Looking for first ebike (tons of range, throttle, thick tire, no more than 1500 CAD)

Twiglaser said:
Honestly, setting that 1500CAD limit was more about me trying to be responsible and not pay too much money for things I don't need. I can easily save enough money for a 3k bike, doesn't mean that I should do that. Anyway, I believe that in the end I will just end up taking my chances with the Baluga. However, if I can bother you with another question, what are your thoughts on the RadPower bikes? Specifically, the RadMini (and the upgraded step through) or the RadRunner? A little more pricey than qualisports, but is it worth the extra money?
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Because the RadPower bike has a Bafang motor, the odds of parts availability in the future may be a little better. Bafang seems to have aspirations to someday be mentioned in the same breath as Bosch, Shimano, and Yamaha. They don't have the track record of parts availability and support *yet*, but they appear to be working on it. So that gives them a leg up over the "MXUS" motor (which I've never heard of before) in the Beluga.

But please be aware this is not an endorsement, just some quick thoughts as you requested. :)
 
Solom01 said:
Quite the opposite. This person asked for a low maintenance, fast, inexpensive bike. Everyone immediately starts saying you need the flavor of the month mid-drive. Cyclists aren't cliquey, they just realize that different needs require different bikes. Not everyone needs the same solution.
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I'm curious about the flavour of the month comment. The first mid-drive patent was registered in the 1890s (just a few years after the first hub motor patent, come to that), so this is a debate that goes back over a century.

Pedal-assist mid-drives have been commercially viable since the 1990s. If I have a bias towards mid-drives, it's from having good experiences selling mid-drives and bad experiences selling hub motor bikes. The hub motor bikes we used to sell were BionX, so maybe we'd have a better experience with something newer. I've been told that ebikemotion X35 is a good unit for e-road bikes, and I might check them out (I'm still debating that). What our suppliers offer us in hub motor bikes at present are either cheap cut-rate units (7spd/mechanical brake, poor fit and finish), or road bikes with tiny batteries (200-250 Wh). Neither is what our customers are usually looking for.

Where are the street legal (class 1, 500W) hub motor bikes that are sold through bike shops, with good quality and fit-and-finish, with large batteries, efficient enough to be long range, and motors made by companies with a history of long-term parts availability and support? Velec and Del Sol's hub motor bikes came closest in our analysis, but so far we've been able to get old stock bikes with Shimano motors on clearout that pushed far enough into that decent hub motor price-point that we decided not to get any at this time.

And my mechanics dislike working on hub motor bikes, they find mid-drives more desirable to wrench on, and with staff retention being really important in a bike shop I have to weigh that as well.

So it's not a flavour of the month thing for us. We've been selling e-bikes since 2003, and have sold both mid-drive and hub motor in the past. Our drift towards mid-drive has been driven by what my mechanics and customers tell me, moreso than my personal biases.
 
sparkbikes.ca

Spark City

The perfect city bike. Convenient and comfortable for your everyday ride. Perfect city commuter, comfortable seat and adjustable handlebar. Ideal for couples.
sparkbikes.ca sparkbikes.ca
 
Handlebars said:
sparkbikes.ca

Spark City

The perfect city bike. Convenient and comfortable for your everyday ride. Perfect city commuter, comfortable seat and adjustable handlebar. Ideal for couples.
sparkbikes.ca sparkbikes.ca
Click to expand...

Well, there goes my theory, prices are really dropping, that's a nice looking ride. That's under $1000 US.
 
Twiglaser said:
What do you guys think of this one: https://sparkbikes.ca/collections/s...ni-pre-order-november?variant=29494964093022?

Thanks @Handlebars for pointing me to sparkbikes.
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I test rode a Spark RX. It was a mid-drive with a very powerful Bafang motor. Like a lot of bikes that don't use a motor from one of the "big four" motor manufacturers, it was heavy. I'm used to bikes in the 40-50 pounds range, and I didn't weigh this one but it felt like it was 65 pounds or so when I lifted it. Some people don't seem to care about heavy e-bikes because they have a motor, but it matters to me. Sometimes you want to ride portions of your route with the motor off to extend range (or for extra fitness), or you need to lift the bike into a bike rack, etc.

But I think the weight of Spark bikes is pretty typical for its peers, so that's not a knock against it. And I like that they're trying to vary their product line to include some powerful mid-drive units, that's a plus in my books. And Bafang is at least a company with an increasingly global reach, so a chance of some longer-term-ish support vs. something more no-name than Bafang. The fit and finish isn't what I'd prefer, and I say that not from a wanting it to be beautiful point of view, I say that from the point of view that it's a "marker" for how trouble-free the bike may be. The higher end the spec, and the better the fit and finish, the fewer problems we tend to run into with a bike (that's true with both e-bikes and muscle bikes, actually). But I've seen far worse than the Spark RX that I took for a test-ride, so there's that.

I don't think I've seen the Spark Mini in person, so can't comment on it specifically. But it's maybe not a terrible suggestion compared to the other options you've considered.
 
Oh yeah, I love watching those EBR videos, but some of the bikes it's reviewed have also been referred to as "trash" so I'm not sure who to believe anymore...lol

@Mass Deduction Bruh, you been super helpful. Thanks for that. I also care about weight, since iI actually need to "push" it up some steps on my way out of my living space. I live on a lower floor of a separated house, so theres like 4 or 6 steps it needs to climb. I believe the baluga and the dolphin weigh less, but I have a feeling this thing is a little higher quality and its got that beefier battery. In the end, range is more important for me. If I can confirm that this thing has significantly more range than the other options, then I'm willing to deal with the extra weight. I wish Energizer would make an ebike like how they made this phone: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbre...e-battery-phone-p18k-pro-indiegogo-price-fail
Lol....

