Are E-bikes overpriced?

[MarcusT]

One has to wonder if the E-bike industry is price fixing. I have not looked into the cost of production but compared to other products.
For example:
Guess which costs more
Cube Stereo Hybrid 160 HPC- 5,000
Piaggio Medley 125cc-3,800

 

[matthewslack]

One has to wonder if the E-bike industry is price fixing. I have not looked into the cost of production but compared to other products.
For example:View attachment 46181View attachment 46182
Guess which costs more
Cube Stereo Hybrid 160 HPC- 5,000
Piaggio Medley 125cc-3,800

Fixing is probably the wrong word. Charging as much as they can get away with, yes. Building in revenue through dealer servicing requirements, yes.

But the customer has choice, just like the iPhone buyer!

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Products are priced to what is acceptable in the market place that doesn't deter purchase. You get perfume that costs pence to make costing tens of pound because people will pay it or football season tickets that cost £100s of pounds with the players getting paid 10s of thousands per week again because they are exploiting customer loyalty. Even if I was a billionaire I wouldn't pay the amount that many ebikes cost simply because I don't need an ebike like that. I don't need sophisticated suspension or a very high torque motor etc. I only go lightly off-road which a gravel bike could do or a rigid mountain bike. Also I like to use my bikes as general use bikes, locked outside shops etc. High end bikes are thief magnets and you have to be so careful it limits how you can use them.

I don't need the McLaren of ebikes I'm happy with the Toyota Corolla of ebikes.

I think many people have a high disposable income and so can afford a more expensive ebike but expensive doesn't always mean better in real world use.

I quite fancy a Honda Navi motorbike/moped which isn't sold in the UK but maybe in the future, its only 100cc and would cost about £1500. It looks a lot of fun. £1500 seems amazing value when you compare it to the cost of a high end ebike but then the Navi would be made in huge numbers.

I went for a long walk last autumn for fitness and while I was on the walk a Bosch equipped ebike was on the same paths as me just pootling around and enjoying the bike. I think it was a Whyte model. The person was wearing camouflage type army surplus clothes. He seemed happy enough but there was nothing on that course that needed all the suspension that bike was equipped with. Yes I realise at other times he might do far more technical courses using it. As he rode past he was looking pretty smug and wanted to be seen on the bike for sure. It seemed more of a status symbol to him than anything. He'd bought an expensive ebike and wanted to be seen on it. To me that ebike was designed for complicated technical courses and was complete overkill for normal riding. All the expense and maintenance for a course that a cheap £100 Apollo bike could do. I pretty much knew where he was at all times despite not seeing him (forest type walk) because of the whine of the motor. It could only have been about 8 minutes from entering the area and then leaving again he probably spent a lot more time on the road with that bike.

I'm writing that as a casual cyclist who have absolutely no reason to go for any high end bike be it road bike, mountain bike or ebike though but my point if that rider is only going to use that ebike for the same casual riding why waste money? He probably lost over £1000 just collecting it from the shop due to depreciation.

 

[PC2017]

As he rode past he was looking pretty smug and wanted to be seen on the bike for sure.

I agree, most likely rides it a few times & realises it a pain to clean, then leaves it the garage for 6 months until the BH moans and he "tries" to sell it for near retail price. There is a word for folks like that...

The bit that gets me is people in general do not know how to get the most out of the tech they have and spend more time trying to "keep up with Jones'" and most will be drowning in a sea of debt to do it. My Dad has been transferring old photos to a memory stick for the last few years, from the mobile to laptop to memory stick to TV, yesterday he found the screen mirroring function, on a phone he's had for 2 years.

 

[GLJoe]

One has to wonder if the E-bike industry is price fixing. I have not looked into the cost of production but compared to other products.
For example...

Well, first off, don't just compare the ebike industry, you have to look at the bike industry as a whole, because you can do the same type of comparison with a high end non electric mountain bike and you'll end up with almost exactly the same result, minus the cost of the battery and motor.

Secondly, it might indeed be worth you looking into the cost of production and remember the old adage: Lightness, durability, cost. Pick any two.

And thirdly, factor in the mass production implication of the scooter.

Not that I'm particularly happy with the situation either, but it is what it is.

