Ultra newb looking for first ebike

O

offkilter

New Member
Hi all, thanks for the add!
So after scouring the web for a week and a half trying to find what I'm looking for (and really getting nowhere) I came here to talk to the pros.

A little back ground first. I have lived in FL my entire life (no hills). I have not owned ANY type of bike since I was 16 (now 40) and that was an old bmx single speed. Messed around with a friends 10 speed for a bit but didn't really know enough to get the hang of gears, and at the time didn't care to.
Reasons why I haven't rode in all this time? Well, initially because I was 16 and bought a car... :D Later, I developed leg problems in my early 20's that still continue today.

Parameters/requirements:
The bike will be used for leisure around the neighborhood, local shops, down to the beach (tires for ON the beach would be great), etc.
It will need to have some kind of throttle for when my legs give out. (even walking very long is too much sometimes)
Simplicity and ease of use and maintenance is a big deal as well.
The road I travel is only 30mph. It would be nice to get close to that but I know that's kind of pushing it, so 20-25ish?

Now on to what I THINK I'm looking for and why.
How I would describe it, bottom line is - a fat-ish tire, single speed, belt drive, throttle controlled ebike. o_O
Fat tire - for beach use and extra road cushioning.
Single speed - for ease of use/ 'cause I don't want to be messing with gears and I have no hills I would need it for.
Belt drive - for easier maintenance/upkeep/cleanliness.
Throttle - for leg fatigue.

I have searched for all of this and came across a few, but went too far down the rabbit hole and now I am lost again.
With what seems like an endless amount of different manufacturers/brands/start ups/etc., how do you make sense of it all?
Is there a more comprehensive list on this site that would be of more help than just google?
Are there even that many bikes out there right now that even fit that description?
Still so many questions...

Regardless, I am looking forward to this new adventure.

Thank you all in advance for any help you are able to give.
 
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Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you have a good idea of your wants, now its finding the best options address those wants.

You mentioned a single speed. That's going to be your challenge. There aren't a lot of single speed ebikes on the market. At least with wider (beach tires and throttle). Perhaps a better option is to look at ebikes with a Nuvinci hub. It makes shifting gears extremely easy, almost as if the bike was without gears.

Hopefully you have a few LBS (Local Bike Shops) near you that sell ebikes, a great place to start. There are literally hundred and hundreds of reviews on the EBR that can help you get a good understanding of all the different options and how different ebikes operate.

Just as important, there's a lot of good folks here with very valuable ebike knowledge to assist.

Good luck on your search.
 
Not many single speed ebikes that I'm aware of. You can look at the Gazelle which has an internally geared hub so no exposed sprockets. It also has an enclosed chain. It doesn't check all your boxes though.. I can't recall who makes it but there is an ebike with CVT drive so no shifting at all is required by the rider but I think you're going to have a hard time finding an ebike that ticks ALL the boxes.. I'm relatively new at this as well and searched for months before I bought my bike and it was a compromise. Test ride a bunch of ebikes, you may end up on something different than what you THINK you want as I did.
 
DDBB said:
Not many single speed ebikes that I'm aware of. You can look at the Gazelle which has an internally geared hub so no exposed sprockets. It also has an enclosed chain. It doesn't check all your boxes though.. I can't recall who makes it but there is an ebike with CVT drive so no shifting at all is required by the rider but I think you're going to have a hard time finding an ebike that ticks ALL the boxes.. I'm relatively new at this as well and searched for months before I bought my bike and it was a compromise. Test ride a bunch of ebikes, you may end up on something different than what you THINK you want as I did.
Click to expand...
Check out the Evelo Aurora Fully Loaded version with Nuvinci Harmony for automatic shifting. Don't think a fat tire single speed exists (nor any reason why one should).

How about Juiceds new Scrambler? While it has gears, I think it's really just an excuse to market a scooter to get around licensing issues. Seems to be designed mainly for throttle use (which I detest)
 
DDBB said:
Not many single speed ebikes that I'm aware of. You can look at the Gazelle which has an internally geared hub so no exposed sprockets. It also has an enclosed chain. It doesn't check all your boxes though.. I can't recall who makes it but there is an ebike with CVT drive so no shifting at all is required by the rider but I think you're going to have a hard time finding an ebike that ticks ALL the boxes.. I'm relatively new at this as well and searched for months before I bought my bike and it was a compromise. Test ride a bunch of ebikes, you may end up on something different than what you THINK you want as I did.
Click to expand...

