Thoughts Of An Experienced E-Biker

[m@Robertson]

My first ebike was $700 and I think that included shipping. It was just cheap enough I was willing to potentially throw that money away on a new concept (the 'e' in ebike was a total unknown to me at the time). But I put 4000 miles on it my first year, and it got me back into daily commute cycling. I think I cracked the frame after about 2 years, and it was partly my fault it happened. So I was more than happy and got my money's worth.

Cheap, DSO/DTC bikes have a very important place in the market, especially if they are light-use and thus unlikely to be run too hard. They are the perfect gateway drug to an upgrade and a life that has a lot more cycling in it as a result of having that in-reach option versus one that is more technically solid, but you may as well price it at a million dollars cuz its not affordable at $4k+ ... or whatever.

 

[tomjasz]

Who sez it has to be expensive? a sub $1000 bike will suit some especially if you stretch the payments out( do not spend more upgrading a clunker than what a new bike costs) The recycler beckons.

In my experience there’s no way to have a well built repairable mainstream ebike with components I’m happy with for under $2000. I’ll come back to the thread and elucidate. But bottom line sustainability, reliability, and the freedom from the denial of the right to repair costs.

Many that come here could well be happy with $1000 OEM direct eBikes. But when we’re talking alternative reliable daily transportation the rules change. This isn’t a hobby for me anymore. It’s my primary transportation.

Stay tuned.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Back On The Topic, or How Did I Get Into E-Biking?

An avid cyclist since my childhood (born in 1961), I bought the first brand new car in my life in 1997. Stopped cycling for 16 years. In 2013 (age 52), I felt I had to examine my cardiac condition. After all the tests, the doctor actually yelled at me:
-- You are cardiologically a healthy person! However, how come you got HR of 220 after just 30 seconds of walking the treadmill?! Don't you move at all?!
-- Well Doc, everybody drives their car in my neighbourhood...
-- WHAT?! Man, you're gonna MOVE! Walk! Run! Whatever! MOVE!
-- Can I ride a bicycle?
-- Yes, you can.

My wife asked me then: 'What is you really enjoy doing?' -- 'Riding a bike' -- 'Buy a bike then'. I bought a bike and started riding it until my atherosclerosis developed. Unable to cycle or walk, two surgeries, endangered left leg. After the last and final surgery, I was trying to practice walking. It was painful because of intermittent claudication and so boring...

On July 31st 2019, I wrote the following post on my FB:

"FB hivemind!
If I will live up the next cycling season then I'm interested in buying an e-bike. As I can see, some e-bikes cost like $1,100 (plus a surcharge for a BIG battery) but others are well over three grands. Of course I'm not spending three grands on an e-bike. How come there is such huge price range between different e-bikes? Anyone knows and wants to share their knowledge?"

No friend of mine had a clue. My close friend wrote this comment:
'You will be the first among friends of yours to discover it'.
He was right, and I was so wrong!

I tried to order a traditional bike conversion to discover that the shop to offer the service was clueless, too. My manager said: "I don't think it is wise to create a contraption. Buy the real thing: An e-bike that has been designed as an e-bike. You can afford it. You can thank me later".

I got my first e-bike on August 21st 2019 for some US$2,000. Next three e-bikes I bought were well over three grands each

I have ridden for 2,315 km on the traditional bike since May 10th, 2013.
It is 28,895 km on all seven e-bikes I had the chance to ride (all since August 21st, 2019).

 

[McApple]

I bought my ebike in 2016, I was 67, and fighting the hills and the wind had taken away my joy of cycling. I had to drive to New Hampshire in the U.S. to pick it up, as ebikes weren't readily available in Canada. This website, and other online reviews helped me greatly in choosing a bike. I wound up buying a 2015 Haibike XDuro Trekking Pro for about $3k US.

This year I have been looking at new models, but haven't found anything that excites me. My current plan is to continue enjoying the Haibike until a major failure puts me back in the market.

Cycling has become a big part of our lives, we enjoy riding the local rail-trails, and plan our vacations based on cycling opportunities.