I'm not sure what you mean by "The fit and finish", but I personally like the style of these bikes. I thought the RadRunner from RadPower looked awesome.
 
Twiglaser said:
Oh yeah, I love watching those EBR videos, but some of the bikes it's reviewed have also been referred to as "trash" so I'm not sure who to believe anymore...lol


I'm not sure what you mean by "The fit and finish", but I personally like the style of these bikes. I thought the RadRunner from RadPower looked awesome.
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Believe what to learn, video reviews give a general overview. They’re no “Consumer Reports “ reviews. Use them as a guideline and then narrow down specific models and their postings. A bit of homework is needed.
 
Thomas Jaszewski said:
Believe what to learn, video reviews give a general overview. They’re no “Consumer Reports “ reviews. Use them as a guideline and then narrow down specific models and their postings. A bit of homework is needed.
Click to expand...
Yes, of course! That's where I am right now, but easier said than done since the stat sheets are not completely accurate. With range being the most important factor in my decision, I need to figure out the real range of each bike that I'm considering, but taking into account my own weight + any cargo I might have, the weather conditions, etc. Not easy.
 
Twiglaser said:
Yes, of course! That's where I am right now, but easier said than done since the stat sheets are not completely accurate. With range being the most important factor in my decision, I need to figure out the real range of each bike that I'm considering, but taking into account my own weight + any cargo I might have, the weather conditions, etc. Not easy.
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Look, 10K should be no problem, heck 20K round trip is nothing to sweat. Maybe my kit brain is daft, but are there still bikes out there with less than 14A batteries? I shouldn’t chuckle cuz range anxiety for n00bs is a common condition. My 13Ah 36v mid drive churn out that mileage without a return charge. Through away the sheets. Riders/owners here will provide good insights.

easy peasy...
 
Twiglaser said:
You mean the 20k round trip, so 40k total on a full charge?
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Yes 40k on a new battery, but best practice would be to charge to 80-90% and discharge no lower than 20%. That will insure you’ll make the 20K trip with daily charging and a very healthy battery for years to come.
 
alright, thanks for letting me know. I am definitely getting range anxiety. I can keep the charge above a certain percentage, but there's no practical way I can stop it from hitting 100%. Samsung advises to keep their full lithium ion above 50, but some of these ebikes use a different kind of battery that includes lithium ion plus something else. Can't comment on those.

FYI I found this thing with a HUGE battery: https://electricbikereview.com/revolve/60-plus-miles/
its 500 dollars over my limit, but I could still go for it. (yes I just realized its got 2 of them, but whatever. I feel like this thing was built for me).
If I got this bike, I'd probably remove one of the batteries and keep it stored at about 50%.
 
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Twiglaser said:
[...] @Mass Deduction Bruh, you been super helpful. Thanks for that. I also care about weight, since iI actually need to "push" it up some steps on my way out of my living space.[...]

I'm not sure what you mean by "The fit and finish", but I personally like the style of these bikes. I thought the RadRunner from RadPower looked awesome.
Click to expand...

Good luck with deciding between the Beluga and the Spark Mini!

"Fit and finish" can be subjective. It's how well things fit together when assembling a bike, the quality of very small parts (bolts, cables, etc.), and more. There's no objective measure for it, it's like art: you know it when you see it. But the more you know about bikes, the more things you're able to notice, which is why it can be highly subjective. I wouldn't notice as many fit and finish issues as my mechanics would, for example, despite me working in the industry for 14 years.
 
1000$ for the Ebike and 2000$ for repairs after a few months. End point- just buy a quality ebike.
 
Mass Deduction said:
Good luck with deciding between the Beluga and the Spark Mini!

"Fit and finish" can be subjective. It's how well things fit together when assembling a bike, the quality of very small parts (bolts, cables, etc.), and more. There's no objective measure for it, it's like art: you know it when you see it. But the more you know about bikes, the more things you're able to notice, which is why it can be highly subjective. I wouldn't notice as many fit and finish issues as my mechanics would, for example, despite me working in the industry for 14 years.
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Ah okay, that makes sense. I think the extra battery on the Revovle 60+ is a bit overkill, and I'm feeling more confident about the batteries on the other bikes Im considering. For now I think the choice will be the spark mini, but I'm gonna wait a bit and see how prices change and what new things come out in 2020.
 
Twiglaser said:
alright, thanks for letting me know. I am definitely getting range anxiety. I can keep the charge above a certain percentage, but there's no practical way I can stop it from hitting 100%. Samsung advises to keep their full lithium ion above 50, but some of these ebikes use a different kind of battery that includes lithium ion plus something else. Can't comment on those.

FYI I found this thing with a HUGE battery: https://electricbikereview.com/revolve/60-plus-miles/
its 500 dollars over my limit, but I could still go for it. (yes I just realized its got 2 of them, but whatever. I feel like this thing was built for me).
If I got this bike, I'd probably remove one of the batteries and keep it stored at about 50%.
Click to expand...
I have dozens of customers that use a multimeter, measure voltage, and a timer and can figure out in just a few hours how long it takes to go from one charge level to another. It just takes some thought. Absolutely NO need for a monster battery for 20K.
 
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