Are Manufacturers Missing The Mark?
 

After a severe spinal cord issue that became acute late last year, I decided to look into eBikes. My pride and joy has been my IF steel Crown Jewel. Love riding that bike, but it's now a challenge. So I started looking at electric bikes. Wow have I been disappointed. A very limited selection of bikes that look anything like a real road bike. There are reasons road bikes look like road bikes - because of the way they handle and how you can ride them. And weights of course. When I went shopping locally and online I was shocked at the majority of model styles. Ugly. Heavy. Fat tires. Lacking function and form. Heavy. Weird. I'm finding just a few eBikes that look anything or weigh anything like a road bike. And weight I'm not taking sub-20 pounds. I'm talking sub 30 or even sub 40 pounds. Yes there are a few eBikes that look like a real road bike. Cervelo makes one. Bulls. Trek Domane. Scott seems to "get it" with their Addict lineup. Road bike geometry. Carbon frames. Replaceable battery. Sub-$billion dollar pricetag. There is a a new eRoadie from Ride1Up. There are others, too. But within each manufacturer's model lineup they may have one traditional roadie model and then like a zillion weird ugly fat tire monsters. Why? Look at the sub forums here on Bikeforums.net; Road Bikes has like 4x or more the lifetime threads of the next closest topic. If road bikes are the #1 selling style of bicycle, then why are eBike models predominately weird something-else styles?

Maybe because roadies are more "pure" in their selection. I've been to a lot of shops in my burg and have seen many, many e-MTB's but few e-roads. I built a rigid GT Zaskar that was < 35 pounds with a Bafang BBS02 and small, but adequate battery. The motor and battery probably added about 12 pounds for $700. Perhaps a direction for you. BTW, the motor still lives on a different bike after 10 years. The GT was very "blingy" with a Ritchey full carbon fork, Eriksen Ti seatpost, hand built DT 240 wheels, 11-17-28 cassette cogs and other light bits, but I could have shaved it further.

Last time I checked, ebikes are the only segment of the market growing, traffic on this website notwithstanding.

For your use case, I think the major brands (Trek, Specialized, etc...) have ebikes for older road bikers. Lemond has one too, I think.

Hope you can find one

Mine.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ad8bbee934.jpg

As far as carbon frames that look and perform like a real road bicycle and not some hipsters idea of what a bike should look like because they spent their childhood and teenage years inside playing video games and never rode a bike until it became fashionable to hang out in a Ramen noodle restaurant in PJ's.

BMC has one. And a really nicely spec'd one, too, with a mid-motor. At a competitive price.

Lemond has 1 with drop bars and one with standard bars, both $6,000+ but with hub motors.

The Cervelo Rouvida mid motor model with carbon can be found around $5k and competes with the BMC.

Scott Addict carbon frame models with hub motors at half the price of the BMC and Cervelo are worth a look even though hub motors.

Then you have Specialized Creo which is more a "gravel" bike whatever that is, and weighs 32 pounds and is over $6,000.

Trek $7,000+ Domane.

Between all of those, Cervelo/BMC/Scott seem to be frontrunners as far as frame+component group+price. But that's it. A very very short list. Which I do not understand why, if electric bikes and the fastest growing market, why there are not more choices of lower priced carbon frame electric bikes with good component groups.

The Scott model is half the price of all the others I mentioned.

I live in Louisville KY. Not Cali or Denver or Texas, so one of my major considerations is service. I buy the Cervelo there is like one shop in KY I can find that might service the motor and battery. Scott seems easier to find a shop. BMC I have no idea. Trek and Specialized retailers are easier to find, but they're more expensive.

Only thing Scott has going against it is the hub motor. Cervelo and BMC have the cool factor and look like better choices as far as motors, but what am I gonna do if I buy one in June and next Spring the motor has an issue? Or it has a bad battery that needs replacing. That's where Scott has an advantage.

Anyway, my initial point is this: about 5% of all "e-bikes" look like a traditional real road bike and ride like a traditional road bike. Everything else is just some weird Franken-bike thing. Why do manufacturers put 40c+ tires on so many bikes, and with knobby tires? Is the market mostly people who wanna ride their bikes on the road with some assistance, or is it the hipster crowd bogarting tables at coffee shoppes? Inquiring minds wanna know lol.

"Beefy" looking road bikes: The only thing that's as trendy and increasing along with e-bikes? "Gravel" bikes, i.e., road bike position but can ride on dirt trails. Gravel, gravel, gravel, gravel, gravel. "But what about..." "Gravel". "But how come..." "GRAVEL. Didn't you hear me?" The most overused product adjective since "tactical".

I'll get off your lawn, mister

The majority of ebike sales are internet based and in general are purchased by people that live in cities. It is easier to get around, especially in traffic, it is far less costly than an automobile.
If the only way I had to get back and forth to work, school, etc. and didn't want to be all sweaty, nowhere to change, etc. I'd use an ebike as well and generally these people find it far easier to purchase an inexpensive ebike on the internet than a more costly ebike from a bike shop. They generally don't understand the lower quality of an internet ebike but really don't care anyway figuring they will get their money's worth out of it especially since most don't do any maintenance and don't take care of them at all...ride hard and put away wet.
We get several weekly at the shop where I work and in general they are all in bad condition...even had several come in recently with brake issues...the owners said the brakes were making noise so they sprayed them with wd40...we refused to service them only replacing rotors and pads...both declined and left with their bikes and no brakes...

