Help! My first e-bike - which one?! Would LOVE your opinions/advice for my budget
Ok, I'm a girly, and I don't know much about bikes, except what I"m trying to glean from these forums. My budget is $2k MAX and I realize this limits my options. I live in a rural area off a very steep, dirt, pot-holed road. When riding my old cheap bike, I can't make it back up the hill without getting off to push which really kills my motivation to go for a ride.
I'm looking to get exercise, so will mostly pedal except on the very steep parts of the hills. I'd also like to ride to the post office, so after 2 miles of dirt road it is then paved.
I rode a friends E-Moto Ridge 2.0 - it got me back up the hill no problem, but I didn't like how it handled on the rough road at all. I basically have to brake all the way down the road (1 mile) and my old Mongoose seems to handle better than the E-Moto did.
At the moment, I'm looking at EG bikes (Barcelona, BaliX3, Milan)...the fellow at Eco-Wheelz is very helpful which does make a difference, R Martin bikes (anyone tried the MiPower or R10?) even though I'd really like a Kalkhoff because I've read really good thinks about it on the UK sites. Unfortunately, cannot afford a Kalkhoff.
Someone has thrown a Sanyo Eneloop (sp) to consider, Ezee (looks good but too pricey), and the bike shop down the road is selling a Giant e-bike.
In summary: needs to be good on the bumps, stable/safe going down hill, enough power to get me up the hill with some amount of sweat and grunting, reliable and long lasting because to me, $2k is a lot of money. I HAVE NO NEED TO GO FAST!
EG bikes have full suspension and 21 gears. Nearly all others don't in that price range, and I dont' think any others have more than 8 gears. Maybe we don't need that many gears?
I'm also confused about whether crank drive or hub is best bet, but perhaps in my price range only hub is possible.
I imagine I'll do about 30 miles or so a week. I don't care for a thottle or not. Goal is to get fit and have fun doing it.
I would so appreciate any thoughts, or any "stay away from "x" bike, or consider "x" bike.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
PS. I'm 5'7" and weigh 125lbs.
Last edited by SarahLou; 06-23-11 at 01:50 PM.
Reason: More info