Hello friends!
So I've been researching the past month or two and have really gotten active in my peruse of an E-bike, I'm 5'5" and around 230lb. I ultimately would love a bike that I can cruise along the many bike paths in our area, ride down to the ponds with the kids, or maybe even attempt to commute to work in the morning. With that, I also want to be able to take this rig off road, we do a lot of camping and lots of trail exploring, and I'd love to have a bike that can get me through the trail of rocks and roots (all pretty light stuff though, I wouldn't say full on mountain biking) The reason why I'm leaning towards an E-bike is because we live in an extremely hilly area. We have some crazy hills in our neighborhood alone that not many municipal sanding trucks can make up the hill. I'm slightly overshare and overweight, so the thought of trying to get on those hills make me not even want to go out on a bike. With an e-bike... I feel limitless. I mostly want to ride the bike without the motor running - just as a regular bike - I like getting my heart rate up and I want more ways to exercise besides hiking and walking, but I'd love that extra assistance getting up those dreaded hills. We have two foster kids, so it's hard for me to justify spending this much money on myself, but after riding around for an hour in 15 degree weather I was sold lol.
So here's my dilemma, I put a down payment on a Lift+, awesome bike. Comfortable, nice motor response, just enough help to get up those hills when I wanted to, was able to turn it off and peddle like a normal bike and that didn't suck due to the weight. Took it off pavement for a bit and .... ouch. No way would I be able to deal with dirt trails comfortably on this guy. We went back to the drawing board and I contacted Trek to see what they would say. Somehow I got wind of a Neko+, the Woman's version of the old Dual sport. Bingo! Great! Lets find this guy. Well, it turns out there is only one on the East Coast, and it's about 5 hours away. The rep from Trek actually called the shop and asked if he would match the price of the Neko+ to the sale price I saw online (before my local shop sold out) and they agreed $1999. Awesome! Went back into my local shop to tell him the news and take back my deposit to snag that Neko+ 5 hours away, and our bike guy said, "I found something that may work for your needs." It's a Raleigh Cadent IE. Okay - don't know much about Raleigh because I've been obsessing over Trek the past couple weeks because of the Lift+. Now, looking at the two bikes side by side (Cadent and the Neko+) they look like the same exact bike. Front suspension, similar step through frame, similar geometry, but the Raleigh has wider, although slicker, tires. Neko+ seems to have thinner yet more of a knobby treaded tire. The Raleigh is $200~ cheaper at $1700, closer to us, and comes with fenders, a rack and built in lights. but seems heavier.
Our local bike guy had me put a 100% deposit down on the Raleigh to order it so I can try it. He also put the Lift+ on hold too in case I decide to go back to that guy. I've attached some pictures of the bikes side by side, they look so similar. The only thing that I say I'm not a fan of with the Raleigh motors is how fast they "zip" when peddling. With the Lift+ Shimano motor it was a nice gradual increase that met with my own power. With the Raleigh it seemed like as soon as I peddled I was being pushed back in my seat... I did see that you can adjust the power wattage etc but I'm not sure if that is what I need to decrease..
What would you do? Which is a better bike? In your opinion which is a better brand? Do I take the 10 hour drive round trip to go grab the Neko+ for a couple more hundred bucks, or do I stick with my local shop and go with the Raleigh? I want this bike to last me a good while (hopefully 6+ years) of summer spring and fall riding with the kids. It's such a big investment for something that's just for me I want to make sure I'm making the right choice and will be able to handle what ever trails come our way. What are your opinions?
