briangutan

Hi, I am very much a novice to the bicycling world. I have been cycling around my city for years, but know very little about anything other than how to change a flat on my hand-me-down Gary Fisher.

Anyway, I am now in the market for an electric-assisted bike. I have a 13 mile commute and want to be able to have an easy, sweat-less ride to work, and then a regular ride back home.

I've done a bit of looking around and see that there are two camps when it comes to e-bikes. There are the companies that really only sell e-bikes, and the "regular" bicycle companies that also sell e-bikes .

For example, there is a shop near me which sells the Trek e-bikes and some other shops that sell EG, Pietzo, and Torker e-bikes. The Trek e-bikes are much more expensive than the others. Is that really an indication of better quality or is it just because Trek is a recognizable brand name in the cycling world?

As I am going to be selling my car for an e-bike, I want to go for quality. I have no problem paying more for the Trek, but just want to be assured that I'm not wasting hundreds of dollars for the Trek logo.

Does anybody have any insight? Thanks!

briangutan

I just wanted to add that there are shop selling Fast4Ward and E-Moto Velocity e-bikes in my area, which are also far less expensive than the Trek.

miro13car

Scary that you sell your car for ebike, hope you live in area with mild winters.
I own 3 ebikes and stillkeep my car but I live in severe winter climate - Alberta.
I use car mostly in winter, but I ride in subzero temp all the time on my Tidal Force which after getting rid of original battery is recognized as rock solid ride by many one of the best in the world.
Not manufactured any more, if you have occasion to buy used one less used so go and buy - you will not regret, but you have to connect your own battery.

General rule in my book - the more China brand parts ebike has the less durable it is - simple as that.
I wrote China brand not made in China Western brand.
You must be careful with Western brands like Trek also, because in persue to save buck here and there they sourced shoddy Chinese brands parts like rims/spokes, they would not use ALEX rims or DTSwiss rims for example.
All my bikes use Alex rims=quality, no loose spokes on heavy TF motor for over 20,000kms right now!!!
Another option is E+ bike based on TF also made in USA, I mean hand -made with USA parts which has on of the most efficient motors out there. But it has Nickel battery in front wheel which will last you 3-4 years and next you have to rebuild it in factory. Unlike TF E+ will not allow you to run it on any 36V battery.

crackerdog

One thing I would be careful to check is how many parts are specialty parts made just for that bike. Every Ebike manufacturer no matter how large has stopped making and supplying parts after a few years. Look for something that is mostly bicycle so that bike parts will work on it. Look at electric kits so that even if you don't buy a kit, you know which parts are easily replaceable on your ebike. Is the battery pack built in to the bike or can it be changed out when the batteries die and it turns out the manufacturer has had special sized batteries made that you can't find anymore (very common). Can the controller be replaced with a different brand in the future?

Rin

I'm not sure what model Gary Fisher you have, however, you might want to consider just adding an ebike kit to your present bike. On my first ebike, I merely added a kit to my 93 Specialized hard rock.

Generally, on the forums, I have read about many problems some have had with Trek ebikes. People seem to have fewer problems with ebike kits, unless they overvolt them.

As others have mentioned the biggest problem with brand name ebikes is the inability to have parts interchangeability. This drives up maintenance costs.

briangutan

I don't have the know-how to add a kit to my existing bike. And I also want this bike to be high quality and super-reliable, as it will be the way I get to work every day. My current bike is pretty much a piece of crap that I ride around town because it's faster than walking.

I guess I am settling in on a Trek (FX or Valencia, not quite sure), because they seem to be regular bikes that just happen to have a Bionx kit built in. I'm assuming that Trek, being a big company, will be around for a long time and will support these bikes.

If anybody else has any thoughts about going with Trek vs another brand in my situation, I'd love to hear them.

15rms

The Trek and the Bionx combination seem to be a good quality ebike. I don't own a Bionx however have ridden one. You might consider buying the Bionx 48 volt system and putting it on a new quality bike. It would have better range then the 36 volt system on the Trek. You could pick the best bike for your taste. With the Bionx you could use a normally slow bike like a comfortble cruiser or recumbent and the Bionx would make it fast and a nice comfortble ride. I rode a Bionx equiped Day 6 bicycle and absalutly loved it.

crackerdog

Trek isn't the one that will support that bike if Trek decides not to continue with electric bikes. But the Bionx system seems to be good and hopefully they'll be around for a long time. They are not dependent on ready made bikes because they sell them as kits also. I hope that allows them to stick around.

morph999 

The more complicated the system is, the less reliable. Right? Don't the Trek e-bikes have some kind of proprietary throttle system that has different modes? I think the crystalyte kits are pretty reliable. I've had no problem with mine. There hasn't been many reports of stuff breaking that I'm aware. Well, usually, the weakest part of any e-bike is the controller because that's where the circuit board is and the main guts that control the bike. So I'd worry most about what kind of controller is on the bike and whether that will hold up in the long run. You can find the crystalyte kits at https://itselectric.ca (they have a US store, too)

If you want reliability, just make sure you don't buy a kit off e-bay.

morph999 

If you want to read some reviews on the trek e-bikes...you can go here
https://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=548337

I'll just say that for the amount of money, you would pay for a trek e-bike, you could buy a full e-bike kit on ampedbikes.com or another website and then have money to spare to buy an extra controller just in case something happens.