What should I get? New to ebike world?

[Bassn7]

I'm looking to use the ebike probably just 8 times a year while camping. No off roading, paved areas while getting to fishing locations 3-5 miles away. Suggestions? Will a bike around $600 do the job? Thoughts and help appreciated.

 

[rcdanner]

I’ve bought a couple of Amazon e-bikes for around $600 to use for very casual paved road riding. They all worked. Probably not going to be the most reliable e-bikes. But for your very limited use, I think they might be fine. You’re asking on a very specialized (pun intended) forum. Most responders will probably not even consider $600 Amazon e-bikes. But I’ve found they do work. You might also consider some used e-bikes on local craigslist. Test ride them.

 

[Slaphappygamer]

Are you handy? A $600 e-bike may not have the most quality components and might require more regular maintenance than other e-bikes. That said, I would be very cautious when charging the bike. I’ll only ever charge my bike when I am home (awake) and can periodically check the battery and charger for accessible heat. I also have a watt meter so I can monitor power draw.

I’ve seen used rad bikes go for about this price. Check all marketplaces you can. Nextdoor, Facebook, Craigslist are my go tos.

 

[harryS]

You're planning to ride 80 miles a year on pavement. Can we trust a $600 ebike to power up 8 times and go 10 miles? Sure hope so, but you probably have to ride it about six times to be sure. There's always something like a loose connection or missing screw that pops up in the first few rides that needs to be corrected.

 

[gromike]

It doesn't sound like you are a serious biker, so anything that fits will probably work for you. I would avoid the cheapest stuff because you might end up with something of that is literally a piece of junk. That said, if you're handy you can work miracles, though that will take more money.
Personally, I have a strong aversion to cheap bikes. Scrapped so many to elemental form that had not one part worth harvesting.

 

[EMGX]

You might take a look at what Walmart has to offer in your price range. I glanced at a few of their bikes which not only had UL certification but 3 or 4 year warranty options as well as Walmart return policy. Some might be in stock at local stores or have free shipping. I'd probably choose a Walmart UL certified bike with a warranty option over Amazon.

Edit:
Beware that Walmart 90 day return policy is only for those sold by Walmart, not the many third party sellers that list on walmart.com
Here's a $500 ebike shipped and sold by Walmart UL certified, overall excellent reviews, pedal assist only (no throttle), solid steel fork instead of a cheap pogo stick suspension fork.

 

[LimboJim]

The Concord line of bikes sold and shipped by Walmart peak at $658 right now. There's a good warranty available but I've ridden a $500 one - it was extremely low power yet it rapidly chewed through its small 36V battery.

The 48V moped looks a bit more likely to give more bang per buck, and its battery looks like a widely available (non-propietary) unit.

 

[spokewrench]

You're planning to ride 80 miles a year on pavement. Can we trust a $600 ebike to power up 8 times and go 10 miles? Sure hope so, but you probably have to ride it about six times to be sure. There's always something like a loose connection or missing screw that pops up in the first few rides that needs to be corrected.

That estimated 80 miles a year could cause imbalance. Cells get out of balance with each other through self discharge. Recharging seems to have some capacity for equalizing cells, but just a few charge cycles in a year may not be enough.

I bought an e-bike in 2020 so I'd have transportation while I figured out what was wrong with my then-beloved antique car. I chose an e-bike because at 73 and obese, I didn't know if I had the energy for the hills around here. There's no bicycle infrastructure here, so I might need to step it up and go on some stretches to avoid impeding traffic. Motor assistance would be valuable on days when I was under the weather.

At first I was far more dependent on the motor that I'd imagined. I discovered that the saddle was too far forward, which made my leg muscles inefficient. I moved the saddle and began pedaling maybe 130 miles per charge. I needed some help on hills because it was a 1-speed.

I ride daily. It's nice to have the throttle available, but I don't use it much with my 7-speed. I've pedaled 96 miles since my last charge, and the display says the battery is 96% full.

A regular bicycle might be the best choice for @Bassn7 .

 

[EMGX]

The Concord line of bikes sold and shipped by Walmart peak at $658 right now. There's a good warranty available but I've ridden a $500 one - it was extremely low power yet it rapidly chewed through its small 36V battery.

The 48V moped looks a bit more likely to give more bang per buck, and its battery looks like a widely available (non-propietary) unit.

Not my cup of tea but the Loadpro looks like a nice bike to ride a few miles with front and rear racks to carry a tackle box and a picnic basket.

 

[kevinmccune]

I’ve bought a couple of Amazon e-bikes for around $600 to use for very casual paved road riding. They all worked. Probably not going to be the most reliable e-bikes. But for your very limited use, I think they might be fine. You’re asking on a very specialized (pun intended) forum. Most responders will probably not even consider $600 Amazon e-bikes. But I’ve found they do work. You might also consider some used e-bikes on local craigslist. Test ride them.

Ah Vados.wait get an Ancheer!

 

[rcdanner]

Ah Vados.wait get an Ancheer!

That is exactly what I bought as my first ebike in 2019. Ancheer 350W 7 speed 26in wheels for $600. Rode it for a few months and trouble free 1000 miles. Climbed alot of hills. Even tackled a few dirt roads. I liked it.