 

[Mulezen]

Back On The Topic, or How Did I Get Into E-Biking?

An avid cyclist since my childhood (born in 1961), I bought the first brand new car in my life in 1997. Stopped cycling for 16 years. In 2013 (age 52), I felt I had to examine my cardiac condition. After all the tests, the doctor actually yelled at me:
-- You are cardiologically a healthy person! However, how come you got HR of 220 after just 30 seconds of walking the treadmill?! Don't you move at all?!
-- Well Doc, everybody drives their car in my neighbourhood...
-- WHAT?! Man, you're gonna MOVE! Walk! Run! Whatever! MOVE!
-- Can I ride a bicycle?
-- Yes, you can.

My wife asked me then: 'What is you really enjoy doing?' -- 'Riding a bike' -- 'Buy a bike then'. I bought a bike and started riding it until my atherosclerosis developed. Unable to cycle or walk, two surgeries, endangered left leg. After the last and final surgery, I was trying to practice walking. It was painful because of intermittent claudication and so boring...

On July 31st 2019, I wrote the following post on my FB:

"FB hivemind!
If I will live up the next cycling season then I'm interested in buying an e-bike. As I can see, some e-bikes cost like $1,100 (plus a surcharge for a BIG battery) but others are well over three grands. Of course I'm not spending three grands on an e-bike. How come there is such huge price range between different e-bikes? Anyone knows and wants to share their knowledge?"

No friend of mine had a clue. My close friend wrote this comment:
'You will be the first among friends of yours to discover it'.
He was right, and I was so wrong!

I tried to order a traditional bike conversion to discover that the shop to offer the service was clueless, too. My manager said: "I don't think it is wise to create a contraption. Buy the real thing: An e-bike that has been designed as an e-bike. You can afford it. You can thank me later".

I got my first e-bike on August 21st 2019 for some US$2,000. Next three e-bikes I bought were well over three grands each

I have ridden for 2,315 km on the traditional bike since May 10th, 2013.
It is 28,895 km on all seven e-bikes I had the chance to ride (all since August 21st, 2019).

I plunked down $3k for my first Trek in 2018 knowing nothing (hadn’t found EBR) but needing a new way of exercise after my weights suddenly got too heavy. My reasoning was the high dollars spent would embarrass me to ride it rather than let it gather dust in the barn like my rower.
The miles have certainly helped me physically even as other problems develop yet the greatest positive as been with my mental state…

 

[mschwett]

…

Cheap, DSO/DTC bikes have a very important place in the market, especially if they are light-use and thus unlikely to be run too hard. They are the perfect gateway drug to an upgrade and a life that has a lot more cycling in it as a result of having that in-reach option versus one that is more technically solid, but you may as well price it at a million dollars cuz its not affordable at $4k+ ... or whatever.

i generally agree with you about the importance of getting people on bikes - throttles or no, mid/front/rear, heavy/light, whatever.

i’m not sure i buy the sensitivity to pricing. cheap things are often ecologically terrible, with equally high carbon footprint in construction (often worse depending on where they come from and the practices/infrastructure there) and very high lifetime impact as they end up in a landfill after a year or two. most americans are able to “afford” cars that cost 10x or 20x the numbers that are often claimed to be unaffordable here. obviously cheap financing plays a role but if we want e-bikes to be serious transportation, maybe we need to take them seriously?

imagine a 3-4k eBike built with good quality industry standard parts, 28mph, 750w, upgradable and serviceable at home as most any bike should be, any proprietary parts (battery etc) guaranteed available for 7 years, with a multi-year warranty and low interest-rate financing. even accounting for the warranty and service, it ought not cost more than $75/mo over a five year period. pair that with some decent bike lanes and the money, time, and environmental savings compared to the status quo in the american sun belt would be massive.

i’m not sure you’ll get the same result with unreliable, short lived BSOs on amazon. they get treated like toys, because, well….

