These 250W ebikes (toys) are very popular

[markz]

Where are people buying this low power ebike?
Thats what I've been asking myself for the last month, seeing them everywhere on the pathways with adults and kids riding them. Time to figure the mystery out.
Costco.com has them, but not Costco.ca
Bestbuy, CT, WM isnt selling them in their online websites and I highly doubt that many people are buying them on Aliexpress/Alibaba/ebay, though they could be buying them on Amazon.


Yeah the Jetson ebike toy is on Prime for Amazon.ca
https://www.amazon.ca/Jetson-Folding-Throttle-Electric-Bicycle/dp/B07BRN88F6/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=ebike&qid=1625794997&sr=8-6

Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca.

SURPRISING POWER - Cruise through city streets or climb over hills with the surprisingly powerful 250 watt hub motor

BUILT FOR YOU - The aluminum alloy frame is lightweight and sturdy, supporting up to 250 lbs. and made for everyday use

About the only good thing about it is its small, good for cruising the campground and storing in the RV.

The price is super cheap, spend a bit more: Throw in a more powerful motor if you can find a suitable rim and lace it

Wheel size 12 Inches

or better choice would be a 20" foldable bicycle, or 26" Montague Paratrooper fold-able bike, with a 1kw hub motor.

Lots of reviews on Youtube about the Jetson toy.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jetson+Bolt+Folding+E-Bike

A few mentions on ES
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=Jetson



BTW they are illegal because they have no pedals.

 

[Manbeer]

You can find refurb specials from time to time for super cheap (like 299 and a 20 percent off discount code so <250 shipped)

I was thinking of getting one just to mess around with in my neighborhood

Good to keep in the car if you have an unreliable vehicle in case of emergency! I had a friend who had a super unreliable chevy s10 back in the 90s and used to keep a scooter in the bed to help get home when it broke down.
I'm into old Range Rovers, so having one of these would be ace

 

[miro13car]

I guess it would not be so difficult to screw cranks with pedals but with no chain.
however
As Alberta, Canada is becoming free for all lawless place who cares if it have pedals or not.

 

[docw009]

Jetson Bolt Pro is the upgrade version with pedals. Where I live, it's not an ebike one can ride on bike paths unless there are working pedals. I doubt the pedals will do much good if you run out of battery. Tiny wheels. Not enough gears. Ugh.

 

[tomjasz]

I bought 3 36V, 250W, BBS01B motors from a company configuring eBikes that discovered US riders don't buy small BBS01B motors
.
$90 each. Propels my fat arse around town at 20MPH max. They sip power from my 2014 EM3ev Dolphin packs.Very little sag. I also found a couple of C963 displays. KISS. Reads real-time watts being pulled.

 

[MadRhino]

Those Jetson bikes are so cheap that people are buying it at department stores when shopping for something else. The stores make a display in a center alley with a pyramid of boxes and a huge special price tag. Most are purchased as a gift for kids. Then there is an escalade effect, when many can be seen around, more people think about buying one.

Next year you will see some of them in the garbage already.

 

[markz]

Is that what you are seeing in Quebec/Ontario?
I thought exactly that, maybe Costco/WM stores are blitzing them in the stores, and maybe they are but I just dont go to the WM at all, or Costco store often and I never go down the bike/sports aisle which is next to the bread section which I dont eat carbs.

I think the best way to go about a small ebike, is a cheap 20" or 26" folder, with a cheap ebay ebike kit then source a battery.
I've seen plenty of used 20" folders for $100-$250, ebay kits can be had for $180-$250 then deal with the battery with either a back alley potluck battery of the usual suspects (ali's/ebay/a'zon) purchase for cheap or reputable costly battery.
Even generic 26" folders are cheap, if you dont weigh much or go much faster then 15mph.
I'd be worrying to much about the hinge no matter what the weight, more so on the generic folders.
Better yet, a BMX bike is small, that'd be a cool conversion if your not tall. Then theres 24" wheeled bmx bikes.

Those Jetson bikes are so cheap that people are buying it at department stores when shopping for something else. The stores make a display in a center alley with a pyramid of boxes and a huge special price tag. Most are purchased as a gift for kids. Then there is an escalade effect, when many can be seen around, more people think about buying one.

Next year you will see some of them in the garbage already.

Everyone I've seen so far doest have the pedals. I saw 2 yesterday while taking a break, always see at least one a week now.
Those people dont realize they could buy a kit for $250, put it on their bike and buy a $400 battery on sale from a reputable seller, and $50 for a good charger. $650 all-in using their own bike.

