No you guys are not just getting the point.It's expensive, I knew you'd like it.
There are many on here will tell you chapter and verse on this motor, or that specific battery type and model. Which remote or controller thing. How to solder this in, how to and what to look for with this voltage or that ampage
and that's fine. Its an electric bike and those are the parts that makes it go.
So Im sure those members place a great deal of importance on those aspects.
But the attitude when it comes to the rest of the bike is wholly different. Then its 'Oh thats good enough. Spend a £1k on building a top motor and parts, then satisfy that a fork that retails at 50 quid is good enough- the reasoning being that it goes up and down. Or the brakes in that 'oh look, i got these brakes for £25 a set'. Those are hydraulic or cable so they must be ideal. Well they aren't.
And you should look at al aspects of the bike, not just one part and readily dismiss the rest.
If i was to adopt this attitude, as soon as a new member joined looking for advice on what Ebike to get, i should ignore hub motors and insist they buy mid drive. Following the prevailing attitude here thats good enough. It's a motor, it makes the bike go and theres nothing to do but plug and play.
So while you can chat away about this type of motor, who made the batteries and the intricacies of that, Im better placed through my own experience of building and servicing my own(and others) high end mtbs as to what is just just 'suitable' and i use that word loosely, but what will provide a better ride in more comfort or what makes the bike stop in all situations. Be that offroad or barrelling along the public highway.
Im more than sure that if our badger follower was riding a full sus, or at least 6" up front with the type of modern fork which is going to react to a sudden high impact and just soak it up, he wouldnt have been pitched off to his injury.
You hit anything at any sort of speed and the fork is going to go through its travel pretty quick, but in a controlled manner. A fork that barely moves at the best of times is going to react harshly and suddenly, giving the rider little chance to react.
All these parts have been born out of decades of testing in the real world and in all conditions.
No doubt many of you watch TDF when its on. And no doubt you'll have noticed that even in that high brow sport of professional riders where milliseconds mean the difference between win and lose have adopted disc brakes. Why would they do that ?, unless it was the safest option for the speeds on the road they are moving at, and while many of us cannot reach those sorts of speeds on the flats, add a hill in there and riding at 30mph becomes the norm. Do you think the brakes those riders are using are of the ilk of 'oh look, i got these brakes for £25 a set'. No they are the top end, not just for the weight issue, but also that they are the best safest part for the job.
So as far as im concerned, a bike is the sum of it's constituent parts, not just one aspect.