 

[Robspace1]

i generally agree with you about the importance of getting people on bikes - throttles or no, mid/front/rear, heavy/light, whatever.

i’m not sure i buy the sensitivity to pricing. cheap things are often ecologically terrible, with equally high carbon footprint in construction (often worse depending on where they come from and the practices/infrastructure there) and very high lifetime impact as they end up in a landfill after a year or two. most americans are able to “afford” cars that cost 10x or 20x the numbers that are often claimed to be unaffordable here. obviously cheap financing plays a role but if we want e-bikes to be serious transportation, maybe we need to take them seriously?

imagine a 3-4k eBike built with good quality industry standard parts, 28mph, 750w, upgradable and serviceable at home as most any bike should be, any proprietary parts (battery etc) guaranteed available for 7 years, with a multi-year warranty and low interest-rate financing. even accounting for the warranty and service, it ought not cost more than $75/mo over a five year period. pair that with some decent bike lanes and the money, time, and environmental savings compared to the status quo in the american sun belt would be massive.

i’m not sure you’ll get the same result with unreliable, short lived BSOs on amazon. they get treated like toys, because, well….

Like everything else, it depends on the quality of the bike. My ebike cost me $1200.00. It does 28 mph with a 1000 watts to climb the hills. I keep it tuned up every year by a bike shop. Great investment now 3 years old. The idea you need to overspend to get a good, dependable ebike is just wrong. With some minor upkeep, these under 2k bikes hold up well.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Like everything else, it depends on the quality of the bike. My ebike cost me $1200.00. It does 28 mph with a 1000 watts to climb the hills. I keep it tuned up every year by a bike shop. Great investment now 3 years old. The idea you need to overspend to get a good, dependable ebike is just wrong. With some minor upkeep, these under 2k bikes hold up well.

It’s not how many years you get out of it it’s how many miles. How do you think it will hold up if you put 4500 miles a year or more on it?

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Bought our ebikes while fixing up a new house. The new climate and impressive bike infrastructure seemed to demand it.

But diverting funds from new floors to a buy a Turbo Dinero 12.0 just wasn't gonna happen. The CXO (where the X stands for anything you could possibly hope to be chief of) made that quite clear.

Big relief to know that the immense enjoyment I'm getting out of my middling ebike isn't some cruel illusion.

Everyone has their own financial priorities. At $2.7K before accessories and tax, even this ebike is beyond what most can afford to put into any bike. Very thankful for my good fortune and glad that viable alternatives can be had for much less.

PS: Just to be clear, I enjoy hearing about high-end ebikes and components. Really hope members lucky enough to ride them feel free to share what it's like. Just don't wanna hear that nothing less will do for the rest of us.

 

[Robspace1]

It’s not how many years you get out of it it’s how many miles. How do you think it will hold up if you put 4500 miles a year or more on it?

 

[Robspace1]

Why would I even want to ride that many miles a year? Why would I want to ride all winter through freezing weather? That's why I have a car. For what reason? For fun? Not hardly. For exercise? I didn't buy it for a major source of exercise. If so, I would have stayed on a non-motorized bike. I ride for pleasure, in warm weather, and get moderate exercise like most other ebikers. I am not out to prove my manhood or see how much suffering I can endure by riding through snow storms. This bike has had no mechanical breakdowns in 3 years. The original battery failed 6 months out but was quickly replaced at no cost thanks to a great 18 month warranty that covers everything on the bike. Keeping it tuned up every year is all it needs. ($80.00) Even if some part fails, big deal? The parts are not real expensive to replace. So please explain to me again why I should have spent thousands on a bike when this bike works great and will blow right past most other ebikes up the hills? I ride with a club at times and there are some of the more expensive ebikes in the group. Mine's a quicker, more comfortable ride than most. Well worth the money. I did make some upgrades to mine to get it the way I wanted it, but nothing more than an extra few hundred bucks. Bike dealers are simply ripping people off. My girlfriend just bought a new mtb. It has 500w. It has basically the same exact suspension, tires etc. as the new mtb made by Harley Davidson. She paid $800.00 for her's. Harley wants $6,000! Give me a break! As a retired trucker with 1 million+ miles behind me, I'm in no big hurry to see how many miles I can put on two wheels.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Why would I even want to ride that many miles a year?

