed bump, or once, a stick. Your control may be fine. I solved the problem by buying a cargo bike that puts my weight on the front axle, a 2017 yuba bodaboda. Seen in my avatar. 6" extra frame behind the seat. I have the motor & battery on the front, for additional ballast. An alternate front weight solution, the flat back head down road bike as sold by cannondale & orbea. I was suspicious of the extreme flex of the neck to see traffic on road bikes when the 10 speeds came out about 1965. Having sat upright and fought the wind 58 years later, my spine & back muscles are in great shape.
Happy shopping and later riding.
 
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DaveMatthews said:
What about something like this...

www.momentum-biking.com

Vida E+ Low -Step (2022) | Low Step Through Electric Bike | Momentum Bikes US

Enjoy a new stylish ride on the Momentum step through electric bike, Vida E+. Our SyncDrive Life motor provides the electric bike 20mph speed to help you ride s...
www.momentum-biking.com www.momentum-biking.com
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A 500 Wh battery might not be enough for 50 miles including some hills on gravel. An e-bike with a minimum 625 Wh battery is recommended. Vida is a city e-bike and I cannot see it for riding gravel, either :)
I say that as I was on a 50 mile ride yesterday, an older Specialized Turbo Vado with the battery degraded to 517 Wh, I barely made the trip, all asphalt, light wind, flat area. ECO mode.

If you @Logwog are a healthy person, I could recommend a Specialized Vado SL 4.0, possibly with an SL Range Extender battery. Vado SL are reasonably priced and lightweight. I am 63, medical condition of legs, yet my Vado SL is my e-bike of choice for gravel races! On good conditions and with no significant hills, a Vado SL with a Range Extender battery is good for 116 km (72 miles) with a nice 55% assistance setting (assistance is tuneable in Specialized Turbo e-bikes).
 
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Thank you all for such helpful insights. As a newbie in this e-bike world, all the specs and tech are somewhat daunting. So, hearing real world experience from the ‘mature’ crowd is very much appreciated.
 
It sounds like you know what you want and are on the right track.

You'll get a lot of good advice here but keep in mind, one size does not fit all. The best bike is the one YOU like and and the one that fits YOU personally! Comfort is everything for long rides, and the best advice I can offer is to TEST RIDE as many bikes as you can! Travel if you have to but keep in mind, dealing locally has it's advantages.

Unless you're able to do your own work, I would deal with a reliable, local bike shop (LBS). E-bikes, no matter what brand, are more complicated than their conventional counterparts and require more maintenance.

Welcome to the forum and good luck in your quest for the perfect ride!
 
Logwog said:
Hi - I’m a 68 year old woman, reasonably fit and want to purchase my first e-bike. Hopefully, I want to be able to ride it comfortably it without a lot of maintenance hassles for 10+ years. (No back problems, just crummy knees, after lots of hiking over the years!)

I want a step through, mid hub bike with natural pedal assist.

Any help/suggestions would be sincerely appreciated Many thanks.
Click to expand...
What are the e-bike offerings from the local bike stores in your area? That is where you should start. I recommned you look at the Aventon Level Step Thru (torque sensing). They have 1,000+ service centers. Check thier service map and see if there is a local dealer with inventory for a test drive. I do recommend that you get a good suspension seat post. It is well worth the investment. Whatever you do, purchase that which can be serviced locally under warranty
 
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I'm going to step outside the mainstream box and mention a bike that my wife and I both test rode earlier this year at a local bike shop -- the Tenways Ago T. Although my wife ended up buying a different bike that day, the description in your post reminded me of that test drive. It's hard to explain, the Ago T just felt "light" compared to other belt driven ebikes we had tested. For some reason, it rode more like my traditional Trek 12-speed -- but with a motor. Strange, given that it actually weighs about the same as the Gazelles we had tried, and they were very similiar feeling, but the Ago T just seemed to get-out-of-the-way more than the others.

