I'm new. To EBR and eBikes

[Jay.Rooster]

So I'm new. Being the new guy isn't terribly desirable, quite honestly. I'm going to have some stupid questions. Some noobishness will be involved. But I am familiar with the search button, how it works, and the fact that it is a very powerful tool indeed. I'll still be asking the dumb questions, but at least now this post can be proof that I had positive intent.

Hey all.

 

[TMH]

Welcome!

I think that many of us are so happy that others are discovering the pleasure and usefulness e-bikes that we definitely don't mind answering questions, even if it has been asked before. Things are happening fast in the e-bike world, and an exact question answered 6-12 months ago may have a completely different answer today.

Good luck in finding your perfect e-bike!

 

[ronr]

Hello fellow newbie and welcome! You’ll find this a friendly and informative place.

 

[Bigal1463]

Welcome Jay, don’t be concerned about asking questions, that’s how we learn from each other. People here are friendly and plenty helpful. Have fun and good luck.

 

[Mtl_Biker]

So I'm new. Being the new guy isn't terribly desirable, quite honestly. I'm going to have some stupid questions. Some noobishness will be involved. But I am familiar with the search button, how it works, and the fact that it is a very powerful tool indeed. I'll still be asking the dumb questions, but at least now this post can be proof that I had positive intent.

Hey all.

Welcome Jay!

Do you have an e-bike yet, or are you shopping? If you have one, what is it and how do you like it? (Photos would be great!)

BTW, it might be nice to add your location to your profile so that maybe you could meet other local riders. I notice you have no location specified, which is about as helpful as just saying "USA", or "Europe".

 

[Jay.Rooster]

Hey everybody! Thanks for making me feel welcome! I've already experienced a lot of helpful folks in the "Help Choosing an eBike" section with a thread I started about looking for a budget friendly (under $1500) bike for mountain roads (preferably a fat tire bike). Rented a Pedego Trail Tracker on Saturday. It was my first time on an eBike and I'm hooked. For life. It was beyond fun. I'll try to update my profile to add some info, @Mtl_Biker ! Thank you for the feedback and nice to meet you all!

 

[Bigal1463]

Good luck Jay and we look to hearing from you.

 

[Jay.Rooster]

So I've ordered myself my first fat tire ebike. Thankfully I can enjoy a taste of Summer since this one is August shipping. I think I read somewhere late August, but August nonetheless. Gusss I should have ordered this in the Spring if I wanted something for Summer. Probably wouldn't have been able to afford it though since that was before the job I have now. Well anyway, I'm glad it's shipping in August and I'll definitely share pics and I'll do my best to do a review of the bike. An initial review and then one after 500 miles or something. Pretty excited. Now I just need a helmet and a good bike lock.

 

[BigNerd]

So... which one did you order?

 

[Jay.Rooster]

Right. The bike! (In black)

SONDORS XS Review | ElectricBikeReview.com

Price: $1699.00 | Model Year: 2020 | The SONDORS XS is the ultimate fat electric bike experience with gigantic 4.9

electricbikereview.com

 

[BigNerd]

Congrats... I hear good things about Sondors. What were your other contenders?

Like you, I'm looking for a new ebike but there are so many choices.

 

[PatriciaK]

Congrats... I hear good things about Sondors. What were your other contenders?

Like you, I'm looking for a new ebike but there are so many choices.

Narrowing down and choosing can be daunting - so much information to process! It took me about 4 months to decide, and I ended up picking one of the bikes I test rode the first day!

 

[Jay.Rooster]

Congrats... I hear good things about Sondors. What were your other contenders?

Like you, I'm looking for a new ebike but there are so many choices.

Thank you man! There were a few choices on the list:

#1 Rad Rover 5 - because of the online support and community for the product. Seems to have endless customization options too.
#2 Sondors X - due to it's price. ($1,000). That was appealing when I cared about saving money initially (dude on youtube who is a fan of Sondors almost turned me off to the brand entirely)
Sondors XS - #3 Ultimately beat out the Sondors X due to it's power (750 vs 500w) and its shipping date of August and not September

Those were the solid top 3. I did prefer the Sondors X & XS style and how it looked a little more aggressive, but the RadRover seemed like I could mod endlessly like I do with my Seikos. The others that I took a gander at:

Himiway Cruiser
Ride1Up
Nakto Super Cruiser
Espin Nero

For various little reasons none of those were the one. I enjoyed my 2 hours on that Pedego Trail Tracker the other day that I was just straight up sold on fat bikes. I wanted to get somewhere near the performance of that bike, but over my price range at somewhere around 3,500-3750. I do want to do a side by side with specs for that bike and the XS though to see what the differences are. I believe the Pedego was a 500w so there's probably a difference right off the bat.

I really like designs like the Super73 and other options that are a bit more playful, but due to either price or specs, the Sondors was (hopefully) the right one for me. Eventually I was going to mod and paint the Rad Rover 5 to look like a WW2 era motorcycle in matte green. May have fun with the Sondors like that in the future. Would be fun to play around with it though. Attached an image of what I intended the Rad Rover to be converted into stylistically and the helmet I wanted to wear with it.

 

[Jay.Rooster]

Narrowing down and choosing can be daunting - so much information to process! It took me about 4 months to decide, and I ended up picking one of the bikes I test rode the first day!

I could have taken 6 pretty easily. The market is simply saturated with options and I really could spend forever watching and reading reviews (I probably still will). I don't think that's a bad thing as I love choice, but it's a lot to wrap my head around. I normally take a considerable amount of time when making a large purchase, but the fact that when Summer ends here it ends.. unlike Florida where it was a summer party all year long, helped expedite the process.