literally never bought one before; i'd like to know what kind of accessories i might need or what a good price is for a bike i'm only going to use to go grocery shopping, etc. Looking at this one from this site someone here once recommended
Some come limited to 20mph, some to 28mph. You may want a faster bike if you gotta cover more distance, although it's a good way to the emergency room.
Going at ebike speeds can tear up your ass, that's why you see people running ebikes with fat tires, suspension seat posts, ergonomic grips, etc. I've got a bike that can't take tires over 2" and I wish the fork was bigger for that reason.
Some come with hub drive, some come with mid drive. Hub drive will deliver power when you press a button. Mid drive will sense when you're pedaling, so pedaling is what kicks the motor on. If you want to pedal all the time, you may want mid-drive. Hub drive makes it harder to change the tire.
Hydraulic brakes are better for the forces at play, and more durable. You can actually flip your bike and eat pavement if you overuse the front hydraulic brake at speed going downhill.
The bike you linked is decent, although I prefer a faster mid-drive with bigger tires.
Hub drive will deliver power when you press a button. Mid drive will sense when you're pedaling, so pedaling is what kicks the motor on. If you want to pedal all the time, you may want mid-drive. Hub drive makes it harder to change the tire.
This isn't totally accurate, my hub drive bike has both a pedal assist and throttle for when I need a boost up a hill. It does make it harder to change the tire, but it's still totally doable, ive had to do it twice and I suck at bike repair (this is gonna be model dependent though ofc).
There are differences between the two designs so OP would definitely research and test ride both types if possible. I would no forgo the flexibility of having pedal assist + throttle available to me.
85-90% of my riding is on MUPs, residential bikeways, and "good" bike lanes. My class 2 ebike is great for all that (limited to 20mph). if I had to ride on busy roads more, or longer distances, I'd go for a class 3. I do want full suspension even I upgrade to my next ebike.
Also, make sure it has a quality bell. You're often going fast enough that you're gonna startle pedestrians when you approach from behind, and "on your left" is always a mess, even at traditional bike speeds imo. If you give people 5 seconds or so of warning as you approach, it's not as much of an issue. This does not preclude riding at a safe speed for the conditions of course, aggressive riding, especially without allowing people to your presence, is gonna give your local jurisdiction plenty of momentum to ban or restrict ebikes.
Also, make sure it has a quality bell. You're often going fast enough that you're gonna startle pedestrians when you approach from behind, and "on your left" is always a mess, even at traditional bike speeds imo. If you give people 5 seconds or so of warning as you approach, it's not as much of an issue.
If the law requires you to have one slap one on there but tbh the typical bicycle bell is like near the least good option for what it's supposed to do before you get into it actually just being useless. High pitch, single note stuff is hard to hear and locate, getting worse with age. If you have to get a bell get like a three-tone one.
Slap a clown horn on there, I'm serious. People pay attention to the clown horn, it's two-tone, it travels well and also it's funny.
it's a good way to the emergency room.
Lotta people traveling at motorcycle speeds with bicycle protection at the moment, I don't know if there's an established market for protection geared specifically for the 20-40 MPH ebike crowd but there really should be because you don't need full on ATGATT but a foam helmet definitely isn't gonna cut it.
Going at ebike speeds can tear up your ass, that's why you see people running ebikes with fat tires, suspension seat posts, ergonomic grips, etc. I've got a bike that can't take tires over 2" and I wish the fork was bigger for that reason.
Not that you can't just comfort the fuck out with an e-bike where weight is no longer an issue but I'd argue you should probably learn to anticipate stuff some ways, too and be able to quickly shift a bit of weight out of the saddle if only for the fact that it's a good skill to have when the enviroment decides to shift you without your consent at some point
Hydraulic brakes are better for the forces at play, and more durable. You can actually flip your bike and eat pavement if you overuse the front hydraulic brake at speed going downhill.
That's true for any well serviced brake excluding dumb shit like spoon brakes, really. Depending on what riding you do and where you park it you might actually want to consider v-brakes because they're a lot harder to accidently bend when parking the thing than a disc.
you think I could petition the mods to just give me that account? The pun really didn't work after 4
It's just confusing. 4-6 are defunct, I'm at 7 now, but 8 is already taken by someone else so when I inevitably forget this password we're just gonna have to jump to 9. I'm on like Windows OS Systems naming conventions at this point
I don't know your budget, but one of my uncles has a Rad Power Bike and I rode it to and from the store while watching his house for a week and was pretty impressed by it (this experience may have directly lead to me buying a motorcycle last year). The link is to the currently-cheapest one on their online store, although the one I rode was one of their earlier models from 5ish years ago. Oh and if you get something like this don't get the official accessories - bike bags and baskets are a pretty well-trodden standard and you will almost certainly be able to get something cheaper.
edit: just saw that you weren't looking for a specific example, but things to look for. I would definitely check to make sure you'll be able to unlock the top speed before buying - some bikes will have an "offroad" mode that you can just switch to to unlock the real top speed, others will require some finangling. And if you bump it up to above 20 MPH remember to pair that with motorcycle-grade safety gear - you don't need full ce2 armor on everything but you'll need a real helmet and long pants/sleeves that can slide at a bear minimum.
