Venting On E-bikes
This is the last week of our off season e-bike conversion sale. You must get your deposit in before Saturday when the price rises from $995 to $1195 (do it yourself kits, with color displays and 20ah batteries, are $825).
I hope our readers will forgive me. I need to vent. It doesn’t make sense that people are still paying absurdly high prices for e-bikes that are of marginal quality at best.
Once again today, I read an article about yet another, “Affordable E-bike.” They made a big deal of its monochrome display having a USB port. Nearly every bike I have sold has a full color display and a USB port!
They were offering a good selection of hub and mid-drives, but they were heavier and less powerful than what we install. They seemed quite proud of their 360 watt hour batteries (3.5 hours normal ride time). The smallest I have sold is 480 (4.5 ride hours)!
We have come to expect double butted or hydroformed aluminum frames (I still love the feel of steel). These bikes had thick and heavy straight gauge aluminum we haven’t used on bikes, in this price range, since the 90’s!
The bulk of the bikes reviewed were single speeds with passable, but still entry level components. A truly great gravel bike, with ten speeds, can be had for $1500-$2500 today. I am not suggesting most of us even have a use for such an e-bike, but $1200 added to it puts it $500-$1000 below these “affordable” new bikes.
Please, when you are considering a new e-bike, come visit with me. I have helped folks find the right bike for them even when I could not provide what they wanted. Of course, we service all makes and models as well. Call or write any time with questions or concerns about e-bikes.