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

[tomjasz]

Most endless sphere types disain any pedaling, There was one guy who removed his pedals. Claimed he never used them. He put them back after he had a motor problem and had to push his bike home.

Too funny! I "clown" pedal. I use high levels of assist but pedal most of the time. I find that even just continuously moving my legs helps to keep me ambulatory. Level 1 and 2 assist with BBSxx except for the HD is quite a bit of motor use. I'm usually 3 or 4 on a 5 scale.

But I must admit that my winter errand bike may as well not have pedals. I ride an old Trek Pure 3spd with a front hub and use my legs as outrunners on the slippery streets. Although I haven't put a studded tire on yet so I'm probably won't ride until next week. A week of not riding will have me irritated...

 

[tomjasz]

And I chided a guy for veering off the topic....

 

[Twiglaser]

Just for the record, I've slowed down every bike and no longer ride over 20MPH. One bike is still capable of 25 but I've been running old saggy batteries with heaters in the cold weather and never get that bike much over 15MPH. But yes, those ES fellas numbers are referring to someone riding at maximum speeds. We get incredible mileage with our BBS01 350W with 36V 12Ah batts. Those are our park bikes and seldom ride over 12-14MPH. My MAC bikes will be running all 36V once the 48 and 52V batteries are done for. Or I may rebuild the packs into large Ah 36V. It depends on how the winter goes.

Woah, hold on a min there. Heaters? You can use heaters on your battery? Like a space heater?

 

[tomjasz]

Woah, hold on a min there. Heaters? You can use heaters on your battery? Like a space heater?

No like a glove or vest heater. Battery powered.

 

[poorplayer]

Haven't seen Lectric XP mentioned here. Still $879USD/~$1159CND. They ship to Canada. Similar in style to Spark Mini or Beluga or Rad Mini. Very large and active forum. EBR has not reviewed it, but here is a pretty comprehensive review:

 

[Twiglaser]

Haven't seen Lectric XP mentioned here. Still $879USD/~$1159CND. They ship to Canada. Similar in style to Spark Mini or Beluga or Rad Mini. Very large and active forum. EBR has not reviewed it, but here is a pretty comprehensive review:

Thanks for sharing! But I still would have gone with the spark mini for the extra battery capacity. Although, this is a good option for the money.

 

[poorplayer]

Thanks for sharing! But I still would have gone with the spark mini for the extra battery capacity. Although, this is a good option for the money.

I'd point out that an extra battery is at the moment only $279 USD. This is pretty reasonable for an extra battery and would double the range.

PS - Just after I posted the review above, I found out that EBR will be reviewing the Lectric XP very soon,

 

[tomjasz]

I'd point out that an extra battery is at the moment only $279 USD. This is pretty reasonable for an extra battery and would double the range.

PS - Just after I posted the review above, I found out that EBR will be reviewing the Lectric XP very soon,

Awful music! Argh!

Which 500W gear drive?
Which LG cells?
63 lbs, folding bike? Yikes!
$279 for a claimed 10AH isn’t any great deal especially with unnamed cells.
2A Charger?
25-50miles @ claimed 28MPH?

 

[Twiglaser]

Awful music! Argh!

Which 500W gear drive?
Which LG cells?
63 lbs, folding bike? Yikes!
$279 for a claimed 10AH isn’t any great deal especially with unnamed cells.
2A Charger?
25-50miles @ claimed 28MPH?

Yeah! You tell em! Rawr!

