Electric Bicycles.

>>1051756
Yes, no, yes.

If you want to save money and have the knowledge and skills then build one yourself.

>>1051770
If I had the knowledge to make one myself I wouldn't be asking basic questions on 4chan m8

>>1051780
Can you build a regular bike? If you have the skills for that you could probably manage an electric conversion.

Get a front wheel kit, torque sensor bottom bracket or at least a pedal sensor with a switch for multiple assistance level, slap it on a decent bike. Voilà.

>>1051756
They're totally a meme, overpriced, attractive only to a different breed of hipster, one who has money (used to be called 'yuppies'). The kits are all shitty Chinese trash and you're just as likely to ruin an otherwise good bike as not, and you'll probably create an unsafe bike to ride. Skip it and just pedal a normal bike.

>>1051819
OP Here. I'm not talking about motor kits. I'm talking about already built & finished E-Bikes manufactured in Germany or something. A lot of these companies are pretty high quality and from test rides and reviews I've heard a lot of praise on these things, though they are pretty expensive.

If I were to travel 40 miles a day on a bike daily (which I might have to soon) then an E-Bike seems like a good investment. I just wanted to hear your guys input on it.

>>1051824
Wrong place for that. People on this board are total cunts about anything bike related.

They're great until you need to service proprietary parts

If you can afford an e-bike you can afford a car

>>1051830
You say it like people don't drive cars only because they can't afford them.

>>1051830
You can land a good E-Bike for $2000. If you're buying a used car for $2000 chances are you'll have to pay even more for the repairs it will soon need anyway. Also, fuel, insurance and other costs generally make it much more expensive.

E-Bikes > Cars

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Made this for my dad. Front geared motor for light weight, 2 wheel drive so lots of traction keeps me moving even in snow much deeper than a 32mm should be able to handle. Torque sensor for that proportional pedal assist. IGH for the ultimate low maintenance commuter. Love this bike so much I think I use it more than my dad does.

>>1051837
that looks extra comfy

>>1051835
I would go to the middle ground and get a used motorcycle. But that's just me. Ebikes are sweet but too alien compared to my mechanical bike

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I just built myself an ebike meme machine from a 90's rigid mtb with slicks. I've been calling it project vaporwave.

It's so much fun to ride. Like a scooter but with all the fun of a manual transmission and no foam planet on head req'd.

Pic 1/3

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>>1055063
c o c k p i t

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I bought the bike itself for $100. Wouldn't recommend bionx but the unit was sitting unused on my dad's recumbent trike so it was free to me.

If doing a similar project, get the most serviceable motor/battery/controller you can find. Things break and it's a pain to have to buy a proprietary 18" piece of wire for $60.

>>1051756
when you see a 70yo pedalling uphill, with a headwind, and torrential rain, but with no effort, you know e-bikes are not a meme

get one

Today I saw some really weird e-bikes while out and about.
Looked like a folding bike with 20" wheels, but also had like 4.5" fat knobby tires, is this a new meme I don't know about?

>>1055610
Was it the Rad Mini?

https://www.radpowerbikes.com/pages/radmini

>>1055623
Yeah, this was probably it. I can't really decide how I feel about it, either.
It just combines things that I've never thought should be combined, but at the same time it looks like a bit of fun.

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tempted to import this for uni but im 6' so im afraid I might look ridiculous riding it considering its made for 4'9" chinks

>>1051824
>>/o/ >>/dbg/

Question about mid-drives.
Why is it electric cars have a single reduction gear and they run it through the whole power band, yet we feel the need to make mid-drives in ebikes so they can go through the various gears of the bike drivetrain ?

>>1057471
Because an electric car with a single ratio will typically have a much higher power to weight ratio. Let's be generous and say the bike has 1kW and weighs 200 pounds with a rider, that's 5W per pound. A Tesla Model S has 568kW and weighs about 5000 pounds, that's 114W per pound. With so much extra power available it can be geared much higher for a decent top speed whilst still being able to accelerate quickly. Also the motors will tend to spin much quicker than those used in bikes.

Regarding the Teslas I do believe some models actually use multiple motors with different ratios, one more suited to accelerating and one for high speed cruising.