Guest e-bike recommendations needed

[Jboz]

Hi all. OK, I live downtown in a very bike-friendly medium-sized city. We have houseguests on a frequent basis, many of whom visit for several days. There is lots to see around here, and some great trails including a longer paved riverfront trail that winds through a several parks, museums and a nearby university. The city is hilly though, and many of our guests are older, casual bike riders at best. As such, e-bikes make a lot of sense.

So I'm looking for e-bike recommendations. Need something that is more or less unisex in design and can be easily adjusted to fit a variety of sized riders. Utilitarian is good, as in baskets/racks for shopping...basically, function over form. And very upright riding posture is what I'm aiming for. Range isn't a huge factor - 35 miles or so should be plenty in most cases. Since I'm probably going to end up needing 2 of these, something fairly budget friendly is also a plus.

Thanks!

 

[bones774]

That's very nice of you. I live in a very urban area with extreme tourism, i would be very concerned with theft of bikes. Most people tend to treat the things that don't belong to them with less respect than their own property. Just saying.

 

[Marci jo]

Wow Jboz, what a fun thing to do with guests. And a great way for them to see your city.
Would your guests need stability and be able to touch the ground at stops? Maybe one of the small 20” tire bikes;
Lectric XP Step-Thru, one of the Rad Power bike, Pedego Element. Those bikes have throttles to consider also, which have pros and cons for new ebike riders.
Maybe one of the Aventons? They have step thrus and bigger tires.
Please post what you find.

 

[Dewey]

EBR has an affordable ebike listings https://electricbikereview.com/category/affordable/
A lot of them are sold direct to consumer, but there are some supported by bike shops like the Electra Townie Go! 7D which can be serviced at any Trek shop or REI store, or some DTC brands like RadPower contract with mobile van service from velofix.

 

[Jboz]

That's very nice of you. I live in a very urban area with extreme tourism, i would be very concerned with theft of bikes. Most people tend to treat the things that don't belong to them with less respect than their own property. Just saying.

Theft is always a concern with any bikes, including traditional bikes. Even crappy, rusty, ugly bikes can and do get stolen. Thieves suck! Precautions such as locks and alarms are a deterrent, but are still never a guarantee. Employing a watchful eye, such as choosing outdoor seating for lunch, is also effective. About the only way to never get your bike stolen would be to never leave it alone. Our guests would most likely be riding with us on bike excursions (so 4 of us total), so leaving bikes unattended would be very rare, but still could be necessary on occasion. Yeah, theft can happen but by being smart and taking the right precautions much of the risk can be mitigated. The fun factor of being able to tour the city by e-bike outweighs the relatively minor risk.

 

[Jboz]

Wow Jboz, what a fun thing to do with guests. And a great way for them to see your city.
Would your guests need stability and be able to touch the ground at stops? Maybe one of the small 20” tire bikes;
Lectric XP Step-Thru, one of the Rad Power bike, Pedego Element. Those bikes have throttles to consider also, which have pros and cons for new ebike riders.
Maybe one of the Aventons? They have step thrus and bigger tires.
Please post what you find.

I think being able to have both feet down at stops is good. So yes, either a low or mid step would be best for guest versatility. Since we don't have throttles and we would be doing rides with them, I'm inclined to stick with true pedal assist for guest bikes just for the sake of consistency. But I'm not locked into that...trying to stay flexible.

 

[Achterbahn]

Can I be your guest?

 

[Jboz]

Can I be your guest?

haha - as magnanimous as it may sound, I do have an ulterior (and somewhat selfish) motive. Even in a city with lots of cool stuff to see, it can sometimes be a little repetitive having frequent guests. We show people around, but for us after awhile it can be a little boring. For example, the museum or aquarium might be a cool exciting thing for our guests to do, but for us it's a "been there, done that a hundred times" thing...the usual touristy places get stale for a local. But I never get tired of biking, so that's something we can do together with our guests and everyone has a good time. And maybe if we tire them out they will go to bed early and we can have some alone time

 

[harryS]

Which is why I like our fleet of small folding bikes. Except they don't have the 35 mile range. In which case, the guests can put them in an Uber and come home. They can also put them on the Metra and take the train downtown. Actually, if they did that, they could rent an ebike down there.

 

[Art Deco]

This question has come up before, and my concern is letting the battery on the guest bike sit for months unused or attended, so if you can find a bike that uses the same battery as your own bike you can switch off batteries among your "fleet". That may not be possible, but if so that would be my approach. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[ElevenAD]

This question has come up before, and my concern is letting the battery on the guest bike sit for months unused or attended, so if you can find a bike that uses the same battery as your own bike you can switch off batteries among your "fleet". That may not be possible, but if so that would be my approach. Good luck and keep us posted.

if you already own an E-Bike i would take Art Deco's advice for sure! if not here are my choices both hub drives, i dont let guest with no experience ride my middrives and both of these choices are in the more affordable price range
1) Rad Mission Mid Step$1099 its cheap simple and its going to handle almost like a regular bike, anyone can jump on and Rock! and we know Rad is a solid company!
2)Rad Rover Step through,$1599 easy to get on and off, big fat tires may take a minute to adjust to but no big deal and they will provide a more comfy ride,something the casual rider tuchus will appreciate! Both are listed 45+miles range

 

[FezUSA]

A number of rental places use the Rad bikes, and we've used both the 20" x 4" step-thru and step-over and folding/non-folding versions. The small, fat tires make it very easy and stable, as well as comfortable for non-riders to quickly acclimate too. Power/battery wise they have been fine for 1/2 day to full day sight seeing. Talking with one shop manager/ mechanic they have been very happy with them after trying quite a few other brands. I would also look at Biktrix Stunner LT (bought a 20x4 version for my 5' wife), as well as the Bolton Avenger & Crusader.