My autistic brother is getting an Electric Bike for his birthday! but help!

[TruTru9]

Hello EBR folks,

My brother is going to get an electric bike for his birthday that's coming up on June 6! He is medium to high functioning. His work is about 9 miles from home and he can't drive. It takes him over 3 hours and two buses to get there. He has to wait like over an hour for the second bus. So after much careful thinking, I'm deciding to get him an electric bike so he can commute back and forth.

Terrain is mostly flat with no real hills. He is probably going to take back roads to avoid being on main roads because that's how he is.

He is short and only 5'4. He weighs 164 lbs. He is in Woodland, WA. I prefer to buy the bike online and have it shipped him fully or as close to fully assembled as possible. There is no budget because he has the best brother in the world - ME! As long as I don't have to sell my house to get him a bike, I'm good with it!

Conditions/Requirements.
I don't want it to look like an "electric" bike. I like a stealth frame kinda like the redux IE from Raleigh or some of the specialized turbo's!

Quiet as possible.

Good build quality in the sense that it doesn't break down easily and he doesn't have to take it to the shop every 2 months.

Low maintenance. My brother is the world's best at being the worst at doing maintenance.

That's about it. What should I get him bike lovers?

 

[AguassissiM]

@TruTru9

Have you looked at the Volt bikes.
I think @Court will have the most accurate suggestion for you.

 

[TruTru9]

@TruTru9

Have you looked at the Volt bikes.
I think @Court will have the most accurate suggestion for you.

I like that the Volt bikes come assembled. I like their new Elegant model for 2017. Good price.

Court has such a ton of information. I'm just spending all my day going through his website I really like the look of the Turbo. I know it hasn't changed much since 2015 but for $2500, I really like the looks of it. I'm not sure how "loud" the turbo is. I can't buy the turbo online but there is a local dealer about 20 miles from here that has one to test drive. I'm thinking about going down there and giving it a try.

 

[AguassissiM]

@TruTru9
Awesome, if this is not a surprise for your brother you may want to take him with you because at the end of the day he should be confortable with the bike. Just a suggestion. Keep us posted.

 

[TruTru9]

@TruTru9
Awesome, if this is not a surprise for your brother you may want to take him with you because at the end of the day he should be confortable with the bike. Just a suggestion. Keep us posted.

It's a surprise. The turbo test-ride went well but one thing that really came into focus was the weight of the machine. I would like to add "extremely lightweight" at the top of the categories now. I think my brother would appreciate something he feels confident handling instead of a beast!

 

[J.R.]

Buying a bike online for another person, I feel, is fraught with pitfalls. Fit is all important with a bike and even more so for a commuter. Issues like weight, as you've found, and frame size may be the cause of a $2-4k bike that sits at home because it's too much to handle.

Have you considered a step through frame? Given a rider height of 5'4", it may inspire confidence. Weight is typically lower, add the city bike style rider position of "sit up and beg", your brother may just find the added weight of an ebike to be less an issue.



https://electricbikereview.com/easy-motion/evo-city-wave/

There are good bikes available online, but it might be worth yours and your brothers time to take a few road trips to find the right bike. That would be fun too! It's a great thing you guys are doing and I wish you luck.

 

[TruTru9]

Buying a bike online for another person, I feel, is fraught with pitfalls. Fit is all important with a bike and even more so for a commuter. Issues like weight, as you've found, and frame size may be the cause of a $2-4k bike that sits at home because it's too much to handle.

Have you considered a step through frame? Given a rider height of 5'4", it may inspire confidence. Weight is typically lower, add the city bike style rider position of "sit up and beg", your brother may just find the added weight of an ebike to be less an issue.

View attachment 16494

https://electricbikereview.com/easy-motion/evo-city-wave/

There are good bikes available online, but it might be worth yours and your brothers time to take a few road trips to find the right bike. That would be fun too! It's a great thing you guys are doing and I wish you luck.

I hear what you are saying but I REALLY REALLY want this to be a surprise. He never had much opportunity to experience "happy surprises"


Right now, I'm REALLY liking the Smart Motion Pacer. I wonder how bad is this "angry bees" noise motor Court had mentioned on his review?

 

[Trail Cruiser]

I hear what you are saying but I REALLY REALLY want this to be a surprise. He never had much opportunity to experience "happy surprises"
Right now, I'm REALLY liking the Smart Motion Pacer. I wonder how bad is this "angry bees" noise motor Court had mentioned on his review?

I think getting from a local bike shop is the best approach since it will be maintained by the shop, it can also be readjusted for fit of the rider (mostly for free). I suggest you get a small frame or size 16-17 inch, bigger frame is more difficult to handle. The Dapu rear hub noise could be an issue if you want stealth. The bafang motor, like in the juiced Cross current is less noisy.

