stewartcycles

Good evening. I’m looking for an electric bike that I can ride in virtually all but either blizzard, minus 30, or with 4+ inches of snow. I have several long steep hills & roughly 10 miles in each direction. I prefer a throttle & with pedal assist speeds of 25-30 mph. Any advice is appreciated.

Pop N Wood

You are going to need something with fat tires, a powerful motor and a big battery.

I am familiar with Bafang kits. A Bafang equipped bike checks all your boxes of PAS and throttle.

The Luna Cycle fat babe, outfitted with some racks, would be a good choice (if it were available). this bike boasts a belt drive and no external gears, perfect for foul weather riding. Not cheap but less money than many name brand bikes

https://lunacycle.com/babe/

Juiced bikes sells something similar with a less expensive derailleur system, Still fat tires, strong motor and massive battery,

https://www.juicedbikes.com/products/ripcurrent-s

Keep in mind batteries do not do well in the cold. You will need to keep the battery inside when not riding and even then will see a significant drop in range when riding in the cold. Fat tires needed for 4 inches of snow will really slow you down when the weather is good. You might want to think long and hard about how often you will really commute in 4 inches of snow at minus 30.

unterhausen

moved here from General Cycling

cat0020

I've ridden enough in the snow to know that 25-30 mph in sub-freezing temperature is no fun (possibly quite dangerous), even if your bike (or e-bike) is capable of it.
I just received my delivery of my Alibaba order from early OCT:
48V, 500w 12.8Ah regen motor, It will serve as my winter commuter in NYC to carry large box on the rear rack for my daily 20 mile delivery ride.
With shipping cost, it was under $1400.

chas58

Two posts? Coming back for more? Any mountain bike with studded tires can do 4+ inches of snow (from experience). But 30mph in the winter on two wheels is gonna put you in the hospital sooner or later (although maybe not?). and freeze/thaw cycles make roads/paths very, very rough, and hide a lot of ice patches. Personally, 30mph has some harsh wind chill in the winter around here.

gsa103

You're going to need a beefy motor and a lot of battery. 25 mph with fat tires on pure throttle is around 750-1000W, so ideally you want a 1000-1500W motor. You're looking at about 24 min each way, 48min total. Since you don't want to regularly run the battery below 20%, and the cold will take another 10% range hit. (800W*0.8hr)/.7 = 915Whr minimum battery size.
Ideally, you want a 1500W motor with a 1200Whr battery.
Something like a Juiced Scrambler or Scorpion are probably the style you're looking for.

2old

For me, 33 mph was easily obtainable on level ground, front or rear hub system (tried both), 240 pounds - bike and rider, MTB with relatively smooth tires, no wind, sitting up. This was a 30 amp controller and 52 volt battery, so 1500w (less however one wants to subtract efficiency). Also about 30 mph was easy with a BBS02 mid-drive, 25 amps, same 52 volt battery, and 48/11 gear. Didn't figure the rpm, but wouldn't be surprised if it was 90 or so.

Robert C

One thing to keep in mind is that there are no studded road tyres, only knobies, in the 27.5 tyre size, a very common side on full-size mid-drive e-bikes. I ended up switching my mid-drive bike to 26s'. I am glad I switched it; however, it is something to be aware of.