Looking to buy, do I sound realistic?

[Stefan Mikes]

There is so easy technique to downshift when stationary on a decent mid-drive e-bike. While standing and straddling the frame, you pre-downshift with the shifter (good shifters allow three gears at once). Then you lift the rear wheel by the saddle with your right hand and press the Walk Mode button with the left one. The cranks starts to spin, and then click-click-click you are in a low gear.

How do you think I took that photo? Yes, I stopped before the road-sign, and took the photo. How to move my mid-drive e-bike uphill at that grade without the throttle then? Simple. I downshifted while stationary all the way to the granny gear with the technique described, then started riding.

 

[Taylor57]

Regarding my list of reasons for having a throttle (above). If you are anything like me, there WILL be times when you need to stop in a hurry, and find yourself in the way wrong gear when it's time to leave. The throttle will help get the bike mooving enough to allow you to downshift to a gear that you SHOULD have been in prior to the hurried stop....

Yep, I will pull up to a light in 8th gear and stop. Then just the little jiggle of the throttle and I am off. Could I ride without it-of course, but it sure is nice to have in your back pocket...

 

[AHicks]

There is so easy technique to downshift when stationary on a decent mid-drive e-bike. While standing and straddling the frame, you pre-downshift with the shifter (good shifters allow three gears at once). Then you lift the rear wheel by the saddle with your right hand and press the Walk Mode button with the left one. The cranks starts to spin, and then click-click-click you are in a low gear.

View attachment 98465
How do you think I took that photo? Yes, I stopped before the road-sign, and took the photo. How to move my mid-drive e-bike uphill at that grade without the throttle then? Simple. I downshifted while stationary all the way to the granny gear with the technique described, then started riding.

There's also the method where you point the bike downhill, get your balance and downshift to the necessary gear, and do a 180 degree turn....

 

[dodgeman]

Another question, when you travel with you bikes and stay overnight at a hotel, what do you do with the bike. Lock them up as best as possible to your vehicle, take them in your room?

 

[Taylor57]

Another question, when you travel with you bikes and stay overnight at a hotel, what do you do with the bike. Lock them up as best as possible to your vehicle, take them in your room?

Inside hotel room

 

[Art Deco]

Inside my van, but inside a truck bed with a cap will also work well.

 

[dodgeman]

No cap and I probably won’t be getting one.

 

[Rickman1]

Another question, when you travel with you bikes and stay overnight at a hotel, what do you do with the bike. Lock them up as best as possible to your vehicle, take them in your room?

With $6k worth of ebikes, they're going into the room with me. I won't risk it overnight in a hotel parking lot. Plus I can keep them charged. If I absolutely had to leave them outside, the rack hold down bars will be locked, a large cable lock attached plus I have the ABUS folding locks with alarms and covered.

Addendum: If I can't put the bikes in the room make sure to get a ground floor room and back the vehicle to outside your hotel room. When and/if the ABUS alarms go off you can hear it.

 

[AHicks]

I park under a parking lot light. The one that's as close as possible to the door. And they're locked. My next step, if I were feeling particularly insecure, would be to cover them with something, anything, for the night.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I keep the e-bike inside my station wagon when travelling alone, and the car stays at the hotel's parking lot overnight. (I cover the e-bike with blankets). When we travel with brother, we leave e-bikes inside his SUV (it has tinted windows). I have not travelled with Vado SL but that e-bike requires taking it into the hotel for overnight charging.

Note: It is far easier to lift a heavy e-bike onto the car with the battery removed.

 

[TrevorB]

I'm a fan of torque sensing middrives like on Bulls. Had few bad experiences with cheap hubdrive bikes with throttles, hit throttle at wrong time and it will bite you.

Whether its mid or hub drive look for following features.
Mudguards, kickstand, rack, lights that run off battery. Nice to have, front fork, fat tires 2.15" min, cafe or wheel lock, easy removable battery for charging inside.
Budget on suspension seatpost, eg Thudbuster, Suntour NCX.

 

[GenXrider]

fat tires 2.15" min,

Those aren't really fat tires, I wouldn't even call them "plus" tires. My Ride1Up has 2.4" tires. Fat tires are commonly 4" - I think too wide for most purposes.

 

[dodgeman]

I’m a little more confused now. We rented Pedigos today, rear drive. They were 350 watt and seemed like they had more power plus they had a throttle. I didn’t like the style as well, more of a cruiser style, but the power was impressive. They seemed a little less smooth than the pulls in the way the pedal assist worked. I asked the shop that rented them how much? Maybe a little more than the Treks we were considering but in the same ball park.

 

[dodgeman]

A pic of the top of the mountain we rode up and the bikes.

 

[Art Deco]

A pic of the top of the mountain we rode up and the bikes.

View attachment 98835

I haven't ridden a Pedigo, but I think they are a quality bike. A bit pricey, perhaps. Forum member @6zfshdb owns 3 of them IIRC.

 

[AHicks]

The more you test, the more your list of 'druthers is refined. Some things will be "must haves", some will go into the "would like" column. Just realize any bike you get is going to be a compromise.

Not that it should make any difference one way or the other, but not fond of the Pedigos styling here either. Just to let you know you aren't the only one.....

Also, the battery mounting position so high up so far back. I need to pull the bike over quite a bit in order to swing my leg over the rack and seat. When I do that with a bike like this, the front tire has come right off the ground, while the battery weighted back end goes right down - leaving me standing over a mess, or worse, pulling me right in on top of a mess. Some will talk about "balance" with a bike built like this being an issue. If you were doing just the step through thing, it likely wouldn be near as big a deal, as you would no longer have the reason to pull the bike over when mounting/dismounting.

Beautiful pic. Building the memories already!

 

[dodgeman]

As I have gotten older I tend to mount the bike by swinging my leg between the seat and handle bars so not a problem there. I did pick the bike up and it was very tail heavy and seemed heavier than the Bulls.

The pic is on the mountain overlooking Steamboat Springs Colorado. It looks off-road in the pics but this is at the end of the road. We road by multi million dollars home to get there probably gawking the entire way.

 

[TrevorB]

Those aren't really fat tires, I wouldn't even call them "plus" tires. My Ride1Up has 2.4" tires. Fat tires are commonly 4" - I think too wide for most purposes.

I trying to keep them away from thinner less forgiving 1.75-2.0 tyres. I've both 2.0 and 2.15" Almotions and there is significant difference volume between them, lot more than small 0.15" suggests.
Go to 2.4" and the range of bike choices start dropping off.

 

[AHicks]

I trying to keep them away from thinner less forgiving 1.75-2.0 tyres. I've both 2.0 and 2.15" Almotions and there is significant difference volume between them, lot more than small 0.15" suggests.
Go to 2.4" and the range of bike choices start dropping off.

Regarding the 2.4" tire fitment, I can share they fit just fine on a Rad City, and both the 2020 and 2021 Espin bikes (yes, they're different! The '21 bikes come with a much wider rims). Point being, don't automatically discount 2.4's. If they'll fit, they can be some of the most comfortable lowest rolling resistance tires available. It's worth the trouble to do some measuring. Espin said no way, 2.3" max, yet there's 1/2 clearance at the tightest spots with the 2.4's installed.

 

[GenXrider]

My rear tire on my 700 went flat after getting home due a nail, and I rode my hybrid with 35c tires for my next few rides. It has a suspension fork and Trek suspension seat post, but it was sure a pleasure to get back on my 700 with 2.4" tires with the gritty and bumpy roads I ride on. So much smoother. Someone posted a picture a while back that they had put 2.6" tires on their 700.