First Ebike

[RetepBiker]

Hello awesome community,

I have been lurking around for a little bit on this forum for the past month or so and have been reading up on what type of bike would be best for my need and budget. I have a budget of around $1800 all in but as most, I would like to be even lower if possible. I have been looking at the prior post for bikes at or below $1000/$1200 and those are "decent" but some of them I worry about if they would be the power I need. I am 6'3" and at 215 lbs (and dropping) and I live near Atlanta with a fair amount of steep rolling hills. I am planning on using this bike to commute to work and back which is around 10 miles one way but can charge it once I get there for the trip back. I have narrowed the bikes I am looking at down to a few and would love any advise. I am still pondering on the mid vs read hub motor because fo some of the hills I will have to climb. Here are the bikes I am looking at. I wouldn't mind buying a used bike but I am having issues finding them in my area.

RadCity - $1499 -750W Rear Hub Direct Drive
https://electricbikereview.com/rad-power-bikes/2018-radcity/ - Review
https://www.radpowerbikes.com/products/radcity-electric-commuter-bike - Purchase
Thoughts: Can upgrade it if needed but budget base components but it is new and has a new battery

IZip E3 Dash - $1499 - 500W Rear Hub Geared
https://electricbikereview.com/izip/2016-e3-dash/ - Review
https://www.bikesourceonline.com/product/izip-e3-dash-221016-1.htm - Purchase
Thoughts: Upgraded components (hydraulic brakes, shifters...)) but is a few years old (does this affect the battery life?), smaller motor

Raleigh Misceo IE - $1499 - 250W Mid
https://electricbikereview.com/raleigh/misceo-ie/ - Review
https://www.bikesourceonline.com/product/raleigh-electric-misceo-ie-25450.htm - Purchase
Thoughts: Upgraded components (hydraulic brakes, shifters...) but is a few years old (does this affect the battery life?). It is a mid-drive but only had PAS and no throttle, smaller motor

IZip E3 Dash - $1499 - 350W Mid
https://electricbikereview.com/izip/vibe-plus/ - Review
https://www.bikesourceonline.com/product/izip-e3-vibe-plus-step-over-327967-1.htm - Purchase
Thoughts: Upgraded components (shifters...)but is a few years old (does this affect the battery life?). It is a mid-drive with a throttle


Raleigh Sprite IE - $1499 - 350W Mid
https://electricbikereview.com/raleigh/sprite-ie/ - Review
https://www.bikesourceonline.com/product/raleigh-electric-sprite-ie-step-thru-327749-1.htm - Purchase
Thoughts: Upgraded components (shifters...)but is a few years old (does this affect the battery life?). It is a mid-drive with a throttle

Questions:
1) I see that the Radcity says 750W but I don't know if that is nominal or peak. If it is peak then I would assume that the nominal is around 500W. Does anyone know the answer to this?

2) It looks like these other bikes I am looking at are from 2016/2017, how will this affect battery life? WIll I have to buy a new battery on top of these purchases to put it in working condition?

3) How does a 350W mid-drive compare to a 500W rear hub? are those about equal/what is an easy way to tell?

4) Based on my size am I in the correct ballpark for motor size?

5) Are there any other bike to look at that I have missed and you would suggest? Is there a website that you use to find used/prior year ebikes?

yet again, thank you for any input.

 

[Tyler S]

On the rad city forget about the 750/500w if you’re thinking about hills - it doesn’t matter, what matters is the newton meters of torque, and because rad city makes direct drives they have lower torque than geared hubs or mid-drives. Don’t quote me on this - and someone else here will know - but I think the rad city puts out around 40nm of torque, which is not a ton. Look for that figure between the bikes (the mid drives will have the most) to gauge how they will be climbing hills vice the watts of the motor.

 

[RetepBiker]

On the rad city forget about the 750/500w if you’re thinking about hills - it doesn’t matter, what matters is the newton meters of torque, and because rad city makes direct drives they have lower torque than geared hubs or mid-drives. Don’t quote me on this - and someone else here will know - but I think the rad city puts out around 40nm of torque, which is not a ton. Look for that figure between the bikes (the mid drives will have the most) to gauge how they will be climbing hills vice the watts of the motor.

