Happy wife, Happy Life!

[Jeremy McCreary]

My wife & I have been cycling together since we met back in 2003.
Regular bicycles at first, then recumbents, then road bikes, nowadays ebike & etrike.
Wife is 4' 11", not particularly easy to find bikes that can fit her and make her feel secure enough to operate with confidence.
For ebikes, wife started with something small & easy to handle, 16" wheels, 6-speed, 350w motor, 15 mph top speed, 35 lb. micro ebike.

Wife wanted something even smaller, so we try a 12" wheel, shaft-drive ebike/escoter, no gears, pedal/cranks just act as a crank generator to charge the large (25Ah) battery.

Once she got a few hundred miles on it, she felt good enough to try something bigger, Lectric 2.0 StepThru;
but somehow didn't like the way it rides.

I bought a Fiido T1 for myself back in 2021, I ride it few times a week carrying large volume of items between places.
Wife sees how much I abuse the Fiido T1 and thinks she wants to try it; sure enough the original T1 was recalled for frame failure/weakspot.
Fiido did good on the recall and sent out a replacement T1 with frame improvements.
I modified the improved T1 for the wife to try out, shorter crankarms, sweepback handlebar, short stubby stem, and off she goes with it.

Next to the 12" wheel e-scooter, which uses the same battery as the Fiido T1,
She likes the extra stability of the fat tires on the Fiido T1, I try not to give her too much to think about, just let her try things on her own, let her decide what she wants to ride:

Back in FEB this year, I ordered the Lectrik XP Trike for my in-laws.
FIL in his mid 80's used to ride his fat tire ebike to his fav fishing spot (2 mile from their house in Queen, NY) prior to the pandemic.
Both in-laws have diminished their outdoor activities since their neighborhood was one of the hardest hit by COVID, the new TV footage that showed hospital with semi-trailer full of dead bodies, that was the hospital that my wife was born in.
The in-laws used to enjoy outdoor activities, now they have very low stamina, poor balance, poor flexibility and generally weak physically.
Their neighborhood have plenty of room on the streets, besides, their operation of the trike will likely be very limited and heavily supervised.
The XP Trike is just an activity to get them out of the house, I don't think they will use it more than a handful of times in a year.
Wife hopped onto the trike last weekend for a few miles, she wanted to continue riding the trike because she enjoyed it so much, I was a little tired after a full day of yard work. Here's a picture of size comparison of her micro ebike vs her Fiido T1.

You deserve the Croix du Mariage for all that effort and bike budget churn on your wife's behalf! Hope you find a lasting solution for her.

 

[None]

You deserve the Croix du Mariage for all that effort and bike budget churn on your wife's behalf! Hope you find a lasting solution for her.

Just as the thread title, that's where priority lies.

 

[dynamic]

My wife and I went on our first ride together. Her bike is not fixed. I believe it was 17.5 miles. We were planning on the standard loop, but once we got to town we decided to nearly double the ride by going up into the mountains on the way home. It was a really good ride, but my wife brakes going down hill. Weird. So it took a lot longer. While in town we stopped for a sandwich and coffee at the coffee shop. She went clipped in and occasionally struggled getting clipped in but part of that was one side of the pedal was flat. Would have been better to have double sided clip pedals. She also was really not comfortable on the "real roads" part of the ride. The potholes and the passing cars made her really uncomfortable.

This ride was amazing. The weather was perfect. My wife got to see some of my favorite scenic views. We biked past one of our favorite creemee stands (and did not stop). Ben & Jerry's factory is a couple hour round trip bike ride from here. That's a fun thing that could be on our radar.

This ride raised two problems. One: with every bike we have received from specialized needing shop attention and causing us to miss great ride weather, it's really hard to justify the cost to value. Even if we never missed a good weather ride, the amount my wife can use the bike puts the value in question. Then, there is the fact that it isn't fixed yet.

Evelo has a great sale where we could spend a little over half the money on enviolo automatic bikes (omega) with a 4 year warranty instead of 2. If my bike is going to be in the shop regularly for random stuff, I think I would rather have it covered for 4 years of parts instead of 2.

Anyway, these are hard to justify given their poor reliability on 3 bikes. My wife is struggling with that as well. She was already not entirely comfortable with the cost.

We will see if they can get it working right instead of being permanently locked into 80 rpm. Great bikes to ride when they are working.

 

[PSm]

My wife and I went on our first ride together. Her bike is not fixed. I believe it was 17.5 miles. We were planning on the standard loop, but once we got to town we decided to nearly double the ride by going up into the mountains on the way home. It was a really good ride, but my wife brakes going down hill. Weird. So it took a lot longer. While in town we stopped for a sandwich and coffee at the coffee shop. She went clipped in and occasionally struggled getting clipped in but part of that was one side of the pedal was flat. Would have been better to have double sided clip pedals. She also was really not comfortable on the "real roads" part of the ride. The potholes and the passing cars made her really uncomfortable.

