derail3

I have posted this request in both E-bike and touring section



Looking for help finding the right e-bike for my wife. We have toured loaded self supported for years. But after two hip replacements and a bad knee, plus age. She can no longer climb the steep grades and walks.



We have talked about a e-bike and we know what features we want. But have not found one with out going to a custom frame builder. Would rather buy off the self or semi custom. Below is features we a looking for. Does anyone have a recommendation that has most or all of the wish list.



Touring geometry

Aluminum or titanium frame

Mid drive motor

Belt drive

Rear internal hub gearing

Front and rear mounts for panniers

Front and rear mounts for full fenders

Three water bottle mounts



Thanks for help

10 Wheels

Bad idea to post same thing in TWO sections. Confuses most of us.

saddlesores

are you planning to continue loaded/self-supported? if so, can you cut down on wifey's gear? maybe limit to two rear bags, and you transfer the rest to you, perhaps onto a trailer?


a lot of these seem unnecessary. better to find a bike that meets her needs and
fits properly before worrying about minor details.

3 bottle mounts? why? only drink from one at a time.
better to keep spare water bottles in panniers out of direct sunlight.
shouldn't be a problem to switch bottles during breaks.

fenders are available for bikes without dedicated braze-ons.
don't let that be a sticking point, just a nice to have option.

i don't imagine there are many bikes without rear mounts.
hardware is available for seatstay clamps, and bolt-on
lowriders for the front....although she should be cutting
back on amount carried.

is 'touring geometry' really necessary? not sure how that
fits with the e-bike concept.

cut her baggage by 50% and the weight differential for a
steel frame should be less important.

Tourist in MSN

Belt and IGH sounds like you want a Rohloff. I can't think of any other hub that has the wide range of gearing needed for touring. And Rohloff has added features for electric shifting and e-bike motors in the past few years. I suspect you are looking for a Bosch drive since I think they have worked with Rohloff. Everything I have just said here I have no first hand knowledge, just based on what I have seen on the internet. Thus, if you can get something off the shelf that is not custom, I suspect you are looking for a European manufacturer, try searching there. I do not know what country you are in.

Your wish list for rack mounts, bottle cage mounts, etc., you might find that you need to get a bike and then add adapters yourself for things like that, consider how few regular bikes offer mounting for a low rider front rack on regular non-e-bikes.

If you have money to burn and decide to go custom, Zinn has built a titanium bike with Bosch drive for himself. And I think he will build for others, but I have no clue if he has any Rohloff or belt drive experience.
https://zinncycles.com/product/ezinn-custom-ebike/

I hope you know that you will not find many bike shops that can do anything more complicated than adding air to a tire.

You probably will have to credit card tour to get reliable charging capability every night, thus you probably do not need as much luggage capacity as most touring bikes, probably no need for front panniers.

This may sound like a crazy idea, but some folding bike manufacturers have been working on developing e-bikes to their product line. I have no clue if they are only using electric wheel motors or mid-drive, but you might find a folding bike manufacturer makes a bike that you can modify for your needs.

tcs

Riese&Müller Superdelite GT vario ($9390).

If you're running on the motor, you don't really need low gears. Shimano and Sturmey-Archer both offer five speed hubs specifically designed for mid-motor e-bikes.

Rick

Riese & Müller has ebikes with the Rohloff and gates belt. You can have electric shift. The motor is tuned to the Rohloff hub. So yes you can and need to pedal along.

Tourist in MSN

If you import an expensive bike to USA from Europe, there is customs duty on that. In 2013 I imported a frame and fork that was expensive enough to exceed the minimal amount that is duty free, frame and fork and bike parts are less than a complete bike.

350htrr

I think your biggest "problem" would be finding places for charging the battery every day... I "solved" that problem by charging my, and my wife's E-Assist bike batteries from my camper's solar panel, and I rode my bike for 1 Hr. while the wife drove the truck, then the wife rode 1 Hr. while I drove the truck... We did 2 800Km trips that way and it worked great, no power worries and a warm bed to sleep in every night...

veganbikes

This is what I got for the purpose and am loving it, Granted I haven't done any touring yet but almost a month in and the bike is fantastic and would work excellently for touring:
https://www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/super...466_0804022629

The neat thing with R+M is you can customize it so I would certainly stick to motor and drivetrain on whichever of their bikes you might go with but beyond that pick which one would work best for you. If you want something easier to get on and off you might consider the Nevo3 or the Homage.

tcs

Yep, although if the bike company has a US dealer presence, then the importer/distributor should handle all that.

Tourist in MSN

Yes. Then it is like buying any other bike from a bike shop.

My comment was if you buy directly from a European company, they ship it to you, you could expect a bill for customs duty. In my case the mail carrier brought the bike frame and fork, plus some other bike parts in the same box to my door and needed payment for duty. I expected that, but my research gave me a different value than the customs people charged, thus I had a small surprise.

It could be a big surprise if the mail carrier shows up at your door and you did not expect to have to pay that sum.

My big surprise was when I expected to pay duty on my Rohloff hub, but apparantly that sailed through customs without them requiring any duty. The mail carrier brought it but did not require any payment on delivery.