 

[JohnT]

I agree that buying local is a good idea. We have a few special needs customers, and they tend to be hard on their bikes and greatly benefit from having us nearby to help with any issues. If possible, I suggest buying from someone within riding distance.

Ebikes are heavy, especially if they're built sturdy. I want to recommend our Pedego City Commuter 26" Step Thru, but it's not light, and the battery being in the rear rack puts the center of gravity a bit high. If weight is a deal breaker, I'd recommend something with a lower battery. It might not be much lighter, but it might be more manageable. I'm sorry I'm not familiar enough with other brands to be able to suggest one.

If the weight is ok, this Pedego is the perfect size for him; I'm 5'6" and my wife is 5'1", and it fits us both well. It's a step thru for easier access, but it's not as low and curvy as some step thrus. To help with fit, it comes with a quick release adjustable stem. It has a throttle and pedal assist, either of which could be disconnected if it turned out to be too complicated for him. It's available in 48v and 36v power options. If you hang panniers over the rack to hide the battery, it's hard to tell it's electric.

It doesn't come fully assembled if it's shipped, but all you have to do is install the pedals and put the stem in the fork, and you're ready to go. Removing the bubble wrap and stuff is harder than the assembly required!

 

[JoePah]

You sound like a very nice brother and generous.

I don't think you want to suprise your brother with this.....special needs or not.

Does he currently ride a bicycle on a regular basis? Cause if he doesn't he's going to be overwhelmed by a really fast bicycle.

eBikes definitely need more care than a regular bicycle, and you have to be somewhat careful how you charge them and maintain them.. It is not a worry free product.

You may want to surprise him with your presence one weekend and rent some ebikes for a couple of hours to see if he can handle it, likes it, wants it.

 

[irenewg13]

Hello EBR folks,

My brother is going to get an electric bike for his birthday that's coming up on June 6! He is medium to high functioning. His work is about 9 miles from home and he can't drive. It takes him over 3 hours and two buses to get there. He has to wait like over an hour for the second bus. So after much careful thinking, I'm deciding to get him an electric bike so he can commute back and forth.

Terrain is mostly flat with no real hills. He is probably going to take back roads to avoid being on main roads because that's how he is.

He is short and only 5'4. He weighs 164 lbs. He is in Woodland, WA. I prefer to buy the bike online and have it shipped him fully or as close to fully assembled as possible. There is no budget because he has the best brother in the world - ME! As long as I don't have to sell my house to get him a bike, I'm good with it!

Conditions/Requirements.
I don't want it to look like an "electric" bike. I like a stealth frame kinda like the redux IE from Raleigh or some of the specialized turbo's!

Quiet as possible.

Good build quality in the sense that it doesn't break down easily and he doesn't have to take it to the shop every 2 months.

Low maintenance. My brother is the world's best at being the worst at doing maintenance.

That's about it. What should I get him bike lovers?

Hi,

I have started a discussion string, specifically for various needs and disabilities.
Yesturday I was searching online for, "ebike disability modications", and I found quite a few sites that display manufactures and sellers, of bikes and ebikes for a broad range of physical disabilities.

Take a look, and I will see if I can find some of that info.

If you reply, I would appreciate it if you would post on the thread tag, "disability", so that we can accumulate good info in 1 sream.

Irene

 

[TruTru9]

You sound like a very nice brother and generous.

I don't think you want to suprise your brother with this.....special needs or not.

Does he currently ride a bicycle on a regular basis? Cause if he doesn't he's going to be overwhelmed by a really fast bicycle..

I wish I could take credit for the idea. It was one of his co-worker's that had the idea to get him an ebike.

He has a single speed bike that he has been riding to work. He is starting to dislike buses. He takes back roads and neighborhoods to avoid the bike lane as much as possible. It takes him hours to get to work. One of his co-workers came up with the idea to hook him up with an electric bike so the commute doesn't have to be so 'hard' and a little bit more 'fun'

I thought I made a decision and ordered the raleigh redux small but the order ended up not going through and of course I'm having second thoughts now.

We have a few special needs customers, and they tend to be hard on their bikes and greatly benefit from having us nearby to help with any issues. If possible, I suggest buying from someone within riding distance.

This is exactly why I wanted to find something that's low maintenance as possible. So I was looking at bikes with internal hubs, nuvinci harmony, belt drives etc etc just so that everything can be as simple as possible and it's not so overwhelming but then I decided to just break the surprise. I TOLD him he is getting an ebike and I regret it so much because now he has a FAVORITE and of course it's the fastest and the super super expensive one. He doesn't understand money He wanted the Bulls E-stream FS 45 which doesn't even look like it's street legal. So now, no matter what else I get, it's going to be the 2nd best