Help! What should be the budget for an e-bike?

[ChadStokes]

Greetings to all! I have decided to buy a new e-bike. This time I have been searching for a reliable one for a long-term service. There are so many aspects to take into consideration when thinking about purchasing an e-bike at a very reasonable price. It’s my first time experience and I am going to be a new owner. I just need something professional. Budget isn’t a big factor this time. But reliability and high-quality will be the first priority. Though lots of people suggested me to purchase this type e-bike from anywhere online.

It is true that many people tend to ignore these elements since they're focused on price instated of quality. But my thinking is totally different that’s why I need to ensure about the budget. I can easily buy from online but these aren’t good all the time according to my experience.

I already visited a few websites online. And of course, Act Bikes looks more professional and reliable than others. I want to focus for this one time. But your honest opinion will be highly appreciated. J

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Complexity is what is the most common factor to poor reliability and as you go up in a price there are many more complicated mid-drive motors with a lot of internal cogs and even a belt on many models and they have a far higher wear rate on the drivetrain as the power is provided through the drivetrain. A Toyota Corolla is a lot more reliable than typical premium German car brand.

Yes you can go too cheap but if you are looking for long term reliability, low running costs and low stress then you can also go too expensive too.

It's all about working out what is the best type of ebike for you and your application and then buying the best ebike to suit that with the least quality compromises.

 

[Andy-Mat]

Greetings to all! I have decided to buy a new e-bike. This time I have been searching for a reliable one for a long-term service. There are so many aspects to take into consideration when thinking about purchasing an e-bike at a very reasonable price. It’s my first time experience and I am going to be a new owner. I just need something professional. Budget isn’t a big factor this time. But reliability and high-quality will be the first priority. Though lots of people suggested me to purchase this type e-bike from anywhere online.

It is true that many people tend to ignore these elements since they're focused on price instated of quality. But my thinking is totally different that’s why I need to ensure about the budget. I can easily buy from online but these aren’t good all the time according to my experience.

I already visited a few websites online. And of course, Act Bikes looks more professional and reliable than others. I want to focus for this one time. But your honest opinion will be highly appreciated. J

My best tip is to go for simplicity, and that means a hub (preferably rear) motor, as some mid motors tend to a) be more expensive, and b) at the end of the day, less reliability, and suffer with guarantee problems, as some (sadly!) mid motor manufacturers want you NOT to repair things yourself, and put software/firmware on the bikes, that can "brick" either motors or batteries, if you start trying your own repairs.

There are many examples of people having very poor expriences with mid motors on Pedelec and other e-bike web sites.....Some Mid motor replacement motors cost more than a cheap new hub bike, as the repair MUST be done by a licenced LBS, and the actual motor you get sold may even be repaired but secondhand!!!

Do your own research. Trus no one else to give you reliable information, as it might not be.
Also, ask us again, if you get stuck for any reason.
regards and best wishes
Andy

 

[lightning]

l paid £1500 for my folding ebike, twice the price of the ones on Amazon/ebay

However the bike is quality, l've thrashed it off road, well out of its comfort zone, and l ride it at the maximum speed all the time.

Nothing has broken or fallen off, in fact it rides so well on the road that l more often than not take it out instead of my e-mountain bike which cost over £5,000

 

[Az.]

I just need something professional.

What do you mean by professional ebike?
Bike on pictures doesn't look professional at all.

 

[lightning]

l think it's just a language difference.

To the O/P try the Mirider 1. lts not the cheapest, but it's good.

 

[sjpt]

What do you mean by professional ebike?
Bike on pictures doesn't look professional at all.

Absolutely. The bikes mentioned in the original post looks like standard (possibly OK) bikes tailored for the US market, with (almost?) all illegal to ride as pedelecs in the UK.

 

[Az.]

Sdream Ur 500

Looks nice and affordable. Fork is a show off though.

And it has rear suspension

 

[sjpt]

Looks nice and affordable.
And it has rear suspension

The more features like that the more to go wrong, and the greater the compromise that must have been made in the rest of the bike. There may be miracle bargains, but I suspect this bike would fail in the OP's original wish: reliability and high-quality will be the first priority

And it's not a legal UK pedelec, though I admit OP didn't explicitly list legality as a requirement. And I shudder to think what it will be like to chase up any warranty claim.

 

[lightning]

The Mirider has rear suspension and it makes a big difference to ride comfort.

A bit of suspension, done well, is well worth having.
Done badly (like the fork on the £700 ebike l tried last week) it's worse than not having any.

The Mirider rear suspension is an elastomer and it's adjustable, it's simple and works well.

Some folding ebikes have a suspension seatpost and l don't know how well these work, but it could be another solution.

