Beijing Summer

[joat1912]

I'm lazy, overweight, and haven't regularly ridden a bike in a decade. But its summer in Beijing and with the city still going slow I'm feeling the pull to get on a bike and explore. There are sharebikes all over the place, but I feel like I'm just pumping my legs to barely move. I've thought about getting a proper road bike, but I'll refer you back to my laziness. So an ebike seems like the perfect halfway point to get me moving again. I've been reading the forums for about a month now and am way out of my depth in terms of understanding, but I'm trying.

So here is the ask: I'm in china, so should I use this chance to get a "good" quality chinese ebike, try to diy it as everything is on taobao, or get out of the perfectionist headspace and just get a cheap ebike for $500 and start riding?

I'm currently 15 miles from work, but I'll soon cut that down to around 6. I would love to get into the habit of biking that especially as Beijing is a fairly flat dry city. My top end budget is $2000, and I'm fairly mechanically inept though I'm willing to break things and learn.

 

[Tommm]

If it was me I would make use of the probably cheaper ship and tax of the cyclone guys from TW and get an eeb framed mid drive cyclone. The bike without battery would be right around 1200-1500 leaving you about 800 for a battery, good for 2kwh+.
[youtube]GSCBPf61Hok[/youtube]

Wouldn't trust their batteries though, I would pick a custome made triangle from UPP(unitpackpower). They have plenty of lower cost cells if budget is a thing.

 

[markz]

Where is EM3EV in China?
Well lemme look
https://em3ev.com/contact-us/
The Office
Address: EM3ev Ltd. #A401, A HIT Mingseal Technology Building,NO.18 Middle
ChangWu Road,WuJin, ChangZhou, Jiangsu, 213000 China
Phone: +86 519 83360882

 

[Keith Pegg]

I lived in China for almost 8 years 20 years ago, loved it, biking in any city can be a workout as cars do not share the road well. If you take care and have a good bike you will do well. Good luck.

 

[joat1912]

I lived in China for almost 8 years 20 years ago, loved it, biking in any city can be a workout as cars do not share the road well. If you take care and have a good bike you will do well. Good luck.

Thanks, It can definitely be dangerous. I had a NIU NPro before it got totaled in an accident. I still feel safer riding here than in SEAsia. I just had to come to the understanding that there is no concept of "right of way" in this city. At least I'm not hassled by potholes!

Thanks for the input @markz and @Tommm, I'll start reseaching those options and see if they will be a good match.