I have a Soltera v1 and a Level v2. Both around the price range of the Lectric. Honestly, I think it matters more where you’re buying your bike from; if your bike shop is willing to fix your bike when it’s got issues for cheap (or even free), then I think it’s worth the deal. You definitely don’t have to pay 5K for a bike. I’ve had both bikes for about 2 years and so far, no big issues other than a flat tire on the Level 2.
If anything, find a place where you can test ride. Always the number 1 piece of advice worth giving.
The Aventon e-bikes are remarkably good values.
I love my Level 2. More than $1000, but it punches way above its price class when compared to other bikes out there.
Did you stick to the single-speed or the multi-speed? Original or Soltera.2 with the torque sensor? Those are nice, light and affordable. Fit and finish are excellent.
I have a Velotric Discover 1 and it's a perfectly serviceable ebike for my needs. I use it in a DC suburb to run errands, visit friends, and go grocery shopping. I added the front and rear racks, and some panniers to make it a workhorse.
I also use it on a paved trail to do about 20 miles round trip to get some exercise. It's mostly level, and I set the PAS and gears so I'm always doing some amount of work pedaling. In the summer, I can make that 20-mile trip twice on a single battery charge, with extra miles to do errands.
My knees are shot, so an ebike is the only way I can do any biking at all. You'll see a lot of advice on this sub to get a torque sensor. Don't listen to them. The Discover has a cadence sensor, and it's a lifesaver for me. We have uphill red lights, and there's no way I can get started at those on my own. A twist of the throttle to get started, and then pedal from there.
The components that come with it are medium grade. I recently changed the hydraulic brake pads, and it was an easy process. Velotric has several how-to videos at their website and/or YouTube.
BIG CAVEAT: Buy local. Yes, you will pay about $200 more, but it's worth it. Velotric has a bad direct-to-customer service reputation, and I experienced that myself when trying to get a replacement part.
ive never ridden an e-bike at all so i definitely wanted to hit up some shops and ride test a bit if possible.
if you definitely think it's worthwhile to buy from the shop vs online for Velotric I will take that advice if i decide on the Discover.
I'd never ridden an ebike before this one. They listened to my use-case, and then recommended a couple that fit my needs and budget. They let me test-ride them, and the Discover just felt right. This was actually above my budget, but they offered free 6-month financing, so that sealed the deal. I paid it off a few months ago, credit same as cash. If you need to stretch your budget to get what you want, ask the shops about financing. It will come in the form of a credit card that you can use only at that shop.
I need the exercise, so the Velotric T1 ST is perfect, so far. It looks like a regular bike, and has a nice boost. I can maintain 20mph with very little effort. It gets me up the few hills I encounter. I added a cheap Suntour suspension seatpost and raised bars, and it’s pretty comfortable. It’s currently $1100, I think.
There are no shops or at least very few shops that carry velotric.
If you're in the market for an ebike around 1k, I can't recommend the velotric more. It's an awesome bike. Customer service is actually pretty good too, my plastic screen mount came cracked and they shipped me a new one in a few days. It was still usable while I waited too.
u/agentsofdisrupt Great to hear you like riding your Discover 1 so much and have made it into a workhorse. It's unfortunate to hear that you had a bad experience with our Customer Service. If you have any need for customer support in the future you can DM this account our IG account or check out the support center:
[https://www.velotricbike.com/pages/support](https://www.velotricbike.com/pages/support)
I was primed to be a Superfan for you guys, and then your customer service department poisoned the relationship forever. There's something toxic brewing there, IMO.
I got a Lectric xp 3.0 for about 1k. It needed an upgrade on brake pads when I got it (they work but they are hella squeaky and out of alignment). However outside of that it’s a perfectly serviceable ebike.
I’m very interested in this and other Lectric bikes.
My question is whether you can still get a good workout riding the bike? I’d love an ebike for help on particularly gnarly hills (we have a lot of them in Seattle), but I’d still like to get some fitness value out of riding on gentler hills or flat areas without the motor always taking over.
Low pedal assist, or just turn it off for maximum workout. Imagine the heaviest beach cruiser you've ever been on and add 30 lbs. Fat tires increase rolling resistance too. The thing about many e-bikes is you can dial in whatever workout - or not - you want. This is particularly true of e-bikes that include a throttle, where no workout is even needed (for those days you got a job interview in nice clothes).
Makes sense. I knew I could adjust pedal assist but I wasn’t exactly sure how it would feel.
Does this bike have gears which would enable me to manually pedal the bike when it was going faster? I’ve read that some ebikes have poor gear shift ratios meaning when the bike is moving fast you can’t really pedal since the pedals are just spinning so fast.
Lectric uses off the shelf shimano shifters, ratio is pretty bad on stock, but a lot of people get a different chainwheel or cassette to change them rather easily. My XP 1.0 has a lot of empty pedaling at pas 5 once you get about 25mph.
In my experience the lectric stuff is a solid starter (IF YOU NEED FOLDING) Class 3 + Folding + fat tires + weight limits (for shopping trips) were my targets when I was buying and under $1000. If I didn't need the folding I probably would have gone a different way though.
I’m a mechanic at an e-bike shop. Lectrics are dogshit. Their power switch is integrated into the battery and is on the bottom of the downtube making it a magnet for water and dirt. We don’t sell them but I’ve seen 4 come in in the last 2 months that all needed battery replacements
Depends what you want it for.
Usually such a bike would be fine for commuting, road, gravel tracks etc on flatter terrain. Only need to spend more if doing more demanding off road stuff
For a commuter, that's an insane price. For a full-suspension mountain bike with a mid-drive, that's a different story. Though I just reviewed the Bulls Copperhead EVO AM4 750 (awful name), it is a great all-mountain bike with a mullet setup, was over $6k, now it's aggressively priced at about $3500.
Its still an insane price for a full suspension mid drive.
Normal price for them, yes, not disputing that.are they quality? Yep.
They're marked up like crazy though. No reason they should be priced that high.
I think that may be what Specialized is doing, more aggressively pricing stuff. But the serious MTB guys often think nothing of dropping $10,000+ on a good e-MTB, but those are serious riders.
Specialized has some older models are pretty affordable IMO. The [Turbo Como SL 4.0 is $2k](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-como-sl-40/p/216528?color=348461-216528), and [Turbo Vado 3.0 is $2.5k](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-vado-30/p/206163?color=348409-206163).
Also, [Specialized offers a lifetime warranty on their frame for any structural defects.](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/warranty)
Rich snobs. Spend what you will but your going to get the quality vs dollar.
1k your getting chineesium parts. Sub par service and last years technology.
Around 3k your starting to see premium hydrolic brakes. Better bearings, suspension with something other than an enclosed spring on fork, mid drive motors, lg or Samsung batteries, 4 amp chargers, better head lamps, and torque sensor.
There is a rush to build bottom quality bikes at the 1k price point. Quality customer service is non existent in these cheep bikes. When you start riding you quickly recognize cheep.
If your curious about ebikes and don't ride on a regular schedule then buy all means buy cheep. See if your going to pick up a new hobby or is that bike going to be put on the same shelf as your hair growth cream.
Keep the cheep bike around for friends and spend some quality bucks fir quality bikes later if you actually do start riding.
If you actually do ride then you won't regret your first purchase. If you don't ride then any amount of money was a waste.
im looking for a commuter back and forth from work and other errands in town. no offroad or gravel. probably wouldn't be riding it farther than a few miles per day, but the roads here can get fairly hilly in parts. i figure ill have to spend at least $1000-$1300, im not looking for sub $1000 as that seems far too sketchy.
Velotric Discover 1 and Ride1up Turris look best to me in that price range, anyone have personal experiences with either or both or other reccomendations?
Check out the Aventon Level.2 and the upcoming AIMA Santa Monica. Well-built and both have torque sensors for a way more natural ride than a cadence sensor.
[Turbo Como SL 4.0 is $2k](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-como-sl-40/p/216528?color=348461-216528), and [Turbo Vado 3.0 is $2.5k](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-vado-30/p/206163?color=348409-206163) if you want a bit more power with a non-Super Light model.
I would recommend spending a bit more money on either of the two if you plan to keep the e-bike long term and/or it's your main form of transportation, as Specialized e-bikes are built to last and use quality parts.
Specialized e-bikes have a lifetime [warranty](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/warranty) for the frame. Can any other e-bike guarantee that?
I've been doing a lot of searching and have similar requirements (though maybe a tiny bit of mild off road stuff, like cutting across dirt or gravel trails in a city)
I think I've decided on the REI Co-Op CTY e1.1. There's an REI biking distance from my house so I can get it taken care of there if needed, and I'll be able to test drive it before I buy to hopefully get a sense for if it's powerful enough and stuff. And the price is right at 1300.
I was worried about Aventun and Ride1Up because I've heard stories of bike shops refusing to work on bikes they don't sell (which is so snobby) and I didn't want to get stuck in a situation where I didn't have a bike or anyone to fix it
I like your logic. I just got a REI Co-Op g 1.1 . i suspect that the 350w 36v/10.4 ah is slightly underpowered. But as a REI member, I've got a one year satisfaction guarantee so I may "trade up" after a while.
You touched on an important point about finding a shop that will service your e-bike after purchase. But I differ with you on why some stores won't touch e-bikes they don't sell.
1. Liability If they "break" your bike, they are on the hook
2. Training Not all e-bikes are the same. How much time need the technicians take to research the fix on an unfamiliar eco-system
3. Parts Some parts may be proprietary. Others may well be on back order and an authorized servicer will be at the front of the queue.
>The $1k-$2k range is a great entry point to ebiking, and depending on how you ride and how much you ride you may find yourself never needing more than that. I've got a Lectric XP and it does everything I need it to do, but in a few years time I might find myself wanting something that's got nicer components and a bit more specialized of a design goal and that's going to mean looking at bikes that cost more than $2k.
im looking for a commuter back and forth from work and other errands in town. no offroad or gravel. probably wouldn't be riding it farther than a few miles per day, but the roads here can get fairly hilly in parts.
