My wife and I rode a couple of Rad Rovers last year in Florida. These are, I believe, Class 3 bikes that don't require pedaling. We weren't impressed. Then we rode a couple of Townie 5I step through Class 1 bikes. We were impressed. You had various levels of assists but still had to pedal.

We bought 2 Trek Verve+3 step through bikes and love them. They are perfect for a couple of 70+ year old people. Our first real ride was the Hiawatha Trail in NW Montana. Look it up.

After much searching and pricing, I just bought a RadPower RadMission high step. With rack and kickstand came to about $1300. I will treat this as an entry to E-biking. I will try it out for a season and see how I like it. I did not want to put 3K+ into a bike right away.

Congrats YooperSigs! I see tons of those at my local park. That’s a great price for a complete turn key ebike and a great way to try it out. Have you had a chance to ride it much yet? If so what are your thoughts on the bike?

I just ordered it. Now to sweat out the shipping and hope it arrives intact. The comprehensive assembly instructions on their site and the bikes size were a big factor in choosing it. I am 6/4 and 245 so some EBikes were small for me. As a kid, I biked everywhere, and a bike brings back memories of that time. But where I live its uphill in every damn direction. Which makes a short ride into an ordeal. The electric assist should be a game changer!

I stopped by my local bike shop a few weeks ago and was blown away by what I saw…. They had a specialized S works electric mountain bike. Full carbon frame, top of the line. They were asking $15,100!

quote:

Originally posted by batex:
I stopped by my local bike shop a few weeks ago and was blown away by what I saw…. They had a specialized S works electric mountain bike. Full carbon frame, top of the line. They were asking $15,100!

Yeah. Some of the top tier ebikes are more expensive than a decent motorcycle. I will say they are probably worth every penny when it comes to the performance and fun they provide. There are lots of decent to mid level ebikes with full suspensions in the $4500 range that are also quite capable so they are not all crazy expensive. Scott and Niner make a very tempting full suspension ebike for less than $5k. The top tier of any MTN bike (not even electric) will be close to or well north of $10k. It doesn’t mean you have to spend that much to have a blast.

I live about 3 miles away from the entry point to trails at a sprawling mountain bike park. By the time I pedal my normal bike there I’m starting to get tired 1/2 way through my trail ride. It’s actually faster to get to the park by bicycle than car because I can enter at a point where cars are not allowed. Having an offroad capable ebike makes the ride there much less tiring. It’s also very fun to ride back home almost entirely on electric power and cool off as I cruise at 25-35 mph with ease.



Funny story. Thinking I still had close to two months before my suspension replacement parts came in from Europe I decided to tear apart my Giant Anthem X29 and upgrade the suspension on my home made ebike. As soon as I got the bike together and finished a delightful test ride I checked my email and saw a DHL shipment was headed my way. Of course the part I have been waiting for close to two months and still expected to take another month to ship out was now headed my way.

Before


How it looks now


The steerer tube is a little short on my Marin but it works. The 100mm of travel this Fox fork provides makes trail rides much more fun. I’ll keep it set up like this until I can get my Giant Anthem suspension fixed. Then I might convert it over to electric like this one.

Update.

My ebike dash has a trip meter which tracks miles ridden and hours of operation along with an odometer that tracks total miles ridden and total hours of use.

I just broke 24 hours of use and 380 trouble free miles. At least 3/4 of the time the bike has been ridden it has been at full throttle. I think I made a good decision to buy a direct drive brushless/gearless hub motor.

There is a weight penalty with selecting a powerful hub drive over a high performance mid drive motor. Luna cycle sells a VERY fast and capable carbon framed ebike but even with the lighter motor it still comes in around 50 lbs compared to my bikes 75 lb weight. Luna’s bike also costs $4200 for the base model and an additional $350-400 for the upgraded high performance model that still isn’t as fast as my bike. I would like a full suspension but the main benefit of a hub drive is that 2000w of power is not being run through my bikes drive train. Unlike a mid drive, which will definitely add wear and tear to your chain, sprocket and cassette my hub motor is separate and works without any added strain on my drive train.

I’ve been riding it on beginner and intermediate mountain bike trails that are full of rocks and roots and although it has shaken the hell out of my home built ebike NOTHING has broken. I did add some Fox racing 100mm forks which smooths out the ride quite a bit but it’s still not close to being an ideal trail riding bike.

I have begun my second electric bike conversion! I sourced a 2021 Marin Pine Mountain 1 from the fleabay for a damn good price along with a few extras. I will be ordering the same hub drive motor but getting a MUCH more powerful triangular shaped battery for this build. The battery shouldn’t have any trouble fitting inside this large frame.

I was surprised to see the newest “large” Pine Mountain from Marin has a longer top tube compared to my 2016 large frame Marin that I used for my first build.

This is going to be a SWEEEEEET electric bike.

Another update.

650 trouble free miles and climbing!

The Giant Anthem I sourced the Fox fork from is slowly coming back together so I had to find a new suspension fork. The next ebike project is still in the parts acquisition and research stage as I decide on 29 or 27.5 inch tires along with a few other changes from my first build.

The new 120mm travel Rock Shox Recon RL forks (sourced off my blue Marin Pine Mountain) on the bike currently are noticeably heavier than the old 100mm Fox Racing forks but they are also thicker and much more robust.

I also managed to find an affordable fix for my cracked LCD dash mount. An inexpensive cellphone holder works brilliantly.



I loved the mullet set up it had with a 29 up front and 27.5 in the back but I gotta admit the 2.8inch wide plus size tire on a spare 27.5 front wheel I had feels excellent. It’s slower on the street and heavier but I love the way the bike performs on trails and gravel.



This set up is also the best it’s ever looked IMO.

appreciate the tekkie tips and user specs you list.

I've randomly gawked at a few ebikes now & then.
Saw a wide-tire line at Sp*rtsm*nW*reHs, bearing the "Jeep" stencil on front forks. Couple models, mostly above $7k. I've actually spent less on full sized road/trail worthy "Jeep" gas powered.

My #2 son last summer rode his 3-wheeler from Pacific Ocean to Pennsylvania. It was such a grand experience for him he's going to ride Maine back to Oregon with a buddy on roughly the "northern tier" route.

Got any tips for 3 wheeler build?