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Old 05-13-19, 12:41 PM
  #1  
Ashleymyla
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Hi there!

New to this forum and was wondering if it would be better to a buy a already put together electric bike or rig one by yourself? I live in Chicago would there be any regulations against it?
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Old 05-13-19, 02:51 PM
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I think this has been asked before, lol.

I have some "spare" bikes and love to tinker, so I built my own (years ago). If this is you, then tinker away.

These days the off the shelf bikes are more and more integrated and don't look as ugly as they did in the past.
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Old 05-13-19, 03:10 PM
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DW is in Chicago too, so maybe he'll chime in especially on the regulations. As C58 said, depends on the type of person you are. If you have a comfortable bike that you can spare and like to tinker, it's fun. I've built a number of them and the MTB with a BBS02 (mid-drive) is more fun to ride than my Yamaha-equipped Haibike MTB. Look at the tutorials provided by ebikesca to gain some knowledge of the variables.

Last edited by 2old; 05-13-19 at 03:18 PM.
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Old 05-13-19, 06:04 PM
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Most e-bikes you buy and e-bikes you build are treated like bicycles in Illinois and can go everywhere bikes go, except on sidewalks. This link is close enough.
https://www.illinoisduilawyerblawg.c...tive-illinois/

Last year, the Cook County forest preserve limited ebikes to ones that could not go over 16 mph. This year, that note is gone from their web pages.

Ebikes can be very expensive, and they can be relatively inexpensive.If you build your own, a reliable battery that won't blow up is $400 and up. Motor kits are $200-300.

I have converted a few regular bikes to ebikes. In general, it's hard to build one for less than you can buy a budget ebike. However, if you can build it, then you worry less about support/repair.

You might consider a long drive out to Plainfield to see the guy in this thread. The Aventon Pace is a $1000 bike. You could probably convert a new bike for a little less money, but it wouldn't look as good. I doubt you find anything in that price at at Kozys.

https://electricbikereview.com/forum...6/#post-195753

All of the above assumes you want a low power e-bike. You can also buy those 1000-2000W motor kits and build something that goes 30+ mph. That's not my interest. Others might talk about them.

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Old 05-13-19, 08:47 PM
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Genze 100 series Ebikes are being sold off at half new price, it’s a basic bike but assembled in Ann Arbor so better than an Ancheer or Nakto brand ebike at the $700 price point. Would be good for flat Chicago.
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