Originally Posted by YankeeRider

Thanks, 2old - I have taken a long look at the Ride1Up 700 step-through
https://ride1up.com/product/700-series/

...and also the Aventon Level step-through
https://www.aventon.com/products/ave...commuter-ebike

Both of them look like nice bikes and appear to offer more "bang for the buck", given that they're $1,100 cheaper. You can almost get two of those for the price of one Dost Drop, and that fact has gone through my mind more than once! If I got one of those and liked it, I might get another as a "guest bike", but I wouldn't do that at the Dost Drop price level. They have the racks I want for running errands - I've already got Ortlieb panniers, fenders to cut down on road spray if I'm riding after a rain, spring fork to reduce feedback on rough roads, and the slicker looking frame-integrated batteries already included at the price (as does the Drop). I am currently still leaning towards the Dost Drop though because:

• Dost Drop has the real comfort geometry with the high handlebars - my current Specialized Roll (large) has a handlebar height of 46in, and that's what I want - my neck is messed up and I can't crane it back as one needs to with a more stretched out forward/lower posture to view the road ahead, so I need an upright posture when riding, I also have repetitive stress injury to my hands and wrists after 30+ years of IT work and they bother me when I put more weight on the handlebars as you do with that same posture... I arrived at the Roll after feeling a lot of pain that spoiled riding. One can add riser bars and an angled stem to these other bikes to mitigate the difference, but then you might get into trouble with cable lengths, etc, and I don't want to mess with all that - I only do real simple bike wrenching. [My local bike shop is a pretty big operation with good mechanics, but the owner wants to sell you a new e-bike from the Big Three, he doesn't want to help you make a cheaper bike work for you - I already asked him about a BBS02 conversion + entry-level RockShox fork on my Roll Elite (which I bought from him two years ago), since I already own and know I like that bike - nope! :-( ]
• Dost Drop has the more capable drive system for hill-climbing with the motor torque running through the gears, allowing it to benefit from me downshifting as I enter a hill, plus a potent 120Nm of torque, and although I don't live in the mountains, it's not pancake flat either, and with my 270lb weight, I worry about the hub-drive models struggling or burning out trying to cart my butt up hills
• Dost Drop does have a few other niceties for its extra dollars, like the color display, welded rack, and my preferred plus-size tires. These items are less important than the above two aspects

I still haven't made my decision yet, but that's how I am thinking at present. Will buy by the end of the month.