A while back I posted about getting a vintage moped. I’ve talked myself out of that one, main reason being I don’t have a good place to park it and I really don’t need this kind of junk lying around.
I am interested in ebikes though. Even further back I posted about some Giant LaFrees I got of Craigslist. Ended up restoring one for my brother and giving the other one away to one of my old solar car teammates. They were fun, but far from a modern ebike and not something I wanted to move to Atlanta with.
This is something I definitely have thought about for a long time, I’m just having a hard time letting myself spend the money on myself. The two I’m looking at are under $500, so relatively low stakes, but I still feel like that $500 would be better saved.
What I’m looking for is something to play around with, like a moped, but that I can park inside my apartment. I’d also like to ride 6 miles to work and back, which is just the right distance for me to show up sweaty and gross when I arrive when I take my road bike (haven’t tried my mountain bike but can’t imagine it’s better).
I would do a kit myself, I just haven’t found a good enough deal on a donor bike and despite being somewhat qualified (solar car) I don’t want to mess around with it too much, especially if it means having exposed wires. I do already have a suitable battery however, and the two bikes I’m looking at I would probably upgrade eventually anyway.
Anyways here is what I’m looking at:
2016 Electrobike Light:
On Craigslist listed at $500. Seems like a nice aluminum frame. I really like internally geared hubs, and the overall look of the bike isn’t too ebikey. Kinda a no name brand that has fallen off the earth although they seem to have been a local company to Atlanta and still have a bike shop even though they’re not making bikes anymore. 18mph unassisted top speed, not bad. Only a 250w motor, which is small by today’s standards, but I could upgrade it. Main benifit here is the clean look. Going to look at this one today.
Trek 4300 custom:
Someone’s project. Needs brake work. For $350 it’s some good components though, bike wise. Has disk brakes, a 500w motor, a somewhat decent battery, and a suspension fork. Trek is also just a good frame. I definitely couldn’t build it myself for $350.
Sorry for the screenshots.
Still mulling this over. I think it would be fun, and could make exploring the city on bike that much more fun. It’s about riding a bike when I normally wouldn’t.