It's been a year - can we chat e-bikes again?

[rjmacs]

Last time the forum talked about e-bikes (ebikes, electric bikes), two brands were mentioned:

Rad Power Bikes

and

Specialized

Specialized is a premium brand, and their e-bikes run from about $3250 to over $16000. Rad Power is more of a entry-level retail brand, and their e-bikes run from about $1100 to $1900.

Partner and I are looking to replace our old bikes (non-electric), and are considering e-bikes as a possibility. We're weekend riders, and mostly ride on local trails and roads. Not serious mountain bikers or aggressive racers - we're usually out to tool around, be in nature, and get some exercise. We're both in good health and don't mind pushing the pedals, but a lot of the trails here are pretty hilly, and there are times we would probably venture further if not for the fear of a dreadful return ride...

We have a Yakima hitch-mounted bike rack on the rear of our car, but depending on bike weight (minus battery), that could need replacement if we go electric.

There are increasing numbers of e-bikes out there, and the pandemic has led to lots of out-of-stock problems with popular models. There are also lots of 'review sites,' but those can be notoriously unreliable and biased/sponsored.

Any e-bike owners or general bike experts have suggestions, either for makes, models, or quality review sites? I'm perpetually impressed with the breadth and depth of knowledge here, and would love to hear what you think. We're not set on going electric, but before we sink this much money into replacements we wanted to consider our alternatives. Thanks!

[btfc]

Check out Trek too:

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bikes...es/c/B507/



https://electricbikereview.com/trek/powe...-equipped/

[NewtonMP2100]

.....e-gad......

[C(-)ris]

Bikes are in high demand and hard to find. Local bike shop sent out an email today that they are reducing their hours for sales to M-W-F-Sat only as they don't have many bikes to sell. They are using T-TH-Sun to have all their staff work solely on bike repairs which are up tremendously. Last I checked they had a 3 week backlog and that was 3 weeks ago when the average temp was still in the 40s. I'd imagine they are out past a month now.

E-Bikes might be easier to find as they are more expensive. When I was in the shop last week to get trail passes they had a dozen bikes in stock and all of them were over $3000 or an odd size like a 29er with an XS frame.

[rjmacs]

Thanks, C(-)ris - I should clarify that our current bikes are functional, so we're not in a huge rush to buy right now. We're moreso scoping out the landscape to see what our options are, hence the request for people's experience with e-bikes, brands, reliability, etc. Also, interested in knowing whether folks know of any reputable, independent (or at least transparent) review sites that include e-bikes. btfc mentioned one above, which I've seen on my own, but I honestly have no idea whether it's a good review site or not (btfc didn't indicate an opinion, just a link).

[CJsNvrUrly]

I've bought three!
This one: Fat tire trike
This one: Liberty Trike
And now (awaiting delivery) this one: Addmotor M-340 Fat trike
I love 'em!

I started my research with the Rad bikes, but decided I wanted to have a trike in my "old" age. Rad doesn't offer one.

[RAMd®d]

I've bought three!


Wow!

Upgrades or increasing the stable?

[Markintosh]

We have three Rad Power bikes:

RadRover for cross-country and light trail riding
RadCity for road riding around town
RadRunner with back rack with removable baskets and a center console as a grocery getter

The first two we have had for two years, the third one came when a new grocery store was built a half mile away.

Prior to the Rad's, I didn't ride any bikes at all due to knee pain going up hills. For each of the last two years, I've ridden about 1500 miles per year (during the non-snow part of the year). So e-bikes have been a game changer for us.

I couldn't see buying one of the more expensive brands unless you were doing very heavy trail MTB style riding. The Rads do just fine at a good price point.

[Gareth]

rjmacs wrote:
We're both in good health and don't mind pushing the pedals, but a lot of the trails here are pretty hilly, and there are times we would probably venture further if not for the fear of a dreadful return ride...

This probably isn't as much of an issue for mountain style eBikes, but something to keep in mind in general: if the bike is setup for speed and not torque, you may not have as much assist as you'd like going uphill.

I used my eBike primarily for commuting on a relatively flat-ish ride, with only one "tiny" uphill to speak of, but that tiny uphill is super noticeable as it actually requires effort on my part, versus zero effort the rest of the way (I ride at full throttle/assist for speed where I essentially pedal to engage the motor and don't do any actual work myself).

I also find that the "lowest" assist level may be needed just to overcome the extra weight of the eBike. If you don't use any assist, you're going to be doing extra work over a regular bike because of the extra weight.

And keep in mind the advertised "range". I.e. try to figure out what level of assist that is. Riding at full throttle cuts the range to under half of the advertised "pedal-assisted range" on my eBike.

[davemchine]

The last time I looked there were a lot of kits available on amazon and eBay to convert a conventional bike to an e-bike. The kits were surprisingly affordable. I'm sure there is a downside but thought I'd throw the idea into the ring to see what people think.