On paper, it checks all the right boxes: Belt drive, mid-drive motor, low-step thru frame, internally geared hub, torque sensor, hydraulic brakes, and front suspension. The motor, a Bafang M420, is pleasantly quiet, and being a name brand, is most likely serviceable at a local bike shop. It isn't as silent as a Brose motor (like you would find on Specialized ebikes) , but certainly not intrusive, and edged toward a slightly quieter sound than the Bosch motors on the Gazelles we had tried. The manual shift is a stepless (infinite range) twist grip Enviolo hub -- also common and readily serviceable. The 14Ah (500 Wh) battery falls in line with several of the Gazelles. In the lower pedal assist levels, you shouldn't have any trouble falling into your requested 25-50 mile range. Ride and spec-wise, I'd consider the Ago T similar in many ways to say, a Gazelle Arroyo C5, but $1300 cheaper ($2699 vs. $3999).

During a side-by-side test drive that day, for some reason the Specialized Como 4.0 (rated 70nm) had more oomph than the Ago T (rated 80Nm), which was surprising. I'm 250lbs, but if you're 150lbs or less, I'm pretty sure this difference would be a non-factor, unless you plan on consistently riding in an overly hilly area. The only other thing worth mentioning here is that I have no experience to share regarding the customer service and/or longevity of this brand.

Just another brand/model to consider.
 
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@Logwog: Another ebike to consider is the Zen Photon. Aside from the premium features of this particular bike, maybe the most important thing I consider is the people backing Zen. And the leader of Zen is a person who has been a long time contributor to this forum and site, @Ravi Kempaiah. I have absolutely, positively no doubt should you have any questions, pre-purchase, purchase and post purchase, that Ravi and his staff will be there to answer and help you, immediately. Here is the Zen website: https://zenebikes.com/ The ebike world has been a kind of wild west, anything-goes, here today, gone tomorrow circus. Lots of ebike owners left hanging without help or support after the sale is made.

I'd advise you to spend many hours reading these forum threads to find the bike companies that leave owners hanging in the lurch, on their own. Learn what ebike motors to stay away from (my personal opinion on that one? Shimano). Learn who stand behind their ebikes. Ask for opinions here of bike brands and models before you commit your hard earned dollars.
 
gladiataar said:
for some reason the Specialized Como 4.0 (rated 70nm) had more oomph than the Ago T (rated 80Nm), which was surprising.
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Specialized does not say truth on the actual torque of its motors. The brand tends to attract the customers to buy the most expensive models by publishing biased torque specification: 50, 70, 90 Nm (which one would you choose?) In fact, the "weaker" Specialized motors are actually stronger than marketed. I'd say the 2.0 motor of Como 4.0 is very close to 80 Nm, and it is certainly perfectly tuned to deliver performance. (The 2.0E motor as found in the model 3.0 is actually 72 not 50 Nm!)
 
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Stefan Mikes said:
Specialized does not say truth on the actual torque of its motors. The brand tends to attract the customers to buy the most expensive models by publishing biased torque specification: 50, 70, 90 Nm (which one would you choose?) In fact, the "weaker" Specialized motors are actually stronger than marketed. I'd say the 2.0 motor of Como 4.0 is very close to 80 Nm, and it is certainly perfectly tuned to deliver performance. (The 2.0E motor as found in the model 3.0 is actually 72 not 50 Nm!)
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I was very presently surprised how my wife's Como 4.0 handles and its power. The bike is a bit heavy so I would not plan on anything less then a solid hitch bike carrier and getting it on top of it or up and down stairs maybe an issue for some people. But if you plan to just ride it out of the garage then its a non issue.
 
Looks like there is a used small Como 4.0 with only 411 miles for $1649 + shipping. Never used that site and not affiliated but its a great deal.

upway.co

Specialized Turbo Como 4.0

The Specialized Turbo Como 4.0 is a used electric hybrid bike. Find it on Upway for up to 60% cheaper than new, with a one year warranty, and delivered to your door.
upway.co upway.co
 
dariusf2 said:
Looks like there is a used small Como 4.0 with only 411 miles for $1649 + shipping. Never used that site and not affiliated but its a great deal.

upway.co

Specialized Turbo Como 4.0

The Specialized Turbo Como 4.0 is a used electric hybrid bike. Find it on Upway for up to 60% cheaper than new, with a one year warranty, and delivered to your door.
upway.co upway.co
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It is the previous generation of Como (Gen 1). I would not recommend it because it might be problematic to get a new battery, motor or some spare parts in the future.
Also, this older Como has no suspension fork, making it a 100% urban machine.
 
I’d recommend checking out the Trek Verve+ 4s. I have one and have posted about my positive experiences with it in a couple of other threads here.
 
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