Hey community! Ive just sold my car and am looking at getting an ebike. They seem to range from 1500 - 6000ish.
Curious to hear peoples experiences and also advice on what features to consider, and what price range you'd recommend.
Ebike price and features to consider
pixpotato on 02/10/2022 - 20:30
Comments
My $8000+ Electric mountain bike didn't come with pedals… they are extra.
Sounds like you’ve been burnt by no pedals.
They don’t put pedals on expensive bikes because most riders will ditch the factory ones and put on their preferred style of clipless pedals. It’s a personal choice and it would be a waste to put the wrong type on a bike. Many riders will take the pedals of their old bike to put on a new one.
If your bike doesn’t come with pedals out of the shop, ask if there’s any you can have, the bike shop will likely have a box full of cheap plastic pedals they’ve taken off customers bikes.
Why do they include seats then? People have their preferred seats too, so they will also go to waste.
Preferred seats are less common that preferred pedals. I have several bikes with different saddles, but all got the same brand of pedals so I can use the same shoes across them.
but all got the same brand of pedals so I can use the same shoes across them.
likewise, I use the same buttocks across bikes, so prefer the same brand of seat.
@Euphemistic: On a side note, I really don't understand how some people stick with those solid plastic pro seats. They're getting thinner and thinner every year, it's already almost at the point where you're basically wearing a plastic G-string while riding.
First thing I do on any bike is buy an aftermarket seat. Nice and wide and padded for my bum to rest on.
@SlavOz: Nice and wide and soft is not the best saddle. Getting one that suits your own butt isn’t easy but if you get the sit bones on the right spot on the saddle you don’t need heaps of padding.
Wide and soft is OK for slow paced cruising around but not suited to any sort of fast riding.
@Euphemistic: Yeah I imagine the hard narrow seats are optimised for performance and balance, especially when pedalling at high speeds. But those are not major issues for MTB riders. When you're doing jumps or riding over rock gardens, you need padding under there.
@SlavOz: No you don’t. You don’t hit any of that stuff with your bum on the seat. Plus a wide seat makes it harder to get your weight backward for descending.
Source: riding MTB since last century and including quite a few 100km MTB events.
@Euphemistic: If you're riding a hardtail, you're definitely absorbing some of the blows with your bum.
She is Victorian. They can't have personal electronic vehicles there.
I remember a few weeks ago in Sydney, the piggies were cracking down on people using electric bikes that apparently weren't "street legal". Deliveroo riders were getting tackled off their bikes and thrown to the ground, in an effort to "keep the community safe".
So much for encouraging environmentally friendly choices. Typical power-hungry pigs just looking for someome to pick on.
@SlavOz: The police are certainly being arseholes but the real blame should be with the government for not following the other states and updating the legislation.
@Clear: The police are the government. I can understand why wealthy elites in parliament don't have their community's best interest at heart but it's always disgusting when local police officers do their bidding by inflicting violence to stop victimless 'crimes'.
Whether you want mid-drive or hub drive motor - I recommend mid-drive motor so that the electric motor can take advantage of gearing. Another consideration is whether you want a chain or gates carbon belt drive train. I have a Trek Allant 7, but I sort of regret purchasing it due to the chain, as you have to maintain it. A carbon belt drive is a must have in my opinion. This seems to be a good option but it's expensive: https://www.lekkerbikes.com.au/product/amsterdam-gt-enviolo-….
I reckon just looking gumtree for second hand e-bikes and buy one of those. There'll be a lot that are ex-delivery bikes and will go fine once you've serviced it, e.g. an NCM bike.
Thanks mate this helped so much!
Holy moly now that Ive done my research this Lekker bike seems to be a bargain and a half!
Yeah, not a bad bike, currently its $500 off.
Gonna wait till black friday
Australian-spec bikes are limited to 25km/h - kind of annoying. I imported a US model (limited to 20mph) but when the controller died I wasn't able to source a replacement. I commuted a 45km round trip for more than a year. If purchasing again, I'd go for a model that's sold here but maybe import one from NZ where 32km/h is the limit. When you consider all of the temporary humans riding modified e-scooters at car-like speeds, the 7km/h difference is unlikely to get your e-bike impounded.
I would think it's easier to unlock/change the region rather than going the route of importing.
I changed the region on mine with a Shimano mid drive motor to US so it now assists up to 32km/h.