So... the nm are more important than the actual watts. I know that you can back calculate the battery usage based on the watts but I guess that it puts it in a ball park frame. I did notice that the rad rover has a higher 80nm compared to the 40 of the city. I think that this revolves around the geared vs direct rear hub motor.

 

[RetepBiker]

So... the nm are more important than the actual watts. I know that you can back calculate the battery usage based on the watts but I guess that it puts it in a ball park frame. I did notice that the rad rover has a higher 80nm compared to the 40 of the city. I think that this revolves around the geared vs direct rear hub motor.

Based on your point, it makes me think that the geared will be better for my needs. I was leaning towards the direct before due to the fact they have less moving parts (less maintenance) and are quieter but the extra nm on the geared hub might allow for a lower watt motor to give me the same or more power.

 

[DavidBer]

Here is my 2 cents and what we did.

My wife was looking for a daily commuter to her work. She hates driving on the side of the road, even though, here in Santa Barbara, CA it is very bike friendly. So her route has her going on main drags for about 30% of it and then bike trails for the rest. This puts her at about a little more than 10 miles one way.

I was looking for a daily commuter to my office. Unlike her, I am not afraid of the traffic situation. Ironically, we work on the same road. I am at the 5300 block and she is at the 6800 block. For me, because I am a 'guy' and a nerd, I have been bred to believe the shortest distance is a straight line. For me, it is 5 miles door to door.

She is 6'1.5" tall and well, not 120lbs I am 6' and well, I weigh too much. I weigh a little more than you do.

We went to two local stores to look at bikes. One was Pedego. The guy that owns it was extremely pleasant during the conversation there and was to get back to us. He never has. Another store we went to had Haibikes, Stromer and Gazelles. We felt both were out of our price range because we were not sure if this was just a fad for us or if we were serious about it. I didn't feel like spending 6 to 10k on a fad.

I started looking around at bikes and love the work that Court does. I saw that he had the RadCity as a top pick in the commuter category. Well, this meant we would have to assemble and deal with mail order issues. I didn't like their return policy. Their return policy is basically if it is screwed up in shipping we will send you stuff to fix it. You bought it you own it. So we got off our butts and drove down to Santa Monica. This is about 2.5 hours away. We saw that Rad had the bikes at B8TA stores to test out. We got there and well, it was interesting. We had to sign a waiver and we rode the bikes in a very small area of a SHOPPING MALL on the 2nd floor. Not a true way to test. But we got an idea of the build quality and the bike in general. We were now debating between the step-thru versus the non-step thru.

I had a wild hair up my butt and checked on craigslist. As we have a LOT of bikes being where we are, I wanted to see if someone was selling one. I saw an ad in LA for an ebike from a company called E-Glide. The bike looked interesting and it made me come back to the site and see if Court did a review of it. Well, he did! I watched the video a few times. I watched other videos that Court did about the company. I had narrowed down the choice to bikes between E-Glide and RadCity. But I was still not sure if this was a fad, something we would do, or something that would just sit in the house to hang clothes on. I had an idea! I figured some place here in Santa Barbara had to rent out Ebikes. I started calling around and I found a place that rented them. It is easy to find mountain bikes here, but commuters is a little different. The company had Specialized Turbo Como. I rented a bike for two days for a cost of $140. I figured she would take it one day, I'd take it another and we would learn what the route would be like and if it made sense.

The bike rental place would deliver the bike for free if I was at a hotel near them, but to get it to my residence, they wanted $20 to drop off and $20 to pick up. I went and got the bike She took it the first day. She said it took her 50 minutes to get there. She said it was fine. I took it the next day. I installed Ride with GPS on my phone. When I drove the route in my car, I knew there was a small elevation change, but didn't think much about it. On the bike, WOW, ok there was a big elevation change. It took me 15 minutes to get to my office and I averaged 18mph. I came back and averaged a little more and hit a top speed of almost 30mph. The elevation change was close to 400'.

