Adios, Yamaha (from North America)

[raylo32]

This is pretty crazy. I had thought Yamaha had a pretty good thing going with their e-bikes. Our local Yamaha motorcycle dealer had gone into these big time, especially after they shed their Triumph franchise and the Yammy e-bikes were a big part of their business.

MSN

 

[raylo32]

I just checked that dealer's inventory and they now carry several e-bike lines in addition to Yamaha, to include Giant, Intense, Xero and maybe more. So, they will get through this just fine. Their remaining Yamaha e-bikes are on sale for about 1/3 the original price... Or 2/3 off. Wow. I may go have a look.

 

[neptronix]

All the prebuilt makers shutting down.. will people start turning a wrench again?

 

[gromike]

All the prebuilt makers shutting down.. will people start turning a wrench again?

Not as long as people keep buying those crappy sub-thousand dollar ebikes, but then again they might need a wrench to keep their junk rolling.

 

[Chalo]

Not as long as people keep buying those crappy sub-thousand dollar ebikes, but then again they might need a wrench to keep their junk rolling.

Sadly, the "ready to ride" (though perhaps not really) e-bike business seems to have forked into two main branches:

1) functional but grossly overpriced name brand bikes that are specifically designed to resist non-dealer maintenance and to trap their buyers into an incompatible parts ecosystem, and

2) relatively simple, generic, serviceable, compatible e-bikes that are made so cheaply and horribly that they can barely be persuaded to work at all. Also they don't come in multiple sizes like, well, riders do.

They're both bad choices compared to rolling your own. The cheap nasty ones can be fixed and upgraded, though, and usually without too much expense. It's still a lot more expensive than doing it right with a proven reliable bike and simple conversion parts.

Sadly, there are also some manufacturers like Aventon that manage to have the worst of both.

It's like most people are so lame that they want to choose between eating drive thru window fast food, or microwaving frozen TV dinners, without ever stopping to consider they could be eating a lot better, a lot more cheaply and satisfyingly, if they only applied the slightest bit of effort to cook their own meals.

 

[raylo32]

Let's face it, we are a tiny minority here on ES. Many folks out in the world lack the mechanical aptitude to do what we do. These might be the same folks that could never figure out how to program a VCR. No, it's not rocket science but remember very few folks ever even work on their pedal bikes. And of the ones who might possess the aptitude, many are too lazy. Yes, I feel superior to them. But that doesn't mean much.

They're both bad choices compared to rolling your own. The cheap nasty ones can be fixed and upgraded, though, and usually without too much expense. It's still a lot more expensive than doing it right with a proven reliable bike and simple conversion parts.


It's like most people are so lame that they want to choose between eating drive thru window fast food, or microwaving frozen TV dinners, without ever stopping to consider they could be eating a lot better, a lot more cheaply and satisfyingly, if they only applied the slightest bit of effort to cook their own meals.