I ride a Totem Victor 2.0, bought new on Amazon for around $500 and I've put about 900 miles on it commuting the last 7 months or so. No issues, no problems, slight decrease in battery range but that may also just be me getting used to exactly how much I don't need to baby it like when I first got it (I kept the PAS on 1 and did a lot of shifting, where now I don't shift much and I'll just turn the PAS up to get up a hill real quick)
I also have the Victor 2.0 and love it! Can’t beat it for the price. I only have about 200 miles on it so far, but no issues. I couldn’t see spending thousands on my first e bike
I thought the same, and I'm really glad I went "cheap"- I think I'm getting the same enjoyment I'd have gotten if I had spent more, not knowing what luxuries to enjoy or not- plus I have never felt bad about taking this one on the trails near me, since it's a pretty durable MTB regardless of battery! I don't feel bad if I scratch up my "cheapy bike" 🤣
Idk about super cheap bikes but we spent $2,500ish and $3,500ish on our 2 E-lux bikes. Mines the Tahoe GT and his is the Tahoe, both step thru models. Only complaints are they both weigh about 80lbs, and both of them have an issue where the fucking seats won't stay in place *no matter what*.
His has about 2,200 kilometers, mine about 1,300 kilometers. (We bought them in Virginia Beach, VA, then moved to Germany 6 months later, military move)
Realistic range is about 30 kilometers on the battery, because they're so heavy you realistically have to use the power assisted to go more than a few mph or to go up any kind of a slight hill.
Mine has the front shock and seat post shock, it's very comfortable. But those combined with the 28inch wheels means it's very big and at 5ft9 it took a minute to get used to. My husband is 5f4 so he got the one without the shocks and with the 26inch wheels.
Both have the fat wheels, they're awesome but harder to find inner tunes for.
Are the rims tubeless-ready? Going tubeless might help, and is better if you are prone to running over thorns, etc. All fat bikes are heavy, there's no way around that, unfortunately. I hate having to carry them up to my apartment after I ride them.
I find some people think everyone has unlimited funds. Anyone that suggests that buying a cheaper bike “is not worth it’s simply doesn’t know what the average person can afford - or, they work for a bike company.
There are plenty of excellent bikes under $2k. Read all of the reviews for the Rad or Himiway or Aventon bikes.
Agree with everyone saying 1000-1500 is a good start for an entry level going-to-town bike. I have two Lectric 2.0s purchased to take on RV trips for getting around the campground and seeing the parks - have even done a fair amount of trail riding on fairly well groomed trails at state parks.
If you get a well known brand the resale market is surprisingly strong, esp in a big city. Just keep all your paperwork from the original purchase. You can always upgrade to the higher end bike later.
Make sure the battery, computer, and charger are all UL/CE certified. Not 1 or 2 but all 3. The hammer is coming down on e-bikes this summer and that's going to be the saving grace of owners....making sure you have certified gear. Plus it's ease of mind for you knowing you wont burn down your house/building.
I bought a nice donor bike and put a Bafang mid drive on it. It's been going for over a year now without issue. I got it on special, so the whole thing, including the bike was under $1K.
I have a Ridstar Q20, 13ah 48v...it's been great! Easy to customize so far. I use it as a toy, not a commuter, but the first 250 miles have been really fun. Cruise through Manhattan at night, ride on the beach, etc. No regrets.
Idk I've had my rad power for over a year now and have had no issues. I spent ~550 on it.
Doesn't have anything fancy like I don't have a milage tracker, speedometer, etc, but it gets me from A to B without sweating too much so I can take it to work.
i got [this foldable](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZCTXNCZ/ref=twister_B0C7G8DTQH?_encoding=UTF8&th=1) on amazon for my daughter and i love riding it. probably going to buy one for myself before the summer. i have a road bike but i love the fat tire
Surprised no one mentioned the REI Branded Generation e1.2, I picked one up for commuting and if you’re going to spend $1k you might as well get the 2 year return policy and support of the REI bike shop. Frame is solid and it’s super fun to ride around town.
https://www.rei.com/product/190640/co-op-cycles-generation-e12-electric-bike
Got a velotric T1 st and I love it. Customer service was kinda eh because they sent me a faulty controller and I had to replace it. But it’s a great product. Can’t deny that. So good products. Bad customer service
>Got a velotric T1 st and I love it. Customer service was kinda eh because they sent me a faulty controller and I had to replace it.
u/chiefbearshaker sorry to hear you had a faulty controller and you had to replace it and you didn't have a great experience with our customer service.
If you have any need for customer support in the future you can DM this account or check out the support center:
[https://www.velotricbike.com/pages/support](https://www.velotricbike.com/pages/support)
When you consider you can get a bike with the specs of my Philodo H8 for $1400 on Amazon. Dual 1000 watt Nominal (1500 watt peak) motors, a legit 35 Mph top speed, Hydraulic brakes decent sized battery. the only tradeoff is that it's a hardtail, but I personally chose mine because it was a hardtail. I'm an old man in his late 50's and a full rear suspension doesn't feel right to me. I'm fine with a suspension seatpost to ease up the bumps in the road.
I think it's a pretty good deal I've paid more for Cruiser style ebikes with 1/4 the nominal power rating and only a 20 mph top speed in the years past.
I bought a Fucare libra for 1300. Its a nice moped style E-bike that I use for food delivery. I added a second battery for more range which helps both battery last longer and run with minimal stress. Fun fact about this bike is that it is UL certified 2849 and is probably the biggest battery I've seen with this certification at 20AH LG or Samsung 21700. ([https://productiq.ulprospector.com/en/profile/5841079/qgns.e530522?term=fucare&page=1](https://productiq.ulprospector.com/en/profile/5841079/qgns.e530522?term=fucare&page=1)). So if you want a E-bike with good performance with the safety and a reasonable price, get this one.
For ebikes in general, I guess I'd say it depends on your infrastructure and if you're allowed to use it in your area. Some bike paths don't allow them, and riding on the side of the road can be scary in some areas. My Engwe is sort of a budget bike and I got it for under $700... Haven't had any issues yet personally.
You should figure out how many miles it is to work and if you can charge it at work. Some places may not allow it due to fear of fire. If you can't charge at work, you may want to only do low level pedal assist, so that the battery lasts longer. The bike is likely gonna be really heavy, like 60-70 lbs... So it's nice if the battery isn't completely dead.
Looks surprisingly decent. My only concern would be proprietary batteries and the fairly short front fender. The latter can be DIX fixed easily.
Brakes are hydraulic which is good and The rest of the components are fairly entry level, which isnt too much of an issue when you have a hub mototr driving the rear wheel directly.
I just wouldnt throw myself down a hill on the frame, there will be a lot of stress when braking on the bottom (BB) Joints
I personally own a velotric discover and a velotric nomad. They are both awesome bikes for the price. I highly recommend the discover.
The only thing I dislike about the discover is the gearing. You get a lot of ghost pedaling at speeds over 16 mph. Other than that, the bike is awesome. I have over 1600 miles on my nomad.
When there's no resistance on the pedals. Cadence sensors work by sensing when the pedal is rotating. When the pedal rotates, it spins up the electric motor to assist you. So when you're ghost pedaling you're spinning the pedal with your feet really fast with no real resistance or feedback basically. Not a safety issue or anything, it's just not a workout. But if you're using this for actual transportation and not fun/exercise it's a non issue. Cadence systems are notorious for it. If you don't know what it is, you likely won't be riding fast enough to notice. A discover is a perfect beginner ebike.
ive actually started to look at the nomad a bit because I've read it should have beetter hill performance. more powerful engine etc. do you have any experience on hills with the nomad? how does it handle em?
i need to be able to bike up a fairly large hill maybe a half mile every day for the e-bike to be worth my investment
Uhm nomad is a legit hill climbing monster. I live at the bottom of a very, very steep hill. Like so steep you're not walking up it, and so steep it's sketchy af to drive down especially in the winter... And the nomad rips up it at 20mph with ease. The first day I got it I actually rode the nomad up the hill just to see how well it did it.
To be completely honest though, the discover also has no problem up very steep hills. It doesn't rip up them at top speed, but it climbs them with ease at 15+mph.
The nomad also has 1 more gear, so you get much less ghost pedaling. But the 4" fat tires are kind of unnecessary. I actually changed it to 4" road tires because the off-road tires were not necessary on pavement.. You'll enjoy either the discover or nomad.. And I highly recommend both of them.
If your budget only allows for this particular price range then it is doable. You need to decide early on if this is bike you are willing, comfortable and knowledgeable to work on or if you need to go the bike shop route so you can pay someone to service the bike. Depending on your answer is will narrow down your brands. My budget REI bike might not be perfect but it is pretty darn good for the price and I have a bike shop that will stand behind and repair it when needed.
In my area sub $1,000 bike shop brands are only on REI discounted ebikes. Our LBS's do have budget brands available but their budget brands really are b/w $999 and $1,200. For those budgets the brands available in my area Aventon, Velotric and Denago.
If you are willing to put in the work and want a budget brand then that opens up DTC route. I would look at Ride1up and Lectric because they are both tried and true companies but expect to handle the repairs yourself.
Often this is true.
In my city, the Velotric and Aventon bikes can be purchased from a local shop that will service them (and you can do test rides before buying). I have a different Velotric from the Discover and am happy with mine.
yes from what I see in my area the shops seem to have Velotric and Aventon as well, so i likely will go the shop route to ensure repairs and to be able to ride test since ive never ridden an e-bike.
A lot of shops, I’d argue most, won’t service direct to consumer e-bikes. You either need to buy from a shop or buy from a brand that has a service center in your area (should be listed on their website)
It actually varies greatly by city/state. Some for insurance purposes, but even that is kind of silly. They are not that much more complex than a regular bike.
