E-bike/ scooter reccomendation for student

[Brainy142]

I'm looking at the possibility of getting an E-bike/ scooter as my main vehicle of transportation. I live in Barrie, Ontario Canada, so The bike/ scooter would have to be "street legal", my budget is around $1,500. I would prefer to get a pre-built e-bike/ scooter as I don't have the knowledge (or tools for that matter) to build one myself (If I absolutely had to I have a friend who knows his way around a bike enough to build one). I would like to be able to go around 50km on a good charge (if I could get more than that I would take that as a bonus 90km would be amazing but not necessary). If anyone has any recommendations of dealers in the area that would also be a plus. I don't have a problem going used but as we all know, it would most likely require me to buy a new set of batteries for the bike.

Thanks for your help,
Brandon

ps. Looks like they are getting more and more popular, I've seen 3 of them so far parked at the school and summer has only began. (verses none last year)
pps. I had a brainfart and thought a scooter and a ebike were the same thing, is now corrected.

 

[Frog]

I have about the same small budget I'm going with the Prodeco Phantom X2. $1500 is not much in this hobby your best bet is keep saving (first build) but if you must buy soon and you want a box bike you might want to go with the X2 it's hard to beat for less then $2500. BUT it has a waiting list of who knows how long if you was to get on the waiting list today it would maybe be a month or two before you got it. It has a two year warranty on almost everything goes 20mph about 40 miles per charge.
Let us know what you go with.

 

[Brainy142]

hmm, looks pretty nice I forget to consider non scooter bikes, what I like about the phantom is the fact it looks a lot more professionally made than any of the scooter's I have seen in town (I've seen a gio, a taw taw, and I believe a "blue avenue"). I might go looking in town as there are a couple dealers, but I'm a bit weary as I know 2 of them at least are "china made", and the fact they have lead acid batteries, which I've heard aren't as nice as the lipo ones. (although less dangerous).

The bike seems to be more helpful as the petal's on a scooter are.... pretty much useless from what I have heard.

 

[Philistine]

If you are just looking for a basic ebike to get you around on, rather than buy an off the shelf bike, if I were you I would buy a decent second hand bike that I like the riding feel of, then buy a rear Mac Kit from CellMan, and one of his A123 triangle packs, the Falcon EV bag (which he sells), and a cycle analyst. You can use the cycle analyst to limit your amps to the legal limit if the legal side is a concern to you. I know you say you aren't mechanically kitted out, but you basically need a shifter and know how to undo a nut to get it together.

This is a thread of the kind of setup I am talking about:

http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37292&hilit=+triangle

Doing it that way you will pay less in total, and you will get a far superior bike (because it will be a very good second hand one) and you will get an electric/powertrain that is 10 times better than on a prebought bike.

That is just my two cents.

 

[cal3thousand]

I would go to Craiglist for a used one if you want a pre-built.

Then you could add your own new battery for $500 or so.

There was this Kona UTE near my area with 250W kit installed selling for $1350. If I had seen it sooner, I might have bought it instead of my e-bikekit.com build

 

[Brainy142]

hmm... now I'm getting more curious, how would you say an actual ebike would compare to a scooter?

 

[cal3thousand]

Forgot to mention that the KONA UTE was brand spanking new and marked down from $2950.

There are deals to be had, just get a CL notification app and hawk the listings until you find one.

 

[Brainy142]

If you are just looking for a basic ebike to get you around on, rather than buy an off the shelf bike, if I were you I would buy a decent second hand bike that I like the riding feel of, then buy a rear Mac Kit from CellMan, and one of his A123 triangle packs, the Falcon EV bag (which he sells), and a cycle analyst. You can use the cycle analyst to limit your amps to the legal limit if the legal side is a concern to you. I know you say you aren't mechanically kitted out, but you basically need a shifter and know how to undo a nut to get it together.

What distance and cost do you think a build like that would be able to take me while assisting my pedaling? (I'm assuming that I am required to pedal to a certain degree).