 

[Andy-Mat]

Products are priced to what is acceptable in the market place that doesn't deter purchase. You get perfume that costs pence to make costing tens of pound because people will pay it or football season tickets that cost £100s of pounds with the players getting paid 10s of thousands per week again because they are exploiting customer loyalty. Even if I was a billionaire I wouldn't pay the amount that many ebikes cost simply because I don't need an ebike like that. I don't need sophisticated suspension or a very high torque motor etc. I only go lightly off-road which a gravel bike could do or a rigid mountain bike. Also I like to use my bikes as general use bikes, locked outside shops etc. High end bikes are thief magnets and you have to be so careful it limits how you can use them.

I don't need the McLaren of ebikes I'm happy with the Toyota Corolla of ebikes.

I think many people have a high disposable income and so can afford a more expensive ebike but expensive doesn't always mean better in real world use.

I quite fancy a Honda Navi motorbike/moped which isn't sold in the UK but maybe in the future, its only 100cc and would cost about £1500. It looks a lot of fun. £1500 seems amazing value when you compare it to the cost of a high end ebike but then the Navi would be made in huge numbers.

I went for a long walk last autumn for fitness and while I was on the walk a Bosch equipped ebike was on the same paths as me just pootling around and enjoying the bike. I think it was a Whyte model. The person was wearing camouflage type army surplus clothes. He seemed happy enough but there was nothing on that course that needed all the suspension that bike was equipped with. Yes I realise at other times he might do far more technical courses using it. As he rode past he was looking pretty smug and wanted to be seen on the bike for sure. It seemed more of a status symbol to him than anything. He'd bought an expensive ebike and wanted to be seen on it. To me that ebike was designed for complicated technical courses and was complete overkill for normal riding. All the expense and maintenance for a course that a cheap £100 Apollo bike could do. I pretty much knew where he was at all times despite not seeing him (forest type walk) because of the whine of the motor. It could only have been about 8 minutes from entering the area and then leaving again he probably spent a lot more time on the road with that bike.

I'm writing that as a casual cyclist who have absolutely no reason to go for any high end bike be it road bike, mountain bike or ebike though but my point if that rider is only going to use that ebike for the same casual riding why waste money? He probably lost over £1000 just collecting it from the shop due to depreciation.

Great Post.
I have similar feelings, but too lazy to do the research....But I bet you are close to the truth...
regards
Andz

 

[lightning]

l have to say l did think the same as the O/P because my Kona Ebike cost more than my KTM Duke 390.

And you get a lot more hardware for your money with the KTM.
Some Ebikes cost over £12,000....as much as a car.

l guess in a way it's like watches. l've got a lovely watch which cost £300 but l've got friends with watches that do the same job but cost fifty times as much. lt's about the workmanship and quality of parts. My Kona Ebike retailed at £5,600
l've hammered it for 3,000 miles and nothings fallen off, broken, or worn out except the chain and brake pads.

lt's been out several times a week through the winter, been washed with a hose at least fifty times and nothing's gone rusty or failed.

Before that l had a bike that cost £1400, it was a good bike but needed a lot more attention to keep it going, the fork failed and had to be rebuilt, the headset wore out, suspension bearings needed changing, wheel
bearings became rough, etc
Some of the fasteners lost their finish and the brake levers rattled after a while.
The cheaper bike weighed a ton and the battery didn't have as much capacity.

l guess you pay more, and get better quality. Whether it's overpriced l don't know, my dad was aghast that l had spent £1400 on a bike, he's gone now but l don't know what he'd say about the Kona at £5600

He rode a racing bike that cost £120 from a bargain bike warehouse, said it was fine, and it was for the money. But l had a Decathlon road bike at £500 and it was in a different league.

 

[PC2017]

lt's about the workmanship and quality of parts

That's a good point, I purchase a PC case in the sales and the quality is beyond reproach and at the same or similar price point I have seen functional but substandard. On bike I have seen the same, I recently purchased a Shimano V-brake and installed it with ease, other brands have not installed as well. However at what price point is gouging? and how does an average Joe know quality before purchase, I suppose we could do extensive research, use brand names and better judgement but until I actually purchased that PC case I had no idea what quality was.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

l have to say l did think the same as the O/P because my Kona Ebike cost more than my KTM Duke 390.

And you get a lot more hardware for your money with the KTM.
Some Ebikes cost over £12,000....as much as a car.

l guess in a way it's like watches. l've got a lovely watch which cost £300 but l've got friends with watches that do the same job but cost fifty times as much. lt's about the workmanship and quality of parts. My Kona Ebike retailed at £5,600
l've hammered it for 3,000 miles and nothings fallen off, broken, or worn out except the chain and brake pads.

lt's been out several times a week through the winter, been washed with a hose at least fifty times and nothing's gone rusty or failed.