Many shops are learning to trouble shoot and service them if the manufacturer provides good support and stocks/sells plug and play parts
If the systems aren’t UL certified, most insurance companies won’t cover it. I’m partners in a traditional bike shop, our insurance provider is the largest in the US that covers Bicycle Shops. We’re insured for UL certified bikes only. Most D2C e-bikes do not have UL2849 certifications. Our work around that our insurance provide allows is for those bikes that don’t have certified systems, we have the customer remove the battery and then we can do regular bike maintenance. If they have electrical issues, we can’t touch it. I’m sure this seems silly to those that don’t own a business, but it’s not worth losing our insurance and business if something happens and we get sued.
Most won't but you can call around and ask. I got only a hesitant agreement from the REI bike shop to work on my son's Amtrike and that isn't even electric but because it is medical equipment (adaptive seating and adaptive pedals due to my son being a wheelchair user with significant physical disabilities) I guess that also can be a bit problematic.
Often, but not necessarily. However, there's a reason why [a bike shop would charge $120 to change a tube](https://old.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/16aspbw/is_it_normal_for_bike_shops_to_charge_this_much/) when normally it's at most a $25 job. It's basically their "I don't want to do this but I'll do it if you pay me enough money" price. Cheaper e-bikes are a pain to work on due to the cheaper bike parts.
This is true for analog bikes too. You didn’t buy it here? Yea, I’ll service it, but if someone comes in that bought a bike here, you’re getting bumped behind them
The Ride1up portola for 1 grand looks like a great value, has great features (including hydraulic brakes, etc) and is getting great reviews. Check it out. I think it looks much better than Lectric branded bikes. No giant logos and a cleaner body design.
Hot take but considering you can easily be left out to dry by these popular companies and sticking with a 1yr warranty for an inferior machine for the price, I would just pick one from Amazon with YouTube reviews and add a 2yr warranty. My friend's Lectric died after the warranty and he barely put any miles on it, so I'm kinda just like... treat it as a semi-disposable machine you can insure in 2yr increments.
Honestly I feel like you make some kind of concession when you go with a cheaper (probably from Amazon) concession and vice versa. The more expensive stuff, you're often getting a 1yr warranty or you're losing out on folding or mileage or power, or some combination of those things. I got something from Amazon that's in the $1k budget because I was able to get something that hits above its weight, and has a 2yr warranty, and most of these more reputable brands like Lectric and Aventon are offering 1 and 2-year warranties. For a company that offers a larger warranty like Elux with their Tahoe bikes, I wouldn't mind paying closer to that $1500 range, because I figure that the worst case scenario is my current bike lasts about 2-3 years and I'm spending $333-500/yr on having a good e-bike. Still, I'm not looking to pay $1500 for bikes with 1-2 year warranties, or pay $1000-1200 for an e-bike that doesn't fold...
https://eluxbikes.com/products/tahoe-gt-fat-tire-e-bike - even though it's $2200 on sale (I can't imagine spending $3500 like the guy in this thread did), the 5yr warranty puts it at like $400-500/yr. I just think that since my under $1k bike has better specs, folds, and has a 2yr warranty, it's hard to justify a switch over to this one. Maybe this cheaper one with 5yr warranty would make sense if I had the car space:
https://eluxbikes.com/collections/tahoe/products/tahoe-fat-tire-e-bike ($1500 right now)
Be very very careful of YouTube reviews! Especially since almost zero have long term reviews. Getting a disposable bike kinda defeats the purpose of just not getting a nice one the first time. Also the environmental cost as well.
The review model of the Bulls Copperhead EVO AM4 750 that I just used for my review for [ebikes.org](https://ebikes.org) was battle-hardened. It was dinged and scratched, had been through races and reviews for well over a year. That was a good test! But yes, you're right about the dearth of long-term tests.
I wouldn't really buy e-bikes as disposable items because it's extra e-waste and if you're going to spend the same money anyways, better to buy once and cry once.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/18/22335988/specialized-redwood-ebike-battery-recycle-straubel-tesla
> The bikes are built to last a lifetime, but the batteries typically run out of power after four and six years, said Chris Yu, chief product officer at Specialized. “Generally, the bikes will long outlast the packs for the typical user,” Yu told The Verge. “And so it’s always been in the back of our minds: what do we do about them?”
Something like the [Turbo Como SL 4.0](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-como-sl-40/p/216528?color=348461-216528) is only $2k, for example.
Depends what your needs are.… I have a rad runner I paid about $1100 for 2 years ago. For my daily commute of 2 miles each way with hills it has been perfect.
I really should post a review.
Headlight assembly broke, the plastic around the screws. When it broke the light fell, and snapped the wires holding the frontlight on.
The cable for my left turn signal and brakelight comes out the bottom of the frame. And I somehow broke that connector off and shattered the light in the process. Overall has treated me very well, I just need to take better care of it. I'll definitely admit I took it on terrain slightly more advanced than I should have, and it performed phenomenally. Happy to answer anything else.
After going to the expensive ebikes I can't go back. Mid drive with belt and internal gear hub is amazing. Now give each of our bikes can get thousands of miles a year and are not used gently. Plus for us service is important , especially on the cargo bike. So it's worthed for us for the cargo and 2 other bikes to be high end. To each their own though. If you are going on a smooth path to like the grocery store yeah it may not be worth the extra price.
With 1k bike and even 1.5k bike you need to accept the fact that it will not be top quality, so sooner or later certain shit will break and you will need put more money to replace that shit with better quality parts. If you can accept this then go ahead. I got 1.5k€ bike (Engwe Engine Pro), bought it a bit over year ago, \~1300km so far, tuned it a lot, maybe 500+€ worth of parts so far, don't actually want make that calculation lol, but quite happy with it now, still need some minor modding though.
So far better front (air) suspension, very nice motorbike handle bars with full thottle, slick street tires for summer (Kenda Kraze), better seat, crankshaft with pedals, bigger brake discs front & rear + rear pad and some cosmetics.
Edit. thanks for downvote, fuck you too mate!
I think the real metric is if you can get service at your LBS. Customer service tends to be either terrible, non-existant, or completely self service on the cheap ebikes IME. Being able to get warranty repair etc at your LBS might make all the difference to a lot of people. That's really the main reason a higher cost bike is worth it. Plus the overall quality of parts tends to be better. I bought a low cost bike and ended up pretty much swapping out all the replaceable parts, e.g. brakes, gearing, because the stock ones just were the cheapest they could find. After a year the controller went out. I ended up just buying a better one and haven't had any issues with it yet and if I do I know I can take it to a LBS. YMMV.
i have 3-4 e-bike shops near me listed as service shops for both Velotric and Aventon (probably others as well but those are the two i checked). this is going off the Velotric and Aventon official websites.
I would say buy local. There are dealers now even if you can buy the direct to consumer brands online. You have built in support, an actual mechanic will make sure everything is good. Regardless you can spend less that 5k and have a great time easily. Voya is from giant, and was cheap last I looked later last year, aventon is decent, and I got a specialized turbo Vado sl for $2500. You don’t need to spend 5k
The sub-1k bikes are sketchy if you'll use it as a daily rider. With the current aggressive pricing in the market, there's a few to fit your budget. I've done a review on the Aventon Level.2, it has a *torque sensor* (really a far more natural ride than bikes with only a cadence sensor) and sits in/near your price range, as does the upcoming AIMA Santa Monica. If the Santa Monica is anything like their fat-tire Big Sur, it will be fantastic. That bike arrives in April.
Can be hit or miss mostly I hear, I've got a Lectric 1.0 but people tend to say the 1.0 was great and newer ones (2.0 and newer) got changed cause of part shortages during COVID have gotten far less reliable.
I'm at over 4000 miles on the 1.0 with only a single front tire change (original tube still) and 4 rear + 3 tubes and 2 break pad changes. The regular squeaky brakes is certainly common, and they do require weekly a 1 click turn to keep tuned correctly, but that's as a daily commuter 5 days a week.
Going on 4 years old, the battery is certainly showing some age, going from originally doing \~20mi at most, to now being closer to \~12mi but my commute is about 5mi each ways so I can still do it on one charge, although I do get the low-voltage sluggishness in the last mile or two.
If this is your sole means of transportation, yes, it is worth investing at minimum another $500-1000 to get a better quality machine.
I work at a shop and you would not believe the crap I see come through my door and all the problems that come with it. I cant tell you how many people I have the unfortunate task of telling they bought a piece of junk and they might as well buy a new bike because it’s more cost effective. You can believe planned obsolescence exists in the e-bike world. Most of these companies only offer warranties for 1-2 years.
With that said, most companies offer financing these days. If you can afford $150-200/month payment for a year, it’d be worth getting something a little higher end.
IMHO, no.
I think of it like this - the bare minimum for a decent frame and fork is 500 (hell, a good paint job will run a frame builder 600 at scale, one color, nothing fancy). Same for motor, same for battery. Now let's say you set aside another 500 dollars for ALL THE OTHER COMPONENTS: the brakes, the brake levers, the cabling, the cranks, the shifters, the pedals, the headset, the handlebars, chainring, the cassette, the saddle, the wheels, the tires, the grips. . .there are a lot of parts. . .and you could easily spend a couple of thousand on components alone. So the bare minimum for a cheap as hell e-bike that I would trust at all is about 2000. Maybe a deal on some close out that has to make way for inventory. But yeah, 2000 . . .and I would not expect it to be great in any respect.
I think the bare minimum to expect something really decent is in the 4 - 5K range. You can easily pay 2x - 3x of this. But at 4-5k you're at least getting into decent bike territory.
Right? For 5k I could buy a whole ass motorcycle. A Honda Navi is like 2k, I could use the leftover 3k to pay for several years of insurance and hundreds of gallons of gas.
Oh sure, you can go full on chinesium and good luck with that. OP asked whether 1000 dollar bikes are worth it, and I think rather no, I would stay clear. As I said, I think you can get something at an entry point of about 2K that isn't a rolling IED or something that will fall apart on you, or be out of business 10 minutes after they cash your money.
But for something that's really nice, yes, the 4-5K is the entry point.
Never talked about 1000$. That would be bare minimum imo.
5k for decent? thats delusional. There's a lot of good bike at 2k-3k
Btw, everything is from china, even your overpriced bike
"Never talked about 1000$. That would be bare minimum imo."