 

[AndyBike]

£6.5K
I know i know, but to get the best level of spec you really need to go the upper echelons of the bike world, and TBH its the same with everything.

 

[flecc]

And it's not a legal UK pedelec, though I admit OP didn't explicitly list legality as a requirement.

The main thing one wants is an honest and dependable company.

ACT bikes is clearly not one.

At the top and tail of their web page on their Sdream Ur 500 on this link, they are shown as ACT.com EU.

That e-bike is 500 watts rated and with assist to 20 mph, both illegal as a pedelec throughout the EU and most of the rest of the world outside of parts of the Americas.
.

 

[lightning]

£6.5K
I know i know, but to get the best level of spec you really need to go the upper echelons of the bike world, and TBH its the same with everything.

l am not sure l agree that you need to spend quite that much!!
My e-mountain bike cost £5,600 and my folding ebike was £1,500
There's nothing wrong with the £1,500 bike, l would question the need to spend any more on that kind of commuting/holiday bike unless you absolutely must have one that weighs under 15kg or are so well off financially that money is not a concern.

Mountain bikes are a different ball game and it's easy to spend £6,000 or more.

Again though, my friend had a Cube which cost £4,000 and there's nothing in the specification that you'd change unless you were using the bike for competition.

 

[Plas man]

Pop down to Halfords and book a try it ride , you have the bike for a day and have choice of their mapped rides , that way you can have several days to try them all , and get some advice on other makes .

 

[AndyBike]

Again though, my friend had a Cube which cost £4,000 and there's nothing in the specification that you'd change unless you were using the bike for competition.

Maybe not competition, but full suss anyway needs to be a certain level of spec, the suspension bit I mean. Whats ridiculous i find is we're paying under £5k and getting low end sus fork, suntour usually and a very low end rockshox or suntour shock. Wheels, brakes, even drivetrain are near bottom or the range.
But by going up another 1000 or 1500, its a fox 36 factory or 38, fox factory shock, DT swiss wheelset, full xt drivetrain, costing much more than the sum of those parts equated to that retail price of the bike. So by giving yourself a base price of £6000, you get considerably more bang for your buck, and what you get is a bike you could race on should you wish, or its more capable then you are, so is unlikely to malfunction of become damaged should you zig rather than zag.

An example is the fork. under the 5k its a suntour thing retails at 200 quid and has its own poor reputation, up that and without taking the other upgraded parts into consideration we get a 36 factory, which retails at £950, or a basic shock which retails at under £100, upgraded to a shock that costs £500+.
So all in all what you get for your 20% increase in initial price is worth far more.Already you've about covered the cost of the increase without taking into account the likes of a DT swiss wheelset, or XT drivetrain. XT brakes etc etc. all in all that extra £1k or £1500 equates to £3k of retail upgrades.

Plus of course we have the human condition to try to up our position in life. Some spend that via a car, home or garden. It's nice to ride about on a high end bike. Life should be more than just accepting the basics, because these days the basics are usually not worth the parts they're made of.

 

[lightning]

Pop down to Halfords and book a try it ride , you have the bike for a day and have choice of their mapped rides , that way you can have several days to try them all , and get some advice on other makes .

Good idea there.

Also if you buy from Halfords you've got somewhere to take it back if necessary (as long as you buy from the store in person, and not online)

 

[portals]

I've just about finished my ebike build, I used:

old Halfords Apollo donor bike shot blasted and resprayed matt dark grey: £0 for bike / £60 for shot/respray
1500W rear hub gearless brushless motor ebike kit with KT-LCD8H colour display: £300
52V 17.5Ah Samsung battery: £500
Two new tires/inner tubes/new front forks (I bent the original ones in a crash :-( )/new rear derailleur/new switcher/new brakes/new front wheel with black spokes to match rear hub: £300

I was looking at Aliexpress ebike kits as some ship from Germany and you don't need to pay the VAT on them (how this works I do not know...you buy from China but they fulfil from Europe...seems like Brexit loop hole or they're at it).

In the end I bought the kit and battery from a importer place in England, sure I paid more than I probably needed too however having some recourse and knowing I'm getting a GENUINE Samsung battery and not some crap made sense in the end.

I have to say I love this bike, it's a pleasure to ride and the torque going up steep hills is amazing, you do however need to pay attention to drop outs, already bust my knee and spun rear wheel out during test drives, got local bike guy to redo rear wheel assembly and torque arm and I tighten rear axle before every ride, currently I'm looking for a suitable torque arm for drive side for more peace of mind.

I also need to tidy up cabling and put mudguards on for autumn and a pannier.

Good luck!

 

[lightning]

1500w, wow that's a Superbike !! Mines 250w and l thought it was okay