I'm looking ahead to an eBike within the next couple of years, but just haven't seen anything locally or from the bigger mfrs that quite fits the bill for what I'm thinking of. What I would like to do is to replace the hybrid/trail bike that I now use for a lot of my riding (I also have a carbon road bike that I'll be sticking to for the rare times that I use it).
This is what I have been riding the last 7 years or so. The photo is from when it was brand new and doesn't show my bottle cages, rack, and various bar accessories, but you get the idea. It has 700x38c multipurpose tires, and I use the bike mainly for the following types of riding:
- Paved and unpaved rail-trails locally and around the state.
- Casual local riding with my wife or to run errands, get an ice cream or coffee, and so on.
- Multi-day non-road tours such as on the GAP-C&O and Katy trails.
- Occasional rides with the local serious gravel grinders group on back roads that are hilly and sometimes pretty rough depending on how recently graded (most are riding MTBs, but I can generally keep up for the first 30 miles!).
Most of the eBikes that I see are either Class 3 full-on MTBs with the Class 1 bikes being more of the cruiser variety, where what I'd really like is a Class 1 eBike equivalent to what I already have. The closest I have seen in person is the 2018 Trek DualSport+, where the DualSport is really the Trek equivalent of my bike. However, for 2019 they seem to have softened it up a bit (and added $800 to the price!). There is one good eBike specialist store in the area that carries a number of specialty brands; I haven't visited them yet, but none of them appear to have what I'm looking for, if it indeed exists.
Any suggestions?
This is what I have been riding the last 7 years or so. The photo is from when it was brand new and doesn't show my bottle cages, rack, and various bar accessories, but you get the idea. It has 700x38c multipurpose tires, and I use the bike mainly for the following types of riding:
- Paved and unpaved rail-trails locally and around the state.
- Casual local riding with my wife or to run errands, get an ice cream or coffee, and so on.
- Multi-day non-road tours such as on the GAP-C&O and Katy trails.
- Occasional rides with the local serious gravel grinders group on back roads that are hilly and sometimes pretty rough depending on how recently graded (most are riding MTBs, but I can generally keep up for the first 30 miles!).
Most of the eBikes that I see are either Class 3 full-on MTBs with the Class 1 bikes being more of the cruiser variety, where what I'd really like is a Class 1 eBike equivalent to what I already have. The closest I have seen in person is the 2018 Trek DualSport+, where the DualSport is really the Trek equivalent of my bike. However, for 2019 they seem to have softened it up a bit (and added $800 to the price!). There is one good eBike specialist store in the area that carries a number of specialty brands; I haven't visited them yet, but none of them appear to have what I'm looking for, if it indeed exists.
Any suggestions?