Ebikes definitely have more variability across the market. You can get a pretty damn good one in the 1k range, which seems reasonable given the price of batteries.
You can get a pretty damn good one in the 1k range, which seems reasonable given the price of batteries.
Avid cyclist here, former community bicycle mechanic, and my partner works in the biggest bike shop in town. There are no good electric bicycles under $2000. This is how houses burn down. Furthermore, shitty mail order bikes are an e-waste scourge.
They are difficult to work on, very frequently use proprietary parts that might be specific to that model year, often have mechanical disc brakes and no-name parts, and have crappy electronics and batteries.
You may love your cheap electric bike. I wish you the best of luck and many happy miles.
You might get some close to that on sale, Yamaha RC was like $1250 for a while I think. There's also REI Co-op, which certainly isn't the best, but it should get you from point A to point B without burning your house down.
You raise a good point on REI. I would trust any of those to not burn down my neighbor's house. I would also trust REI to be able to work on any bike they sell, AND make sure it's actually set up correctly before it goes out the door. At the LBS where my partner works, just about every day, people bring in bikes that would put the fear in you. The "new in box" mail order ebikes can fill a novel just by themselves.
Good to know - I didn't opt for the 1k range personally, I sprang for a Priority Current with Enviolo hub. Love that bike - commute 9 miles to work on it.
I love what Priority is doing with bikes. It's like they thought "What do bike commuters really need?" And then they built those bikes without letting the MBAs and bean counters getting in their way.
They're supposed to top out at 28 mph (45kph) in the US, but people sometimes make or reprogram them to go faster. I usually refer to actual motorcycles as emoto to differentiate but its sounds like they mean emoto here.
If they could add stainless steel panels, make them rust outside, and drastically raise the price, that would be a huge step forward for a few thousand people apparently.