Let me explain briefly my situation that has brought me to EBR. Christmastime I found out I was getting a promotion? at work. For the past several years I've been mostly on the road with my job, traveling several states visiting clients and potential clients in my company car. The new job will entail working mostly out of my home office, so when it begins in July I'll be turning in the car.
Part of the new job will still be visiting existing clients (20-30) roughly once a month each, all in about a 10 mile radius of my house. I'm in a big saving mode right now, recently learned I'm going to have to help out with my nephew's tuition this fall. So instead of buying a new car - I have an old Jeep Wrangler that is a money pit, but I love the damn thing, and will do for now when I need a car - I started looking into e-bikes.
I found EBR early on and have been reading along the last few months and watching Court's reviews. About me I'm 46 yrs old 5'10" 187lbs, reasonable shape quit smoking 3 months ago. I live in extreme Northern NJ, suburbia. I hope to be able to make these business calls and other errands (grocery store etc) on the e-bike. After seeing all the reviews I think I need a city style commuter bike. Where I live there will be a lot of starts and stops, there's lots of congestion on the roads, so the upright style seems best suited. 99.9% will be on paved roads (I have a Diamondback Topanga mb but truth be told, last couple years haven't ridden much other than some charity events with GF) with a good amount of hills around.
BTW I'm looking at about a 3k budget. The other needs would be front and back lights, fenders (I would usually be wearing biz casual) and a rear rack. Stealth, I've been looking for a while now, and have yet to see any e-bikes in my area, there are no shops in my immediate area, Chris over at Long Island Electric Bikes (read his comments on EBR, like his integrity) is 65 miles from my house. So stealth will be key, don't want to attract any attention from johnny law here in NJ, where the e-bike law makes no sense. E-bikes are considered mopeds so need to be registered, licensed, but you can't register them because DMV won't register e-bikes as mopeds?
So anyway Filled out questionnaire from Long Island Electric and Chris recommended Easy Motion Cross, Currie Metro and Pedego City Commuter. Read all relevant info here and elsewhere, plus video's. So far I think Pedego's out because of rear battery (not stealthy, back heavy) EM Cross I like but I think too aggressive style for what I need. I think the two that are closest to what I need with my budget are the EM Neo City and the Currie Izip E3 Metro.
It took me awhile to get over the whole step through thing, all the stopping and starting around here it's probably best thing but still bothers me. I would take the front basket (porteur?) off the Metro (don't envision myself transporting any kitten's Court!) Anybody have any opinions on these two bikes head to head? Is one motor noticeably quieter than the other? Neo's 350 w vs Metro's 500 w how big a difference in performance? Any recommendations for other bikes out there that I might have missed? I can't believe how much time I've put into this decision since I found EBR, reading about everybody's experiences and opinions, after reading so much about what could go wrong with a purchase and which companies respond to issues the right way I just hope to make an educated decision that I'll be happy with. Thank's ahead for any input.
Clark
Part of the new job will still be visiting existing clients (20-30) roughly once a month each, all in about a 10 mile radius of my house. I'm in a big saving mode right now, recently learned I'm going to have to help out with my nephew's tuition this fall. So instead of buying a new car - I have an old Jeep Wrangler that is a money pit, but I love the damn thing, and will do for now when I need a car - I started looking into e-bikes.
I found EBR early on and have been reading along the last few months and watching Court's reviews. About me I'm 46 yrs old 5'10" 187lbs, reasonable shape quit smoking 3 months ago. I live in extreme Northern NJ, suburbia. I hope to be able to make these business calls and other errands (grocery store etc) on the e-bike. After seeing all the reviews I think I need a city style commuter bike. Where I live there will be a lot of starts and stops, there's lots of congestion on the roads, so the upright style seems best suited. 99.9% will be on paved roads (I have a Diamondback Topanga mb but truth be told, last couple years haven't ridden much other than some charity events with GF) with a good amount of hills around.
BTW I'm looking at about a 3k budget. The other needs would be front and back lights, fenders (I would usually be wearing biz casual) and a rear rack. Stealth, I've been looking for a while now, and have yet to see any e-bikes in my area, there are no shops in my immediate area, Chris over at Long Island Electric Bikes (read his comments on EBR, like his integrity) is 65 miles from my house. So stealth will be key, don't want to attract any attention from johnny law here in NJ, where the e-bike law makes no sense. E-bikes are considered mopeds so need to be registered, licensed, but you can't register them because DMV won't register e-bikes as mopeds?
So anyway Filled out questionnaire from Long Island Electric and Chris recommended Easy Motion Cross, Currie Metro and Pedego City Commuter. Read all relevant info here and elsewhere, plus video's. So far I think Pedego's out because of rear battery (not stealthy, back heavy) EM Cross I like but I think too aggressive style for what I need. I think the two that are closest to what I need with my budget are the EM Neo City and the Currie Izip E3 Metro.
It took me awhile to get over the whole step through thing, all the stopping and starting around here it's probably best thing but still bothers me. I would take the front basket (porteur?) off the Metro (don't envision myself transporting any kitten's Court!) Anybody have any opinions on these two bikes head to head? Is one motor noticeably quieter than the other? Neo's 350 w vs Metro's 500 w how big a difference in performance? Any recommendations for other bikes out there that I might have missed? I can't believe how much time I've put into this decision since I found EBR, reading about everybody's experiences and opinions, after reading so much about what could go wrong with a purchase and which companies respond to issues the right way I just hope to make an educated decision that I'll be happy with. Thank's ahead for any input.
Clark
