How To Choose A Good E-Bike
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Almost daily I’ll have someone come into the shop cooing over a piece of junk I am repairing. Put fat tires and a military or dark themed paint job on a toy and suddenly it must be unstoppable!
You already know how I feel about using a fat bike for anything but riding on soft surfaces.* There are other things to look for in a quality bike of any sort.
I’ve chosen (above) to use a a bike we can sell as a poor example. I realize many can get by with just about anything and this bike is affordable. Just don’t expect it to go places, do things or last like the second bike.
Batteries are a great place to start. My bad example actually has a great 48 volt, 14ah battery. That’s nearly seven hours of riding if you burn 100 watts an hour (leisurely riding under ideal conditions). Many come with 36 volt, 10ah batteries. That’s under 4 hours under ideal conditions. It is not that lower voltage systems can’t be great (see Eunorau D6), but low amp hour (ah) batteries are just cheap. Certainly an indicator of how the rest of the bike is built.
With the questionable exception of single speed freewheel bikes and fixies, if the bike has bolt on wheels, it probably isn’t good. Solid axles are heavy, they bend and generally don’t have quality bearings. I have a couple upscale cruisers in-house right now that are an exception, but they are hard to find and expensive.
Hollow axle Quick Release and Thru-axle wheels aren’t just lighter and stronger. They tend to have better bearings and are dramatically easier to service in the field.
We have discussed many times the advantages of mid-drive motors over hub drives.** I am now convinced that cadence based and hub drive bikes are 90’s tech (at best). The industry needs to move on. I would add though that while it is not a popular position, a properly fitted, reasonably powered, front wheel drive hub motor is going to be far less hassle than a rear hub drive. I reiterate, this doesn’t mean that some folks can’t get by or have a lot of fun with these older designs. It is just that better, more modern designs are now no more expensive.
See that fork? Not only does it not make sense on a fat bike, that already dives in stopping and squirms in turning, but it failed as a means of controlling wheel bounce, off road, in the early 90’s! It is spring loaded, so the longer you own it the worse it gets. It is not capable of providing comfort on pavement. If it were that soft it would be dangerous stopping!
This particular fork has no means to lock it out for efficiency on hard surfaces or even to adjust the spring tension. The fork on the bike below is more sophisticated than those on many cars. It has both features. It can even be set-up to be locked out remotely. Even it cannot provide proper on-road comfort. Comfort is a function of good geometry and frame materials.
Flick your finger against the frame of any bike you are considering. If you get a dull thud, it is almost certainly straight gauge aluminum or basically gas pipe steel. Butted or quality hydroformed tubes will ping. They aren’t just lighter. They handle and absorb vibration better. Quality traditional bikes have not been made of the cheaper stuff since The 80’s. Sadly, you’ll find it on e-bikes costing many thousands of dollars.
Other things to avoid include stamped steel hubs, steel seat posts and stamped steel drop outs (where your wheel attaches to the frame and fork). Look for things like integrated micro-adjust seat posts. Steel stems or handle bars or, like in this case, fenders that don’t give you and your components full coverage can be signs of poor quality. It is not that these things don’t work or aren’t reliable (except those fenders). They are just indicators of poor overall quality. There’s a reason you do not see them on quality traditional bikes. Remember, never buy an e-bike that doesn’t look like the traditional bike you would choose for the same ride.
Today, hydraulic disk brakes are so affordable there is no good excuse for a new e-bike to have mechanical disk brakes. Hydraulics are simpler, more effective and require less grip strength. Mechanical disk brakes are a great indicator that corners have been cut. Both work. Heck, all brake systems work fine (I have a coaster brake on one of mine). These are just indicators of quality.
Popular in e-bike communities now is the idea that you get what you pay for. Sadly, that just isn’t true. You can spend a lot of money and still get a bad bike (I am thinking of a $4k bike that barely competes with that bad example). I know of another company that white labels a brand that I can sell. They nearly double the price!
Finally, with the exception of some cargo bikes, there is no excuse for a modern e-bike to weigh over 50#’s. Even with a heavy, automatic shifting, internally geared hub and belt drive, quality bikes are coming in under 50#’s. Sure, you may pay one or two hundred dollars more, but heavy bikes aren’t just hard to load. They are hard to handle. They are tough to steady getting started and hard to hold steady coming to a stop. Besides, all that weight eats batteries.
Whether you choose to buy from me or not, I’ll gladly provide a comparison for you. You might be surprised at what is available to you, for the same price. Never discount the idea of converting the bike you already love either. Hit me up!
*https://rubysdavenport.com/wide-tires-are-less-stable/
**https://rubysdavenport.com/mid-drive-vs-hub-drive-e-bikes/