I was looking at the lighweight drive systems: Fazua, Mahle X20. I also like some of the Specialized e-bikes. I couldn't find any advice online as to how to hack these systems - they appear to be quite well locked-down.
have a look at Cullen version4 from Pedl.com.au
i bought one 6 mths ago, very pleasedWhat sort of riding will you be doing? Do you want mudguards, pannier racks and stuff so you can all weather commute and go shopping? To get a good recommendation fill us in with some more info.
Mid drive, hydraulic disc brakes. Most importantly something that fits you right.
$1500 e-bikes are $5-600 bikes with electric drive thrown on. How big is your budget? It’s probaly worth spending around $3k if it’s your only vehicle, but then if theft could be a problem maybe a cheaper bike is better.
Depends on the features that you want. Mid drive is better for hill climbing because you get better low end torque in low gears. Mid drive in general
I would say is better, however there is more maintenance on chains, chain rings, and gears. But much better for hill climbing.Hub drive is good for low, flat areas and also generally require less maintenance, however note that because the motor is incorporated into the wheel if you need to change tyres it can be a bit more of a pain, but they also put less stress on the chain, and chain rings. Also hub drive you can get a throttle (so you don’t pedal) but don’t think you can get that routinely with mid drive.
Motors ain’t motors - some motors are a lot more repairable than others. Bosch is generally considered the best for after warranty repairs, as the assemblies can be taken apart without too much fuss. They also offer some user maintenance packs for basic things. Other manufacturers are generally swap out in the event of failure, such as Shimano; so if your motor goes after warranty you may have issues with some brands (have to buy a whole new motor assembly ~$1000+).
If you live in a hilly area, I would recommend to go for the max torque (NM) you can afford in a trusted brand - such as Bosch. Trust me on hills, higher torque when you start out is a blessing. The Bosch Performance CX gen 4 with 85 NM is one of the higher ends with still reasonable efficiency in battery. Other brands like Bafang may offer higher NM but they will use more battery power, so less range. Yes, the motor will use more juice with higher torque but you can just use a lower setting.
Go for hard tail (no rear suspension) if you want to save money, if you’re not doing mountain biking. I wouldn’t with an e-bike (mountain biking) anyway because I don’t think that currently the bearings in motors are super resilient, but of course YMMV.
If I were going for an e-bike, and I lived in a hilly area I’d go for something with a mid drive motor, at least 65 NM of max NM, with at least a 500mw battery, hard tail. I don’t know a whole lot about forks but I’d try for something with a lock out.
The issue currently is that e-bikes with decent specs are stupidly expensive. You can get cheaper stuff that is still perfectly usable for a lot of stuff, but it just won’t be as versatile.
no helmet ?
that guy looks like a mormon !!!
No vax passport being displayed either. For all we know he was drifting at 42 miles an hour spreading deadly germs everywhere.
spreading deadly germs everywhere.
He almost knocked over the elderly couple on the footpath.
Not dissimilar to what you were trying to do with COVID.
Thanks all, this is the final list of considerations I came up with. Also found this video super helpfull: https://youtu.be/Lty3L7s9reU
Price
Mid drive or Hub Drive? (mid drive faster and better)
Chain or gates carbon belt drive (carbon belt preferred)
Wattage
Torque (higher the better)
Watt hours (Battery capacity)
Travel range (km)
Battery weight
Can battery be removed
Battery extender pack
Resistence (after 25km limit - is it frictionless?)After 25km/h there will be a small amount of additional weight to propel depending on the design. Something will be turning in the motor that wouldn’t be turning in a regular bike which would cause a little extra friction, but ostensibly it’ll be he same as pedalling a regular bike.
I have been looking for about a month and test rode a few second hand. I think I have decided on new from 99 Bikes as I’ll be commuting about 4000 km’s next year and want the peace of mind of after sales support. I love these Cube bikes for the Bosch system that someone mentioned earlier. Check out Propel on YouTube for some really interesting information and discussions about ebikes too. I don’t need to buy until the end of the year, does anyone know if I’m likely to get a better price than this on this specific bike? https://www.99bikes.com.au/cube22-touring-hybrid-one-500-gre…
Good choice. Giant clearance sale on now.
Roam E+ another good all rounder from $2700.Link?
make sure it comes with pedals.