Originally Posted by
hsuBM
And that’s just too personal for a forum post.
OP’s gonna have to go out and just buy one. Then another. A-B them. But a third, sell one. Sell another. But another. Sell either it or the last winner. And whatever s/he gleans from that experience is going to be of little to no use in the forums as the market is so wide still when there’re tons of posters saying “build your own from a no-name motor from a no-name factory and stick it on any frame with unknown geometry- it’ll be just great!”
It’s not apples to apples unless they’re sticking to major brands with liability insurance behind them having their eBikes distributed through regular Bike Shops.
Just buy one. If you don’t love it, buy another. You can then compare notes on those established variables with folks who’ve experienced those identical variables.
The OP wrote of both feel and efficiency which is why I also did.
Or maybe test ride a few instead of just buying them all first and buy the one that feeld free rolling, comfortable and efficient. You may be quite surprised that many of the good modern e bikes have basically imperceptable drag regardless of drive type. Test ride a few, ride them in different assist modes and without assist. Stay away from the awful cheap noname brands available on Amazon and ebay and just look at the ones you can test ride for yourself. From the sound of your post it sounds like you have not yet test ridden a Giant, Trek, Cannondale, Specialized, etc. so I suggest you see how far these good bikes will roll on a level sidewalk with just a foot pushoff... Maybe compare that to an non motorized one and see for yourself how significant the drag is...