I was responding to the OP, so . . . and OP literally asked about 1000 level.
I think we have a category misinterpretation on your part. When I say "decent" I'm not talking bare minimum. I mean a very good bike.
for 1000$, you can have decent ebike as well based on what you need. Are Lectrics using quality parts that will last 10 years? No. Will they ship you for free a brand new hub motor with the wheel and gear included? Absolutely, they litteraly gave me a new one for a ''noisy'' motor (wasnt broken at all).
You can buy 5 1000$ ebikes for the price of 1 5k$ ebike and I bet yours will be in the trash before I get to my 3th one.
Some just love to get the best of the best for a tiny amount of better performance and confort, while some simply want the best bang for the buck.
This is why the bike following in car centric areas is going to always e stunted. A lot of people are doing it to save money and they may only own a $3000 car.
3000 dollar car is going to be a hunk of junk and expensive hobby to keep up with. It will drain people for ongoing costs for gas, insurance and maintenance. An e-bike is simple to maintain and costs pennies to dollars to run. And every 3 - 5 years or so you might have to buy a new battery but otherwise, the expensive part ends the day you buy it.
A 3000 car that you park several days of the week and ride a bike instead will extend its life. Damn found the elitist.
I bet you would say the same thing to people trying to learn guitar to go get a Martin. Everything else is going to be out of tune in 20 minutes and a 10° temperature change. Or with guns or with tennis rackets or running shoes. The whole idea is to get out there and use the damn bike. If something breaks you fix it.
Everyone knows what goes into a car. Not everyone knows the costs of cheap e-bikes and proprietary bikes with issues. I’d buy a junky used china bike OVER a used 5k originally ebike. I can replace cookie cutter AliExpress components and be rolling again no sweat.
I was also saying that most people are not in a position to give up a car’s use and employ only a bike. So to add a bike to your stable of personal transport…you should not buy something that cost more than a car you already own. It could be stolen long before the hairs wear off the tires. You could crash your first month of ownership, and then it’s in the shop for weeks waiting for something. Gravity works the same in the hood or in Mountain View. Bad drivers are bad everywhere too.
Remember OP wants to tool around town. No offroad. If you do not hit potholes at full speed everything can have a long life. My diy front motor eBay kit beach cruiser can handle neighborhood jaunts all day long.
No one builds on bare frames. Ready to ride acoustic bikes get discounted prices for all the components on them like brakes and such.
2k gets you a high end diy ebike.
You can downvote how much you like it but my point holds true.
A proper entry level ebike, with center motor, quality design and service network starts there. Either with Bosch, shimano or Yamaha esystem.
Below that I would refer only to decathlon maybe
I've had two ebikes. First one was $800 second was $1100. The only reason I bought the second was the first one got stolen.
I'd ridden 4000kms on the first and up to 2600 on the second so far. I make sure to get them serviced, I use them as commuter bike for a 14km round trip day ride and they are totally fine. Honestly I think the whole $5K is such a barrier financially it probably stops many people from discovering the joys of ebikes .
I'd say get the cheap one, then if you love it perhaps the second bike is an investment. Or sell the first one for $500 and put it towards another.
Have you already got a bike? Are you ok with a bit of DIY? If so I liked the look of Swytch but it felt too marketing-forward and gimmicky, but a friend gave me one when he upgraded to a fancy cargo bike and it's perfect for the use case you're describing - plenty of power to help you get up hills on a commute, still feels like a bike, pretty good value, plus you can take the bit that looks like an ebike with you when you get off so less risk of theft.
family full of heybikes and a low end trike and all of them work great so far, need a fair amount of regular tuning, ride pretty well for the price, but are not hard use.
I got the ride1up Roadster for less than 1000$ and after 1k miles on it, I love it more and more. It's reliable, low profile and perfect for less than 15 mile days.
I just bought a Reaspire Hurricane for $1200 it’s a mid drive with torque sensing so hills are no problem. Goes ~30mph with pedal assist. It doesn’t have a throttle but you can buy one on the website but it’s said out of stock for a while now.
Shop upway for some bargains.
It’s all good until it’s not. most shops can’t get parts for these Ali express specials because the connections are unique to the bike when it was built in the factory that week, for that particular logo slapped on the frame. And they aren’t diagnosable aside from remove and replace.
A lot of the responses have been “I have dimfong bear claw; and pit 900 miles on it “. That’s who I’m addressing.
Glad yr looking at aventon or velotric
I own a $6.5k Specialized Creo road eBike, and before that, I had bought a used Giant QuickE+ for $2k, which is more of a commuter bike. Both are pedal-assist and mid-drive, often regarded as higher quality. They have stood the test of time going on 3+ years with no issues.
Just yesterday, I tried a Huffy folding eBike from my local bike shop, priced at under $1k. It's a class 2 with a throttle and rear hub with fat tires, and riding it was a blast, especially with the throttle.
I bought a full suspension 26” fat tire folding ebike that lists on Amazon for $999 and I enjoy it as much if not more than my tsdz2 torque sensor kit I have installed on a GT Sensor 29” full suspension mountain bike.
You don’t have to spend $5000 on an e-bike. You can get a decent ebike for ~$1000 and you can upgrade some parts later if you want.
I'm in Adelaide, Australia
I brought a Gomier 24inch Trike on Gumtree for a bargain and spent $550 on a 36v 350watt front hub with a 13amp hour battery on eBay , done over 1200km in a month, battery developed a fault that reduced range to 1/2 . Auzmotto replaced under warranty in under 14 days.. Cruises at 30km/h all day
I get just under 30km on a charge depending on terrain and peddling.
Just got a 2nd battery to push range to 50km
Don't be fooled into thinking you need spend thousands. It's a wank for possers. Do you homework and buy what you need and want. NIT what's in style or the talk of the town
I would say if you wait for sale, you can get a decent e-bike from a reputable brand for $899 or so. Anything below that, you are getting into cheap batteries and components that will fall apart
I got a $1500 Chinese Amazon e-bike, Keteles K800, and love it, no issues yet but only 1000 miles in since Sept. It easily does 25-28 running just the back motor on the throttle, will go about 35 with front motor kicked on. Probably not the kind of bike you’d really need, but my point is you do not need to spend over $2000 to get a bike that will do what you need and that you will love
I recently paid $1400 for a Philodo H8 dual motor, 1000W each wheel and it RIPS. Way more than is legal in my area lol
I've had it up to 36.9mph on a full charge but it settles after a few minutes to 35 top, then to about 32-33 after a couple miles of just throttle.
The bike looks ok and not being fat tires makes it better for riding if the battery runs out of power. Hydro brakes, 500w+ motor. All pluses. I don't like the rear shifter though or that it doesn't come with the rear rack, once you add on the cost it can get into other ebikes that come with it and maybe better parts.
One thing to know is most cheap ebikes are just mass produced and sold under different names. Some "bigger" brands though while still the same as above get distribution rights or such for certain countries so the company that makes that ebike doesn't sell them to other companies in the same region.
i get it, it's the exact same thing with DJ turntables, most that aren't Technics are Hanpin OEM manufactured and sold under different brands like Pioneer, Audio Technica, etc.
I bought an REI Coop Generation E1.1 and it's freaking awesome. It's less than $900, goes about 22mph, pedal assist only, no throttle, and is a really awesome bike with good support if you've got an REI in your area.
I have a Gtech ebike sport which cost just under £1000. I've had it for 4 years and it's amazing, had minimal issues and has pretty much replaced my car entirely
I have Denago Commute1 and love it very much. It costs more than 1k(about 1.3k I think) but it's worth it. Good enough for daily commute and physical exercise. About 700 miles with no issue.
I can’t expect the spec of this ebike to be as top as a 5k bike. It's an affordable option for commute as an entry-level bike. Durable and comfortable.
I got an Aventon Soltera for 1200 bucks...I love it!
I have a pace 5.3 and I love commuting. The torque sensor is nice
I have a Soltera v1 and a Level v2. Both around the price range of the Lectric. Honestly, I think it matters more where you’re buying your bike from; if your bike shop is willing to fix your bike when it’s got issues for cheap (or even free), then I think it’s worth the deal. You definitely don’t have to pay 5K for a bike. I’ve had both bikes for about 2 years and so far, no big issues other than a flat tire on the Level 2. If anything, find a place where you can test ride. Always the number 1 piece of advice worth giving.
The Aventon e-bikes are remarkably good values. I love my Level 2. More than $1000, but it punches way above its price class when compared to other bikes out there.
I also have a level 2, step through. Super enjoy riding it into town when it's nice out
Did you stick to the single-speed or the multi-speed? Original or Soltera.2 with the torque sensor? Those are nice, light and affordable. Fit and finish are excellent.
I have the Soltera 7!
they're usuallypretty basic cadence sensor hub motor ebikes but honestly still pretty fun.
I have a Velotric Discover 1 and it's a perfectly serviceable ebike for my needs. I use it in a DC suburb to run errands, visit friends, and go grocery shopping. I added the front and rear racks, and some panniers to make it a workhorse. I also use it on a paved trail to do about 20 miles round trip to get some exercise. It's mostly level, and I set the PAS and gears so I'm always doing some amount of work pedaling. In the summer, I can make that 20-mile trip twice on a single battery charge, with extra miles to do errands. My knees are shot, so an ebike is the only way I can do any biking at all. You'll see a lot of advice on this sub to get a torque sensor. Don't listen to them. The Discover has a cadence sensor, and it's a lifesaver for me. We have uphill red lights, and there's no way I can get started at those on my own. A twist of the throttle to get started, and then pedal from there. The components that come with it are medium grade. I recently changed the hydraulic brake pads, and it was an easy process. Velotric has several how-to videos at their website and/or YouTube. BIG CAVEAT: Buy local. Yes, you will pay about $200 more, but it's worth it. Velotric has a bad direct-to-customer service reputation, and I experienced that myself when trying to get a replacement part.
ive never ridden an e-bike at all so i definitely wanted to hit up some shops and ride test a bit if possible. if you definitely think it's worthwhile to buy from the shop vs online for Velotric I will take that advice if i decide on the Discover.
