How to Choose an eBike

foreign what's going on everybody how do you choose an e-bike what's your recommendation citizen which one should I buy this one or that one I don't know man I don't know anything about you or what you're going to use it for so it's pretty hard for me to make a recommendation but I get that email constantly tons of emails tons of comments asking me which bike they should buy and it's always like they give me just this like tiny little bit of information like I'm gonna write it on trails or I'm six to 280 which bike do I buy I don't know there's so much more that goes into it than that so rather in this video instead of just giving you bike recommendations I'm gonna tell you I think some of the main things you need to consider if you're e-bike shopping right and also too before I forget check my reviews and comparisons playlist you might find a video on the actual bike you're looking at buying so check that out but that's a very common question I get you know should I get this bike or that bike and there's a lot a lot of questions that I would have before I would even try to make an answer so today I'm going to cover main things I think you should consider Azure e-bike shopping and you'll see what I'm talking about as we go through them so let's get started all right let's start our ride on this hemiway zebra bike and I made a couple alterations to this bike I put on a suspension seat post take a little sting out of the bumps I put on a stem Riser just to give a little bit more upright ride position and the first video I did on this bike I I changed out the tires I put on these gigantic originate tsunami 4.9 inch tires they are absolutely massive this thing looks like a bulldozer going down the road it's a really really cool look I'm digging it I couldn't even run the fenders because the tires were so big on this bike but this is an example of a Fat Tire Bike that is very eye-catching all right I love the looks of this thing it looks really sharp and these 26 by 4 fat tires man they they get a lot of attention going down the street if you want attention you want to be riding this just absolute bulldozer of a bike one of these bikes is uh certainly one to consider I'll link it below so you can check it out but that's my first thing I'm going to tell you if you're buying any bike you got to think about what you're going to use it for right if you're going to be off-roading it you're going to use it for hunting you're going to ride it Trails through the woods yeah maybe you get a fat tire like bike like this if you need the fat tires to go over roots and sticks and sand and mud and snow Fat Tire is going to be the bike for that if you're going to be carrying a bunch of cargo obviously you're gonna look at a cargo bike if you're going to be doing group rides with your friends maybe like the moped style bikes like the aerial Rider where you just kind of zip around and it's got like a miniature motorcycle or you know maybe you are just gonna do this you're just gonna ride on the bike paths and trails and Greenways and for that maybe you get more of a commuter style bike maybe something like this now I'm on a you free City Robin this is kind of bike I'd get for paved bike paths like this or if I was just going to be using it riding around my city I'd go for maybe something like this the skinny tire bikes gonna have a lot less rolling resistance than the Fat Tire Bike and also this is good if you just want the feeling of you're riding a regular bicycle that's what I get when I ride this just feels like a regular bike doesn't feel like that Juggernaut of an e-bike and another thing that this brings out another thing to consider is weight weight is the number one complaint that I hear about e-bikes they just weigh too much and this thing weighs about 20 pounds less than that zebra bike I was just on and that's a big factor you know can you handle the weight of an e-bike really take that to heart to consideration do you live in a one bedroom apartment and you got to take it up and down a flight of stairs or you're going to be loading it on a bike rack the weight is going to come into play so really think about that all right the next thing I'll ask you is you have a place to store the bike right you don't want to get a giant 26x4 Fat Tire Bike if you don't have a spot to put it I bought a used rad Rover off a woman once that lived in a one bedroom apartment and the Red Rover was just like sitting in the hallway in our apartment and it was huge you could barely walk around the thing so think about if you got a place to store the bike I mean you can't really leave it outside in the weather can't leave it in the rain plus it's got a lithium battery pack so you don't want that to get in the extreme hot or the extreme cold probably going to ruin the battery so think about where you're going to keep it think about the terrain you're going to be riding on if you're not going to be off-road in like mud and sand and dirt and soft ground where you need fat tires then they don't really serve you any benefit other than that I mean there's more rolling resistance they're heavier and they're louder so think about you know what kind of ground you're going to be riding on and also too is there a lot of Hills where you live you want to get a bike that's got enough power to tackle the hills if you live at the beach it's totally flat you'd be fine with like maybe a 500 watt motor maybe even 350. if you live in the mountains of West Virginia then that's not going to work you're going to have to either get a mid drive or maybe 750 or a thousand watt motor to tackle the hills easily so think about how hilly it is where you live it's a big factor all right the next thing I'll tell you to consider would be your stature and your Mobility so I mean you hear me just keep talking about the 26 by 4 fat tire bikes right because that's the craze that's what everybody's buying right now and those don't work for everybody those bikes are absolutely huge I say it over and over again on this channel that they're enormous that is not your typical you know 26 inch mountain bike from Walmart you stick it next to one of those The Fat Tire Bike just dwarfs it they're enormous they weigh like 70 80 90 pounds and they're huge and it would be my recommendation to you that if you are not at least five seven I don't know that I would get one of those bikes I would probably maybe get something like this now we're on a magic cycle ocelot Pro bike a 20 inch wheel bike this is the size of bike I'd buy if I was five foot five five foot four maybe less it's going to be a lot easier to get off and on and I know people think okay 20 inch wheel bike that's a kid's bike this is not a kid's bike at all it's pretty large I mean I'm six feet tall I can ride this bike very comfortably and it's got a low step through it's easy to get off and on and it's definitely not a small bike this bike weighs 78 pounds so I'll pull over here so you can take a quick peek at this bike so if you're a smaller stature you're going to want to get something like this it's not as small as it probably looks on camera I've been kind of playing with this bike a little bit trying to dress it up and make it as comfortable as that side rusher Komodo bike I've got which I love the comfort of that bike so I've added I changed out the headlight on this I put a stem Riser on there I put on the bar in mirror so I can see behind me we got a suspension seat post on there along with the spring-loaded giant cushy seat I added