 

[Brainy142]

Apologies, I had made a mistake when choosing the forum when I made this post, I had meant to go to the scooter forum, any reccomended reads for someone who is new to the e-bike thing? I might as well consider my options .

 

[Brainy142]

I have about the same small budget I'm going with the Prodeco Phantom X2. $1500 is not much in this hobby your best bet is keep saving (first build) but if you must buy soon and you want a box bike you might want to go with the X2 it's hard to beat for less then $2500. BUT it has a waiting list of who knows how long if you was to get on the waiting list today it would maybe be a month or two before you got it. It has a two year warranty on almost everything goes 20mph about 40 miles per charge.
Let us know what you go with.

Woah, that's actually way more awesome than I thought, I looked it up on youtube and got this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I858Z-fxSXE&feature=relmfu. I could pedal on the roads for a while and if I hit a dirt road or a hill I could fire up the engine.

 

[Brainy142]

If you are just looking for a basic ebike to get you around on, rather than buy an off the shelf bike, if I were you I would buy a decent second hand bike that I like the riding feel of, then buy a rear Mac Kit from CellMan, and one of his A123 triangle packs, the Falcon EV bag (which he sells), and a cycle analyst. You can use the cycle analyst to limit your amps to the legal limit if the legal side is a concern to you. I know you say you aren't mechanically kitted out, but you basically need a shifter and know how to undo a nut to get it together.

This is a thread of the kind of setup I am talking about:

http://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=37292&hilit=+triangle

Doing it that way you will pay less in total, and you will get a far superior bike (because it will be a very good second hand one) and you will get an electric/powertrain that is 10 times better than on a prebought bike.

That is just my two cents.

I have a friend who could help me out to put something like that together, would be interesting to actually build it, and I might actually learn something about bikes.

 

[Philistine]

Re my suggestion, you are looking at about $395 for the motor and controller and throttle

http://www.emissions-free.com/catalog/i24.html


and $600 for the battery

http://www.emissions-free.com/catalog/i29.html

and whatever you spend on the second hand bike. On that setup (say set to 25-30amps), without peddling at all you could do about 40-45 kph. You aren't going to break any accelaration records or do any burnouts at that amp setting, but you can literally get around without peddling if you like.

The benefit of my suggestion is you can choose a bike that you like as a bike. If you buy an off the shelf ebike apart from being totally gutless, the bike iteself (in terms of components) will be total rubbish. Anyone with a basic toolbox should be able to get that setup going in under an hour, and with the help of this forum and Cellman you would struggle to frock it up.

Just a thought.

 

[eugenem]

Wow, what a useless video! The guy almost fell backwards when trying to fold the bike. Never actually folded the bike into anything useful (that could fit in a trunk for example) and the bike looked like it was going to stall every time it wen up that tiny hill

I have about the same small budget I'm going with the Prodeco Phantom X2. $1500 is not much in this hobby your best bet is keep saving (first build) but if you must buy soon and you want a box bike you might want to go with the X2 it's hard to beat for less then $2500. BUT it has a waiting list of who knows how long if you was to get on the waiting list today it would maybe be a month or two before you got it. It has a two year warranty on almost everything goes 20mph about 40 miles per charge.
Let us know what you go with.

Woah, that's actually way more awesome than I thought, I looked it up on youtube and got this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I858Z-fxSXE&feature=relmfu. I could pedal on the roads for a while and if I hit a dirt road or a hill I could fire up the engine.

 

[Frog]

Wow, what a useless video! The guy almost fell backwards when trying to fold the bike. Never actually folded the bike into anything useful (that could fit in a trunk for example) and the bike looked like it was going to stall every time it wen up that tiny hill

I have about the same small budget I'm going with the Prodeco Phantom X2. $1500 is not much in this hobby your best bet is keep saving (first build) but if you must buy soon and you want a box bike you might want to go with the X2 it's hard to beat for less then $2500. BUT it has a waiting list of who knows how long if you was to get on the waiting list today it would maybe be a month or two before you got it. It has a two year warranty on almost everything goes 20mph about 40 miles per charge.
Let us know what you go with.