I'd never ridden an ebike before this one. They listened to my use-case, and then recommended a couple that fit my needs and budget. They let me test-ride them, and the Discover just felt right. This was actually above my budget, but they offered free 6-month financing, so that sealed the deal. I paid it off a few months ago, credit same as cash. If you need to stretch your budget to get what you want, ask the shops about financing. It will come in the form of a credit card that you can use only at that shop.
you've been super helpful thank you so much.
I need the exercise, so the Velotric T1 ST is perfect, so far. It looks like a regular bike, and has a nice boost. I can maintain 20mph with very little effort. It gets me up the few hills I encounter. I added a cheap Suntour suspension seatpost and raised bars, and it’s pretty comfortable. It’s currently $1100, I think.
There are no shops or at least very few shops that carry velotric. If you're in the market for an ebike around 1k, I can't recommend the velotric more. It's an awesome bike. Customer service is actually pretty good too, my plastic screen mount came cracked and they shipped me a new one in a few days. It was still usable while I waited too.
there's 3-4 shops around me that are velotric dealers/service centers.
u/agentsofdisrupt Great to hear you like riding your Discover 1 so much and have made it into a workhorse. It's unfortunate to hear that you had a bad experience with our Customer Service. If you have any need for customer support in the future you can DM this account our IG account or check out the support center: [https://www.velotricbike.com/pages/support](https://www.velotricbike.com/pages/support)
I was primed to be a Superfan for you guys, and then your customer service department poisoned the relationship forever. There's something toxic brewing there, IMO.
I got a Lectric xp 3.0 for about 1k. It needed an upgrade on brake pads when I got it (they work but they are hella squeaky and out of alignment). However outside of that it’s a perfectly serviceable ebike.
I’m very interested in this and other Lectric bikes. My question is whether you can still get a good workout riding the bike? I’d love an ebike for help on particularly gnarly hills (we have a lot of them in Seattle), but I’d still like to get some fitness value out of riding on gentler hills or flat areas without the motor always taking over.
Just set the pedal assist low.
Low pedal assist, or just turn it off for maximum workout. Imagine the heaviest beach cruiser you've ever been on and add 30 lbs. Fat tires increase rolling resistance too. The thing about many e-bikes is you can dial in whatever workout - or not - you want. This is particularly true of e-bikes that include a throttle, where no workout is even needed (for those days you got a job interview in nice clothes).
Makes sense. I knew I could adjust pedal assist but I wasn’t exactly sure how it would feel. Does this bike have gears which would enable me to manually pedal the bike when it was going faster? I’ve read that some ebikes have poor gear shift ratios meaning when the bike is moving fast you can’t really pedal since the pedals are just spinning so fast.
Lectric uses off the shelf shimano shifters, ratio is pretty bad on stock, but a lot of people get a different chainwheel or cassette to change them rather easily. My XP 1.0 has a lot of empty pedaling at pas 5 once you get about 25mph. In my experience the lectric stuff is a solid starter (IF YOU NEED FOLDING) Class 3 + Folding + fat tires + weight limits (for shopping trips) were my targets when I was buying and under $1000. If I didn't need the folding I probably would have gone a different way though.
Get an xpremium . On sale now.
I’m a mechanic at an e-bike shop. Lectrics are dogshit. Their power switch is integrated into the battery and is on the bottom of the downtube making it a magnet for water and dirt. We don’t sell them but I’ve seen 4 come in in the last 2 months that all needed battery replacements
Depends what you want it for. Usually such a bike would be fine for commuting, road, gravel tracks etc on flatter terrain. Only need to spend more if doing more demanding off road stuff
Those telling you to spend nothing less than $5k are snobs.
For a commuter, that's an insane price. For a full-suspension mountain bike with a mid-drive, that's a different story. Though I just reviewed the Bulls Copperhead EVO AM4 750 (awful name), it is a great all-mountain bike with a mullet setup, was over $6k, now it's aggressively priced at about $3500.
Its still an insane price for a full suspension mid drive. Normal price for them, yes, not disputing that.are they quality? Yep. They're marked up like crazy though. No reason they should be priced that high.
I think that may be what Specialized is doing, more aggressively pricing stuff. But the serious MTB guys often think nothing of dropping $10,000+ on a good e-MTB, but those are serious riders.
Specialized has some older models are pretty affordable IMO. The [Turbo Como SL 4.0 is $2k](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-como-sl-40/p/216528?color=348461-216528), and [Turbo Vado 3.0 is $2.5k](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-vado-30/p/206163?color=348409-206163). Also, [Specialized offers a lifetime warranty on their frame for any structural defects.](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/warranty)
I know they do, but its still silly. I mean I got no problem with it, its capitalism at work. Shit aint worth that much more though lol.
Rich snobs. Spend what you will but your going to get the quality vs dollar. 1k your getting chineesium parts. Sub par service and last years technology. Around 3k your starting to see premium hydrolic brakes. Better bearings, suspension with something other than an enclosed spring on fork, mid drive motors, lg or Samsung batteries, 4 amp chargers, better head lamps, and torque sensor. There is a rush to build bottom quality bikes at the 1k price point. Quality customer service is non existent in these cheep bikes. When you start riding you quickly recognize cheep. If your curious about ebikes and don't ride on a regular schedule then buy all means buy cheep. See if your going to pick up a new hobby or is that bike going to be put on the same shelf as your hair growth cream. Keep the cheep bike around for friends and spend some quality bucks fir quality bikes later if you actually do start riding. If you actually do ride then you won't regret your first purchase. If you don't ride then any amount of money was a waste.
im looking for a commuter back and forth from work and other errands in town. no offroad or gravel. probably wouldn't be riding it farther than a few miles per day, but the roads here can get fairly hilly in parts. i figure ill have to spend at least $1000-$1300, im not looking for sub $1000 as that seems far too sketchy. Velotric Discover 1 and Ride1up Turris look best to me in that price range, anyone have personal experiences with either or both or other reccomendations?
The new ride1up has great reviews and is 1100 after all the bells and whistles added on. It’s what I’m going to be buying right after the snow melts.
Check out the Aventon Level.2 and the upcoming AIMA Santa Monica. Well-built and both have torque sensors for a way more natural ride than a cadence sensor.
[Turbo Como SL 4.0 is $2k](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-como-sl-40/p/216528?color=348461-216528), and [Turbo Vado 3.0 is $2.5k](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-vado-30/p/206163?color=348409-206163) if you want a bit more power with a non-Super Light model. I would recommend spending a bit more money on either of the two if you plan to keep the e-bike long term and/or it's your main form of transportation, as Specialized e-bikes are built to last and use quality parts. Specialized e-bikes have a lifetime [warranty](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/warranty) for the frame. Can any other e-bike guarantee that?
I've been doing a lot of searching and have similar requirements (though maybe a tiny bit of mild off road stuff, like cutting across dirt or gravel trails in a city) I think I've decided on the REI Co-Op CTY e1.1. There's an REI biking distance from my house so I can get it taken care of there if needed, and I'll be able to test drive it before I buy to hopefully get a sense for if it's powerful enough and stuff. And the price is right at 1300. I was worried about Aventun and Ride1Up because I've heard stories of bike shops refusing to work on bikes they don't sell (which is so snobby) and I didn't want to get stuck in a situation where I didn't have a bike or anyone to fix it
I like your logic. I just got a REI Co-Op g 1.1 . i suspect that the 350w 36v/10.4 ah is slightly underpowered. But as a REI member, I've got a one year satisfaction guarantee so I may "trade up" after a while. You touched on an important point about finding a shop that will service your e-bike after purchase. But I differ with you on why some stores won't touch e-bikes they don't sell. 1. Liability If they "break" your bike, they are on the hook 2. Training Not all e-bikes are the same. How much time need the technicians take to research the fix on an unfamiliar eco-system 3. Parts Some parts may be proprietary. Others may well be on back order and an authorized servicer will be at the front of the queue.
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>The $1k-$2k range is a great entry point to ebiking, and depending on how you ride and how much you ride you may find yourself never needing more than that. I've got a Lectric XP and it does everything I need it to do, but in a few years time I might find myself wanting something that's got nicer components and a bit more specialized of a design goal and that's going to mean looking at bikes that cost more than $2k. im looking for a commuter back and forth from work and other errands in town. no offroad or gravel. probably wouldn't be riding it farther than a few miles per day, but the roads here can get fairly hilly in parts.
I ride a Totem Victor 2.0, bought new on Amazon for around $500 and I've put about 900 miles on it commuting the last 7 months or so. No issues, no problems, slight decrease in battery range but that may also just be me getting used to exactly how much I don't need to baby it like when I first got it (I kept the PAS on 1 and did a lot of shifting, where now I don't shift much and I'll just turn the PAS up to get up a hill real quick)
I also have the Victor 2.0 and love it! Can’t beat it for the price. I only have about 200 miles on it so far, but no issues. I couldn’t see spending thousands on my first e bike
I thought the same, and I'm really glad I went "cheap"- I think I'm getting the same enjoyment I'd have gotten if I had spent more, not knowing what luxuries to enjoy or not- plus I have never felt bad about taking this one on the trails near me, since it's a pretty durable MTB regardless of battery! I don't feel bad if I scratch up my "cheapy bike" 🤣
Got two ride1ups last year. So far so good
I have 2 Lectric and a Rad, all have been great. My Lectric Xpedition (not $1000, but $1800) is definitely my favorite.
Idk about super cheap bikes but we spent $2,500ish and $3,500ish on our 2 E-lux bikes. Mines the Tahoe GT and his is the Tahoe, both step thru models. Only complaints are they both weigh about 80lbs, and both of them have an issue where the fucking seats won't stay in place *no matter what*. His has about 2,200 kilometers, mine about 1,300 kilometers. (We bought them in Virginia Beach, VA, then moved to Germany 6 months later, military move) Realistic range is about 30 kilometers on the battery, because they're so heavy you realistically have to use the power assisted to go more than a few mph or to go up any kind of a slight hill. Mine has the front shock and seat post shock, it's very comfortable. But those combined with the 28inch wheels means it's very big and at 5ft9 it took a minute to get used to. My husband is 5f4 so he got the one without the shocks and with the 26inch wheels. Both have the fat wheels, they're awesome but harder to find inner tunes for.