This ride was amazing. The weather was perfect. My wife got to see some of my favorite scenic views. We biked past one of our favorite creemee stands (and did not stop). Ben & Jerry's factory is a couple hour round trip bike ride from here. That's a fun thing that could be on our radar.

This ride raised two problems. One: with every bike we have received from specialized needing shop attention and causing us to miss great ride weather, it's really hard to justify the cost to value. Even if we never missed a good weather ride, the amount my wife can use the bike puts the value in question. Then, there is the fact that it isn't fixed yet.

Evelo has a great sale where we could spend a little over half the money on enviolo automatic bikes (omega) with a 4 year warranty instead of 2. If my bike is going to be in the shop regularly for random stuff, I think I would rather have it covered for 4 years of parts instead of 2.

Anyway, these are hard to justify given their poor reliability on 3 bikes. My wife is struggling with that as well. She was already not entirely comfortable with the cost.

We will see if they can get it working right instead of being permanently locked into 80 rpm. Great bikes to ride when they are working.

Bummer, about the problems you’ve had with your bikes. Given the high price and the benefits of an LBS, I would have thought that there would not be so many problems. Any chance you could find a better authorized Specialized LBS to work with? (Would think a capable LBS would assemble and check the bike out more thoroughly)

 

[dynamic]

Bummer, about the problems you’ve had with your bikes. Given the high price and the benefits of an LBS, I would have thought that there would not be so many problems. Any chance you could find a better authorized Specialized LBS to work with? (Would think a capable LBS would assemble and check the bike out more thoroughly)

Not one close enough to justify. If I am going that far, I can explore other brands as well.

I am not sure how much benefit any LBS is with the IGH models. A larger one might have parts on hand so it’s not a delivery every time they try something to fix it. But, there just isn’t the knowledge base out there. And specialized just says to replace parts from cheaper to more expensive. Right now they are waiting for a wiring harness.

 

[PSm]

Hope you get things sorted out. With higher complexity and newer technology, there are more things that could break, unfortunately. I keep getting tempted to get a new lightweight geared bike (Specialized, Trek, Scott or Lemond) to do more severe climbing, but stories like these keep me riding my single-speed analog and e-bikes.

 

[mschwett]

Hope you get things sorted out. With higher complexity and newer technology, there are more things that could break, unfortunately. I keep getting tempted to get a new lightweight geared bike (Specialized, Trek, Scott or Lemond) to do more severe climbing, but stories like these keep me riding my single-speed analog and e-bikes.

you would not want an IGH - especially an enviolo - for a bike like that, but rest assured that the 1x and 2x electronic drivetrains you’ll find on a lightweight gravel e-bike are absolutely rock solid. snick-snick-snick from gear to gear, satisfying and bulletproof. no cables to stretch, no trim to fool around with, just keep the battery charged and replace the chain every few thousand miles.

even my super lightweight 12 speed dura ace di2 has been absolutely perfect and trouble free for 7 or 8 thousand miles.

 

[JayUK]

This is very bad luck, and I am sorry to read about it. My 2022 Turbo Vado 5.0 is due to be delivered this week from my LBS, and I hope I do not have similar issues.

Some of your experiences do make me wonder if your LBS is competent and doing proper pre-sale checks, etc.; for example, my LBS does a full test ride before the customer gets the bikes.

 

[dynamic]

This is very bad luck, and I am sorry to read about it. My 2022 Turbo Vado 5.0 is due to be delivered this week from my LBS, and I hope I do not have similar issues.

Some of your experiences do make me wonder if your LBS is competent and doing proper pre-sale checks, etc.; for example, my LBS does a full test ride before the customer gets the bikes.

I have no doubt that my LBS is small time local town variety. The problem is these bikes should also leave the factory built right and working. Which, in this case, it clearly wasn’t.

If your new bike is the IGH, run screaming. If it is chain, I wouldn’t worry about it.

 

[dynamic]

Went on a ride with the entire family. We proved exactly one thing: E-bikes are unnecessary for this kind of riding. I pulled my 3 year old in the burley d'lite x with the motor off on gentle rolling rail trail style riding. The 9 year old road his riprock and loved it. Except one minor fall toward the end of the ride (that he likely over reacted to). But he got back on and finished the ride to get to the car.

My wife turned off her motor for most of the ride as well.

It's great fun to ride with the family. But I am pretty sure these bikes are unnecessary for the purpose. Priority bicycles are looking really appealing right now.

 

[mschwett]

Went on a ride with the entire family. We proved exactly one thing: E-bikes are unnecessary for this kind of riding. I pulled my 3 year old in the burley d'lite x with the motor off on gentle rolling rail trail style riding. The 9 year old road his riprock and loved it. Except one minor fall toward the end of the ride (that he likely over reacted to). But he got back on and finished the ride to get to the car.