Before that l had a bike that cost £1400, it was a good bike but needed a lot more attention to keep it going, the fork failed and had to be rebuilt, the headset wore out, suspension bearings needed changing, wheel
bearings became rough, etc
Some of the fasteners lost their finish and the brake levers rattled after a while.
The cheaper bike weighed a ton and the battery didn't have as much capacity.

l guess you pay more, and get better quality. Whether it's overpriced l don't know, my dad was aghast that l had spent £1400 on a bike, he's gone now but l don't know what he'd say about the Kona at £5600

He rode a racing bike that cost £120 from a bargain bike warehouse, said it was fine, and it was for the money. But l had a Decathlon road bike at £500 and it was in a different league.

I remember years ago I bought a Kona Lanai off ebay. Despite being brand new the seller obviously hated it so much he put it on the site without a reserve and it sold for £120 to me. There was about £20 postage on top but I got a brand new £300 bike for less than half price but when I got it, it was soon understandable why the bike was sold so cheaply and that was it was so awful. Despite the Kona branding it had a freewheel drivetrain, a Chain Laur bottom bracket which actually had a manufacturer's recall on as they just broke apart. Probably Kona's worse ever bike but the same £300 would buy you a fantastic mountain bike in Halfords under the Carrera brand with some very decent components.

It sucked big time in fact I was often amused how awful it was some months later, in fact I rode it a bit and I found it quite amusing how awful it was to ride with the constant clicking and the front suspension bottoming out if I encountered a grain of dust on the road. Don't get me wrong though I have a Kona Hoss bike I love but this Lanai was just abysmal. When I first got the bike I thought I'd been sent a bike that had all the good bits replaced with junk parts so I got the full specification and went through the bike to see what had changed and found absolutely nothing had been changed, the crappy freewheel, the single wall rims, the abysmal chinese brand tyres (cheng shin) were all standard for this bike.

I don't think you can see it as the site hasn't had it's security updated but this is the bike. Kona is quite an expensive make in my experience. The Lanai had components that you would probably find on £150 bikes of the time. So if you say £5,600 I'd probably expect a bike around £3-3.5k to match it. Some brands are simply more expensive for what you are getting and represent poor value in my opinion.

https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?item=10013

 

[lightning]

l've had a few Kona over the years. l
had a 1993 Cinder Cone which cost £700 for a rigid bike with V brakes.
after that l had one of their early FS bikes.

The one l have now seems okay.

I actually paid £4500 because it was last years model.
At the full retail price of £5600 l would have been better off with something like a Cube.

The other issue was, l bought it during COVID in 2021 and it was very difficult to buy ebikes, as nobody had any stock, so l had to buy whatever l could get.

 

[soundwave]

Haibike xDuro AMT PRO 27.5 Gen 2 2014 – e-bikeshop.co.uk

The 2014 Haibike xDuro AMT Pro 27.5 is your ultimate all mountain electric bike! From the largest UK Haibike eBike Dealer.

www.e-bikeshop.co.uk

its not the bike frame brand you want to look at it is how serviceable are the motors and batts so the most fixable motor out of warranty is Yamaha then bosch, shimano motors and batts are unfixable as will software lock even if you dare open the motor brose motors leak like a holy bucket in the rain and are a pita to repair even if you have the right tools.

so not bad for a 8 year old bike i bought 2nd hand of ebay for 3500 with 160 miles on it and no warranty or support yet it is still going as new

 

[lightning]

The non-serviceability of Ebike motors is a major issue, although there are some companies who claim to be able to repair them.

l fear that if my Shimano E8000 fails l will end up paying the best part of £1,000 for a replacement

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Haibike xDuro AMT PRO 27.5 Gen 2 2014 – e-bikeshop.co.uk

The 2014 Haibike xDuro AMT Pro 27.5 is your ultimate all mountain electric bike! From the largest UK Haibike eBike Dealer.

www.e-bikeshop.co.uk

View attachment 46234

View attachment 46235

its not the bike frame brand you want to look at it is how serviceable are the motors and batts so the most fixable motor out of warranty is Yamaha then bosch, shimano motors and batts are unfixable as will software lock even if you dare open the motor brose motors leak like a holy bucket in the rain and are a pita to repair even if you have the right tools.

so not bad for a 8 year old bike i bought 2nd hand of ebay for 3500 with 160 miles on it and no warranty or support yet it is still going as new

Why is their a motor resting on a box in the foreground? Are you servicing one off the bike and then swopping them regularly? It's a cool looking bike for sure but I don't ride anywhere where I would need dual suspension myself or high peak torque motor output.