So yeah, Jetson's are impulse buy's for sure.

Jetson Bolt Pro is the upgrade version with pedals. Where I live, it's not an ebike one can ride on bike paths unless there are working pedals. I doubt the pedals will do much good if you run out of battery. Tiny wheels. Not enough gears. Ugh.

 

[onemorejoltwarden]

Surprise, surprise.
News Flash
People impulsively buy trashy expensive toys.

Tweaker builds silly stuff
News at 10

 

[MadRhino]

Surprise, surprise.
News Flash
People impulsively buy trashy expensive toys.

Tweaker builds silly stuff
News at 10

But !
Kids are conditioned for ebikes with toys. Building future riders.
A mission.

 

[markz]

OK there is something happening, at least in my area.
Why is it I see literally a ton of small 20" or 22" fat mini bikes?
Because I can't tell if most are all the same. At first when I started seeing them I thought yeah ok motorhome owners on vacation then seeing more I thought ok condo owners but there are just way to many out there. A dozen I saw today, but there are a lot of condo's out there. I don't know why they are wasting their money on those useless small ebikes, its not like they are riding in mud. I bet its Amazons fault, cheap ebikes for the masses.

I ran into someone on the weekend who bought a normal small folder ebike from London Drugs, not sure if it was London Drugs themselves or if it was in LD's marketplace, like what Walmart and Bestbuy do. This guy had a 600 display and couldnt figure out how to turn on his light, so we chit chatted and I tried to help him out.
https://www.londondrugs.com/toys-and-recreation/e-bikes-and-e-scooters/
https://www.londondrugs.com/go-city-foldable-e-bike---black/L1157343.html?cgid=recreation-ebikes
$1500 what a rip off.

 

[Chalo]

Why is it I see literally a ton of small 20" or 22" fat mini bikes?

Because most people are dumber than a sack of rocks.

 

[gobi]

I picked up on of these refurb for $212 shipped, or bit more, My kids and I love it
I had to adjust the disk pad travel and it is good for me, we rode in the dark and the head light rocked.

 

[MadRhino]

I picked up on of these refurb for $212 shipped, or bit more, My kids and I love it
I had to adjust the disk pad travel and it is good for me, we rode in the dark and the head light rocked.

Funny. I just paid exactly the same 212$ for a used Mono 6 Ti brake caliper and rotor with shipping. I Hope I will be as satisfied as you are.

 

[Manbeer]

OK there is something happening, at least in my area.
Why is it I see literally a ton of small 20" or 22" fat mini bikes?
Because I can't tell if most are all the same. At first when I started seeing them I thought yeah ok motorhome owners on vacation then seeing more I thought ok condo owners but there are just way to many out there. A dozen I saw today, but there are a lot of condo's out there. I don't know why they are wasting their money on those useless small ebikes, its not like they are riding in mud. I bet its Amazons fault, cheap ebikes for the

the little scramblers can be fun. my wife wanted a super 73 zx (their tiny model) and it was so much fun i got one for myself. hers has knobbies and is upright, mine has low risers and slicks and feels like a tiny ducati. flying around the corners leaning in like a sport bike at 30-35 so low to the ground is a blast. What i like most is that as an avid biker, i don't use it interchangeably with a bike. Since i have little kids, i often only have a small window of time to myself and usually after they go to bed. before, it was gather the motivation to get on the bike and ride...but i found i would either take my regular bikes and would be so wound up i couldnt sleep well, or take the ebike but that usually turned into a longer ride than i wanted too. sometimes before bed i will go rip around the neighborhood on my "minibike" for a half hour and have a blast and its almost therapeutic

 

[markz]

Yeah that sucks being in a city where you can't ride in a big park, go for miles on end rather then a school playground field and baseball diamond. No fun at all.

I never see those small 20/22" wheeled fat mini bikes on trails, just asphalt, red clay pathways.
They're probably right at the $1k price point, cheap, plentiful and you should be able to pick one up in a year or twos time for $50 when their battery dies.

Speaking of toys- The one wheelers can only do tame trails.

Scooters cant do much because the wheels are to small to go over ruts or dips. I would build a stand up scooter with 14" tire mounted to a hub motor. I think thats the best. I could do different things with that setup than I could with my ebike. Join a local pool league and bring my scooter in with me, movie theater, karaoke, mall, grocery store, any store. Probably just steal a few Ikea bags to give the impression I was a shopping.

