first ebike

[Darkstar]

Hi, looking to purchase 1st ebike and have some questions. I plan to use it to run around town and light off roading. I live in a ski town, but not riding in winter. So, I have hills and gravel roads. my budget tops out at $1000

1. How important is hydro brakes vs mechanical?
2. How important is a torque sensor vs cadence sensor?
3. What features are must haves and what are marketing fluff?

I've been looking at the following and would appreciate any feedback and if I'm missing something I should be looking at.

1. Favuto Flurry 2.0
2. Luckeep X2
3. Ratton Pathfinder
4. Aipas M1
5. Be Cool Pathfinder

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Welcome aboard!

Regarding sensors: If you like pedaling, enjoy a little exercise, and want finer control over motor power with a more natural bicycle feel, torque-sensing assist is worth every penny.

On the other hand, if you just want to get from A to B with little effort, the usual all-or-nothing cadence-sensing assist will probably suffice. Lots of utility riders around here, and cadence-sensing seems to suit them just fine.

But it's not really that cut-and-dried. Wife just got a Velotric Breeze 1 with both kinds of assist switchable on the fly. Brilliant solution! She's constantly back and forth, with the cadence mode mainly for hills and headwinds.

Sounds like you'll be doing both recreational and utility riding. If you can find an affordable ebike with both kinds of assist, I'd give it strong consideration.

One must-have feature is serviceability. Best to buy at a local shop able and willing to work on both the mechanicals and the (usually proprietary) electricals. If you must buy online, make sure you have service lined up in advance.

The other reason not to buy online: You should really, really test before you buy. Way more to any bike than you can learn from specs alone.

 

[harryS]

Hydraulic brakes are potentially the best. Mechanicals can always be upgraded later to hydraulics for not much money.

Torque or cadence? Torque is more work. Requires real pedal effort, even if you turn it up., Cadence is always effortless pedaling if you want that. Biking enthusiasts usually prefer torque sensing. Maintains the feel of a manual bike. I own both types of ebikes. Torque sensors make sense for light bikes ridden for sport. You don't need them on heavy bikes, in my opinion.

All things being equal, if a bike has real UL certification on its battery, that's likely a safer battery. For ebikes, there is the bicycle parts. Those are upgradeablke, replaceable, and anyone with bike skills can maintain them. The electrical part is where most people need help. Good luck there. Plenty of people get lucky.

 

[PedalUma]

Big time stay away from bikes that have no local service like 'Be Cool' these are all internet only bikes that are hype-junk and will cost more in the first three month than the initial price and over the short total life of the 'bike' ten times more and is still junk! Bikes have pedals positioned to pedal and are operated by the pedals. Yes, it is all marketing fluff. Look at local reviews on Google Maps, not those controlled by the internal marketing department sales teams, on their own websites, or by paid 'influencers'. Mom and Indian call centers write these internal reviews. Those bikes are all junk. Go to your local bike shop, start there, where they actually service them. Ride local bikes. What are you going to do? Deposit a junk-hype bike at Whole Foods for the fish monger to fix for Bezos? Happy Run is not mentioned. Who wants the happy runs. It is not allowed on a street, totally illegal, and is not allowed in a bike lane, or path, and will be impounded, and will last less than three months before it takes a dump and can not be repaired or serviced in your town or even continent. In-continent is a good phrase for happy runs and their like. Or pay the price for a piece of hype-junk that needs to first be registered with a license plate with the DMV and can never be assembled safely, even by a pro-shop. No plate reg in photo = impounded with points plus fines and several court dates plus any attorney fees. Going cheap is very costly. Hint, look into locally serviced and sold mid-drives.

 

[Tom@WashDC]

Big time stay away from bikes that have no local service...
Those bikes are all junk...
Go to your local bike shop, start there...
Hint, look into locally serviced and sold mid-drives...

I recommend you follow PedalUma's advice above.
And look at quality, well known, used ebikes, that can be serviced locally.
This Forum is filled with guys that are looking for help diagnosing and fixing thier crappy ebikes and trying to source parts.

I say this as somebody that purchased my first two e-bikes online (non available locally in 2020), without a local service center, then built an e-bike from scratch, then graduated to a Carbon Fiber eMTB, with Bafang Ultra Mid Drive, and a self-installed Rohloff Speedhub.

But that's me. Give me the correct tools, and I'll dissasemble the Space Shuttle, put it back together, and it will fly higher and faster, with less fuel. If you can fix anything, source your own parts, suffer the downtime, and jerry-rig things to make them work, then go ahead and buy a "shite bike"!

 

[JimFMB]

You will be much better off spending another three-four hundred dollars on a bike that is sold by a LBS. Look into Aventon or Velotric. They have plenty of discounts and sale prices on current inventory of their previous models and also sold by networks of LBS.Spare yourself a lot or frustration and grief.

 

[PedalUma]

You will be much better off spending another three-four hundred dollars on a bike that is sold by a LBS. Look into Aventon or Velotric. They have plenty of discounts and sale prices on current inventory of their previous models and also sold by networks of LBS.Spare yourself a lot or frustration and grief.

You can also test ride. They do pro-assembly included and most often include a follow-up tune-up. Yes, the biggie is that your bike will be supported with factory authorized service. If there is shipping damage, that is not your problem. You will never be on hold with AI customer service 12-hours away.

 

[indianajo]

Hydraulic brakes are necessary for downhill mountain bike racers that wear out a pad in one trip. They are self adjusting until the pad wears out. Then with new pads you may need a repairman to get them to not leak. I adjust my front cable brake about every 1000 miles or 6 months. Takes about 1 minute. If you buy a real bike instead of the scrap metal trash you have been looking at, the cables will not stretch and require adjustment every month. There is steel, and there is grey metal made of tin,lead, copper, in the melt. Another trick if you find stopping difficult, buy brake handles that are 5" long instead of the current garbage that is 10 cm long. Brake manufacturers sell the useless trash so you will buy the hydraulics. Until ~2015 all hand brakes were 5" long.
Another point to remember, it is a bicycle. You need to size it to your body. I had to have my bike shipped in from California because bike shops in cities under 10000000 population stock bikes only for leggy Europeans & Africans. Oh, yes, they do stock one small pink bike with rim brakes, a garbage sprocket cluster that will drop the balls in 2000 miles, and a Holly Hobbie or Strawberry Shortcake logo on it. If I did buy a bike my size from a bike shop, I would have to pay for it before I ever sat on it. Your legs should be slightly bent when the pedal is at the bottom. Your knees should not hit the handlebar when turning. You should be able to put your toes on the pavement when stopped without jumping off. There are hunchback bikes, sloped back bikes, and straight up bikes. Buy the style that suits your riding position.

 

[PedalUma]

That is right. Do not buy a bike where you can not adjust saddle height. Hight is right when with your heal is on the pedal your knee is locked, and when the ball of your foot is on the pedal, fully extended, your knee is slightly bent. Get a bike where the weight of the battery and motor are low and centered for stability.