Light(est) small Ebike with throttle for disabled wife (5'2")

[kersef]

Hey folks,

My wife has ME/CFS, and her capacity varies quite a lot day to day. We have a wheel chair and mobility scooter for her but she really misses biking. I bought her a Rad city 3 last year and when she's well enough to ride she loves it. The only thing is that it's too big and heavy for her. She's 5'2".

So now that I know she like having an e-bike I want to get her one more suited to her situation. Price ideally would be 5k cad or less. Absolutely has to have a throttle and be as light as possible. Folding doesn't matter.

I've looked at the Carbo bikes. https://ridecarbo.com/ They seem very light, but the company has pretty terrible customer support reviews. Also, Ideally we'd get something from a name brand that we can take to be serviced if need be. We'd also like to be able to attach a trailer to it for carrying our 2 year old. We're in Montreal if that helps at all.

Thank you so much for sharing your ideas!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Welcome aboard! Look into the Velotric Breeze 1 — a 50 lb, 750W, 65 Nm hub-drive step-thru cruiser with a throttle. Recently bought this one for my 5'6" wife. It's light for an ebike but not small.

Importantly, the Breeze toggles between torque-sensing and cadence-sensing sensing assist on the fly with a single button press. And the cadence-sensing mode lets you ghost-pedal — i.e., get full motor power just by turning the cranks, no real effort required. That effectively turns the pedals into secondary all-or-nothing foot throttles.

My wife's not a strong rider. She generally prefers torque-sensing assist for the added power control and more natural feel. But she finds cadence-sensing assist much more helpful on bigger hills. Your wife might benefit as well.

My early impressions of the Breeze here. Velotric's nationwide dealer/service network is a big plus.

 

[Biplaneguy]

My wife is 5'0" and fits her Zugo Rhino well. However, like most fat tire bikes it's not lightweight, but she wanted something that could handle sand and gravel roads at campgrounds, with a big battery for useful range.

 

[harryS]

Look at the Qualisports lineup. While they offer a fat tire model, if your wife enjoyed cycling she would probably feel more at home on the thinner tires. The Blix Vika+ also is a lighter folder.

We're both riding 26" and 27" bikes now, with over 3000 miles on them, but before that we took 20" folders all over the USA. Over 5000 miles on my yellow one. When I get back on mine, I always am amazed by its nimbleness.

 

[Dewey]

Does she need a throttle if the bike had a torque sensor, which acts as a foot throttle? The Dahon k-feather weighs 26lb and has a torque sensor. Short range battery & single speed but seriously light.

 

[sc00ter]

If you're looking for a small and light hold-over till she gets better and can manage the Rad I'll loosely suggest a JackRabbit. I have one and it does everything I ask of it. Been stone reliable, idiot proof (I haven't broken anything) and is just care free fun.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Does she need a throttle if the bike had a torque sensor, which acts as a foot throttle?

Yes. To get full power out of a torque-sensing ebike without a throttle, you need to exert a certain amount of pedal force — even in highest assist. If you're incapable of that for whatever reason, you can't access full power when you need it.

This is the case for the OP's wife. Hence the need for either a hand throttle or cadence-sensing assist.

Ditto for my wife, whose arthritic sacroiliac joints punish high pedal forces. Her bike's ability to switch to cadence-sensing assist as needed pretty much solves the problem by allowing ghost-pedaling at full power.

Otherwise she prefers torque-sensing, but she's still glad to have a thumb throttle now and then.

 

[6zfshdb]

You've already received many good suggestions and I thought I'd add mine to the list. I don't normally recommend specific bikes since it's a highly personalized choice, but your situation is similar to mine.

My 5' 2" wife also has some mobility issues and had to give up biking more than a decade ago. When we decided to try e-bikes, we test rode more than a dozen. In every case, we found the cadence and torque sensors did not activate fast enough for her to easily get moving. For her, a throttle was absolutely necessary. We ultimately chose the Pedego Platinum Interceptor.

Although not exactly light weight, she was able to handle the 53# bike with little trouble. In her case, the 26" version fit her well, but a 24" version is also available.

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I can't stress enough the importance of test riding before choosing a bike. We were almost ready to give up before finding the Pedego. The fit of a bike is a very personal thing however, and you need to find that fit before buying.