 

[Chalo]

Yeah that sucks being in a city where you can't ride in a big park, go for miles on end rather then a school playground field and baseball diamond. No fun at all.

It also sucks being outside a big city where you can ride for miles on end without finding good music, good food, good art, concentrations of like minds, or people with a half decent vision for the future.

Just sayin'.

Scooters cant do much because the wheels are to small to go over ruts or dips.

Yes, this is true. I can't even keep track of how many times I'm cruising along in a trash-strewn, pockmarked bike lane and I hit something that makes me say "ow f**k what was that?". But if I were on a donut wheel deathtrap in the same scenario, I'd wake up in an ambulance or in the hospital thinking, "what the f**k happened?"

 

[Manbeer]

Yeah that sucks being in a city where you can't ride in a big park, go for miles on end rather then a school playground field and baseball diamond. No fun at all.

It also sucks being outside a big city where you can ride for miles on end without finding good music, good food, good art, concentrations of like minds, or people with a half decent vision for the future.

Just sayin'.

Scooters cant do much because the wheels are to small to go over ruts or dips.

Yes, this is true. I can't even keep track of how many times I'm cruising along in a trash-strewn, pockmarked bike lane and I hit something that makes me say "ow f**k what was that?". But if I were on a donut wheel deathtrap in the same scenario, I'd wake up in an ambulance or in the hospital thinking, "what the f**k happened?"

My wife often comments that we are too far from everything, and my reply is that we're not far enough. Then again I dislike people, art and music so maybe it's just me

Anyway regarding these little toys, I had a gay friend Who would respond "don't knock it til you try it" When we picked on him and I would say that applies to these little bikes. They aren't bikes, but since I realized that i began to appreciate them

 

[999zip999]

Manbeer I just see you ride one of those around in your German lederhosens. if it doesn't have a cup holder what good is it ? I tie a baby's nipple onto a string and cut the hole bigger and stick that baby's nipple into my beer can and it dissipates the foam of my beer in my cup holder on a mountain trail. So it doesn't get my throttle or CA or my lite wet.
I should have never told you my secret.
I hate those bikes as I'm 6'4 and 240 lbs. Plus bike backpacks and beer

 

[Manbeer]

Manbeer I just see you ride one of those around in your German lederhosens. if it doesn't have a cup holder what good is it ? I tie a baby's nipple onto a string and cut the hole bigger and stick that baby's nipple into my beer can and it dissipates the foam of my beer in my cup holder on a mountain trail. So it doesn't get my throttle or CA or my lite wet.
I should have never told you my secret.
I hate those bikes as I'm 6'4 and 240 lbs. Plus bike backpacks and beer

That wasn't me, I was the nonbinary chasing him in the nude wearing a full face helmet and kneepads

Seriously though, I've seen some of these were the frames actually get pretty big the tires are always 20" x 4. I got the tiny one on purpose though because I wanted it to feel like a toy, If I had the full size then I'd have to start taking myself more seriously...and that'd be a problem

 

[999zip999]

Manbeer you're the guy without the knee pads en back just behind but catching up fast. I can tell because your face mask has a beer at each side going into dual straws to one mouth. Turbo

 

[99t4]

9zip that would be dual turbo!

 

[999zip999]

I stand corrected

DIY !

 

[markz]

These are the culprits


https://radpowerbikes.ca/collections/folding-electric-bikes









Along with









And


https://onewheel.com/products/pint

 

[LewTwo]

Rad Power Bikes have a good reputation. They also have some roving service trucks in major cities which means that they are one of the very few manufacturers that can actually provide service/replacement for their customer's batteries. Those are 48 Volt 14AHr batteries with fuses and a keyed switch (downgraded on the latest RadCity E-Bike). Those Bafang motors are 'rated' (whatever that means) at 500 watts and 80 newton-meters.

They were a much better value a year ago. They have bumped up the prices of all of their entire line by $400 to $500 in the last year. I am not a big fan because I do not like their 'short-people' geometry. However I recognize the appeal/convenience of having a E-bike with matched, quality components that is going to have everything (including brake lights) that works out the box and is supported by a company with a solid reputation.

I will politely refrain from commenting on the two toys that you posted pictures of.

 

[LewTwo]

H'mmm ... just ran across these at Wally-world. Now these are definitely in the category of 250 watt toys.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Razor-Pocket-Mod-Miniature-Euro-24-Volt-250-Watt-Electric-Retro-Scooter-Blue/177950307