Agree with the others. Perhaps focus on a Nuvinci with a gates carbon belt to start and work from there. It will be a tall order to find all of the components and features you have mentioned all on one bike as standard equipment, so you may have to eliminate some to have others all on the same bike. You could always swap out tires and wheels for wider ones and substitute for the traditional 4" wide fat tires. Working with a LBS would be your best bet for customizing and dialing in all of your preferences IMO.
 
Offkilter ...
I think you need to trim your list... and, I suspect, that you do, too.

Single speed is the obvious candidate for omission. This is not simply because it reduces your choice of ebikes. Imagine being stuck with gearing that somehow doesn’t feel quite ‘right’, either generally or for a particular circumstance. Pootling along the beach will need different gearing from zipping along the road!

Continuously variable transmission with a belt drive would put a smile on my face - providing, of course, that I could venture onto a Florida beach whenever the urge arose.

Have fun and enjoy being part of the EBR Forum.
... David
 
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Thanks guys for the replies. I'm still figuring out all the different part names and terminology so this has helped get me started in the right direction.
And David, you're absolutely right about trimming the list... I kinda pieced together the idea of the above bike from a few needs/wants... not really knowing much about it or if something like it really existed.
This has helped, thanks again.
 
The NuVinci hub has always seemed like a solution in search of a problem to me. That being said, many people like it.

However, you might also consider an internally-geared hub. When you were a kid, did any of your friends have 3 speed bikes? They probably had an IGH. There's no derailleur hanging down, you can shift gears when you are stopped (very handy if you forgot to downshift before stopping), and with only 3 gears, there's a very short learning curve. 2nd gear for almost everything. 1st gear for quick starts and steep hills. 3rd gear for cruising at speed. That's it. This limits you to a mid-drive motor, but that is not a problem; there are many highly-thought-of mid-drive ebikes out there.

Go to the home page of this site, click on "Categories," and then on mid-drives, and see what you come up with.

You're still going to have to narrow it down if you go that route, and here's what I always suggest: start by looking for bikes that look good to you. Sure, that's not the only or the most important criterion, but let's face it -- we all want to ride a bike or drive a car that looks good to us. This will help your selection process. Then you can focus on the important stuff, like reliability, features (fenders, lights, etc.), and of course price.

Good luck!
 
Bruce Arnold said:
The NuVinci hub has always seemed like a solution in search of a problem to me. That being said, many people like it.

However, you might also consider an internally-geared hub. When you were a kid, did any of your friends have 3 speed bikes? They probably had an IGH. There's no derailleur hanging down, you can shift gears when you are stopped (very handy if you forgot to downshift before stopping), and with only 3 gears, there's a very short learning curve. 2nd gear for almost everything. 1st gear for quick starts and steep hills. 3rd gear for cruising at speed. That's it. This limits you to a mid-drive motor, but that is not a problem; there are many highly-thought-of mid-drive ebikes out there.

Go to the home page of this site, click on "Categories," and then on mid-drives, and see what you come up with.

You're still going to have to narrow it down if you go that route, and here's what I always suggest: start by looking for bikes that look good to you. Sure, that's not the only or the most important criterion, but let's face it -- we all want to ride a bike or drive a car that looks good to us. This will help your selection process. Then you can focus on the important stuff, like reliability, features (fenders, lights, etc.), and of course price.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Ahhh... Explained nice and simple.
Thanks Bruce!
 
You don't want the bike to do all the work, just assist. A few gears will make things easier, and, as any biker can tell you, there's no such thing as a flat road...even if there were, a bit of wind will make the trip home different from the trip out.

It's really the combination of the right gear and the right amount of assist that makes for sweet pedalling.
 
Bruce Arnold said:
The NuVinci hub has always seemed like a solution in search of a problem to me. That being said, many people like it.

