MTB ebike under 1500

B

Buddymisty

New Member
Region
USA
Looking for my first ebike would like to stay under about $1500.

Wants:
500 watt rear hub motor
21 speed gears
small frame
front shocks
decent display with user options
reliable company

Don't want:
fat tires
folding
in-frame battery

I'm about 5'4" male 130 pounds so I think a 500 watt motor should do. Short so I need a small frame or a step through. I live in the Rockies so there are some hills but no real steep ones. I'm not looking for speed just want to get out and ride again. Will do most riding on streets or paved trails but want the option for dirt also, there are a lot of trails around where I live. I have bad hip muscles and can't do too much pedaling without paying for it later but I do want to do some. Having a hard time finding what I'm looking for.
Was looking at the NCM Moscow, along with many others, but the lack of front sprocket protection scared me off. Seems like most decent quality bikes are only 7 speeds, with my hips I don't think that will do. I'm near giving up finding what I want.

Open to any and all suggestions. Might even go a little more cash for the perfect bike, if that exists.
 
My first thought is after riding for a bit, thinking you might agree that you really don't need the 21 speed front derailleur. 7-9 speed is plenty when you have the motor giving you a hand.

Second, finding a "decent display with user options" is going to be a challenge when considering OEM. After several bikes, I've become pretty picky and the only one I've found is for the Bafang Ultra and BBSxx motors. That's me though....

Last, regarding a reliable company and in-frame batteries. If you limit your shopping to bikes built using ONLY non-proprietary parts, you eliminate any concern over future "serviceability" from a parts standpoint. All the parts should be available even if the company that sold the bike to you folds. Too, you'll find several bikes now use a battery best described as "in frame" but they use generic cases, and are available on the open market from sources other than the bike manf. THAT'S the piece to keep in mind. If you are forced to go back to the bike manf. for a battery, it's a safe bet it's going to be an expensive one.
 
There are some places I want to ride where I just don't think 7 speeds will work. Places with speed limits, other people and hills with tight corners where pedal assist might not work. Having never ridden an ebike I don't know exactly how they work so I don't know how it will work in those places or not. Also, if I get stuck somewhere with some kind of breakdown there's no way I'm getting home without just pushing without lower gears. It's uphill back to my house pretty much anywhere I go. I just can't put much pressure on pedals without paying for it later. I rode a bike most of my life but had to give up riding after my hips went south but I missed it so much I bought an engine, two of them actually, but I can't ride them anyplace I want like an ebike. Sold the engine bike I used after a while and just quit riding. Now I want to ride again but can still only do minimal pressure on pedals for a limited time.

I agree with proprietary on anything, I try to avoid that with everything I buy. When I look at manuals for the displays on bikes I've looked at there are some user settings on some of them, unless they don't exist on OEM versions of the display which I guess is possible.
 
For real mtb riding, you don't want 21 gears and cadence sensor hub motor. I only use about 2 or 3 gears on the single tracks around me, and maybe a couple more on the fire roads to get to the next trail. But usually I'm recovering from climbing when I hit the fire roads so don't go for a lot of speed. I want immediate pedal response when climbing and negotiating sharp switchbacks. I don't want to wait for even 1/4 revolution of the cranks to get assist. Only torque sensing for me. I don't mind the proprietary Bosch system because it's just so damned good! Riding anything else feels like a huge step backwards. I suggest you ride a rental eMTB to really understand how they work on trails. Specs written with no experience is just guessing.
 
BTW if you have a decent MTB a DIY kit investment of $1500 will build a serious hill climber. But not with a hub drive.
 
tomjasz said:
Think again. A 42t chainring and 11T X 34(or42T) cassette or freewheel will take on most hills. I promise.
Click to expand...
Let me be a little more clear here on the situation and where I want to ride. Any bike riding I do I'm going to pay for later in hip pains, both of them. The more pressure I have to put on the pedals the more I will pay for it later. I'm willing to endure some pain to get back on a bike again but would like to keep the pain down as much as possible, therefore I want lower gears and less hip strain.

The main place I want to ride is a river park paved trail about 10 miles each way. It can be pretty packed with people sometimes, walking, biking, skateboards, dogs, etc. There will be places and times where I will have to go walking speed or slower, electric assist won't be possible. I will need the lower gears at those times. There are also places with short but fairly steep parts and somewhat blind curves where again assist might not be possible and I will need the low gears.

I'm not looking for speed. The faster I ride the less time I spend outdoors back on a bike. I'm just looking to spend time enjoying riding a bike again. I would love to be able to ride without the assist but it's not possible and never will be. My hips have been the way they are for over a decade.
 
Isn't a mid drive class 3? If so I can't ride it where I want to ride. Class 2 would be somewhat sketchy even.
 
