The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread!
Over the years, I’ve held a lot of jobs. Oh, I’ve always been involved with bicycles, but frankly no one makes my idea of a liveable income in the bike business. That’s why this is such a great retirement gig. One of those jobs was wholesaling building supplies. We had a customer that would pedal cheap plastic windows with mechanical frames. He’d tell people how these cheesy windows could adapt to odd openings better than welded windows (ignoring insulated frames and how seals adapt). People want to believe cheap junk is as good as more expensive alternatives. It’s what keeps scammers in business.
We have a similar situation in the e-bike business. People who already have a hard time understanding why better quality traditional bikes cost more than $500, really believe their $995 special must be one heck of an e-bike (to what do they have to compare?).
Of course, all those cheap e-bike vendors don’t tell them that they can’t just ride around on throttle. They come to me with burned up throttles, controllers and overheated motors with magnets falling out, as early as six months after purchase. They almost always ask me about going faster, getting more range and doing so without spending any significant money. Of course, two are mutually exclusive and the third is just wishful thinking. They insist that cheap e-bikes should do more, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.. They’re pouring money down a rat hole.
Sadly, the major name brands and higher priced bikes aren’t much, if any better. They’re asking big money for entry level components. They’re offering products so proprietary you cannot even work on them yourselves (it isn’t rocket science). Of course, once any of these goes out of business or changes suppliers, you are pretty much on your own to find the original supplier of their over priced batteries. Even some of my friends, that should know better, buy in to the idea that you get what you pay for. They never even look in to how these bikes are made.
A friend in the business assures me that these things are going to shake out. People will learn that cheap e-bikes are like discount store traditional bikes and they’ll be put of business. He believes major name brands will continue to offer better and better value as they struggle to compete (they have a long way to go).
In the meantime, e-bikes are really a wild west mess. Even I am having trouble finding reliable suppliers for conversions. I need inventory so I can return or swap problem motors. We stand behind them. Problems never reach the customer, but it does cut in to the profit we need, at competitive prices. What do you think? Are e-bikes ready to be more than just neighborhood toys?