My wife turned off her motor for most of the ride as well.

It's great fun to ride with the family. But I am pretty sure these bikes are unnecessary for the purpose. Priority bicycles are looking really appealing right now.

a lot of people assume they need eBikes because they ride heavy eBikes with tons of friction and drag and motors that make it hard to pedal when the motors are off. with the exception of hills it takes very little energy to keep an efficient, well maintained and specified bike rolling at 10-15mph.

but motors are FUN! and hills are tough, especially with kids or cargo in tow.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It's great fun to ride with the family. But I am pretty sure these bikes are unnecessary for the purpose.

Relatively young people actually do not need e-bikes. However, the first e-bike in the family often belongs to the wife as the handicap equalizer; then the husband finds out he needs an e-bike, too

The kind of family riding you describe is not demanding for sure.

but motors are FUN! and hills are tough, especially with kids or cargo in tow.

Add headwind to that!

 

[PSm]

Relatively young people actually do not need e-bikes. However, the first e-bike in the family often belongs to the wife as the handicap equalizer; then the husband finds out he needs an e-bike, too

The kind of family riding you describe is not demanding for sure.


Add headwind to that!

I’d also say the e-bikes are much better for those of any age, for two key types of situations: 1) if you need to commute and are short on time so need a faster average speed, or don’t want to be really sweaty, and 2) if you have very hilly or mountainous roads, which might require a high fitness level at any age (like some of the Tour de France Stages)!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I’d also say the e-bikes are much better for those of any age, for two key types of situations: 1) if you need to commute and are short on time so need a faster average speed, or don’t want to be really sweaty, and 2) if you have very hilly or mountainous roads, which might require a high fitness level at any age (like some of the Tour de France Stages)!

@PSm:
Even if I were totally healthy, I would not venture a 200 km traditional bike ride. No fun for me in the first place. Secondly, given a proper battery charge, I'm almost guaranteed to get to my destination (no risk of bonking on the ride). It would be even worse on my 105 km Sunday ride up very strong headwind... (The latter was far more exhausting than the 208 km tailwind ride!)

I met a road cyclist on the train on Sunday; we were heading to the similar destination. The poor chap was unaware of the wind conditions on his route...

 

[JayUK]

I had to move to an e-bike due to a heart condition and the need to keep to a heart rate limit imposed by my cardiologist. Without an e-bike, I would have had to give up cycling.

 

[JayUK]

I have no doubt that my LBS is small time local town variety. The problem is these bikes should also leave the factory built right and working. Which, in this case, it clearly wasn’t.

If your new bike is the IGH, run screaming. If it is chain, I wouldn’t worry about it.

I changed my IGH order to chain due to your experiences, and I think you may have saved me some major hassle.

 

[McCorby]

I changed my IGH order to chain due to your experiences, and I think you may have saved me some major hassle.

That’s really too bad. Hopefully you didn’t base your decision solely on this individuals experience. If so, have you read through all of their threads and posts? I’m guessing there are very few people that have been around here for a while that are surprised that once again they aren’t happy with their latest purchase. Just say’n!

The Enviolo hub has been around for many years and has been used by many bike manufacturers with good success. My bike has the AutomatiQ and has been awesome! If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend giving one a test ride and judge for yourself.

 

[JayUK]

That’s really too bad. Hopefully you didn’t base your decision solely on this individuals experience. If so, have you read through all of their threads and posts? I’m guessing there are very few people that have been around here for a while that are surprised that once again they aren’t happy with their latest purchase. Just say’n!

The Enviolo hub has been around for many years and has been used by many bike manufacturers with good success. My bike has the AutomatiQ and has been awesome! If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend giving one a test ride and judge for yourself.

Not at all. In all honesty, the main reason I cancelled my 2022 Vado 5.0 IGN order was that delivery in the UK would have been February 2024!

 

[dynamic]

Hopefully you didn’t base your decision solely on this individuals experience.

As said individual, I am with you. But, if you read this forum, there are quite a few issues with the IGH models. Many of those users switch to chain with no problems. For me, this is my 2nd and 3rd IGH model delivered with problems. Other users end up getting the entire bike swapped when problems aren’t resolved.

I love the automatic enviolo which is why I am on my 4th attempted purchase. When working, it is the best biking experience there is. Unfortunately, across 3 bikes, said bikes spent far more time in the shop than on the road.

I would love the solution to this, but today, specialized throws parts at it and hopes it fixes it. When the knowledge to diagnose and repair these models is more available, they will be fantastic bikes to own. Until then, unless your LBS has a lot of experience with them and parts on hand, they are an experiment.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

As said individual

Aren't we rather talking about an individual incompetent LBS?
Has it ever occur to you, @dynamic?

A shop that cannot tell the left from the right crank does not inspire confidence.