There are some very good and reasonably light ebikes available...you have many choices but you seem to want what isn't available and are complaining about it...consider walking...

Yes 1000%. Obviously marketing teams came up with this idea of gravel several years ago. I still have no idea what exactly a gravel bike is supposed to do. They look like cyclocross bikes to me. Where exactly am I gonna ride one of those things with those 40c knobby kinda tires? Put it in my car/ drive to a gravel farm road somewhere and have fun? Really? We have a friend who rode a gravel-thing a few years ago. It was a horrible riding position harsh bumpy ride not comfortable when riding on the - get this - road.

Orbea and Bianchi (hub motor) also have one (some) nice bike(s) and considering the hordes of road riders present in socal I'd imagine some may be on "e" in order to keep up, but IDK. Out here many school age kids ride the fat tire behemoths and some older groups ride some lighter form of e-city bike. I've never seen an e-road bike, but maybe it was going too fast.

That what's I thought, too. But I don't see thousands of urban city dwellers riding these things. Not at same numbers as the offerings I see from retailers. And I think - if manufacturers started coming out with more traditional road electric offerings and marketed them appropriately - as in the motor merely gives your riding a small boost you still get most of the benefits of riding a bike - there would be more sales in that niche.

Yup you are right.

Those Mahle hub motors seem fairly ubiquitous, and seem less an online purchase risk even if no dealers close for a brand like Orbea. Their M30 is priced a bit above my price point, and 2x the price of the Scott which looks like a similar spec'd bike.

Check Jenson; that have a Cervelo, a Scott and a Kona at basically 50% off (maybe not all sizes or whatever).

Thanks!!!

I looked at Jensen earlier this week. That Cervelo gray gravel frame a lotta places have it for the $3,999. Great price, just deciding if I can live with that military grey color and GRX components. And 40m tires. I prefer more traditional road components. There is a road version of the Cervelo locally for $5k.

The Scott I have found for $2,999 elsewhere, $500 less than Jensen.

Kona is aluminum frame and Shimano Claris. A non-starter.

Questions on Cervelo : would the 40m tires be smoother riding than the 30m the road version comes with? Also odd - to me - standover height is taller on gravel than roadie. I would expect geometry like chain stay length to be more on gravel , but why would something aimed at off-road be 1cm taller?

OP: You should look on the used market, and avoid carbon frames. My local bike shop had a mint condition Litespeed titanium 700c road bike with top-end Campagnolo components, for less than $1000 I think. I'm using a panniered folder as townie these days, but back in my roadie days I would have drooled. However, it had rim brakes, and while those were fine when I lived and rode on the flats, in my very hilly area now with frequent brake use, I would want disc brakes to prevent rim sidewall wear.

A good titanium frame, or quality lugged steel, would probably suit you well. Aluminum is quite common now at lower cost, but more difficult to achieve as good a ride without metal fatigue issues.

the #1 type of bike selling today are kids' bikes.
i think #1 in adult sales is the big category of hybrid bicycles.
e-roadies are generally more expensive than other e-bikes.
New e-buyers may not be dedicated cyclists but want practical transport inexpensively. Wide tires, throttle, low to the ground make it easy. no one cares about double diamond, thin tube, classic frame design.

Here's mine - a 2020 model. Ultegra Di2. Weighs 30lbs with pedals and bottle cages. No throttle.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7a260e3d5d.jpg

We're taking about electric bikes here. I have an IF steel Crown Jewel traditional bike. I'm looking at electric now.

I really dont know what I will do when I cannot ride my bicycle anymore. I have a long history with "Throttled" vehicles. I miss dearly my old Thumper 450 Ducati Scrambler. If I go to a throttled vehicle I might just have to go back to my motorcycle days. That Honda 125 scrambler is looking real nice. Hey, I could add some vestigial pedals...

true e-road bikes don’t sell very well. to be light enough to feel and ride like a road bike, they don’t have enough power or range for most e-buyers.

if you don’t need a ton of power, just get any of the many x20 based road bikes. I use mine when my heart issues make riding the regular bike unwise.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0d6f7732f.jpeg

Sorry, I forgot.

I'm sure there is something in the market that will appeal to you. If a significant investment (probably), I personally would make sure that motor parts are, and will be, easily available (if mid-drive) and same for battery (if mounted internally). With hub motor and external battery mount, I think replacement will be much easier.

I'm fascinated with the Pinion transmission with integrated motor power unit. With a toothed belt drive, that's just an ultra clean and low maintenance setup. Availability on bikes has expanded greatly. Service... not so much. I think anything major and you unbolt the whole unit off the bike and ship it to Pinion. But they seem to be well designed and reliable.

Thanks, Dura. You're now thinking exactly like me. I really wanna avoid an aluminum frame; been there done that sorta bumpy ride. Really looking like the Scott, which has the ubiquitous hub motor found on a lot of other bikes. Or the Cervelo which I find on sale now for $4,500-$5,000. Beefy mid motor and battery, but $2k more than the Scott. I have not found any other carbon frame road oriented e-bikes in that price range with these group components.