They're all just pieces of foam in the end. Unless you go full face MTB stuff. If they meet whatever minimum testing standard the country has it's not gonna make a big difference on how "good" it is. Maybe spring for MIPS. Buy one that has some sort of certification and you can see yourself liking or at least tolerating to wear, it's not gonna help you otherwise
Budget $100 for a beefy lock such as the Kryptonite New York. Also, have you considered if a regular bike will be sufficient for your needs? They're cheaper and lower maintenance. I would say if your normal commute is 4 miles or less, consider a regular bike
right now im working with a bike thats probably about 20 years old. My grocery store is 3 miles away but im very lazy
you could get the old bike tuned up at a local bike shop. new bearings and shit can make a lot of difference. But ebikes are also cool 🤷
- Weight. Ebikes are notably bulkier and heavier than acoustic bikes. If you see yourself carrying your bike often (e.g. up and down stairs), consider this.
- Battery quality. There's very little regulation regarding batteries. If mishandled, batteries can cause massive explosions. The only safety standards I know of regarding ebikes are EN 15194 and UL 2849. Many ebikes on the market do not have these certifications.
How much do you know about maintenance? Most of the stuff isn't so different from a normal bike, all the E-Parts may get tricky and it seems like an often overlooked factor. Shipping an entire E-bike back to wherever because the electric motor did an oopsie seems like a gigantic fucking hassle.
if you're looking to use it to haul grocery, the Rad Runner would be perfect, it's designed as a utility bike with the sturdy back rack that could also carry a passenger. I bought one when the lock downs started, and I attached a large pannier to the back rack and It's amazing how much groceries I can carry along with a back pack.
Note: If you do go for a Rad bike, don't bother buying their accessories, they are just rebranded Chinese OEM products that you can find on Aliexpress at half the price. Their "Rad mirror" is like $35 CAD, but you can find the exact same one for around $15 on ali. The Rad Runner comes with a crappy LED display, and the LCD display on their site cost like $150 (CAD), found the OEM on ali and msged the seller with info about my ebike and he sent it to me for $90CAD, works perfectly.Yep, ebikes are really heavy, luckily I only have to carry it up a just few steps. Haven't had any maintenance issues except for a punctured tire, but replacement tubes for these fat tire bikes are now common and could be found on amazon, again buying from RAD would be a lot more expensive.
the rad is like $300 more expensive at least and doesn't come with any help with assembly (should be pretty straightforward but there can be issues), or ongoing maintenance like the REI one.
But the rad also has like at least double the power of the REI, a much larger battery, and a throttle (could be a positive or negative depending on your preference), plus that beefy built in cargo rack. It also has bigger tires (3.3" wide instead of 1.95) which can be good for comfort and some terrain types, but means higher rolling resistance, harder to fit in certain types of bike rack, etc. (for example some common wall mounted bike racks where you hook the front tire and hang the bike by it won't take over 2.25", same with the buses in my area). The rad runner also has smaller wheels and may stand out more as it looks less like a regular bike. It all depends what you want, really. Rad is a more established name in ebikes specifically but the REI one is a lot closer to a regular bike (would likely be a lot more usable if the electronics died and you wanted to keep using it in the mean time before repairs, etc) and it comes with that REI maintenance.
I decided to get a beefy lock and insurance. I figured otherwise I would worry too much about theft. And I still park it inside at home, which I'm lucky to be able to do.
I don't necessarily recommend the brand, especially if you don't know how to do your own maintenance a bit, but I know someone with a velotric discover 1 which was about that same price point like a year ago and it has a 500W/900 peak motor and like 670Wh battery (and UL listed so less likely to burn your house down, but tbh that isn't particularly likely regardless, unless you go with the absolute cheapest crap batteries/chargers). Though that one is getting kinda old and heavy at this point (but it's got one of the highest weight ratings I've seen on a non-cargo bike which is neat), and his needed some maintenance because it came in the with wholly insufficient spoke tension, causing some issues down the line with the rear wheel.
So point is you can definitely get better specs for the price than that REI link. But it does look like it uses pretty standard, if maybe a bit older parts. Bafang hub motor kits have been the standard for DIY and smaller/cheaper brands alike for a while, but a lot of higher end stuff has switched to mid-drive, where the motor is at the pedals not in the wheels (and the european stuff is more likely to be using Bosch not bafang, its a lot more expensive tho.) It looks like REI does include assembly and regular maintenance in that cost though so that is nice if you have a local REI nearby. 250W is not a ton of power but it does depend on your weight, fitness, and what you're carrying. 250w isn't gonna be like a motorcycle at all but its a lot easier than pedaling alone.
Things I'm noticing about the REI one: it doesn't have fenders, or any kind of cargo rack, so you'll be spending more time and money for those unless you want to forgo them (fenders I think are important for bikes that are for transportation not just for sport, but maybe you live in an area that doesn't get much rain, idk, and rack seems pretty important for groceries, I've done the groceries in a backpack thing, its not great)