However, you might also consider an internally-geared hub. When you were a kid, did any of your friends have 3 speed bikes? They probably had an IGH. There's no derailleur hanging down, you can shift gears when you are stopped (very handy if you forgot to downshift before stopping), and with only 3 gears, there's a very short learning curve. 2nd gear for almost everything. 1st gear for quick starts and steep hills. 3rd gear for cruising at speed. That's it. This limits you to a mid-drive motor, but that is not a problem; there are many highly-thought-of mid-drive ebikes out there.

Go to the home page of this site, click on "Categories," and then on mid-drives, and see what you come up with.

You're still going to have to narrow it down if you go that route, and here's what I always suggest: start by looking for bikes that look good to you. Sure, that's not the only or the most important criterion, but let's face it -- we all want to ride a bike or drive a car that looks good to us. This will help your selection process. Then you can focus on the important stuff, like reliability, features (fenders, lights, etc.), and of course price.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Bruce- Well said! Also, a nice reminder of the bikes we rode back in the day. The Schwinn 3 speed with the gear cable protruding out of the rear axle. Came in handy when doing a neighborhood paper delivery route to local subscribers. Great bike design. At the time, I do not remember seeing any other well known companies making the 3 speed hub. Seemed like Schwinn was the most popular in my neck of the woods.:p
 
The Rad City, which I'm modding for road only use, was a good road rider out of the box, due mainly to it's adjustable stem, a vastly overlooked piece of gear that is mostly shown in a verrrry upright position(?). Guess what! it also adjusts the other way, to a semi-laid out road position. Invaluable, esp. with the ability to twist the handlebars into just about any position!

Likewise, the City comes with 2.3" Kenda knobbies, ok on the road (they will run at 80/90# with better rim tape) and, according to some here, also able to hold it's own on the beach.

I suppose the MOST overlooked resource is right under our noses...this site. I literally spent a good 40 hours poring over reviews and owner comments before deciding whom to plunk my $$$$ down with. I especially looked for successful outcomes to problems (pro tip...they all break). A further consideration is the sheer number of owners out there by brand...the more esoteric ones may have advantages, but you will be the pioneer.
 
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larry-new said:
The Rad City, which I'm modding for road only use, was a good road rider out of the box, due mainly to it's adjustable stem, a vastly overlooked piece of gear that is mostly shown in a verrrry upright position. Guess what! it also adjusts the other way, to a semi-laid out road position. Invaluable, esp. with the ability to twist the handlebars into just about any position!

Likewise, the City comes with 2.3" Kenda knobbies, ok on the road (!) and, according to some here, also able to hold it's own on the beach.

I suppose the MOST overlooked resource is right under our noses...this site. I literally spent a good 40 hours poring over reviews and owner comments before deciding whom to plunk my $$$$ down with. I especially looked for successful outcomes to problems (pro tip...they all break).
Click to expand...
Thanks! I will look into RAD...
And yes, this site is great! I have been learning a ton... and am finding out I may be looking for something completely different than what I originally dreamed up in my head.
Like I said, I am completely new to this... I feel like I'm taking a crash course into the ebike community.
 
rich c said:
Fat tires are not the best for paved road. Especially knobbies! The noise is horrible and add resistance.

As you narrow it down, and make another post for some help, put it in this section; Help Choosing an Ebike
Click to expand...

The original Juggernaut 4" knobby tires on my Rad Rover were a little noisy and offered more resistance than a narrower tire as rich c pointed out.

I now run 4" Origin8 Supercells on the pavement at 20 psi and they handle like a champ. They are extremely quiet and smooth. They handle cracks, holes and crevices in the road much better than the narrower 2.3" tires on our Specialized Como 3.0. They are also great in loose gravel.

I think for beach riding the 4" is going to be the better way to go.
 
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bob armani said:
Bruce- Well said! Also, a nice reminder of the bikes we rode back in the day. The Schwinn 3 speed with the gear cable protruding out of the rear axle. Came in handy when doing a neighborhood paper delivery route to local subscribers. Great bike design. At the time, I do not remember seeing any other well known companies making the 3 speed hub. Seemed like Schwinn was the most popular in my neck of the woods.:p
Click to expand...
I had a Raleigh with a Sturmey-Archer 3 speed hub back in the late 60s.
 
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