Seeking Advice

[Wooshers]

I'm shopping around to get two e-bikes. Mom just retired and she is looking to get one and I am an overweight millennial that loves cool tech and toys so it just seems to fit. I started looking a while ago at the Xp but never pulled the trigger and now I'm ready to get and with all the options I'm thinking I wanna go a different direction than the Xp. I had originally narrowed it down to the Rize(No model name $1699), KBO Breeze, or the Rad runner. Since I'm close to 300 I'd imagine I want the biggest battery I can afford so these seem to fit. I tested out some bikes at Pedego and I really enjoyed the Torque sensor but only one around my price range with that is the Rize. Someone also mentioned when you get two to have interchangeable batteries and that likely would save me from having to get a second one immediately because I can just borrow hers if I plan to go somewhere far away.

I'd like to haul cargo like groceries and maybe a child sometime down the line but don't necessarily want a cargo bike. I really liked the look of the Breeze and haven't 100% ruled it out because it does check a lot of boxes. But a frame like that which is a bit commuter but will still function to do the basics of commuting to a beach, grocer, etc. I live in flat Florida so hills aren't really an issue and likely means I wouldn't need fat tires to handle snow either. Probably wanting under 3". Budget is around $1500. I've pushed it past that and then back(Mom's is firm at $1500 as she is retired and on fixed income)but I've gone back to thinking 1500 is about right and I think I'm also going to get a belt drive regular bike from a Costco deal to ride when I just wanna exercise around the block for a bit....Since I've heard riding these big things are a pain without assist.

I've shopped locally and each shop pretty much says we can order something and it'll come sometime in the future. They also seem to have a backlog for repaired stuff so it leads me to believe while it would be nice to have in store assistance on purchase....I don't think it's overly necessary. They all also say they work on any bike for regular stuff. If the mechanics break well hopefully whatever company I get it from can get it fixed from afar.

Anyway so basically asking if anyone knows of company that has male and female style bikes with interchangeable batteries that has stock atm. The bigger the battery the better. I might consider just going different companies or different bikes and just getting a bigger battery later if I find the need for it. Any advice appreciated.

 

[AHicks]

6'2"/315 here. One thing I can share, and that's the fact most new riders don't know the stock batteries on most bikes will go further than your butt can as long as you are riding in a sane manner. You should be fine with anything over about 14.5Ah capacity. Avoid the cheap Amazon stuff....

 

[Art Deco]

6'2"/315 here. One thing I can share, and that's the fact most new riders don't know the stock batteries on most bikes will go further than your butt can as long as you are riding in a sane manner. You should be fine with anything over about 14.5Ah capacity. Avoid the cheap Amazon stuff....

Agree. What's the point of having a battery that will go 60 or 70 miles if your legs, back, or butt can only go 20 or 30miles?

 

[indianajo]

High headwinds eat battery watthours. Weight up hills eats battery watthours. Weight on the level, not so much. In Florida, I'd say you can get at least 2/3 of what the review estimated range would be, even at 300 lb. Especially with efficient 2" or 2.1" tires aired up. Fat tires, 3" & up, do take some extra watthours.
My 840 watthour battery (17.5 AH) goes from 52.8 (90%) to 45 v in 30 miles, with about 80 hills. 41 v is about minimum 5%. Would be much more efficient in Florida, I imagine. And that is with gross weight 330 lb, 94 lb bike & 70 lb cargo.
Dealers are useful to deal with electrical bugs. Happens sometimes on ebikes.
Note groceries in the back, lifts the front wheel up & makes it lose grip. If you have to add groceries to a MTB or cruiser, make sure an amount is hung over the front. Which becomes a nuisance to steer. By contrast, my cargo bike has bosses welded in the frame to hang a front basket from, so that weight doesn't have to be steered. Stretch frame puts my weight on the front tire, cargo on the back tire, so rear 2.1" tires do not dent the rim on potholes or high pavement separators.
Magnum has both straight bar and also drop bar cycles. They have dealers, you can ask one if batteries interchange between the 2 models. A bargain brand a little light on watts, but you are not climbing mountains in Florida.
Happy shopping.

 

[Wooshers]

Thanks for the responses. Was thinking 30-40 miles or so and was trying to avoid the 10ah and under. 14+ was what I was aiming for. I’m now looking at Aventon and Ride1up as they look like they make interchangeable batteries between their step thru and step over. Weight limits on Aventon seem very low by rest. Commuter only 250 is a bit of a weird number from what I’ve seen. Nice look though and iirc something else turned me off in another review somewhere. I’ll be watching some more later and see but the Ride1up seems like almost the same with a cheaper price.

