InTheRain

I attended the Seattle e-bike expo. It was held in a mall parking lot. I didn't feel the expo was well attended. I received notification through a bike club email newsletter, but it was delivered the day before the expo. There were many different e-bikes there. They were all fairly high end bikes and I didn't notice any after market conversion kits.

I had the opportunity to ride the Ferrari of e-bikes - the Stromer STS. It was so much fun. The bike looks great and has top of the line specs - 500 watt direct drive rear hub motor (completely silent), 983 watt hour battery (range 110 miles), electronic shifting (shimano di2), really clean cable routing, hydraulic disc brakes, and a 1600 lumen headlight (and a built in tail light.) It's a pedal assist only that is capable of 28 mph. Sadly, the test course was not set up with long enough segments to get the bike up to that speed. If I had $9500 to blow, I would seriously consider buying one.

I rode several other bikes. A bike with the 500 watt Bionx. A very similar feel to Stromer. I rode several bikes with mid drive motors, mostly Bosch. The mid-drives are fun to ride, provide a lot of torque, and I can see why they can be more efficient than hub drive motors. The motors are not loud, but you can hear them when you pedal... for me, I just don't like hearing that noise when I ride a bike, thus, I like riding the direct drives the best. The other thing I noticed with the mid drives was that when the motor cutoff when you stopped pedaling, there was a noticeable deceleration - enough that it seemed that the front end would "dive down" a bit on the front suspension. It seemed the direct drives would just continue to coast when the motor cut off.

I spent 3 hours riding different bikes. It seemed there were never more than 5 riders on the course. No waiting. Just grab a bike, have one of the dealers adjust the seat height, and you were off. It was better than Disneyland!!! Thank you to the sponsors that put on the expo. Probably the best free event I've ever attended!

2702

I went also, the Stromers are without question as good as it gets for giving that BMW feel in a ebike. There was one maker missing from the show where did Easy Motion go? Or did I just miss it??

2old

ITR, great review. I enjoyed the San Diego expo, but it was more heavily attended - went on Friday when bikes were readily available. Our opinions differ on the Stromer; would rather have your BionX (if it's the 500D) set for 28 mph. For some reason my BBS02-equipped bike seems more quiet than my friend's Bosch, although the noise doesn't bother me.

InTheRain

Unfortunately, my own Bionx is of the 350 watt variety (I still love it.) I understand that the 500 watt Bionx can only be set to 28mph on OEM equipment that has an agreement with Bionx allowing it. The Ohm bike that I did ride was set at 28mph but due to the set up of the course, I never got it above 18. The 500 watt Bionx is very "torquey" in comparison to my 350 watt Bionx. The 500 watt Bionx is comparable to the Stromer motor. However, the Stromer bike that I rode was much nicer than the the Ohm. And... the 983 watt hour battery on the Stromer vs. the 500 watt Bionx provides a rather measurable increase in range. But, Stromer $9500 vs. Ohm $4000... that's probably the deciding factor for 90+ percent of potential buyers comparing the two.

InTheRain

I didn't notice any Easy Motion bikes. I'm sure there were several other e-bike manufacturers that didn't participate. For instance, no Pedago bikes. I didn't see Ezee, Felt, Raleigh, Haibike. There were plenty of bikes to test. Top of the line motors - Bosch, Bionx, Stromer - give buyers the gold standard for comparison when making a purchasing decision on an e-bike. I have a feeling that we'll see more and more manufacturers jump into the e-bike market. Hopefully we'll see more bikes and more attendees at future e-bike expos.

2old

In socal, the dealers can set the 500D to 28 mph since it complies with Class 3 (750w max, 28 mph PAS only). I rode a 500-equipped 29" MTB a couple of times and it screamed. Hope to purchase one someday.

InTheRain

Hmmm... that's interesting. I wonder if a 350 watt bionx can be set up that way, also? I'll have to continue to watch for any modifications in the e-bike laws in Washington and get mine modified if/when changes to the laws occur. I know they sell the Ohm bikes in Washington at the 28 mph limit.

Dunbar

I wouldn't mind going to one of those expos and test riding a bunch of bikes even though I just bought one so I'm not in the market. The Stromers are nice but I don't see the point of spending $7-10k on an e-bike. Too expensive to leave locked up outside and you could buy a cheaper bike, plus an extra battery, and still come out ahead. I considered an ST1 but ended up spending half as much on my Cross Current.

NoPhart

I find it interesting that diferent people/riders have very different interpetations of the variety of E-bikes out there. I've only ridden one hub motor E-bike to date. It was a BOINX rear hub and very load, just like the noise on Court's review videos. On the otherhand, I've rode serveral BaFang BBS## and none of them made any noticable noise, including my personal 350W BBS## ride.

I'd do seem to recall some slight noise on the Haibike Bosch and Yamaha, but niether was bothersome to me like the Bionx rattle-hum.

InTheRain

I don't know why people have a different experience. The Stromer, Specialized turbo, and Bionx are all direct drive motors. They are completely silent when I've ridden any of those bikes. I rode my own Bionx down an MUP with another rider for 10+ miles. He didn't know I was riding an e-bike until I told him and pointed out the battery on the down tube (even though it's pretty hard to miss.) He asked, "why aren't you using the motor?" I told him that I had been on level 1 or level 2 of pedal assist the whole time we had been riding.

2old

DD motors, which have only one moving part (except the bushings/bearings), should be silent. I've ridden at least 10 different ones some pretty high-powered and one that I own and all were quiet.

350htrr

Don't believe you can, at least my dealer can't. He managed to remove the speed limiter on his own 500 watt BionX set up... And rumor has it he now can go 60Km/Hr with it.

speedy25

Its a shame e-motion wasnt there. They were the best one I rode, followed by Haibike at the San Diego Expo.

There are still more shows scheduled! Home - Electric Bike Expo
Get ready east coasters, the show is headed your way. Sign up now so you dont forget or only get 1 days notice like the OP.

I'm going to the DC Expo just because its not too terrible a drive. It wasnt scheduled when I attended the San Diego event.

No, I'm not a shill for Pete Prebus who runs the show, I just thought it was a GREAT venue for testing e-bikes.

-SP