some spoke skins to give it a little bit of flashy look I think it's a pretty sick looking bike I think this is going to be a popular one but this you know is an example of a Blake for a shorter person right you got to buy a bike that fits you I don't know how many times oh my gosh that people have said I can't I bought this rad Rover and I can't even ride the thing now another thing about this bike is the step through design that's important if you've got mobility issues because I think a lot of these 60 70 year old guys right they they're like I'm gonna get a Hemingway and they go out and they buy a heavyweight Cruiser or whatever Fat Tire Bike like that and then they throw a bag on the rear rack and also the back end of the bike is like 37 inches tall like I can't swing my leg over that the thing I got bad knees you got to take that into consideration did you have some knee Replacements or hip replacements or how how mobile are you can you get your leg up over the bike you're going to buy all right one of the last things I'm going to bring up is what is your comfort level with maintenance and repairs this is a bicycle you might have to change a flat tire or clean the chain adjust the derailleur or do basic bike stuff right but it is also an e-bike so there are a bunch of electrical components on this bike and if those break the company might be able to get you replacement parts under warranty but you are going to have to install those yourself if the battery goes bad the controller goes bad the screen the motor whatever they might give you the parts but those companies you know they're they're not going to do the work for you you're gonna have to you have to do that yourself you can't take one of these bikes to a local bike shop and expect them to fix it that's a big thing to consider they don't like touch attach these bikes if it's a bicycle thing you know you need your brakes adjusted or something like that they might do it for you but if you burn out the motor on your e-bike and whatever Brandy bike it is and they send you a replacement motor you're going to have to put that in there yourself can you do that now if you're saying oh my gosh I can't I don't I don't want to do that then you need to really strongly consider maybe buying an electric bike from your bike shop that you know a brand that they carry go to your Trek bike shop and they carry the trick e-bikes in there right they're going to service and repair those you can't take your hemiway or magic cycle your rad Rover whatever the heck it is that you bought you can't take that to your local bike shop and say hey I burnt the motor out can you put a new one in they're gonna say nope we don't do that for the most part most of them are going to say that so what is your comfort level with uh doing repairs should the you know the worst case scenario happen and something breaks all right now that you've considered all these things and maybe you've got to narrowed down to like two or three bikes right they're all in that same category you just can't decide which brand to buy which brand should you buy well I've been on a lot of bikes I've lost track at this point probably more than 40 and the harsh reality of it is they're they're largely the same they're I mean they all use the same basic frame designs the same basic components see how they are similar power for the most part they're not crazy different they're all going to have the same kind of level of customer service for you so I don't know that it really makes a huge huge difference which brand you buy um I don't rep any brand I mean a lot of different companies send me bikes I'll do reviews and comparisons and videos and stuff but you know I'm not they don't sponsor me they don't pay me they don't commission me nothing like that so I don't care what brand you buy buy I always tell people just buy the one that speaks to you if you're looking at two bikes they have identical components on them just which one do you think looks better which one are you feeling more that's that's the one I would go for okay now let me leave you with some parting words of wisdom so here's my words of wisdom for you don't agonize over the little stuff don't worry about the seat or the headlights or you know whatever the small little things that can be changed easily focus on the big things here's the big things the power make sure you get a bike that's got adequate power for what you're going to use it for you live in a really hilly spot you want to get a bike that's got some decent power okay that's pretty hard to change after the fact the next thing is a big one the battery make sure you get a bike that has adequate battery capacity for what you're going to use it for if you're going to be doing like 50 60 mile rides in a day you got to get a big battery pack get it get a big battery pack from the start it's really hard to add additional battery capacity after the fact you might be able to find an aftermarket battery that clicks into your battery cradle but I mean if it's you want to upgrade to like 20 amp hours or larger I mean you can pay like 800 for that thing do you want to go out and spend another 800 to get a battery that works for you and if you don't find one that just clicks into your regular battery cradle there and you gotta just buy a battery pack and wire it in I mean you're gonna be soldering on new battery connections and all that and finding a spot and a way to mount it on your rear Rack or something so really think about that find the bike that's got the big battery pack and right from the get-go if you're going to need battery capacity and let's see I guess the last thing would be pick the right frame style and the right style of bike you know cargo commuter Fat Bike whatever it is pick the right style from the get-go you can't change the frame and the style of the bike after the fact so make sure you get that and think about that weight and size right I highly recommend or you go buy the 26x4 fat terabyte go see one in person so you understand how big that bike is and you might say okay I don't know anybody that has one I don't know how I see those you can only look them online here's what you do go to Cabela's or uh do they still have Gander mountains I don't know or Bass Pro Shop a lot of times they have fat bikes in the back section by like the boats and the side by sides and all that I saw I was in Cabela's the other day and I saw they had a couple like I think they're quiet cat bikes in there 26 by four fat tire bikes so go to Cabela's they might have a Fat Tire Bike there you can actually get on and sit on and look at and get a you know a comprehension of how large it is and if you can ride it or not so there you go tip of the day I hope that you found this boy this thing's jumpy it's got a lot of power I hope you found this video helpful that's kind of my goal give me some help since I've had the Good Fortune of being able to get out on all these different style of e-bikes if you like content like this uh consider hitting that subscribe button hanging out checking out some more content appreciate all of you for watching that's all for today thanks

Channel: CitizenCycle

Views: 7,127

Keywords: Himiway zebra, Euphree City Robin X, Magicycle Ocelot Pro, Hiwiway bike, Euphree bike, Magicycle bike, fat tire ebike, electric bicycle, electric bike, ebike, how to choose an ebike, how to pick an ebike, best ebike, choosing an ebike

Id: xgnX4rtLHy8

Length: 13min 47sec (827 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 16 2022