I managed to sell my son’s electric-assisted tricycle this week (photo below) to someone in the movie industry who wanted to use it as a prop. Long story about why we had to sell it but it was a beautiful machine. Too big for most dedicated bike lanes. Carries two passengers in addition to driver and was great on quieter streets.
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Timely bump, I still find it hard to justify but I am once again considering an e-bike.
Specialized has some attractive prices, they use mid mounted motors from Brose. And Gazelle bikes are a bit more but their reputation is stellar and they all use Bosch batteries and motors, it looks like Bosch and Shimano are kind of the top tier right now.
Still poking around and may not buy one, but they are so much fun. Maybe if they follow through with the proposal to install a bike lane on my street I’d do it.
I’m replacing the belt in my Brose motor today(old one shredded and turned my e-bike into just a really heavy bike). Bike shop wanted to just replace the whole motor, but it’s a relatively easy process to swap in a new belt. Way cheaper than a whole new motor too.
How long have you had your bike, and how many miles? What bike is it and how do you like it so far?
It’s a specialized Vado 3.0 I think. Got it from a friend about a year ago. I think I’ve put about 1500 miles on it, commuting and cruising around town. I put a seat on the back so the kids can give each other rides too. It’s been pretty solid. Only maintenance has been a new rear tire and a new cassette/chain.
I’m currently looking at three bikes, need to dig in some more on other brands, particularly the more value-oriented brands (Lectric, Rad Power, Aventon). Many of those use the hub motors, which may not be a deal-breaker but they aren’t quite as nice.
The Tero 3.0 that is similar to yours, currently $2,250. It has a smaller motor but 50Nm of torque is still pretty solid, and a 530Wh battery is pretty nice. No rack but I can add that easily enough.
The Vado 4.0 is currently cheaper ($2,750) than the 3.0 ($3,000). It has 70Nm of torque, and a big 710Wh battery. It looks great on paper, with the caveat that the big battery means added weight, it’s almost 60lb.
The Gazelle I’m looking at is the Medeo T10+ for $3,000, it’s class 3 (28mph) and has a huge Bosch motor with 85Nm of torque, and a 500Wh battery. Weight is around 50lb.
So shocking, range and weight go hand in hand.
Electrek.co website has a lot of good articles about EBs. Each article has quite a few comments if there are any readers on their site with experience.
There are two rules I have heard for how many bikes you should have.
The first is N+1, where N is how many you currently own.
The second is X-1 where X is the number where your spouse would divorce you.
When I was considering a bike I did not need on paper, I did check with my spouse to ensure it passed both tests.
LOL. I had two but I’m down to one bike. Plus a Vespa, fwiw. I think I’d survive buying a bike, see my other post about my wife having 98 pairs of shoes.
I see what you did there.
OK, Ferdinand.
The potential ‘current’ pun, or the fact that while I’m looking at three now, soon it’ll be a dozen bikes I’m eyeballing?
Of course, this.
I just like that it is used in this thread. A lot.
Did you notice I snuck ‘potential’ in there? A slightly more obscure pun.
I think you used too much kinetic energy inserting it in there. (TWSS!!)
It would just be your second bike? What more justification do you need?
It helps at all, this random dude on the internet, who happens to be somewhat irresponsible with money, thinks you deserve to treat yourself on this one.
I’m gonna noodle on it for a bit. It’s a long story, we get about 80% of our annual bonus in April and the rest in October, so maybe when October hits I’ll use some of those funds for the Gazelle I’m really loving right now.
Damn it. I decided to go to KC to check out a few of these. The Cannondale and Trek bikes seem ok, at the $1500 price point they look solid. But the Gazelle seemed much nicer, the T9 likely would suffice honestly, a little smaller battery, but there was something about the handling I didn’t like. It felt sluggish to turn in, maybe because the battery is mounted up high, or maybe a different geometry.
The T10+, however, felt almost perfect. It’s 50lb but you really can’t feel the weight, and the Bosch motor on this one is a beast. And the brakes are really responsive with great feel, which is important with a 28mph top speed.
Anyway, maybe I’ll regret this later but I couldn’t leave without the T10+.
lol…you knew as soon as you walked out the door you would be bringing one back.
Let’s say my confidence interval certainly included p=0.5.
That looks like a nice bike! Similar shape to my Vado. I think you will be happy with it.