IBut eventually sold it and bought more powerful higher quality more expensive ebikes. And over the next six years I have bought a number of ebikes including a Turbo Vado 4.0. Out of all the ebikes I prefer my steady reliable Ride1Up with over 10,000 miles. It was not $600, though.

 

[6zfshdb]

Welcome to the forum! You'll get many good suggestions here.

As you know, there are a great many e-bikes on the market and the best advice I can give is to TEST RIDE as many as you can.
Unless you're a DIY'er, consider who will service the bike you ultimately buy and where will you get parts.

The old saw "you get what you pay for" DEFINITELY applies to e-bikes!
If price is a consideration, IMO it may be better to shop for a good quality used e-bike than a cheaper new model.

In any case, good luck with your search!

 

[PCeBiker]

When I bought my first e-bike, I bought something with brand name non-proprietary parts, so that I could buy parts without going through the dealer.

I did a two week crash course here on this forum to educate myself before I bought something, and one thing that stuck with me is "Don't try to buy your last e-bike first."

I think a $600 Walmart ebike is a great place to start.
You can decide for yourself if you want to upgrade, and what those upgrades would be for you personally.
Or you can decide that e-biking isn't for you, and you're only out $600.

I guess the hard part is knowing whether you don't like e-biking, or if you just don't like the e-bike that you've got?

 

[PedalUma]

It is more than twice your starting point but not junk and with a large dealer network for local support and service. The Aventon Level 2 is now $300 off and comes well equipped. Once you get a quality eBike you will ride it almost everyday because it is faster to get around, easier, and more fun than a car. A cheep one is throwing money away on junk.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

This is probably heresy, but for the distances you are proposing to ride I'd argue that a decent non-electric city commuter bike is probably the thing to buy. I'd only really want an e-bike for this application if I knew all of the riding was going to be quite hilly.

There are a whole universe of decent high-quality bikes in your price range that don't have a battery and motor. Which is an advantage because those are likely the first things to fail on an inexpensive e-bike.

The Priority Classic Plus is a nice belt drive bike with an internal hub:

Low Maintenance Belt Drive Bike: Priority Classic Plus | Priority Bicycles

The Priority Classic Plus is the original low maintenance belt drive cruiser bicycle for everyday riders.

www.prioritybicycles.com

Co-op Cycles CTY 1.1 bike has a traditional derailleur (3x8) and disc brakes:

https://www.rei.com/product/197842/co-op-cycles-cty-11-bike

Both of those bikes are about $600 and are of far higher quality than any 600 e-bike from Amazon or Wal-Mart. Unless you really really need an e-bike I'd consider a regular bike for your use case.

There is also an enormous glut of bicycles these days and you can often find incredible deals on last years (or even the year before last years) models that bike shops are trying to clear out of inventory. So you can probably bargain hunt and get a much nicer bike for your $600.

 

[kevinmccune]

When I bought my first e-bike, I bought something with brand name non-proprietary parts, so that I could buy parts without going through the dealer.

I did a two week crash course here on this forum to educate myself before I bought something, and one thing that stuck with me is "Don't try to buy your last e-bike first."

I think a $600 Walmart ebike is a great place to start.
You can decide for yourself if you want to upgrade, and what those upgrades would be for you personally.
Or you can decide that e-biking isn't for you, and you're only out $600.

I guess the hard part is knowing whether you don't like e-biking, or if you just don't like the e-bike that you've got?

easy to deal with one you do not like ,give it away,relieve yourself of the burden of a bad purchase.

 

[kevinmccune]

This is probably heresy, but for the distances you are proposing to ride I'd argue that a decent non-electric city commuter bike is probably the thing to buy. I'd only really want an e-bike for this application if I knew all of the riding was going to be quite hilly.

There are a whole universe of decent high-quality bikes in your price range that don't have a battery and motor. Which is an advantage because those are likely the first things to fail on an inexpensive e-bike.

The Priority Classic Plus is a nice belt drive bike with an internal hub:

Low Maintenance Belt Drive Bike: Priority Classic Plus | Priority Bicycles

The Priority Classic Plus is the original low maintenance belt drive cruiser bicycle for everyday riders.

www.prioritybicycles.com

Co-op Cycles CTY 1.1 bike has a traditional derailleur (3x8) and disc brakes:

https://www.rei.com/product/197842/co-op-cycles-cty-11-bike

Both of those bikes are about $600 and are of far higher quality than any 600 e-bike from Amazon or Wal-Mart. Unless you really really need an e-bike I'd consider a regular bike for your use case.

There is also an enormous glut of bicycles these days and you can often find incredible deals on last years (or even the year before last years) models that bike shops are trying to clear out of inventory. So you can probably bargain hunt and get a much nicer bike for your $600.

if that fails there are several kits now to make the bike a "semi ebike",you feel froggy,pop the assist unit off and go "native" if you have a bug and still want to ride stick it back on and off you go."Specialized" has an assortment of pretty good kind of affordable lower end bikes and Jamis has some pretty nice steel framed bicycles,its a buyers market right now and maybe their is the possibility of renting one( though I don't recommend it,the thing to keep I'm mind if you start riding and keep after it you will get somewhat better till you "plateau"( thing you can start pushing and "break out" if you wish,always wear a good helmet ( good insurance against sitting in a corner and drooling-no disrespect intended)lastly if you live in a bike friendly place that is fairly level you will probably get the "bug".