Woah, that's actually way more awesome than I thought, I looked it up on youtube and got this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I858Z-fxSXE&feature=relmfu. I could pedal on the roads for a while and if I hit a dirt road or a hill I could fire up the engine.

Maybe if the guy would peddle every now and then it would preform more like an e-bike. Maybe you could show us a video of your bike going up hills without peddling so we know what to look for in a bike.

 

[Brainy142]

My current bike (which is not an e-bike).... erm.... lets just say it's.... time for it to "retire" It's too small for me, and part of the gears are broken .
I'l post a picture of it later though.

 

[motorino magnet]

Barrie Canada

I'm in crystal beach and i think your best deal is a motorino because they are built on a Yamaha vino motorcycle frame.

They have front and rear disc,abs brakes,cvt transmission with three speeds,easily modded and a Canadian company.

buy one new for 2 grand or buy one used for 1.

you will be buying a new lifepo4 battery and the best bet is to buy Canadian from golden motor .com-Gary solo

I have two motorino xpn's and am buying two 48-30 amp hrs from Gary because it just makes sens to me after researching for over a years up here in Ontario.

 

[dogman dan]

I'm pretty biased against the scooter like ebikes. Mostly this is because I come from a pedaler background, and enjoy a "bike". My town has an excellent and growing system of bike trails, and looking like a bike is a key thing if you want to use them without hassles from law, or just the others on the path.

You WILL end up pedaling for home at some point. If you are on a scooter with faux pedals that take you 1 mph, you are better off to get off and push. On a bike, you are still miserable, but able to ride 10 mph or so.

 

[motomech]

I'm looking at the possibility of getting an E-bike/ scooter as my main vehicle of transportation. I live in Barrie, Ontario Canada, so The bike/ scooter would have to be "street legal", my budget is around $1,500. I would prefer to get a pre-built e-bike/ scooter as I don't have the knowledge (or tools for that matter) to build one myself (If I absolutely had to I have a friend who knows his way around a bike enough to build one). I would like to be able to go around 50km on a good charge (if I could get more than that I would take that as a bonus 90km would be amazing but not necessary). If anyone has any recommendations of dealers in the area that would also be a plus. I don't have a problem going used but as we all know, it would most likely require me to buy a new set of batteries for the bike.

Thanks for your help,
Brandon

ps. Looks like they are getting more and more popular, I've seen 3 of them so far parked at the school and summer has only began. (verses none last year)
pps. I had a brainfart and thought a scooter and a ebike were the same thing, is now corrected.

Your posting here is fortuitous because nobody here would recommend an Escooter because, frankly, they are pretty junky. They may alright when new for a while, but soon they will break and you will need lot's more in the way of tools and technical skills than needed to build a basic Ebike. Remember, no shop will work on them.
If your commute was, say 6 miles a day, an Escooter would be fine. But at the distances you want to go, either build a sturdy Ebike with lots of batteries, or buy a Chinese gas Scooter . They are way more viable transportation than an Escooter.

 

[Brainy142]

Your posting here is fortuitous because nobody here would recommend an Escooter because, frankly, they are pretty junky. They may alright when new for a while, but soon they will break and you will need lot's more in the way of tools and technical skills than needed to build a basic Ebike. Remember, no shop will work on them.
If your commute was, say 6 miles a day, an Escooter would be fine. But at the distances you want to go, either build a sturdy Ebike with lots of batteries, or buy a Chinese gas Scooter . They are way more viable transportation than an Escooter.

Fair enough, I don't want a gas powered solution as insurance rates would be very high for a student. But I do appreciate hearing both sides for the argument so I'm glad you posted that, and before this I hadn't even considered a pure bike with battery or home built solution. I like to do research into what I am buying and I always aim to get my money's worth out of whatever I buy. If It's not the scooters time to shine then that's fine, I can accept that.