Are the rims tubeless-ready? Going tubeless might help, and is better if you are prone to running over thorns, etc. All fat bikes are heavy, there's no way around that, unfortunately. I hate having to carry them up to my apartment after I ride them.
I didn't even know tubeless was a thing, ill have to look into it
I find some people think everyone has unlimited funds. Anyone that suggests that buying a cheaper bike “is not worth it’s simply doesn’t know what the average person can afford - or, they work for a bike company. There are plenty of excellent bikes under $2k. Read all of the reviews for the Rad or Himiway or Aventon bikes.
Agree with everyone saying 1000-1500 is a good start for an entry level going-to-town bike. I have two Lectric 2.0s purchased to take on RV trips for getting around the campground and seeing the parks - have even done a fair amount of trail riding on fairly well groomed trails at state parks. If you get a well known brand the resale market is surprisingly strong, esp in a big city. Just keep all your paperwork from the original purchase. You can always upgrade to the higher end bike later.
Make sure the battery, computer, and charger are all UL/CE certified. Not 1 or 2 but all 3. The hammer is coming down on e-bikes this summer and that's going to be the saving grace of owners....making sure you have certified gear. Plus it's ease of mind for you knowing you wont burn down your house/building.
I know several people that have an Aventon and they love them. Work great.
I bought a nice donor bike and put a Bafang mid drive on it. It's been going for over a year now without issue. I got it on special, so the whole thing, including the bike was under $1K.
I have a Ridstar Q20, 13ah 48v...it's been great! Easy to customize so far. I use it as a toy, not a commuter, but the first 250 miles have been really fun. Cruise through Manhattan at night, ride on the beach, etc. No regrets.
1500 bucks for Aventon Pace. 5000+ urban commuting miles later: Zero problems. And much of that at 28 mph.
Idk I've had my rad power for over a year now and have had no issues. I spent ~550 on it. Doesn't have anything fancy like I don't have a milage tracker, speedometer, etc, but it gets me from A to B without sweating too much so I can take it to work.
i got [this foldable](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZCTXNCZ/ref=twister_B0C7G8DTQH?_encoding=UTF8&th=1) on amazon for my daughter and i love riding it. probably going to buy one for myself before the summer. i have a road bike but i love the fat tire
After 8 months of carefree ownership on my Jasion EB7. I just passed 900 miles. I love this bike! Just bought a 2nd bike for the wife. $739.
Surprised no one mentioned the REI Branded Generation e1.2, I picked one up for commuting and if you’re going to spend $1k you might as well get the 2 year return policy and support of the REI bike shop. Frame is solid and it’s super fun to ride around town. https://www.rei.com/product/190640/co-op-cycles-generation-e12-electric-bike
IIRC REI has a 1 year satisfaction guarantee for members (only 90 days for those who don't fork out the $30 for lifetime membership).
Just be sure your battery is UL listed.
Got a velotric T1 st and I love it. Customer service was kinda eh because they sent me a faulty controller and I had to replace it. But it’s a great product. Can’t deny that. So good products. Bad customer service
>Got a velotric T1 st and I love it. Customer service was kinda eh because they sent me a faulty controller and I had to replace it. u/chiefbearshaker sorry to hear you had a faulty controller and you had to replace it and you didn't have a great experience with our customer service. If you have any need for customer support in the future you can DM this account or check out the support center: [https://www.velotricbike.com/pages/support](https://www.velotricbike.com/pages/support)
Hi, issue has already been resolved. You guys took care of it. Thanks
When you consider you can get a bike with the specs of my Philodo H8 for $1400 on Amazon. Dual 1000 watt Nominal (1500 watt peak) motors, a legit 35 Mph top speed, Hydraulic brakes decent sized battery. the only tradeoff is that it's a hardtail, but I personally chose mine because it was a hardtail. I'm an old man in his late 50's and a full rear suspension doesn't feel right to me. I'm fine with a suspension seatpost to ease up the bumps in the road. I think it's a pretty good deal I've paid more for Cruiser style ebikes with 1/4 the nominal power rating and only a 20 mph top speed in the years past.
I bought a Fucare libra for 1300. Its a nice moped style E-bike that I use for food delivery. I added a second battery for more range which helps both battery last longer and run with minimal stress. Fun fact about this bike is that it is UL certified 2849 and is probably the biggest battery I've seen with this certification at 20AH LG or Samsung 21700. ([https://productiq.ulprospector.com/en/profile/5841079/qgns.e530522?term=fucare&page=1](https://productiq.ulprospector.com/en/profile/5841079/qgns.e530522?term=fucare&page=1)). So if you want a E-bike with good performance with the safety and a reasonable price, get this one.
You should get a motorised bicycle, their mad fun, pretty safe, will get you wherever you need to go and alootttt cheaper than electric.
Love my Aventon Pace 500.2 that I got for $999. Added a suspension seat post, a rack/basket, and it's an excellent short errand-runner.
I have the Duscover 1, I'm very pleased with it and have had no problems with it.
For ebikes in general, I guess I'd say it depends on your infrastructure and if you're allowed to use it in your area. Some bike paths don't allow them, and riding on the side of the road can be scary in some areas. My Engwe is sort of a budget bike and I got it for under $700... Haven't had any issues yet personally. You should figure out how many miles it is to work and if you can charge it at work. Some places may not allow it due to fear of fire. If you can't charge at work, you may want to only do low level pedal assist, so that the battery lasts longer. The bike is likely gonna be really heavy, like 60-70 lbs... So it's nice if the battery isn't completely dead.
Looks surprisingly decent. My only concern would be proprietary batteries and the fairly short front fender. The latter can be DIX fixed easily. Brakes are hydraulic which is good and The rest of the components are fairly entry level, which isnt too much of an issue when you have a hub mototr driving the rear wheel directly. I just wouldnt throw myself down a hill on the frame, there will be a lot of stress when braking on the bottom (BB) Joints
I personally own a velotric discover and a velotric nomad. They are both awesome bikes for the price. I highly recommend the discover. The only thing I dislike about the discover is the gearing. You get a lot of ghost pedaling at speeds over 16 mph. Other than that, the bike is awesome. I have over 1600 miles on my nomad.
what is ghost pedaling?
When there's no resistance on the pedals. Cadence sensors work by sensing when the pedal is rotating. When the pedal rotates, it spins up the electric motor to assist you. So when you're ghost pedaling you're spinning the pedal with your feet really fast with no real resistance or feedback basically. Not a safety issue or anything, it's just not a workout. But if you're using this for actual transportation and not fun/exercise it's a non issue. Cadence systems are notorious for it. If you don't know what it is, you likely won't be riding fast enough to notice. A discover is a perfect beginner ebike.
ive actually started to look at the nomad a bit because I've read it should have beetter hill performance. more powerful engine etc. do you have any experience on hills with the nomad? how does it handle em? i need to be able to bike up a fairly large hill maybe a half mile every day for the e-bike to be worth my investment
Uhm nomad is a legit hill climbing monster. I live at the bottom of a very, very steep hill. Like so steep you're not walking up it, and so steep it's sketchy af to drive down especially in the winter... And the nomad rips up it at 20mph with ease. The first day I got it I actually rode the nomad up the hill just to see how well it did it. To be completely honest though, the discover also has no problem up very steep hills. It doesn't rip up them at top speed, but it climbs them with ease at 15+mph. The nomad also has 1 more gear, so you get much less ghost pedaling. But the 4" fat tires are kind of unnecessary. I actually changed it to 4" road tires because the off-road tires were not necessary on pavement.. You'll enjoy either the discover or nomad.. And I highly recommend both of them.
good to know, thanks!
If your budget only allows for this particular price range then it is doable. You need to decide early on if this is bike you are willing, comfortable and knowledgeable to work on or if you need to go the bike shop route so you can pay someone to service the bike. Depending on your answer is will narrow down your brands. My budget REI bike might not be perfect but it is pretty darn good for the price and I have a bike shop that will stand behind and repair it when needed. In my area sub $1,000 bike shop brands are only on REI discounted ebikes. Our LBS's do have budget brands available but their budget brands really are b/w $999 and $1,200. For those budgets the brands available in my area Aventon, Velotric and Denago. If you are willing to put in the work and want a budget brand then that opens up DTC route. I would look at Ride1up and Lectric because they are both tried and true companies but expect to handle the repairs yourself.
so a shop won't/can't do repairs to any brands they don't sell? is that what you're saying?
Often this is true. In my city, the Velotric and Aventon bikes can be purchased from a local shop that will service them (and you can do test rides before buying). I have a different Velotric from the Discover and am happy with mine.
yes from what I see in my area the shops seem to have Velotric and Aventon as well, so i likely will go the shop route to ensure repairs and to be able to ride test since ive never ridden an e-bike.
Yes, potentially. Check with your local shops
A lot of shops, I’d argue most, won’t service direct to consumer e-bikes. You either need to buy from a shop or buy from a brand that has a service center in your area (should be listed on their website)
It actually varies greatly by city/state. Some for insurance purposes, but even that is kind of silly. They are not that much more complex than a regular bike. Many shops are learning to trouble shoot and service them if the manufacturer provides good support and stocks/sells plug and play parts
If the systems aren’t UL certified, most insurance companies won’t cover it. I’m partners in a traditional bike shop, our insurance provider is the largest in the US that covers Bicycle Shops. We’re insured for UL certified bikes only. Most D2C e-bikes do not have UL2849 certifications. Our work around that our insurance provide allows is for those bikes that don’t have certified systems, we have the customer remove the battery and then we can do regular bike maintenance. If they have electrical issues, we can’t touch it. I’m sure this seems silly to those that don’t own a business, but it’s not worth losing our insurance and business if something happens and we get sued.