 

[GenXrider]

Thanks for the responses. Was thinking 30-40 miles or so and was trying to avoid the 10ah and under. 14+ was what I was aiming for. I’m now looking at Aventon and Ride1up as they look like they make interchangeable batteries between their step thru and step over. Weight limits on Aventon seem very low by rest. Commuter only 250 is a bit of a weird number from what I’ve seen. Nice look though and iirc something else turned me off in another review somewhere. I’ll be watching some more later and see but the Ride1up seems like almost the same with a cheaper price.

I just received my Ride1Up 700 after comparing to Aventon, Espin, and others. I actually considered the Ride1Up the easy choice over the Level and Sport. And yes, the batteries are the same between 700 XR and 700 ST. Note - Ride1Up announced a $100 price increase effective March 10 due to ongoing tariffs that became effective this year. So buy quickly to save a $100.

Price increase - 2021 - 25% Chinese Tariff

Kevin Dugger of Ride1Up stated on FB today, "China/US Trade War: E-Bike Tariffs of 25% are scheduled to return Sept 20th. Prices will be rising if nothing changes (for all companies). " Reference: https://www.facebook.com/groups/264729534163214/permalink/639820253320805/

electricbikereview.com

 

[Wooshers]

I just received my Ride1Up 700 after comparing to Aventon, Espin, and others. I actually considered the Ride1Up the easy choice over the Level and Sport. And yes, the batteries are the same between 700 XR and 700 ST. Note - Ride1Up announced a $100 price increase effective March 10 due to ongoing tariffs that became effective this year. So buy quickly to save a $100.

Price increase - 2021 - 25% Chinese Tariff

Kevin Dugger of Ride1Up stated on FB today, "China/US Trade War: E-Bike Tariffs of 25% are scheduled to return Sept 20th. Prices will be rising if nothing changes (for all companies). " Reference: https://www.facebook.com/groups/264729534163214/permalink/639820253320805/

electricbikereview.com

Thanks. I have not heard of the increase. I’ll be watching some reviews after work. Probably pull the trigger tomorrow unless something else catches my eye. Wish they had a compare section on their site. Not too sure which would be best to go with. I like the frame of 500 series and it’s nice they sell a 17ah battery upgrade. But the 700 might be the way to go.

Biktrix has some nice stuff and their new swift is $1500 has both a cadence and torque sensor.
Any idea if other brands would interchange batteries? These frames look very similar if not identical. They don’t make a step over in price range with Biktrix but it looks very similar to the Ride1up bikes.

 

[GenXrider]

Thanks. I have not heard of the increase. I’ll be watching some reviews after work. Probably pull the trigger tomorrow unless something else catches my eye. Wish they had a compare section on their site. Not too sure which would be best to go with. I like the frame of 500 series and it’s nice they sell a 17ah battery upgrade. But the 700 might be the way to go.

Biktrix has some nice stuff and their new swift is $1500 has both a cadence and torque sensor.
Any idea if other brands would interchange batteries? These frames look very similar if not identical. They don’t make a step over in price range with Biktrix but it looks very similar to the Ride1up bikes.

I'm not liking the top gear on that Biktrix. 14T for the smallest cog is too low for my taste. I suppose you could change it out, but I rather avoid the hassle. One of the things that originally attracted me to Ride1Up was that in addition to selecting the range of PAS levels from 0-3 to 0-9, you could configure the power level of each assist level. And the assist is power/current based rather than speed based. I didn't want a bike that had too much assist in the lowest levels so that I could get good exercise, so I liked the granular control. Batteries are affordable as well. If a torque sensor was important to me in this style of bike under $2000, I probably would have gone with the LMTD or the Rize. Maybe for my next e-bike.

 

[Wooshers]

I'm not liking the top gear on that Biktrix. 14T for the smallest cog is too low for my taste. I suppose you could change it out, but I rather avoid the hassle. One of the things that originally attracted me to Ride1Up was that in addition to selecting the range of PAS levels from 0-3 to 0-9, you could configure the power level of each assist level. And the assist is power/current based rather than speed based. I didn't want a bike that had too much assist in the lowest levels so that I could get good exercise, so I liked the granular control. Batteries are affordable as well. If a torque sensor was important to me in this style of bike under $2000, I probably would have gone with the LMTD or the Rize. Maybe for my next e-bike.

Yup...next ebike probably as I don’t wanna go over budget atm. If Rize had the step thru with the discount on two I might push it but I’ve heard a lot of good things about Ride1up and makes sense to go that route. Unless there is a company I haven’t yet researched but I think I’ve covered it all.

 

[FezUSA]

Have you looked to see what Bolton has available?