Are ebikes worth the price tag?

[Gubbins]

Depends on if one gets depressed easily.
.

I assume a chain jam under power to be a bad thing

 

[Yamdude]

Ah i'm getting it now, i didn't realise these Bosch motors work like that.
So if its a 16T chain ring that effectively goes up 2.5 times...... That would equate to a 38T chain ring ?

 

[soundwave]

yes so up that to a 22t and its massive

 

[Yamdude]

A 38T equivalent chain ring still wouldn't be high enough gearing for me..... Admittedly i ride mainly on the road and its pretty flat where i live, so i like higher gearing anyway.

 

[soundwave]

going up 1t on the front is like taking 1 gear off the back when i had 19t on the front.

with 22t on the front it would be hard work going up any sort of hill at all.

you will also need a dongle with no limit at all then max speed could be as high as 50 mph.

problem is at that speed it will nuke the batt.

 

[Yamdude]

yes so up that to a 22t and its massive

So that would equate to 55T chain ring ?...... Nah thats getting a bit too high now.
The gearing on my road bike suits me ok, 52 on the front & 11-32 rear..... but i have no Ekit fitted on that.
Yet !

 

[Gubbins]

So that would equate to 55T chain ring ?...... Nah thats getting a bit too high now.
The gearing on my road bike suits me ok, 52 on the front & 11-32 rear..... but i have no Ekit fitted on that.
Yet !

Mine came with 52 on the front and I changed it to 48. Massive improvement....

 

[soundwave]

So that would equate to 55T chain ring ?...... Nah thats getting a bit too high now.

thats the thing the bike would only be good for short hi speed runs and drain the nuts out of the batt doing so.

so a bit pointless tbh.

 

[flecc]

So that would equate to 55T chain ring ?...... Nah thats getting a bit too high now.

And also bearing in mind that gearing the pedalling though an epicyclic instead of direct means a slight loss of rider efficiency, making too high a gear slightly worse.

It's not a big difference, but every little counts.
.

 

[Yamdude]

Obviously gearing is subjective and will equate to personal needs.....
I probably wouldn't need a CD motor anyway. I dont do serious off road with a MTB and as its fairly flat where i live, the torque of CD's isn't that needed.
Been interesting to hear about how the gearing works on them anyway, the small chain rings were a mystery to me.
Cheers all.

 

[soundwave]

thats a 19t on the front so see how big a 22t would be near the size of the white circle. and might even hit the case where the bosch is.

 

[Gubbins]

Brilliant photo Eddie, the bicycle as art.
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Photo appears to show a side stand.. I keep wondering about one but not sure it won't get in the way...????

 

[soundwave]

its a bit of wood as the stand sweeps back when up
http://www.ktm-bikes.at/typo3temp/fl_realurl_image/macina-egnition-11-p5-45s-48-matt-black-orange-cs.jpg

there should be a plastic cover left side of the frame near the rear to fit 1 on if its on ur bike.

 

[LeighPing]

Mine's never got in the way of anything, and I do tend to throw the bike about a fair bit.

 

[Tomtomato]

If you look at "normal" bikes I think eBikes look like better and better value the more you spend.

So the more I spend on a KTM bike, the better value for money I am getting?

Not really surprising coming from a dealer...

My own view is that returns are seriously decreasing after £1,500, and also many bikes above that price are seriously overpriced, particularly compared to their non-electrical equivalent, in term of equipment (frame, gears, wheels etc).

When I have looked at the price of Kalkhoff or Cube push bikes, and the price of the same bikes with electric motors, nothing could justify the massive difference in prices. The only justification is the very high margin/profit on the electric bikes. I know a Kalkhoff bike sold for £2,400 would make a 45% profit margin to the reseller.

Many people would be better off buying a quality push bike and do a conversion to an electric bike. As the weight is less of an issue on electric bikes or conversions (and that's a massive cost factor of a push bike), it's perfectly possible to get a well equipped bike for £500 or £600, and then add the electrical components.

This would also allow them to use standard aftermarket components (motors, batteries, computer), much easier to replace, swap, upgrade or maintain than proprietary equivalents from Kalkhoff or Bosch.

 

[Chainring]

When it isn't a toy but a full on car replacement and only means of transport one can easily justify the cost. A 5000€ pedelec which lasts 5 years will always end up cheaper per kilometer than a small car which will cost the same second hand (unless you buy a clunker which will cost more in repairs). I live in a place where a 25 km/h pedelec is actually faster than a car from point A to point B for most of the year round.

There was an article on a French web I read about the Zero S which is 16,000€. The battery is guaranteed 5 years or 160,000 km so your amortization cost is 10 € cents a kilometer.

The Juiced Bikes range is listed as a car-replacement:
https://electricbicyclecenter.com/products/juiced-bikes-odk-u500-v3 and it's less than 5000 euros. It still has to reach us in the UK though.

 

[anotherkiwi]

A Lada replacement. Now we can argue over "is a Lada a real car?"

I was thinking more along the lines of a good looking, comfortable bike with a trailer hitch. I do congratulate them on the 32 Ah battery. Mine will be LiPo so it will only cost the same price as 17 Ah Li-ion battery...

 

[EddiePJ]

Photo appears to show a side stand.. I keep wondering about one but not sure it won't get in the way...????

Not a chance. I can't even stand the sight of mudguards,saddle bags, handlebar gadgets etc as fitted to so many mtb's/ eMTB's, so certainly wouldn't fit a side stand.
The old Haibike trekking had one fitted and it was nothing but a massive nuisance. Rattling around on all but the smoothest of surfaces, and always getting caught on vegetation.

As SW has said, it was simply a piece of wood.

That isn't to say that I don't always use a stand of sorts though. Take this shot for example.

If I know that I'm heading to somewhere like the South Downs with it's wide open spaces, I simply take along a mini telescopic fishing rod stand. It weighs next to nothing, folds down to a few inches long, and sits next to the pump in my CamelBak. I did have to go through quit a selection of them though before finding exactly the right one, as obviously they aren't designed to hold the weight of an ebike. When or if this one gives up, I will just cut down and make my own from an old camera tripod.
In the shot above it does bug me that I didn't line the stand up with the rear mech or tyre though, as it would have been more out of sight.

 

[Gubbins]

Not a chance. I can't even stand the sight of mudguards and saddle bags etc as fitted to so many mtb's/ eMTB's, so certainly wouldn't fit a side stand.
The old Haibike trekking had one fitted and it was nothing but a massive nuisance. Rattling around on all but the smoothest of surfaces, and always getting caught on vegetation.

As SW has said, it was simply a piece of wood.

That isn't to say that I don't always use a stand of sorts though. Take this shot for example.
It does bug me that I didn't line it up with the rear mech or tyre though, as it would have been more out of sight.

If I know that I'm heading to somewhere like the South Downs with it's wide open spaces, I simply take along a mini telescopic fishing rod stand. It weighs next to nothing, folds down to a few inches long, and sits next to the pump in my CamelBak. I did have to go through quit a selection of them though before finding exactly the right one, as obviously they aren't designed to hold the weight of an ebike. When or if this one gives up, I will just cut down and make my own from an old camera tripod.

Thanks for the explanation Eddie ... I was surprised to see what I thought was stand (remembering previous posts) so had to ask...

 

[nemesis]

Who would be stupid enough to buy a Stealth Bomber at £11,000,that is one bike that is not value for money.Very few dealers will fix them if anything goes wrong and the gearbox they use is very complex and has to be sent to australia for servicing or repair,nightmare!