I’ve had my eye on the Dost since EBR looked at them last year and thought that was going to be our bikes. I’d told myself if I got down to 275 we’d get ebikes. In April when push came to shove and we ordered I looked around at a lot of different models from other companies just to make sure I was getting what we wanted. I know you looked at the Biktrix Juggernaut but don’t discount the Stunner Step Thru, which is what we ended up getting and absolutely love.
Advantages of it over the Dost are the comfort handlebars (angled back, not mountain bike style like the Juggernaut and dost) and still have the pro max adjustable stem, internally geared sturmey archer 5 speed hub vs derailleur, availability, and Biktrix has been in business longer and seems to have a pretty loyal following with good customer support. Trying to remember if at the time Dost seemed more about marketing and unrealistic claims about battery range, but that could have been a lot of the other companies we looked at.
Some things to consider no matter which way you go:
- Stick with the mid-drive. Lots of people say hub drives are cheaper and do just fine and that would have been fine for my wife, but at our size I wouldn’t consider them personally.
- Don’t let things like seats or even racks enter into your buying decision. Bike seats are pretty cheap imo, and at least the rack that came with Biktrix Stunner step thru is holding a lot more than I thought it would, and could always step up to one of the touring racks out there if ever need be. Basically a lot of accessories like fenders, racks, seat, and even lights are easily changeable or added on and compared to the bike not much money.
- Batteries cost an arm and a leg, but get the biggest you can afford or two smaller ones I suppose.
- Make sure whatever bike you get has a class 2 throttle unless they are not allowed where you are. Pretty much only use it taking off from stops but it makes that process a lot easier as one is more able to finely tune speed than a cadence assist pedal.
- On seats I think Dost’s was gel…at our size I’d think gel would break down too quickly but who knows. the Velo seat on the Stunner seems to work for both my wife and myself at drastically different weights. Though considering a thudbuster seat post suspension still too.
Don’t think you can go wrong with the Dost though.