We talked and said, yes, this will work for us. Now, it was time for full on nerd comparison. I wanted to see what the differences between the E-Glide and the RadCity was. My wife said, "Why not get the Specialized?" I said, "3k a bike or 3k for 2 bikes." She didn't want to spend 3k a bike.

I noticed that Rad listed the motor as a 750w motor. They also listed who made the motor. The company that makes the motor does NOT have a 750w motor. They have 350 and 500w motors. This 750w thing is some sort of marketing trick that turned me off. It got me looking at things closer. As my wife carries a backpack that has her purse and a change of clothes in it, she didn't want it on her back. The RadCity has an INCREDIBLE amount of accessories that you can order! They have a front rack and you can get a basket. Everything fits and there are no issues. The E-Glide, nope. Both though had rear racks. I noticed the E-Glide had better components than the Rad. I noticed though that the Rad has a higher amperage on their battery though. In other words, I can go further on the Rad (in theory) than the E-Glide. Considering I am doing 10 miles, it didn't matter to me. Considering my wife is doing 20 miles, it didn't matter to her.

We decided to head back down to Santa Monica to test out the E-Glide. I called on Thursday and talked to David there. We talked to 10 minutes and he said, "Come in on Monday, we will take care of you." This is going to sound like a sales pitch, but it isn't. You will read here on the forums, that anyone that has dealt with David has NOTHING but positive things to say about him. The guy is friggin awesome. David knew that I said my wife and I would be there to try out the bike. What did he do? He had TWO bikes ready. He had one with a female seat and the other with a male seat. Yes! They have seats for women where the width is a little wider. He also remembered that I said her height was 6'1.5" tall and had it pretty dialed in for her to just jump on it and go.

I noticed something different about this bike compared to the Rad. If I was standing over the bike and had the seat basically poking me in the butt, if I hit the throttle, the front end would come up. Yes a WHEELIE!. When I did that on the Rad, it didn't have the power to do that at all. The front end stayed down. We were adamant we wanted a throttle. In our driving of the Specialized, which does NOT have a throttle, we hated stop signs and red lights. The throttle gives us the ability to get to speed really quick and then not worry about cars getting pissed and taking us out.

We left buying two bikes.

One thing that we noticed that is much different than the Specialized has to do with how solid the bike feels. According to Ride with GPS, my average on this bike is about .5 mph faster and my top speed is about 4 mph faster. I think this has to do with 26" versus 27.5" rims more than anything else. But the Specialized felt REALLY solid. I would ride that bike with no hands no issue. The E-Glide, I will NOT. Honestly, I don't think it has to do with how solid the bike feels, but has more to do with the tires. The E-Glide has Schwalbe Mondials on them. The Specialized has different tires that are basically very smooth. The Schwalbes have traction as you can take them on a trail. I think that has a LOT more to do with the feel.

I think you are going to suffer some fit issues. The Specialized fit fine for me. The RadCity we tested was the step thru and that has cruiser handle bars so it was very upright. The E-Glide we made sure to get the adjustable stem. We do not want to crouch over, almost want a cruiser feel. Right now, we dialing in the fit better.

I realize that this was a very long post. We were just at where you are. We also considered the Aventon, but they were sold out and it had a similar issue to the Specialized that I did not like. Both of those have the display dead center on the bars. I'd prefer to have my phone there. The E-Glide has the display off to the left by the grip. I am very happy that we spent the $140 to test out a bike to make sure we would even do it. I am very happy that we went to B8TA to test the Rad and then to David's shop to test the E-Glide. I just wish that E-Glide had Rad's accessory line. I also am very happy that E-Glide has a true return policy. In one of the videos that Court did, he mentioned that is pretty much a no questions asked 30 day warranty and that of all the bikes he has done, he has had two returns. That is a helluva good return rate!

I hope this post helps you and gives you some ideas. Good luck in what you do.