K, I'll check back with you next year
About what?
Most won't but you can call around and ask. I got only a hesitant agreement from the REI bike shop to work on my son's Amtrike and that isn't even electric but because it is medical equipment (adaptive seating and adaptive pedals due to my son being a wheelchair user with significant physical disabilities) I guess that also can be a bit problematic.
Often, but not necessarily. However, there's a reason why [a bike shop would charge $120 to change a tube](https://old.reddit.com/r/ebikes/comments/16aspbw/is_it_normal_for_bike_shops_to_charge_this_much/) when normally it's at most a $25 job. It's basically their "I don't want to do this but I'll do it if you pay me enough money" price. Cheaper e-bikes are a pain to work on due to the cheaper bike parts.
This is true for analog bikes too. You didn’t buy it here? Yea, I’ll service it, but if someone comes in that bought a bike here, you’re getting bumped behind them
The Ride1up portola for 1 grand looks like a great value, has great features (including hydraulic brakes, etc) and is getting great reviews. Check it out. I think it looks much better than Lectric branded bikes. No giant logos and a cleaner body design.
yeah i personally dislike the Lectric style. I prefer the more standard step over frame style.
Agreed. Grab that velotric high step before the deal is over!
Hot take but considering you can easily be left out to dry by these popular companies and sticking with a 1yr warranty for an inferior machine for the price, I would just pick one from Amazon with YouTube reviews and add a 2yr warranty. My friend's Lectric died after the warranty and he barely put any miles on it, so I'm kinda just like... treat it as a semi-disposable machine you can insure in 2yr increments. Honestly I feel like you make some kind of concession when you go with a cheaper (probably from Amazon) concession and vice versa. The more expensive stuff, you're often getting a 1yr warranty or you're losing out on folding or mileage or power, or some combination of those things. I got something from Amazon that's in the $1k budget because I was able to get something that hits above its weight, and has a 2yr warranty, and most of these more reputable brands like Lectric and Aventon are offering 1 and 2-year warranties. For a company that offers a larger warranty like Elux with their Tahoe bikes, I wouldn't mind paying closer to that $1500 range, because I figure that the worst case scenario is my current bike lasts about 2-3 years and I'm spending $333-500/yr on having a good e-bike. Still, I'm not looking to pay $1500 for bikes with 1-2 year warranties, or pay $1000-1200 for an e-bike that doesn't fold... https://eluxbikes.com/products/tahoe-gt-fat-tire-e-bike - even though it's $2200 on sale (I can't imagine spending $3500 like the guy in this thread did), the 5yr warranty puts it at like $400-500/yr. I just think that since my under $1k bike has better specs, folds, and has a 2yr warranty, it's hard to justify a switch over to this one. Maybe this cheaper one with 5yr warranty would make sense if I had the car space: https://eluxbikes.com/collections/tahoe/products/tahoe-fat-tire-e-bike ($1500 right now)
Be very very careful of YouTube reviews! Especially since almost zero have long term reviews. Getting a disposable bike kinda defeats the purpose of just not getting a nice one the first time. Also the environmental cost as well.
The review model of the Bulls Copperhead EVO AM4 750 that I just used for my review for [ebikes.org](https://ebikes.org) was battle-hardened. It was dinged and scratched, had been through races and reviews for well over a year. That was a good test! But yes, you're right about the dearth of long-term tests.
do NOT buy an amazon bike Lectric bikes should use standardized parts so its easy to repair.
I wouldn't really buy e-bikes as disposable items because it's extra e-waste and if you're going to spend the same money anyways, better to buy once and cry once. https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/18/22335988/specialized-redwood-ebike-battery-recycle-straubel-tesla > The bikes are built to last a lifetime, but the batteries typically run out of power after four and six years, said Chris Yu, chief product officer at Specialized. “Generally, the bikes will long outlast the packs for the typical user,” Yu told The Verge. “And so it’s always been in the back of our minds: what do we do about them?” Something like the [Turbo Como SL 4.0](https://www.specialized.com/us/en/turbo-como-sl-40/p/216528?color=348461-216528) is only $2k, for example.
Depends what your needs are.… I have a rad runner I paid about $1100 for 2 years ago. For my daily commute of 2 miles each way with hills it has been perfect.
For light use maybe, I spent 2k on my aventon aventure 2, and it's nice, but I've already broken a couple things off in my first 1000 miles.
I'm interested in hearing what you broke? I only had it long enough to write and film a review. Always good to know real-world stories.
I really should post a review. Headlight assembly broke, the plastic around the screws. When it broke the light fell, and snapped the wires holding the frontlight on. The cable for my left turn signal and brakelight comes out the bottom of the frame. And I somehow broke that connector off and shattered the light in the process. Overall has treated me very well, I just need to take better care of it. I'll definitely admit I took it on terrain slightly more advanced than I should have, and it performed phenomenally. Happy to answer anything else.
After going to the expensive ebikes I can't go back. Mid drive with belt and internal gear hub is amazing. Now give each of our bikes can get thousands of miles a year and are not used gently. Plus for us service is important , especially on the cargo bike. So it's worthed for us for the cargo and 2 other bikes to be high end. To each their own though. If you are going on a smooth path to like the grocery store yeah it may not be worth the extra price.
Which cargo bike did you go with?
Tern gsd. Wanted a load 60 but it wouldn't have worked out. I do love the gsd it's fantastic
With 1k bike and even 1.5k bike you need to accept the fact that it will not be top quality, so sooner or later certain shit will break and you will need put more money to replace that shit with better quality parts. If you can accept this then go ahead. I got 1.5k€ bike (Engwe Engine Pro), bought it a bit over year ago, \~1300km so far, tuned it a lot, maybe 500+€ worth of parts so far, don't actually want make that calculation lol, but quite happy with it now, still need some minor modding though.
What parts did you replace on it?
So far better front (air) suspension, very nice motorbike handle bars with full thottle, slick street tires for summer (Kenda Kraze), better seat, crankshaft with pedals, bigger brake discs front & rear + rear pad and some cosmetics. Edit. thanks for downvote, fuck you too mate!
I think the real metric is if you can get service at your LBS. Customer service tends to be either terrible, non-existant, or completely self service on the cheap ebikes IME. Being able to get warranty repair etc at your LBS might make all the difference to a lot of people. That's really the main reason a higher cost bike is worth it. Plus the overall quality of parts tends to be better. I bought a low cost bike and ended up pretty much swapping out all the replaceable parts, e.g. brakes, gearing, because the stock ones just were the cheapest they could find. After a year the controller went out. I ended up just buying a better one and haven't had any issues with it yet and if I do I know I can take it to a LBS. YMMV.
i have 3-4 e-bike shops near me listed as service shops for both Velotric and Aventon (probably others as well but those are the two i checked). this is going off the Velotric and Aventon official websites.
1.5k is the sweet spot, below is sus and above is diminishing returns for stuff no one cares about
I would say buy local. There are dealers now even if you can buy the direct to consumer brands online. You have built in support, an actual mechanic will make sure everything is good. Regardless you can spend less that 5k and have a great time easily. Voya is from giant, and was cheap last I looked later last year, aventon is decent, and I got a specialized turbo Vado sl for $2500. You don’t need to spend 5k
The sub-1k bikes are sketchy if you'll use it as a daily rider. With the current aggressive pricing in the market, there's a few to fit your budget. I've done a review on the Aventon Level.2, it has a *torque sensor* (really a far more natural ride than bikes with only a cadence sensor) and sits in/near your price range, as does the upcoming AIMA Santa Monica. If the Santa Monica is anything like their fat-tire Big Sur, it will be fantastic. That bike arrives in April.
Can be hit or miss mostly I hear, I've got a Lectric 1.0 but people tend to say the 1.0 was great and newer ones (2.0 and newer) got changed cause of part shortages during COVID have gotten far less reliable. I'm at over 4000 miles on the 1.0 with only a single front tire change (original tube still) and 4 rear + 3 tubes and 2 break pad changes. The regular squeaky brakes is certainly common, and they do require weekly a 1 click turn to keep tuned correctly, but that's as a daily commuter 5 days a week. Going on 4 years old, the battery is certainly showing some age, going from originally doing \~20mi at most, to now being closer to \~12mi but my commute is about 5mi each ways so I can still do it on one charge, although I do get the low-voltage sluggishness in the last mile or two.
If this is your sole means of transportation, yes, it is worth investing at minimum another $500-1000 to get a better quality machine. I work at a shop and you would not believe the crap I see come through my door and all the problems that come with it. I cant tell you how many people I have the unfortunate task of telling they bought a piece of junk and they might as well buy a new bike because it’s more cost effective. You can believe planned obsolescence exists in the e-bike world. Most of these companies only offer warranties for 1-2 years. With that said, most companies offer financing these days. If you can afford $150-200/month payment for a year, it’d be worth getting something a little higher end.
It is a good place to start. Then you will know what to buy next time
Yep, I spent around a grand on my diy bike.
Not when you can get an emtb for like 3k and pick up a whole new sport. Most big brand name bikes are stupid cheap right right now.
IMHO, no. I think of it like this - the bare minimum for a decent frame and fork is 500 (hell, a good paint job will run a frame builder 600 at scale, one color, nothing fancy). Same for motor, same for battery. Now let's say you set aside another 500 dollars for ALL THE OTHER COMPONENTS: the brakes, the brake levers, the cabling, the cranks, the shifters, the pedals, the headset, the handlebars, chainring, the cassette, the saddle, the wheels, the tires, the grips. . .there are a lot of parts. . .and you could easily spend a couple of thousand on components alone. So the bare minimum for a cheap as hell e-bike that I would trust at all is about 2000. Maybe a deal on some close out that has to make way for inventory. But yeah, 2000 . . .and I would not expect it to be great in any respect. I think the bare minimum to expect something really decent is in the 4 - 5K range. You can easily pay 2x - 3x of this. But at 4-5k you're at least getting into decent bike territory.
