I've been thinking about buying a new eBike.
Old Bike:
I've had a little folding 36V 250W one for about 14 months and it's worked ok but it doesn't quite have enough juice to go the full 25km I need and there are a fair number of hills along the way. I have to take the charger with me both ways and charge it at work in order to have enough power to make it home and it's done over 500 charges now and I think the range is starting to decay. I live at the top of a long very steep hill (quite bad because it comes up from a valley) and I find I'm running out of juice before I make it to the top unless I pedal 90% of my trip and pedal hard much of that time.
I think having to do that trip, a full charge and almost full discharge twice a day, day in and day out has really taken its toll on the battery.
I like how fast the little folding 20" accelerates and it cost me about $900 originally (http://www.green-cruiser.com/bay-street-angel-2.html). I paid about $500 more over the year for 3 folding baskets, a new throttle when the original broke, pedals, new brakes and adjustments to them, two new tires, 5 new tubes (all for the rear) and rebuilding the rear when the spokes broke after one of the flats - along with various other repairs.
Bike Store Owner:
Speaking to a bike store owner yesterday the guy was telling me that first bike was a huge rip off, that I could get a great bike that goes 50km/h for $700 max by building it myself with a really nice 26" aluminum frame, a 500w motor (w/ controller built into it) with everything secure and a solid long range battery and all working great. He told me he'd assemble all the electrics for only $60 if I brought him the kit. Looking into it though I found the kit would cost almost $1300 CAD alone to get a good 500w motor, controller and LiPo/LifePO4 battery with the juice I need.
New Bike?
Now I found through a friend of these folding 26" bikes for about $900 http://www.dragonebikes.com/inspire.html (Inspire/Island Folder) from a private seller, a guy who says he bought it in the spring and never used it all summer (just used motorcycle or car instead). It has a 500W motor and a Lithium Ion 36V 10Ah pack - so same capacity as my current bike but with a motor twice as powerful and a slightly heavier frame - will I be running into the same problem in a year that the battery? Is it possible for me to buy a new larger LiFePO4 or other battery for it and replace the one it has at that point? Or is it just not worth trying to do so as it won't be compatible? I like it comes with disc brakes, my current bike with old style breaks gets eaten quickly (possibly because it has steel rims).
I couldn't pedal much with the 20" - you had to have such a fast cadence and the 6 gears weren't well matched to the motor - only on uphills or with the battery dead could you really comfortably pedal and you couldn't add much to the speed without going all out. I figure the 26" would be better for that - but without the acceleration.
I think the bike store owner gave me some bad info trying to get me to give him business assembling the bike and buying a $300+ aluminum frame off him. I don't know if I found the best kit to buy either. I also don't know if the EB-Inspire I was asking about (a Chinese eBike I think) is a good deal or idea. I'm really not sure and I'm trying to weigh everything and come up with the best decision.
What do you guys think? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Peter
Update: I'd also like to go faster - my current bike goes 25kph avg. My commute takes about 1 hour 5 minutes I don't know how fast the Inspire would go - but hopefully close or over the 32kph limit here - if it does then it would cut my commute to under the 1 hour mark which would be a big psychological point, if nothing else. Thanks!
Old Bike:
I've had a little folding 36V 250W one for about 14 months and it's worked ok but it doesn't quite have enough juice to go the full 25km I need and there are a fair number of hills along the way. I have to take the charger with me both ways and charge it at work in order to have enough power to make it home and it's done over 500 charges now and I think the range is starting to decay. I live at the top of a long very steep hill (quite bad because it comes up from a valley) and I find I'm running out of juice before I make it to the top unless I pedal 90% of my trip and pedal hard much of that time.
I think having to do that trip, a full charge and almost full discharge twice a day, day in and day out has really taken its toll on the battery.
I like how fast the little folding 20" accelerates and it cost me about $900 originally (http://www.green-cruiser.com/bay-street-angel-2.html). I paid about $500 more over the year for 3 folding baskets, a new throttle when the original broke, pedals, new brakes and adjustments to them, two new tires, 5 new tubes (all for the rear) and rebuilding the rear when the spokes broke after one of the flats - along with various other repairs.
Bike Store Owner:
Speaking to a bike store owner yesterday the guy was telling me that first bike was a huge rip off, that I could get a great bike that goes 50km/h for $700 max by building it myself with a really nice 26" aluminum frame, a 500w motor (w/ controller built into it) with everything secure and a solid long range battery and all working great. He told me he'd assemble all the electrics for only $60 if I brought him the kit. Looking into it though I found the kit would cost almost $1300 CAD alone to get a good 500w motor, controller and LiPo/LifePO4 battery with the juice I need.
New Bike?
Now I found through a friend of these folding 26" bikes for about $900 http://www.dragonebikes.com/inspire.html (Inspire/Island Folder) from a private seller, a guy who says he bought it in the spring and never used it all summer (just used motorcycle or car instead). It has a 500W motor and a Lithium Ion 36V 10Ah pack - so same capacity as my current bike but with a motor twice as powerful and a slightly heavier frame - will I be running into the same problem in a year that the battery? Is it possible for me to buy a new larger LiFePO4 or other battery for it and replace the one it has at that point? Or is it just not worth trying to do so as it won't be compatible? I like it comes with disc brakes, my current bike with old style breaks gets eaten quickly (possibly because it has steel rims).
I couldn't pedal much with the 20" - you had to have such a fast cadence and the 6 gears weren't well matched to the motor - only on uphills or with the battery dead could you really comfortably pedal and you couldn't add much to the speed without going all out. I figure the 26" would be better for that - but without the acceleration.
I think the bike store owner gave me some bad info trying to get me to give him business assembling the bike and buying a $300+ aluminum frame off him. I don't know if I found the best kit to buy either. I also don't know if the EB-Inspire I was asking about (a Chinese eBike I think) is a good deal or idea. I'm really not sure and I'm trying to weigh everything and come up with the best decision.
What do you guys think? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Peter
Update: I'd also like to go faster - my current bike goes 25kph avg. My commute takes about 1 hour 5 minutes I don't know how fast the Inspire would go - but hopefully close or over the 32kph limit here - if it does then it would cut my commute to under the 1 hour mark which would be a big psychological point, if nothing else. Thanks!
. Will definitely take it for a test drive around the block at least - with my GPS measuring speed to make sure it gets at least 30 kph on motor alone and see how high I can push it pedaling.
