In this video I explain my take aways from owning an e-bike and give some advice for anyone considering buying and e-bike in the future. As a full-time bike shop manager/mechanic, my take on e-bikes has always been a bit of a mixed review. I’m now a supporter and can see the clear benefits of riding an ebike and where electric bikes can shine!
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45 Comments
Would love to support local however some of these local retailers selling E bikes are on life Support, here today… Gone tomorrow
I’m 71 yrs old and I ride my E-Bike for 3-5 miles a day. Sometimes for 10 miles on really nice days.I wouldn’t be getting any exercise whatsoever if it weren’t for my E-Bike. I basically only use the motor on the steeper inclines. A charged battery will often last me a month or more because its mostly all flat terrain
Great video, thanks for helping a newbie decide what to look for when purchasing their first e bike!
I just wish they would come up with a standard for batteries, like AA, AAA, so that we can easily replace or swap them out.
I do Bicycle tours, they limit Only Class 1 pedal assist 20 mph max and No throttle ! Some tours w shuttles have max weight 50lb? My Trek Verve 3+ weighs 54? I hppe they dont have a scale?
I bought All my bikes from Local bike shops for all the reasons. I have go to 2 stores.
Thank you, for sharing your wisdom in this….
The only thing i ask of the e bike people is please please stop riding an ebike as if its still a regular bike. The e-bike community in my experience is filled with equal parts boomer age and 12-18 year olds who refuse to slow down around pedestrians on PEDESTRIAN paths. It’s ridiculous to casually pass through a crowd of pedestrians going 16 mph without any warning or horns etc. Ebikes desperately need state regulation equal to at least mopeds or motorcycles. Its out of control. Everytime im walking in town I have an ebike pass at 20mph
11:15 why would you ever need an eject button
Hmmm…should we trust a car salesman who tells us why you shouldnt buy the competition? He has very good points here…so maybe this time we should.
I didn’t know they had mid frame motors! Thank you. I’ll put that on my list
What was the brand bike you used in this video?
Converted my hybrid bike to an ebike 3 years ago. I love it and I commute without sweating 🥵.
Tell me why the local bike shops charge 3-4 times the cost of one delivered to my house. Riding our $500 "Amazon" bikes for the past 3 years with no issues. Maybe just lucky, but for new ebike riders, $2k is a large investment to see if you'll like it and use it!
$5000 for a road bike???? Nope. I have a $2000 Gazelle T9 and a $4200 Gazelle Arroyo, and they are both fabulous road bikes that I've been riding for several years.
Good info 👍
Thanks
I'm not at all comfortable purchasing an e-bike made in, or from, components manufactured in China, where forced labour is most certainly used in manufacturing the components. Forced labour is used in mining and the manufacturing of batteries in China, so if I was going to buy an e-bike I would do my research and ensure it was manufactured from ethically sourced supply chains.
I want a cargo style bike , add a trailer hitch and pull a flat bed trailer , put a insulated box on the flat bed to use as a camper to sleep in
$350 range -it’s been 3 years commuting beautifully. New tires and one brake pad change. YouTube will teach you everything you need. If you go to the bike shop all they will do is berate you on what a bad decision you made by getting your $350 e-bike on Amazon and not pay triple for everything in their niche shop. 🙄
Your bike needs to be electric to be able to pull the weight of the motor and battery at a fast pace, after riding electric for 5 years I got back into a normal bike and it was so easy to ride and pedal that I actually wouldn’t buy another electric bike.
Wait till you have to replace the battery then you’ll squeal!
I just bought one, a Kona Remote hardtail (2024 version, $1998 on clearance sale), as an alternative means of getting more exercise as a shoulder issue is greatly impacting my other options. I hadn't biked in about 20 years and now live on a the side of a very steep and long hillside, so absent the e-bike, every trip basically would have been one-way, with me pushing for 15+ minutes to get back to my house, and it was just too great a psychological hurdle to surmount for me. That's no longer an issue, and my town has a cornucopia of trails that I'm just now starting to discover, so I'm pretty sanguine that it will end up having been a good choice.
I am 51, and I regret getting it in general. I don't have health issues, so I actually do not need it. Am now saving up for a normal bike, mountain bike type of thing. I now see children under 12 riding them. But in general, people love buying things out of laziness, or more easier. I really want that mountain bike, since I want to do physical stuff whilst I still can. Besides that, the 25 km/h limiter is also annoying and the limits of your battery charge. But I do think it's a great thing for people being able to ride when they have health issues, but right now I see people using them out of laziness.
2:22 I was cognizant about buying my first ebike and avoided those cheap $500 Amazon ebikes. I purchased a Ride1Up 700 series and have been very happy with it in the last 4 years
I had an e-bike that weighed about 70 pounds. I personally weigh 112 pounds and I found that the bike was too heavy and I really struggled just to keep it balanced. I ended up selling it.
I'm an urban 69 yr old rider. I need the exercise for health complications, so an electric bike won't fit the bill.
I ended up with a folding bike, and the gears configuration means I can almost pop a wheelie in the lower two gears, from a dead stop. It has just eight gears & 19 inch wheels, but that is all I need for the rolling terrain in my city.
great information. thanks
No-Car Challenge (my ebike is my main form of transportation). It's a luxury to own a car – especially the hybrids and electrics. Sticker Shock, general maintenance, insurance, and gas are keeping the average person in the poor house.
The key word is "assist". It's to be used not as a rocket, maxxed out, or in turbo mode the entire time you're on it. You gain no benefit, are a menace and are guaranteed to wipe out and break more than just your bike if you do so.
Do NOT buy a product like an e-bike online. Period. Any better bike will need service.
Thank you for this. Well presented with some very good points to consider.
I can't find one to fit my size comfortably as a 6'3" rider.
Beautiful bike, way outta my price range though 😊
could you recommend a foldable e-bike for hard rough terrain? gravel, rocks etc
Thanks for the insite. Opened our eyes to e-bikes. A few things we didn't consider. Now we can make an informed/intelligent decision.
No e-bike is worth 5k pfft.
I thought bike are environmental friendly in mind. Now have to mine lithium resources .
I want A Fat Tire Trike with a good basket 🙂
$3000+ for an ebike that can be taken off the path? THAT is INSANE! I'm buying a motorcycle, and passing on peddles!
I wad about to buy one last week from academy and looked at the reviews. 5 reviews with one good and 4 bad. Seems after a week they stopped working and the store wouldn't do anything to help. That was 1200 bucks. Yeah I'll wait a bit and look at an actual bike shop.
As a person in the US making not enough to survive, my only metric I care about is price brotha
Why would I buy a $3,000 e bike when I could get an actual cycle, atv, or dirt bike for that? Lol
It’s also a good way to get to the less populated ends of Bahia Honda & Seven Mile bridge to go fishing.
Got 2 E bikes & 2 E scooters & Your right, u get what u pay for & I worry about getting batteries
Back in 2017 or so I bought the cheapest E bike conversion kit like it was 150 and then another Hundred dollars for the battery oh my second battery for the bike is still going and I put it on a goodwill bike I got for seven bucks. I also put a milk crate on the back for another Hundred dollars for the mount and crate For a total of $350 and that’s for 1000 W 20 amp hour 48 V, so yeah you can do it cheap And by the way, I take it off road all the time
Tst r002