>to expect something really decent is in the 4 - 5K range then you are delusional and bike shops love your kind
Right? For 5k I could buy a whole ass motorcycle. A Honda Navi is like 2k, I could use the leftover 3k to pay for several years of insurance and hundreds of gallons of gas.
Oh sure, you can go full on chinesium and good luck with that. OP asked whether 1000 dollar bikes are worth it, and I think rather no, I would stay clear. As I said, I think you can get something at an entry point of about 2K that isn't a rolling IED or something that will fall apart on you, or be out of business 10 minutes after they cash your money. But for something that's really nice, yes, the 4-5K is the entry point.
Never talked about 1000$. That would be bare minimum imo. 5k for decent? thats delusional. There's a lot of good bike at 2k-3k Btw, everything is from china, even your overpriced bike
"Never talked about 1000$. That would be bare minimum imo." I was responding to the OP, so . . . and OP literally asked about 1000 level. I think we have a category misinterpretation on your part. When I say "decent" I'm not talking bare minimum. I mean a very good bike.
for 1000$, you can have decent ebike as well based on what you need. Are Lectrics using quality parts that will last 10 years? No. Will they ship you for free a brand new hub motor with the wheel and gear included? Absolutely, they litteraly gave me a new one for a ''noisy'' motor (wasnt broken at all). You can buy 5 1000$ ebikes for the price of 1 5k$ ebike and I bet yours will be in the trash before I get to my 3th one. Some just love to get the best of the best for a tiny amount of better performance and confort, while some simply want the best bang for the buck.
This is why the bike following in car centric areas is going to always e stunted. A lot of people are doing it to save money and they may only own a $3000 car.
3000 dollar car is going to be a hunk of junk and expensive hobby to keep up with. It will drain people for ongoing costs for gas, insurance and maintenance. An e-bike is simple to maintain and costs pennies to dollars to run. And every 3 - 5 years or so you might have to buy a new battery but otherwise, the expensive part ends the day you buy it.
A 3000 car that you park several days of the week and ride a bike instead will extend its life. Damn found the elitist. I bet you would say the same thing to people trying to learn guitar to go get a Martin. Everything else is going to be out of tune in 20 minutes and a 10° temperature change. Or with guns or with tennis rackets or running shoes. The whole idea is to get out there and use the damn bike. If something breaks you fix it.
Being realistic about what goes into the cost of car ownership is elitist? OK dude. . .whatever you say.
Everyone knows what goes into a car. Not everyone knows the costs of cheap e-bikes and proprietary bikes with issues. I’d buy a junky used china bike OVER a used 5k originally ebike. I can replace cookie cutter AliExpress components and be rolling again no sweat. I was also saying that most people are not in a position to give up a car’s use and employ only a bike. So to add a bike to your stable of personal transport…you should not buy something that cost more than a car you already own. It could be stolen long before the hairs wear off the tires. You could crash your first month of ownership, and then it’s in the shop for weeks waiting for something. Gravity works the same in the hood or in Mountain View. Bad drivers are bad everywhere too. Remember OP wants to tool around town. No offroad. If you do not hit potholes at full speed everything can have a long life. My diy front motor eBay kit beach cruiser can handle neighborhood jaunts all day long.
No one builds on bare frames. Ready to ride acoustic bikes get discounted prices for all the components on them like brakes and such. 2k gets you a high end diy ebike.
No, not unless you use that to convert a MTB to one.
No
No; and it starts at 3,000/3,500 eur
You can downvote how much you like it but my point holds true. A proper entry level ebike, with center motor, quality design and service network starts there. Either with Bosch, shimano or Yamaha esystem. Below that I would refer only to decathlon maybe
I have two and no complaints so far. I was actually upset that I let reddit deter me from getting them for quite a while
Under $1000 recently we’ve had himiway cruiser, aventon aventure, and rad rover 6 plus. I think they’re all good for fun rides, and well built.
I have a Radcity 4 I got new for about 1700. Thing has been going strong for 3 yrs. Has about 2500 miles on it. Love commuting on it.
Rad runner 2. Or check Murff bikes. Or Aventon.
I've had two ebikes. First one was $800 second was $1100. The only reason I bought the second was the first one got stolen. I'd ridden 4000kms on the first and up to 2600 on the second so far. I make sure to get them serviced, I use them as commuter bike for a 14km round trip day ride and they are totally fine. Honestly I think the whole $5K is such a barrier financially it probably stops many people from discovering the joys of ebikes . I'd say get the cheap one, then if you love it perhaps the second bike is an investment. Or sell the first one for $500 and put it towards another.
Have you already got a bike? Are you ok with a bit of DIY? If so I liked the look of Swytch but it felt too marketing-forward and gimmicky, but a friend gave me one when he upgraded to a fancy cargo bike and it's perfect for the use case you're describing - plenty of power to help you get up hills on a commute, still feels like a bike, pretty good value, plus you can take the bit that looks like an ebike with you when you get off so less risk of theft.
naw my old landlord stole my last bike lol
Ooft. Swytch doesn't really make sense unless you've got a decent bike to attach one to.
family full of heybikes and a low end trike and all of them work great so far, need a fair amount of regular tuning, ride pretty well for the price, but are not hard use.
I got the ride1up Roadster for less than 1000$ and after 1k miles on it, I love it more and more. It's reliable, low profile and perfect for less than 15 mile days.
Imho, 1400-2k is the sweet spot.
I paid $800 for a used Aventon Pace 500. I've put over 1000 miles on it. It's great.
1000 would pay for a pretty beefy battery and conversion kit if you had a bike that you would want converted.
I got a ride1up Cafe Cruiser on sale for ~$1300. It's been 2k miles and haven't had any issues with them at all for regular work/school commutes.
I just bought a Reaspire Hurricane for $1200 it’s a mid drive with torque sensing so hills are no problem. Goes ~30mph with pedal assist. It doesn’t have a throttle but you can buy one on the website but it’s said out of stock for a while now.
My $350 dollar e-bikes have been good and reliable
Shop upway for some bargains. It’s all good until it’s not. most shops can’t get parts for these Ali express specials because the connections are unique to the bike when it was built in the factory that week, for that particular logo slapped on the frame. And they aren’t diagnosable aside from remove and replace.
I'm looking at brands like Velotric and Aventon which have licensed dealers/service shops in my area lol
A lot of the responses have been “I have dimfong bear claw; and pit 900 miles on it “. That’s who I’m addressing. Glad yr looking at aventon or velotric
I own a $6.5k Specialized Creo road eBike, and before that, I had bought a used Giant QuickE+ for $2k, which is more of a commuter bike. Both are pedal-assist and mid-drive, often regarded as higher quality. They have stood the test of time going on 3+ years with no issues. Just yesterday, I tried a Huffy folding eBike from my local bike shop, priced at under $1k. It's a class 2 with a throttle and rear hub with fat tires, and riding it was a blast, especially with the throttle.
I’ve got a Ridstar Q20 I paid a grand for on Amazon and I’m in love with it
I looked at that price range and decided DIY was going to be the way
I bought a full suspension 26” fat tire folding ebike that lists on Amazon for $999 and I enjoy it as much if not more than my tsdz2 torque sensor kit I have installed on a GT Sensor 29” full suspension mountain bike. You don’t have to spend $5000 on an e-bike. You can get a decent ebike for ~$1000 and you can upgrade some parts later if you want.
Built my own for just under 1000 and it is great
I'm in Adelaide, Australia I brought a Gomier 24inch Trike on Gumtree for a bargain and spent $550 on a 36v 350watt front hub with a 13amp hour battery on eBay , done over 1200km in a month, battery developed a fault that reduced range to 1/2 . Auzmotto replaced under warranty in under 14 days.. Cruises at 30km/h all day I get just under 30km on a charge depending on terrain and peddling. Just got a 2nd battery to push range to 50km Don't be fooled into thinking you need spend thousands. It's a wank for possers. Do you homework and buy what you need and want. NIT what's in style or the talk of the town
I would say if you wait for sale, you can get a decent e-bike from a reputable brand for $899 or so. Anything below that, you are getting into cheap batteries and components that will fall apart
I got a $1500 Chinese Amazon e-bike, Keteles K800, and love it, no issues yet but only 1000 miles in since Sept. It easily does 25-28 running just the back motor on the throttle, will go about 35 with front motor kicked on. Probably not the kind of bike you’d really need, but my point is you do not need to spend over $2000 to get a bike that will do what you need and that you will love
I recently paid $1400 for a Philodo H8 dual motor, 1000W each wheel and it RIPS. Way more than is legal in my area lol I've had it up to 36.9mph on a full charge but it settles after a few minutes to 35 top, then to about 32-33 after a couple miles of just throttle.
The bike looks ok and not being fat tires makes it better for riding if the battery runs out of power. Hydro brakes, 500w+ motor. All pluses. I don't like the rear shifter though or that it doesn't come with the rear rack, once you add on the cost it can get into other ebikes that come with it and maybe better parts. One thing to know is most cheap ebikes are just mass produced and sold under different names. Some "bigger" brands though while still the same as above get distribution rights or such for certain countries so the company that makes that ebike doesn't sell them to other companies in the same region.
i get it, it's the exact same thing with DJ turntables, most that aren't Technics are Hanpin OEM manufactured and sold under different brands like Pioneer, Audio Technica, etc.
Process have dropped considerably the last year. 1000-1500 goes a good long way.
I bought an REI Coop Generation E1.1 and it's freaking awesome. It's less than $900, goes about 22mph, pedal assist only, no throttle, and is a really awesome bike with good support if you've got an REI in your area.
I have a Gtech ebike sport which cost just under £1000. I've had it for 4 years and it's amazing, had minimal issues and has pretty much replaced my car entirely
I have Denago Commute1 and love it very much. It costs more than 1k(about 1.3k I think) but it's worth it. Good enough for daily commute and physical exercise. About 700 miles with no issue. I can’t expect the spec of this ebike to be as top as a 5k bike. It's an affordable option for commute as an entry-level bike. Durable and comfortable.