 

[RetepBiker]

Thanks for the through reply David. I really appreciate it. I will look into the e-glide.

 

[RetepBiker]

Thanks for the thorough reply David. I really appreciate it. I will look into the e-glide.

David, the e-glide does look like a nice bike but... at the $1700 price point plus $175 for shipping + ~$100 for taxes(6% local), it puts it above my price range.

 

[DavidBer]

I am not trying to sell you on it, but you will have the shipping, not the sales tax

I'd also suggest renting either what you want to buy or something very similar so you can determine if it's what you want.

 

[patrizioeb]

Great review.

 

[patrizioeb]

David, the e-glide does look like a nice bike but... at the $1700 price point plus $175 for shipping + ~$100 for taxes(6% local), it puts it above my price range.

Here is my 2 cents and what we did.

My wife was looking for a daily commuter to her work. She hates driving on the side of the road, even though, here in Santa Barbara, CA it is very bike friendly. So her route has her going on main drags for about 30% of it and then bike trails for the rest. This puts her at about a little more than 10 miles one way.

I was looking for a daily commuter to my office. Unlike her, I am not afraid of the traffic situation. Ironically, we work on the same road. I am at the 5300 block and she is at the 6800 block. For me, because I am a 'guy' and a nerd, I have been bred to believe the shortest distance is a straight line. For me, it is 5 miles door to door.

She is 6'1.5" tall and well, not 120lbs I am 6' and well, I weigh too much. I weigh a little more than you do.

We went to two local stores to look at bikes. One was Pedego. The guy that owns it was extremely pleasant during the conversation there and was to get back to us. He never has. Another store we went to had Haibikes, Stromer and Gazelles. We felt both were out of our price range because we were not sure if this was just a fad for us or if we were serious about it. I didn't feel like spending 6 to 10k on a fad.

I started looking around at bikes and love the work that Court does. I saw that he had the RadCity as a top pick in the commuter category. Well, this meant we would have to assemble and deal with mail order issues. I didn't like their return policy. Their return policy is basically if it is screwed up in shipping we will send you stuff to fix it. You bought it you own it. So we got off our butts and drove down to Santa Monica. This is about 2.5 hours away. We saw that Rad had the bikes at B8TA stores to test out. We got there and well, it was interesting. We had to sign a waiver and we rode the bikes in a very small area of a SHOPPING MALL on the 2nd floor. Not a true way to test. But we got an idea of the build quality and the bike in general. We were now debating between the step-thru versus the non-step thru.

I had a wild hair up my butt and checked on craigslist. As we have a LOT of bikes being where we are, I wanted to see if someone was selling one. I saw an ad in LA for an ebike from a company called E-Glide. The bike looked interesting and it made me come back to the site and see if Court did a review of it. Well, he did! I watched the video a few times. I watched other videos that Court did about the company. I had narrowed down the choice to bikes between E-Glide and RadCity. But I was still not sure if this was a fad, something we would do, or something that would just sit in the house to hang clothes on. I had an idea! I figured some place here in Santa Barbara had to rent out Ebikes. I started calling around and I found a place that rented them. It is easy to find mountain bikes here, but commuters is a little different. The company had Specialized Turbo Como. I rented a bike for two days for a cost of $140. I figured she would take it one day, I'd take it another and we would learn what the route would be like and if it made sense.

The bike rental place would deliver the bike for free if I was at a hotel near them, but to get it to my residence, they wanted $20 to drop off and $20 to pick up. I went and got the bike She took it the first day. She said it took her 50 minutes to get there. She said it was fine. I took it the next day. I installed Ride with GPS on my phone. When I drove the route in my car, I knew there was a small elevation change, but didn't think much about it. On the bike, WOW, ok there was a big elevation change. It took me 15 minutes to get to my office and I averaged 18mph. I came back and averaged a little more and hit a top speed of almost 30mph. The elevation change was close to 400'.