 

[poorplayer]

Which 500W gear drive? - Unknown. It's a point of contention with owners
Which LG cells? - Again, unknown. I do not know whether this is due to my personal lack of knowledge or lack of available information. I am not conversant in detailed battery technology.
63 lbs, folding bike? Yikes! - Rather common. Most 20" fat tire folders are about this weight. Rad Mini is 67 lbs. The Beluga is 52 lbs net weight (why net?). Spark Mini is 64 lbs. I find mine easy enough to lift into my RV or the back of my Toyota Matrix. I would not want to carry it very far, though.
$279 for a claimed 10AH isn’t any great deal especially with unnamed cells. - Perhaps not. But it's an available and relatively inexpensive option nonetheless.
2A Charger? - Again, pretty standard for these bikes.
25-50miles @ claimed 28MPH? A little inaccurate. The bike can achieve 28 MPH (45 KPH) through pedal assist only, not via throttle. You have to go into the setting menu on the display to do that. The throttle is locked to 20 MPH to make it mostly legal as a Class 2. As everyone knows, the range of any ebike is a huge variable. But there is no claim that the bike will get 25-50 miles of range if you pedal at the max 28 MPH, and getting to that 28 MPH requires max pedaling. Riders on the forum have easily gotten 35 miles at moderate speeds and levels of assist. I generally ride at about 15 MPH @ PAS 2. The gearing ratio is not spectacular, but it gets the job done.

I own one, and I consider this bike to be the "Volkswagen" of ebikes. I'm old enough to remember the reactions when the Beetle was first introduced in the US. The Beetle provided cheap and relatively reliable transportation to many families in that era, mine included. It was not a comfortable car, and not well-loved by car jockeys, but it did the job. I am finding my Lectric is doing the same for me at a very competitive price point. I'm just offering the man a suggestion, as he asked. YMMV.

 

[tomjasz]

I'm just offering the man a suggestion, as he asked. YMMV.

Thanks!
I get that people buy bikes and are happy. I'm glad. Riding is fun. We want others to like our bikes as much as we do but that doesn't make them the best choice. I ask questions that are actually important. Some direct marketers use industry buzz words to capture interest.
What good is a motor that can't be identified and have simple inexpensive repair parts available?

A gear drive is a pretty easy fix IF we know which drive it is. OR it could be some cheap clone that standard parts won't properly fit.

LG batteries, yup, good cells but did they use an appropriate LG battery? Is it a rewrap? Grade B? Not long ago someone posted their battery choice and the batts used were brand name but were better suited to be used in a laptop battery pack and will always be under undue stress putting out 20A

A full-sized bike weighs 63lbs. One of my bikes with a 20Ah battery and a motor capable of 32 ACTUAL MPH weighs 65lbs.

Next come warranty and support. So many of these companies, like Lectric, are investors that jumped in, have been selling for under 6 months and have lowball prices. Price points that can only be achieved by using low priced components. Nothing standard, no off the shelf parts I can fix them with.

I had 6 VW air-cooled cages. I could buy parts from a Sears Catalogue. There was a tremendous support. Not just a 6-month-old series of posts. Not even close to the same scenario.

And finally, please do enjoy the bike. I'm sure you and many others will. But when problems arise or after a few thousand miles (if they last that long) these toys will begin to fail. Suddenly that deal isn't such a deal anymore.

My intent isn't to demean anyone or their purchase. But in this case, the purchase was already made and your post appeared and read like it was from the seller. After reading the post and following the link and reviewing the website I saw that it was 90% marketing speak.

I love the eBike business. I love seeing more excited happy riders.

I despise the marketers that are taking advantage of buyers and using buzz words to market bikes I can't help buyers fix easily.

It's no air-cooled VW.

 

[poorplayer]

For the record, I have no affiliation at all with Lectric Bikes whatsoever, and have never received any compensation from them. I'm just a satisfied customer. I paid for the bike I own. I am not an expert on ebikes, although I try as hard as I can to understand what I can. Market speak aside, for my needs, the bike so far does what I ask it to do, and does it well.

 

[tomjasz]

for my needs, the bike so far does what I ask it to do, and does it well.

And, in the end, that's what's most important. Enjoy!

 

[Twiglaser]

Yeah I really don't want the repairs to be difficult, hopefully the spark mini will be easily fixable when something goes wrong.