In the middle of researching this.

There are front, mid & rear drive. There are folding & non-folding. 20" and 26". Hub gears and derailleur. Costs run from about $1000 and upwards. Combinations & permutations are massive. Weight is an issue. They are heavy.
I limited my list to 6. Eliminated one from Anaconda and then slowly eliminated 3 others leaving me with the VelectriX & Leitner.

Both have prods & cons for me. You may see quality issues noted on the Leitner but I suspect it's more to do with the home assembly. Velectrix can be picked up assembled are even sent it's minimal assemble.

May I be one of the first to welcome you to the forum, Bay Steve

There use to be a company, advertising on this website, selling electric bikes, I have no idea where they went to

During my research on this topic, a few years ago

I picked up on the fact that only one re-seller, claimed to be using a LiFePO4 battery, which I am led to believe is the best type of lithium battery, for a bicycle

The name of that re-seller was Beyond Oil, their bikes were (from memory) about $1,400 plus freight

I recently purchased locally, an old, Beyond Oil, step through electric bike, with 26 inch wheels, for $460
I know that it is old, because it only has the lithium ion 10 AH battery, and a 200 watt wheel, newer ones have 16 AH battery and 250 watt wheel

As far as rolling resistance goes, (without using the battery), it is the best cheap bicycle I have ever had

As a sidenote
The method behind the madness of getting this bicycle, was so that the wife could ride it, (when we go travelling), and I would follow on a mechanical type deadly treadly
On our last 11,000 kilometre road trip, there was always an excuse not to use it, so I will not be taking it with us again

As the bicycle was second hand, it came with two batteries, each battery is good for about 9 kilometres, assisting pedalling, and about half that distance with the feet on the handlebars
The battery is known as a Silverfish type
Going by memory, as I do not have the numbers at my fingertips
New 36 volt 10 Amp lithium ion battery was about $380
New 36 volt 10 Amp LiFePO4 battery was about $460
New 36 volt 16 Amp LiFePO4 battery was about $620

Hope that this info is useful to you

 

I have 2 ebikes. A velectrix foldaway and a Merida 600. The range on the fold way is only about 30k but the Merida I can get over100 k.
Love the Merida as it pedals great without power and is a mid drive motor. Great on the hills. Have a look at smart motion bikes as they have a big battery for the folder.

RustyD wrote:

---

In the middle of researching this.

There are front, mid & rear drive. There are folding & non-folding. 20" and 26". Hub gears and derailleur. Costs run from about $1000 and upwards. Combinations & permutations are massive. Weight is an issue. They are heavy.
I limited my list to 6. Eliminated one from Anaconda and then slowly eliminated 3 others leaving me with the VelectriX & Leitner.

Both have prods & cons for me. You may see quality issues noted on the Leitner but I suspect it's more to do with the home assembly. Velectrix can be picked up assembled are even sent it's minimal assemble.

---

 I have just ordered a Leitner step thru 20" folding bike for the wife, I will stick to my 26" for now. I like it because it looks like a bike, folds up very narrow and it was value for money. I have no idea whether it will be a good or bad buy, time will tell, but if I can get Dianne to go for a longer bike ride it will be worth it. The bike should arrive late this week or early next week. I could of bought the same bike assembled locally for $300 more, but chose the online method and self assembly to keep the price down.

Just make sure you do not ride an E-Bike that is capable of maintaining its own momentum on any public road or land.

Read up on properly on the laws and DO NOT believe the sellers spin and DO NOT assume that just because someone is selling something, that it is legal to own and use, otherwise you may find yourself getting booked for riding an unregistered motor vehicle, riding an unroadworthy vehicle, riding without a motorcycle licence, riding without a proper motorcycle helmet and maybe a whole heap of more things depending on where you where caught.

In short, motorised bikes are allowed only if they are power assist and require human power to maintain momentum, have a power component with an output less than 200watts. 

Motorised vehicles such as e-bikes and mobility scooters that require no human power must not exceed 10kph.

-- Edited by Hylife on Wednesday 8th of November 2017 10:16:43 PM

Thanks everyone for your input, I have some studying to do.

The Leitner Libelle came by the time we were informed that it would. Lots of packing and cable ties keeping everything from rubbing. The assembly was very straight forward, all the tools except some side cutters to remove the cable ties were included. The battery was already fully charged and besides the battery needing some effort to remove the first time, mainly because I didn't really know what was required to do. I watched a youtube video and all was good. A downloadable file came with the invoice to give you plenty of advice for assembly. The first time the bike was folded was another learning curve (how to do it was in instructions). Unclip and then wriggle it as you lift pin, very easy the second time.

Only had a couple of short rides but very easy to get used to using the pedal assist. I have left it on 6km/h using just the electric motor, it seems very slow, you can use it to get going and then start pedalling but using the pedal assist, very little effort is required to maintain a good speed. The idea of the electric bike is to help Dianne to travel up hills and go further, but still get some exercise. Dianne was able to keep in front of me with no effort at all compared to her old bike where she would probably walk further than riding her bike.

Five of us pedaling around some mainly flat areas, 2 electric bikes and 3 of us doing it the hard way(me taking the photo). The 2 electric bikes were always first to the top of the few hills we encountered.

I ride an Argon 18 Subito, which i got from https://ebiikesshops.com/ and its been incredible for performance and value. Its lightweight, efficient, and perfect for road cycling. Great for commuting and versatile enough for light trails.

-- Edited by Gregoryrg on Thursday 12th of December 2024 11:46:37 PM