dgk02

I was walking down the street near work and saw this bike chained to a pole.mnc_017..jpg

I never heard of the brand - www.mncebike.com. Not too much in the way of specs but it's located on Broome street which isn't far from where I work. I'm sure the prices listed are with the 24 battery.

Maybe it would be ok for the Significant Other, who isn't known for biking ability.

confounded

MNC E-bike is an e-bike shop in Chinatown. They, like Kysmo, take generic Chinese imports and label them up as their own product. Kysmo carries an Li-ON foldie for $900, $50 less than MNC. Pretty sure it's the same bike with different decals. Probably almost impossible to tell where the bike originates as there are hundreds of companies in China making these things now.

dgk02

That's good I guess. Competition. But I once tried to go to the Kysmo store and it was gone. Are the bikes any good?

confounded

Kysmo moved a block over. They are at 36 Ludlow. From their original location walk north on Orchard, right on Hester, left on Ludlow and they'll be on your right. Their bikes are, like MNC, generic Chinese e-bikes. I'm still considering one, but am waiting for NYC e-wheels to get the Ecobike Vatavio back in stock. I have a suspicion that the Vatavio is also a rebadged generic Chinese bike, but I won't know for sure until I ride it to compare to the Kysmo foldable. The Kysmo is $780 cheaper, but everything is cheaper in Chinatown.

I've only been riding foldies since that's what I'm looking for, but the Kysmo's pedal assist seemed rudimentary compared to the pedal assist of a bionix or the IF Reach, but both of those will run almost 3x as much as the Kysmo. In those configurations there was a gradual increase in the power provided and a gradual decline once you stop pedaling. The Kysmo has a more jarring start and finish to the power boost in assist mode.

The Kysmo owner seemed like a nice guy. Much more friendly than the folks working in MNC, who basically acted like we were bothering them (also typical for Chinatown). If the Vatavio is substantially more refined than the Kysmo, I'll lkely spend the extra money. If not, I'll probably get the Kysmo and hope for the best.

I personally don't think buying a Chinese e-bike is a bad idea. They built 22 million e-bikes last year, far outpacing US manufacturing. Given how competitive their market is - about 1,000 companies are currently making e-bikes in China - I'm sure innovation, quality, and reliability are on their minds, especially for US import. I know I said "hundreds" before, but that was before I went back to reference the recent article in The Economist.

dgk02

I'll have a look at Kysmo then. I have a Trek which has the Bionx system, but I'm looking for someone who will be using it a lot less than I do.