ebike for scouting at camping locations

[Zoe]

We are going to get an ebike or possibly two of these (if we can find a stand to carry to location). What are some good ebike brands to look at please?

 

[smritte]

Here's a bit about what I learned in the last two years and my experience with e-bikes.

I have two. Aventure 2 and Specialized Levo Alloy



Aventon Aventure2.
Class 3 which means you can pedal or throttle. Top speed on street pedal is 29mph and throttle is 20 mph. I can get about 65 miles if I have the pedal assist on low on the street. In the dirt using low to high power, pedaling and some throttle, about 35 miles. Very good customer service. If you want a second battery its about $300 if you catch a sale. Fat tires smooth out the road considerably. Very easy to ride. price is very good for what you get. Most "like" bikes are twice the cost.

Bad stuff. Not a mountain bike, more of a dirt/gravel/street. 75# overall weight.
Over all I love this bike but I ride too hard for it so I'm going to be selling it. I don't need two.

Specialized. Class 1. No throttle assist. Full suspended mountain bike. ~40 pounds, 4X the cost. Very good for broken terrain and moderately hard riding. Off road I get between 20-30 miles depending on how high i set the assist. Street wise on low assist I get about 50 miles. If I had a spare battery, I would need to disassemble the bike to replace it. An extra battery is $1400.

I would keep the Aventure if I didn't tend to ride aggressively. For a full framed cruiser/mild dirt, that thing rocks. Reading through electric bike forums, it appears the Aventure customer support is better than most. I do know, most of my local bike shops sell them.

Aventon also make's small folding bikes.

Motor size.
How much over all weight is your bike going to carry. I'm 210 pounds, my Aventon is 75 pounds. I carry water and some bike tools. Overall I'm close to 300 pounds. A 750 watt motor is fine for me. A 1000 watt motor would not really be an advantage. If your close to my weight, you may want to be in the 500- 750 watt range. My sister has a 350 watt bike similar to mine. On the street it moves me just fine.I also know others with 500 watt street bikes and they work very well.

Class1-2-3.
Class1. No assist (pedal only). Top speed 24 mph.
Class2. Assist (throttle/pedal). Top speed 24mph
Class3. Assist (throttle/pedal). Top speed 29mph. My bike ships as a class 2. You unlock the class3 speed in the settings.
If it doesn't have pedals, its an E-motorcycle. Regulations have a 29 mph speed cap on e-bikes. "If" you have an e-motorcycle, your suppose to follow motor cycle rules for street. If you "unlock" your e-bike and do over 30, you can fall under the motorcycle rules.


Shop carefully. See if any of the local bike shops carry and or work on what you want to buy. Price out the accessories (racks, lights...) most bikes I looked at required their add on's, The batteries will only fit their make/model. An example would be, if you bought one of the other Aventon bikes, my Aventure battery wont fit your bike.

So far, I can say Aventon and Giant for the bikes I have seen that work well and have good customer service.

 

[1LoudJT]

My brother has one of those Super 73 bikes and it's a blast. Super fast and he is always taking that thing off into trails.