Consider the forum you're on.
Most of us are builders. We know the real cost of putting an eBike together.
I didn't know crap about electronics when i got here ( still it's fuzzy ), don't know how to weld, don't have a machine shop, never laced a rim or welded, and learning how to turn an allen wrench was not hard, nor is soldering
. I live in an apartment, always have, and that's about it!
You know the #1 reason i don't like HPC?
They are not honest.
On their site, in their sales, or other promotions, there are all sorts of specs that don't make sense or fit together.. they have made wild claims about performance/efficiency/range that are not true in the past, and when called on their bullshit, pretty much every time except once they have stayed quiet and not addressed the issue.
Looks like they've stopped setting their BMC motors up for failure lately, but i did read about someone blowing 3 motors and 2 controllers from them recently. After finding out that HPC had sold someone a setup that was pumping >3000w into the motor, it made sense to me, but it didn't make sense to the buyer... and the buyer had to pay for all the replacement parts. Having been in business so long, they should know better!
And by the way, if you are climbing hills ( as someone on a mountain biking journey will do! ) you are gonna draw that peak power continuously.
In this case you don't get what you pay for. What i see on their site is basically poorly done, overpowered forum builds with maybe 1 or 2 custom parts.. It can be done better.