Our First E-Bikes

INTRODUCTION

Let me start by saying that I am by no means an expert on e-bikes. But we have owned them for about six months now, and I have learned quite a bit—some of it before buying them and some of it the hard way.

This is not intended to be the definitive guide to e-bikes. It is simply what we learned buying and riding our first two bikes.

Before getting into the bikes themselves, however, there are a few things worth knowing.

FIRST, A WORD ABOUT POWER AND E-BIKE LAWS

One number you will see constantly when shopping for an e-bike is 750 watts.

Under the federal definition commonly applied to low-speed electric bicycles, 750 watts is an important threshold. However, state and local laws ultimately determine where a particular e-bike can be ridden and whether it is treated as a bicycle, moped, motor-driven cycle, or something else.

That distinction can matter. Depending on the bike and where you live, a higher-powered electric bike may be subject to requirements involving:

  • Registration or licensing
  • Insurance
  • Helmet requirements
  • Equipment such as mirrors, lights, or turn signals
  • Restrictions on bike paths, multi-use trails, and bike lanes

So, before buying an unusually powerful e-bike, check the laws where you actually plan to ride it.

For us, the decision was simple: 750 watts is plenty.

Our first bikes were 750-watt models, and any future e-bikes we buy will probably stay in that range as well. Trust me, a 750-watt motor provides more than enough power for the type of riding we do.

SOMETHING ELSE FOR PARENTS TO CONSIDER

There is another issue worth mentioning if you are buying an e-bike for a child or teenager: liability and insurance.

Depending on the circumstances and state law, parents can potentially face financial or legal responsibility when a child causes an accident. Insurance can also become complicated because some homeowners and renters policies contain exclusions for certain motorized vehicles.

The faster and more powerful the bike—and particularly if it falls outside your state’s definition of an ordinary e-bike—the more important it becomes to find out exactly what your insurance covers.

None of that really applied to us, so our main question was much simpler:

What is an inexpensive e-bike we can buy to find out whether we even like e-bikes?

That led us to our first bike.

EUY F6 LONG RANGE FAT TIRE ELECTRIC BIKE

Our first purchase was the Euy F6 Long Range Fat Tire Electric Bike.

We paid about $699, which is inexpensive compared with many e-bikes. Since we didn’t know how much we would actually use an e-bike, spending $2,000 or $3,000 on our first one didn’t make much sense.

WHAT I LIKE

The F6 has a 750-watt motor, and it has plenty of power for us.

It also has:

  • Shimano 7-speed gearing
  • 48V 20Ah battery
  • 20″ x 3.0″ fat tires
  • A folding frame

Battery life has been good for the type of riding we do, and the fat tires make the bike comfortable on a variety of surfaces.

For $699, there is quite a bit of bike here.

WHAT I DON’T LIKE

There are compromises.

First, this thing is heavy. With the battery installed, it weighs about 66 pounds.

It is also advertised as foldable.

Technically, that’s true.

Practically?

Good luck.

Yes, you can fold it, but it isn’t something I would want to do every time I went for a ride. A 66-pound folding bike is still a 66-pound bike.

You also have to do some assembly when it arrives.

And ours developed some minor maintenance annoyances almost immediately, including squealing brakes.

Still, I keep coming back to the price.

For the type of riding we do, the Euy has been perfectly adequate. It gave us an inexpensive way to find out whether we liked e-bikes without spending a fortune.

We did.

Which led to bike number two.

RIDE1UP PORTOLA

My wife wanted something a little better, so our second purchase was a RIDE1UP Portola.

It cost us about $895, so it was somewhat more expensive than the Euy, but still inexpensive compared with many e-bikes on the market.

The differences were noticeable.

WHAT I LIKE

The Portola also has a 750-watt motor, so again, there is plenty of power.

It has:

  • Shimano 8-speed gearing
  • 48V battery
  • 20″ x 3.0″ puncture-resistant tires
  • A folding frame
  • A weight of about 59 pounds

That makes it roughly seven pounds lighter than the Euy.

Seven pounds may not sound like much until you are trying to move, fold, or lift an e-bike.

The Portola is also much easier to fold. I still wouldn’t describe folding a nearly 60-pound bicycle as fun, but the process is considerably better than with the Euy.

And there was one other difference I appreciated immediately:

It came assembled.

After dealing with the assembly of the first bike, that alone was worth something to me.

SO WHICH ONE IS BETTER?

The RIDE1UP Portola is clearly the more refined of our two bikes. It is lighter, easier to fold, has an 8-speed drivetrain, and required essentially no assembly.

But it also cost more.

The Euy F6 accomplished exactly what we wanted from our first e-bike: it gave us an inexpensive way to try e-biking and determine whether it was something we would actually enjoy.

Six months later, the answer is yes.

We aren’t serious cyclists, and we aren’t trying to set speed or distance records. We wanted bikes that were fun to ride, had enough power to handle hills, and didn’t cost a fortune.

Both bikes have done that.

Would I buy a $3,000 e-bike now?

Probably not.

At least not yet.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The bikes turned out to be only the beginning.

Once you buy an e-bike, you quickly discover an entire world of accessories—helmets, mirrors, bags, phone mounts, locks, pumps, tools, and other things you didn’t know you needed until you owned the bike.

That will be the subject of my next post.