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Need advice from actual ebike users (thelemmy.club)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/micromobility@lemmy.world
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TL;DR: help me, Micromobility, you're my only hope

Long story short, I am fed up with the state of public transit in my city and feeling envious of the e-riders whooshing past. However, while trying to pick an actual model, I've ran into being unable to find a model that fits my needs:

  • being able to drive 30+ km, with ~100 meter elevation difference between start and finish
  • being able to handle 100+ kg of load (I am, unfortunately, fat)
  • being able to handle rain and possibly light snow
  • being foldable or otherwise transportable, because I'll have to keep it in the apartment

The Ebike store I've been to suggested picrelated, Yokamura Apache, which seems to fit the requirements, but is expensive enough to give me pause. Are there better options? Am I dreaming the impossible? Please help!

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[–] 8 points 2 months ago* (4 children)

At a glance, your requirements seem pretty achievable but I want to ask:

What kind of terrain is your commute? Good roads? Bad roads? Nothing offroad? Most e-bikes can handle either but the type of tire you go with in the long run may be important.

Absent this info, I think the Ride1up Portola (this is usually my daily driver, unless I'm using a bicycle). If you pedal a lot, the stock battery will probably work, alternately you could get the extended range battery. The only major change I might suggest is swapping to smoother tires if you ride exclusively on roads in good repair (Super Moto X or Urban Contacts would both be good choices).

If you are feeling spendier, a mid drive bike will certainly be better at climbing, however, I've found the hub drive on my Portola to be adequate enough to climb even steeper hills at 15+mph as long as I pedal too (throttle probably works too, but I pretty much always pedal).

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Also, I made your post featured so you can get more responses. Good luck, there are lots of solid bikes out there, try to stick with known brands. Ideally, buy one from your local bike shop so you have a place to get warranty and maintenance work done.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I'll have to say "bad roads", because I don't intend to ride off-road, but the quality of paving here varies. Could be smooth and fresh asphalt, could be potholes and cracks. But no mud roads or anything, unless you count sleet in winter

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago*

    The Portola or something similar could work for you but visit your local bike shops to see what they have and will service to save yourself some potential frustration even if you are a good bike mechanic/electrical engineer in your own right. They might not always let you do test rides on ebikes but you can at least make sure the bike fits you. Having a bike that fits you is really important.

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