Ebikes range in price from $700 to $10,000, so establishing budget takes some research. There are two main "branches" to ebikes.
Local Bike Shop (LBS) vs Online
Like many products, bicycles are available online, and ebikes are no different. There are some important differences when considering each.
- Local bike shop. You buy an ebike, they set it up for you, and you can bring the bike in for any warranty service or future repairs. If something goes catastrophically wrong, you bring the bike back to the LBS and they handle everything.
- Online. When you buy an ebike online, it arrives via freight carrier mostly assembled. Usually all you need to do is mount the handlebars, but it varies by vendor. Many vendors also ship direct from China, so the bicycle will have spent a lot of time in a box being jostled around, so you'll need to check to make sure there was no transit damage, and possibly make adjustments to things like brakes and the derailleur. Warranty is usually parts only, since it's not feasible to ship bikes back and forth across the country. This means the vendor ships you parts and you install them.
Buying online can save you hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars, but as you can see from above, there are trade-offs. If you're handy and you own some tools already, the savings can be significant.
Mid-drive vs Hub-motor
Ebike drive systems fall into two main categories: mid-drive and hub-motor.
- Mid-drive. The motor is connected to the pedals. When you pedal, the motor engages and helps you. Because the motor is connected to the pedals, it also uses the bicycle's gears. If you've ever ridden a bicycle up a hill, you know how much easier it is to pedal when you change gears. With a mid-drive ebike, the motor gets the same benefit.
- Hub-motor. The motor is connected directly to the back wheel, bypassing the gears. This is beneficial for simplicity and maintenance. Hub-motors cause less wear on the driveline (chains, cassettes, chain rings) than mid-drives, since they bypass all the components. The downside is that a hub motor is effectively 1-speed. When steep climbing hills, they can get overworked pretty easily.
There's an interesting market bifurcation here as well. Almost all bikes you'll find at a LBS will have a mid-drive from a company like Bosch, Shimano, Brose, or Yamaha. Online retailers tend to favor hub-motors on the inexpensive side of things, and mid-drives as you move up in price.
Watt Ratings
A note on watt ratings. Do not get hung up on how many watts a bike has. For example, many bikes sold at a LBS will have a rating of 250W for their mid-drive motors, but if you were to ride one, you'd swear it is just as powerful as a 500W hub motor bike. While wattage does matter, it can be difficult to discern how a bike will actually ride. Matters are complicated by the fact that many bikes are "rated" at 250W, but produce substantially more. More detail on Grin's website, if you're interested: Motor Power Ratings Explained.
Generally speaking, you can compare wattage ratings of very similar bikes, but it's still not a 100% certainty. For example, if you compare a 500W geared hub-motor bike and a 750W geared hub-motor bike, the latter will feel more powerful. However, if you compare a 500W mid-drive to a 750W geared hub-motor bike, the comparison won't be quite as simple.
If you're comparing two bikes with different power ratings, make a specific post to the sub inquiring about the performance of each. There are knowledgable people here who can help you iron it out.
Budget
Deciding on a budget can be tough. If you're shopping at a LBS, you could look at a bike like the Specialized Como. It has a mid-drive motor and a relaxed riding position. Pricing starts at just under $3,000. If you're shopping online, there are a plethora of bikes available starting at between $1,200 and $1,500. Most of them are hub-motor based though, so you'll need to figure out exactly how hilly your area is.
Hills
So what's a steep hill, exactly? When people hear that hub-motors can't handle steep hills, they immediately panic. The problem is that most people grossly overestimate how steep the hills in their area are. It is much better to know for sure. I recommend going to Map-O-Meter and mapping your route. There are check boxes to turn on graphs for elevation and gradient.
The steepness of a hill is often expressed as a "grade". The grade is the increase in elevation per 100 feet, expressed as a percentage. So a 10% grade would mean you increase elevation by 10 feet within 100ft of forward travel. Below is a breakdown of common grades:
- 6% to 7%. This is a common threshold for highway grades. For example, if you're driving through the mountains on an interstate, you might see signs for "WARNING: 7% grade head".
- 10% to 15%. At 10%, riding a regular bicycle becomes a real chore. You'll likely be in the lowest gear at this point. By the time you reach 15%, many people are off walking the bike.
Hub motors are fine for short climbs on 6% to 10% grades. Once you pass 10% grades, you have to consider how long the grade is. At 15%, you can burn up a hub motor quickly.
Another thing to consider is that a mid-drive can actually climb a hill faster, since using a lower gear puts the motor in a range where it is more efficient. Hub-motors are forced to slow down directly with the wheel they're mounted to, so they don't get this benefit.