Why would you ever want to pedal a bike? You have a car

 

[teskow]

A great sensible answer!

 

[fooferdoggie]

Why would I even want to ride that many miles a year? Why would I want to ride all winter through freezing weather? That's why I have a car. For what reason? For fun? Not hardly. For exercise? I didn't buy it for a major source of exercise. If so, I would have stayed on a non-motorized bike. I ride for pleasure, in warm weather, and get moderate exercise like most other ebikers. I am not out to prove my manhood or see how much suffering I can endure by riding through snow storms. This bike has had no mechanical breakdowns in 3 years. The original battery failed 6 months out but was quickly replaced at no cost thanks to a great 18 month warranty that covers everything on the bike. Keeping it tuned up every year is all it needs. ($80.00) Even if some part fails, big deal? The parts are not real expensive to replace. So please explain to me again why I should have spent thousands on a bike when this bike works great and will blow right past most other ebikes up the hills? I ride with a club at times and there are some of the more expensive ebikes in the group. Mine's a quicker, more comfortable ride than most. Well worth the money. I did make some upgrades to mine to get it the way I wanted it, but nothing more than an extra few hundred bucks. Bike dealers are simply ripping people off. My girlfriend just bought a new mtb. It has 500w. It has basically the same exact suspension, tires etc. as the new mtb made by Harley Davidson. She paid $800.00 for her's. Harley wants $6,000! Give me a break!

That’s not what I am getting at. I am getting at if you ride a lot that 1200.00 is not going to hold up. I am not mocking it but if you’re riding low miles and the bike holds up to that that’s fine. But if you like to ride a lot then things start to change. No I was not ripped off buying my bike at a dealer I got a bike that’s reliable that parts are off the shelf and the electrical is standardized and all over the world. I am not worried the company will go out of business and leave me hanging that’s the difference between 1200 and 4000. Plus ride quality and feel and reliability. Plus it gets repaired for free by a mechanic if something goes wrong. Bosch replaced my motor out of the two year warranty for free that saved me 900.00. I ride as much as I do because I enjoy it it keeps me as healthy as it’s possible for me to be. My wife loves riding on the tandem with me. All three of my bikes use the same batteries and almost all the same parts including the tandem.

 

[Gionnirocket]

PS: Just to be clear, I enjoy hearing about high-end ebikes and components. Really hope members lucky enough to ride them feel free to share what it's like. Just don't wanna hear that nothing less will do for the rest of us.

And there you have it

 

[Prairie Dog]

Whether you pay $1K or $10K on an ebike shouldn’t matter to anyone else just as long as it meets your goals. Getting enjoyment out of your ride is more important than how many miles one logs is a value beyond measure. Don’t discount riding year-round as some do it out of necessity where others like myself, find that winter riding offers unrivaled benefits. I agree though that it’s not everyone’s cup a tea.

 

[fooferdoggie]

One of the biggest and most important things is I could test ride the bike before I bought it. I found a bike in a size that fit me and felt good under me. Same with our tandem as we had never ridden one before. I remember when I bought a recumbent the shop would let you ride 1/2 a day if you wanted to make sure. I was thinking about a specialized bike the the only close store only let you ride around in the parking lot totally useless on test riding a bike.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Whether you pay $1K or $10K on an ebike shouldn’t matter to anyone else just as long as it meets your goals. Getting enjoyment out of your ride is more important than how many miles one logs is a value beyond measure. Don’t discount riding year-round as some do it out of necessity where others like myself, find that winter riding offers unrivaled benefits. I agree though that it’s not everyone’s cup a tea.

Though I could live without riding in the rain so much.

 

[Robspace1]

Why would you ever want to pedal a bike? You have a car

They serve different purposes. Dumb question. Why would you ride through cold blizzards, sandstorms, flooded roads, freezing fog, and hailstorm? Is that you're idea of fun? If so, you are out to punish yourself for some strange reason. Most sensible people ride bikes in good weather, and drive cars or take a bus during the cold months. But if pain is you're thing, go for it.

 

[teskow]

Another sensible answer.