I need to choose the right E bike

[Nicmich]

could you please help me with choosing the right E bike for me. This will be my first E bike. I'm 50 years old, 5 foot 3 and 105 kgs and haven't ridden a bike in the past 10 years. My biking plans are to use the bike to get fit on and I will be using it to commute from home to town which is about a 50 km round trip. I also want to go on rail trail trips and multi day bike tours as my fitness improves. I will need a bike that can go the distance and be able to carry myself and bike camping equipment on and for groceries and general shopping. My E bike needs to be able to ride well on different surfaces. I also plan to be pulling a bike cargo wagon on it. Thanks for any help you can give me

 

[J.R.]

I assume Dunedin, New Zealand and not Dunedin, Florida? If memory serves your options in NZ are Euro spec bikes. Given you're pulling a wagon and camping gear I'd suggest a mid drive like Bosch, Yamaha or Brose. You might even be able to get one of the Bafang mid drives. Power in the form of torque is going to be much more important than speed for the cargo. A mid drive will give you the power you need.

You can check laws for NZ on Wikipedia. You might also double check with your local authorities and an ebike dealer. I've read your options there are much more limited than larger markets.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws

Given the cargo and distance you want to ride more power is best obviously. Motors (drives) are rated in watts and torque, batteries are rated in watt hour. Get the biggest battery you can afford. You can't have too much battery. Bosch and Yamaha offer 500 watt hour packs and Brose has even larger packs. You should be able to cover the distance with a 500.

Another great forum to pose your question is Pedelecs UK.

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/

You should note your budget and speeds you hope to ride. Also whether a step through or standard high step frame is desired. I'm in the US and the variety of bikes available here is very different than in NZ. As I understand some bikes can't even be imported there. Hopefully someone more local to you will chime in.

Welcome to the 50's! Ebikes are the great equalizer. You'll lose 20 years with an ebike purchase. Good luck!

 

[Feliz]

Hi, welcome to the forum. J.R. Has given you good advice I can't really add to it. I live in Canada and I have the addiction having purchased six eBikes and if I had the space I would have more. We have different bikes here than you folks do, my advice would just be to learn all you can and test ride, test ride, and test ride. I'm 80 years old and ebiking sure helped me get more fit and I love doing it. Good luck.

 

[nelzea]

Hi I am also in NZ (if you are in NZ!). While there are some Euro-spec bikes around (restricted to 25kph), this year it's quite common to see bikes with the US restriction of 32kph. And there are some that go faster, too. For mid-drives I would recommend checking out the Smartmotion X-City, and brands like Merida (Shimano STEPS), Scott (Bosch) and Liv/Giant (Yamaha). There are brands like Trek and Specialized too but they are pretty pricy.