Have you spent any additional money on that bike since owning it beyond normal tyres and brakes etc?

 

[richtea99]

> Are E-bikes overpriced?

If it's a depreciable item and you have to take out a bank loan / PCP to buy a new one, then it's 'overpriced' (for you).
That applies to anything, regardless of how deep your pockets are.

The examples given are top quality toy and utility tool respectively, so not really comparable, but it's worth noting the Piaggio will have higher ongoing costs (some of which will go to Piaggio), and potentially a shorter life.

 

[soundwave]

Why is their a motor resting on a box in the foreground? Are you servicing one off the bike and then swopping them regularly? It's a cool looking bike for sure but I don't ride anywhere where I would need dual suspension myself or high peak torque motor output.

Have you spent any additional money on that bike since owning it beyond normal tyres and brakes etc?

i have a new cx motor the old performance one is on the box.

holy **

i thought the valve had split but there is a fkn chunk of me wheel missing. is it worth trying rim tape or has this wheel had it :( only 2 year warranty with these so long gone.

www.pedelecs.co.uk

 

[lightning]

With Ebikes the cheapest model with the motor and suspension that you want (front and rear, front only or none) is generally the best value.

 

[AndyBike]

Overpriced ?
- without a doubt.
Under £2K = BSO with a motor
£3k, is a medium range bike, low to middling components.
£4.5K- £6K a good well capable offroad bike.
Above that its top of the range bits.

 

[Andy-Mat]

With Ebikes the cheapest model with the motor and suspension that you want (front and rear, front only or none) is generally the best value.

A truly, brutally honest post.
I agree fully.
My prestty standard Chinese, rear hub, front and rear suspension, disk brakes, is still doing good service after almost 5 years, with two batteries and cost, including transport and import duties, under 1,000 UK Pounds.
Still original (untouched) motor and chain system, only cleaned occasionally and lubricated.
A plastic part on the front, disk caliper collapsed with the Sunlight after a year. I replaced it with a reasonable ebay unit, while I repaired the original. After 10 days or so it was back on the bike, and still doing good service today. Because I have paniers, the rear brake plastic part (the adjuster only) is shielded from the sunlight and still OK.
But a truly bad design of plastic type....
I use up disk pads quite quickly, but they are very reasonably priced on ebay, bike stops faster than any other bike I ever owned, I have to really "hold on!".
I get through a set of tyres slower than I used to, around 1 set for around 2 years. I buy ones sold as thornproof (tubes too), and add the old tread between tyre and tube. No punctures up to now.
My only other problems were due to poor quality control at the factory and long delievery times, wrong top bearing in the steering, which took a year to get hold of and a battery that would not take a charge, as due to the long delivery, it had gone below the BMS limit for allowing charging. The loan of a "0 Volt Charger" from the supplier, fixed that in around 10 minutes!!
Battery still great
Bike drives well and till now no accidents. On and off road usage in a hilly forest and local towns.
No signs of wear yet anywhere, other than the brake pads....
regards
Andy

 

[Ocsid]

With Ebikes the cheapest model with the motor and suspension that you want (front and rear, front only or none) is generally the best value.

Arguable in that it depends on one's definition of "value", but clearly the cheapest is the "cheapest".

I and I suspect some others put a value on finesse including things as nebulous as pleasure to use, pleasure to own and quality.

In respect to cycling, where in our case we cycle only for the pleasure we get from the activity not a means to somehow get from "A" to "B", I see a lot of difference in using a bike with a "dead" feeling frame and misjudged geometry, to a beautifully balanced nicely reactive bike. Even basic components like tyres bring quite differing characteristics.

So, for me using a bike that I don't enjoy using has a quite different "value" to using one I love to use, my definition of "value" is not uniquely focused on just price to buy, nor even price to own, its way more complex.

 

[StuartsProjects]

One has to wonder if the E-bike industry is price fixing. I have not looked into the cost of production but compared to other products.

Fixing ?

Sellers setting the highest price that makes them the most profit, dont see anything unusual in that.

The E-bike industry has probably realised that there are customers that will buy a good looking bike for the apparent status value it brings to them, even when they may consider that bike 'overpriced'.

Its a choice, if a bike is considered 'overpriced' then dont buy it, it really is that simple.