Had to go with an Ancheer in the end. I would have went with something better if I could have found what I wanted but in the end the Ancheer was as close as I could come to what I wanted and didn't want.
 
Timpo said:
Not necessarily

Many mid driven ebikes are class 1 and class 2
Click to expand...
Didn't really want a mid drive and don't have a decent bike to put it on anyway. Having already had a couple of rear drive engine bikes I know what to expect I think for the most part. Mid drive is an unknown.
 
Buddymisty said:
Let me be a little more clear here on the situation and where I want to ride. Any bike riding I do I'm going to pay for later in hip pains, both of them. The more pressure I have to put on the pedals the more I will pay for it later. I'm willing to endure some pain to get back on a bike again but would like to keep the pain down as much as possible, therefore I want lower gears and less hip strain.

The main place I want to ride is a river park paved trail about 10 miles each way. It can be pretty packed with people sometimes, walking, biking, skateboards, dogs, etc. There will be places and times where I will have to go walking speed or slower, electric assist won't be possible. I will need the lower gears at those times. There are also places with short but fairly steep parts and somewhat blind curves where again assist might not be possible and I will need the low gears.

I'm not looking for speed. The faster I ride the less time I spend outdoors back on a bike. I'm just looking to spend time enjoying riding a bike again. I would love to be able to ride without the assist but it's not possible and never will be. My hips have been the way they are for over a decade.
Click to expand...
Don't get a cadence sensing bike it you need to go slow. A cadence sensor is just an on/off switch. Many, many threads here go into great detail about how those bikes will hit 12 mph +/- in the lowest assist level. A torque sensor system allows for low speed assistance. That will limit your hub bike options. Consider one of the many Yamaha powered class 1 bikes.

Best of luck.
 
J.R. said:
Don't get a cadence sensing bike it you need to go slow. A cadence sensor is just an on/off switch. Many, many threads here go into great detail about how those bikes will hit 12 mph +/- in the lowest assist level. A torque sensor system allows for low speed assistance. That will limit your hub bike options. Consider one of the many Yamaha powered class 1 bikes.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...
Too late I already bought one, it arrives tomorrow. The display for the bike I bought has 9 different customizable PAS settings, I figure that should pretty much cover me. The Yamahas are out of my price range. I'm just looking to go put around on some local paths. I don't need that much bike.
 
Buddymisty said:
Too late I already bought one, it arrives tomorrow. The display for the bike I bought has 9 different customizable PAS settings, I figure that should pretty much cover me. The Yamahas are out of my price range. I'm just looking to go put around on some local paths. I don't need that much bike.
Click to expand...
I was going to say, that is not an issue at all with the Ride1Up cadence sensor bikes, but they aren't mountain bikes. I have mine adjusted so that it only provides 32 watts in PAS 1. I actually had it adjusted a little lower when I first got it, but it was too little to notice even at the slowest riding speeds I ever go. This feature of Ride1Up is what originally attracted me to their bikes. That's not the same as just being able adjust for 9 levels. I can select to use 3, 5, 7, or 9 levels, plus a 0 level, AND I can set each PAS level separately, and the settings from one range to the next don't have to match (eg. range 0-9, you can have PAS1 set to 5%, and on range 0-5, you can have PAS set to 10%). And on the 700 series, the menu setting for changing it is very easy/quick.

Having said that, in the end, I would like a torque sensor bike, probably a well-tuned responsive mid-drive system and not need to change PAS levels much. And even more so if I was buying a mountain bike.
 
GenXrider said:
I was going to say, that is not an issue at all with the Ride1Up cadence sensor bikes, but they aren't mountain bikes. I have mine adjusted so that it only provides 32 watts in PAS 1. I actually had it adjusted a little lower when I first got it, but it was too little to notice even at the slowest riding speeds I ever go. This feature of Ride1Up is what originally attracted me to their bikes. That's not the same as just being able adjust for 9 levels. I can select to use 3, 5, 7, or 9 levels, plus a 0 level, AND I can set each PAS level separately, and the settings from one range to the next don't have to match (eg. range 0-9, you can have PAS1 set to 5%, and on range 0-5, you can have PAS set to 10%). And on the 700 series, the menu setting for changing it is very easy/quick.

Having said that, in the end, I would like a torque sensor bike, probably a well-tuned responsive mid-drive system and not need to change PAS levels much. And even more so if I was buying a mountain bike.
Click to expand...
The display I got is the same 3, 5, 7, 9, each level adjustable but I think it only goes 5% either way from the preset percentages. Hopefully the controller is capable of doing what the display can do, that I won't know until tomorrow. I looked at the Ride1Up bikes along with many others. No multiple front sprockets on those and most other better quality bikes took those out of the running for me.
 
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