We talked and said, yes, this will work for us. Now, it was time for full on nerd comparison. I wanted to see what the differences between the E-Glide and the RadCity was. My wife said, "Why not get the Specialized?" I said, "3k a bike or 3k for 2 bikes." She didn't want to spend 3k a bike.

I noticed that Rad listed the motor as a 750w motor. They also listed who made the motor. The company that makes the motor does NOT have a 750w motor. They have 350 and 500w motors. This 750w thing is some sort of marketing trick that turned me off. It got me looking at things closer. As my wife carries a backpack that has her purse and a change of clothes in it, she didn't want it on her back. The RadCity has an INCREDIBLE amount of accessories that you can order! They have a front rack and you can get a basket. Everything fits and there are no issues. The E-Glide, nope. Both though had rear racks. I noticed the E-Glide had better components than the Rad. I noticed though that the Rad has a higher amperage on their battery though. In other words, I can go further on the Rad (in theory) than the E-Glide. Considering I am doing 10 miles, it didn't matter to me. Considering my wife is doing 20 miles, it didn't matter to her.

We decided to head back down to Santa Monica to test out the E-Glide. I called on Thursday and talked to David there. We talked to 10 minutes and he said, "Come in on Monday, we will take care of you." This is going to sound like a sales pitch, but it isn't. You will read here on the forums, that anyone that has dealt with David has NOTHING but positive things to say about him. The guy is friggin awesome. David knew that I said my wife and I would be there to try out the bike. What did he do? He had TWO bikes ready. He had one with a female seat and the other with a male seat. Yes! They have seats for women where the width is a little wider. He also remembered that I said her height was 6'1.5" tall and had it pretty dialed in for her to just jump on it and go.

I noticed something different about this bike compared to the Rad. If I was standing over the bike and had the seat basically poking me in the butt, if I hit the throttle, the front end would come up. Yes a WHEELIE!. When I did that on the Rad, it didn't have the power to do that at all. The front end stayed down. We were adamant we wanted a throttle. In our driving of the Specialized, which does NOT have a throttle, we hated stop signs and red lights. The throttle gives us the ability to get to speed really quick and then not worry about cars getting pissed and taking us out.

We left buying two bikes.

One thing that we noticed that is much different than the Specialized has to do with how solid the bike feels. According to Ride with GPS, my average on this bike is about .5 mph faster and my top speed is about 4 mph faster. I think this has to do with 26" versus 27.5" rims more than anything else. But the Specialized felt REALLY solid. I would ride that bike with no hands no issue. The E-Glide, I will NOT. Honestly, I don't think it has to do with how solid the bike feels, but has more to do with the tires. The E-Glide has Schwalbe Mondials on them. The Specialized has different tires that are basically very smooth. The Schwalbes have traction as you can take them on a trail. I think that has a LOT more to do with the feel.

I think you are going to suffer some fit issues. The Specialized fit fine for me. The RadCity we tested was the step thru and that has cruiser handle bars so it was very upright. The E-Glide we made sure to get the adjustable stem. We do not want to crouch over, almost want a cruiser feel. Right now, we dialing in the fit better.

I realize that this was a very long post. We were just at where you are. We also considered the Aventon, but they were sold out and it had a similar issue to the Specialized that I did not like. Both of those have the display dead center on the bars. I'd prefer to have my phone there. The E-Glide has the display off to the left by the grip. I am very happy that we spent the $140 to test out a bike to make sure we would even do it. I am very happy that we went to B8TA to test the Rad and then to David's shop to test the E-Glide. I just wish that E-Glide had Rad's accessory line. I also am very happy that E-Glide has a true return policy. In one of the videos that Court did, he
mentioned that is pretty much a no questions asked 30 day warranty and that of all the bikes he has done, he has had two returns. That is a helluva good return rate!

I hope this post helps you and gives you some ideas. Good luck in what you do.

Great, helpful information. I am looking at the E-glide SS and like it quite a lot but it has an unknown (to me) Henti motor. I haven't found any information on the Henti motor. Do you, anybody know anything about Henti motors? Thanks.