I've been through the whole progression over the last two years, so I have a lot of experience to pass on. First I'll say that I have a bunch of crushed disks, and a longish 15 mile one way commute, so FS is the way to go for me, personally. I also started this whole EBike thing thinking $400 was a lot of money. :lol:
. Well it was two years ago, when my foster dog bit the neighbors kid, and I was looking at a huge lawsuit looming. I gave the parents a LOT of money then. Anyway, I started out with a schwinn trike, no suspension, then a $150 mongoose FS, and now I'm about to make a new commuter out of a old but longer travel FS mongoose. And I ride the mountains on a pedaler, a real nice Giant, with 5 inch travel suspension. If ebay is nice to me,( dont you dare bid), the Giant might become my commuter.
So firstly, it just all depends on your age and condition of your back, and the length of the ride whether you need FS. If you decide on FS, then it depends on the condition of your wallet. I will say though, if you are young and healthyish, a nice hardtail with front shocks may be alll you need. If like me, you are old and beat to crap by construction work, then even the cheapest rear shocks help a ton. But even with my bad back, I'd still be riding the trike if I only traveled 4 miles or so each way.
The trike build
Pros. Huge capacity to carry a load. Stable with 100 pounds on it, 50 of battery, 50 of cargo. Fairly comfy to ride, for short distances, but as I rode it further, I discovered it's shortcomings.
Cons Sketchy handling at speed. The motor would go 25 mph, but the steering got real squirrely at 15. If you had to get on the sloped shoulder of a road, the trike geometry pulled you hard into the ditch. If moving at 25.... ruh roh. No suspension. Hitting bumps at 25 mph with 60 pounds in the basket started to bend the crap out of the cheap rear rims. No suspension hurts my back at about 10 miles of riding. And lastly, it was very awkward in traffic, just hard to do any life saving dodges around that car that just pulled up and blocked the crosswalk as you are crossing, etc.
The cheap mongoose build
So it was on to a regular bike, and I settled on the cheap mongoose. This model usually sells at the box store for around $150, with rim brakes.
Pros. Steel. Front and rear dropouts are steel, suitable for motors of any wattage. Cheap, I bought used and paid $60. Suspension. Even cheese suspension with 1" of travel takes the sting out of the small bumps, like cracks in the road or just crappy old pavement. On dirt roads, traction improves on the shallower bumps, like gravel. For 90% of street riding, this short travel suspension is actually all you need. I have over 5000 miles on this bike. Some of the cheapo components have stood up amazingly well, but wouldn't last a week if ridden adjusted the way they come from the store. The brakes in particular amaze me. The shifters don't get used so much, so they are lasting ok. The rear swingarm on mine seems to be standing up fine. It's a servicable street bike for commuting and the suspension makes longer rides more comfy. I've done 60 mile days on mine.
Cons. Cheap. wasn't that just a pro? But a few components on the bike will have to go immediately. Seat, and cranks particularly. The cranks are stamped steel junk that bend if you pedal hard, and fold right over if the crank hits something. So you have to go to the flea market and look for a junk bike with a quality crank on it. Stock tires last at most 500 miles. But chances are you plan to change to a road tread anyway. No service. This bike was assembled at the store by a stoned teenager, so you better be able to tweak everything on it. Take it to the LBS for service, and they will sneer at you for buying at wally world, and go on and on how stupid you are. They'll charge you every penny you saved. The frame on my bike is kinda flexy. Some may be better, but mine better stay under 30 mph for sure. The rear suspension makes a rear rack more difficult, but not impossible. A couple extra braces from the rack to the bottom of the seatpost tube, and a broomstick up the seatpost fixed mine. Lastly, the suspension is not really off road at all. 40 mm travel. Fine for a gravel road or smooth trail, but a real single track will be a nightmare to ride.
The quality FS bike.
This bike was going to be an Ebike, and may be still, but not untill I get one that is better. It pedaled so nice, I never put a motor on it. It's a Giant OS 2. 4.5" front travel, 5.5" rear.
Pros. Light. For a bike with this kind of suspension, I was amazed how light. Everything on it is quality, not top of the line, but to me, really great stuff. It's older, so rim brakes. This bike eats bumps alive! I can ride right over a 2 foot tall vertical step on it. Anything less than 3 inches tall you ride over is not felt at all. For me, it was the scales falling off my eyes. The frame is rock solid, and nothing on the bike had to be replaced. All the suspension has ajustability. I started out as plush as it went, and then stiffened it up as I noticed a need for it.
Cons. Expensive, I got a great deal used, at $350, but $500 is a steal and new, $1500 on up. Not a bike to pedal on the street. When set up plush, the pedal bob gets extreme when pedaling in high gears on the street. But you can adjust the rear shock stiffer to cure that if you ride mostly street. Motorized I doubt you'd pedal hard enough to care. No steel. It's aluminum all the way around, so no high powered front hubs, and even on the rear, some custom work might be needed to mount tourqe arms or create tourqe plates. Unless an older bike, the brakes may be disk only making a rear hub have just one more thing to fiddle with. Shifters may be 9 speed, so you may need to replace the shifter with something cheaper for a 7 speed. Lastly, its so nice just pedaling this thing in the mountains, its a shame to ruin it with the weight of motors and battery.
In between is the slightly better mongoose or other brand FS. Like in the pic in the previous post. Look for 80 mm travel front forks, usually aluminum forks will be at least that. Often they have cheap cranks, but not quite as tin foil as the extra cheap ones. If the rear shock has no damper adjustments, or is not longer than the rear shock on the cheap bike, then it is still the short travel rear suspension. Often having cheap disks, they may still have mounts for rim brakes on the rear.
Conclusions--- Cheap FS can make a very servicable street commuter, till you get a taste of the real thing or want to go faster than 25 mph. But if you have a good back, a better quality steel frame hardtail with a decent front fork may be a better deal for you. They are cheap on the used market, and make a great rear hub bike. My fuji is this type of bike, and with a really good springy seat my back can take shorter rides on it fine. The right seat can take some searching, but usually they are on comfort bikes, and have large coil springs on them. Others have springs, but they don't have the travel.
