5 Things to Consider when Buying an ebike
The real advantages of electric bikes are climbing efficiency, wind resistance, and better range. If you experience knee pain or exercise induced asthma for example, electric bikes can breathe new life into cycling. They might convince your wife, kids or parents to join you for a ride, or they might enable you to arrive at work feeling fresh and without the need for a shower. Electric bikes offer the same benefits as traditional bicycles, including cost efficiency and health benefits. Here is a quick guide to 5 things to look for when choosing the right ebike for you
Electric Bike Purpose
Electric bikes are designed for different people and different purposes. It’s up to you to decide what is most important to you and what is not important at all. First you should think where you’re going to be riding your electric bike most frequently. Electric bikes are geared toward different kinds of activities, such as cargo hauling (Alpine Trike), relaxed cruising (Alpine Vista, Horizon), trail riding (Alpine Vista, Horizon, Compact), mountain biking (Alpine Horizon) ,traveling and urban commuting (Alpine Vista, Horizon, Compact). The question you need to ask yourself before purchasing is what type of riding is going to be.
Motor Position
When it comes to motors, there are two main types. Either it’s mounted in one of the wheels (hub motor) or it’s mounted at the crank (crankdrive), at the bottom of the frame. That means the electronic controls can include a sensor that detects how hard you’re pedaling and can measure out the assistance accordingly. Typically, crank assisted bikes have a reputation for doing well on steep hills, but can be a little on the noisy side depending upon the brand and type. Hub motors tend to be very quiet, Generally look for a recognised brand with a good reputation, such as 8fun or Mxus which are used in the Alpine electric bikes range.
Batteries
Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, so it’s no surprise to find them powering electric bikes. More expensive e-bikes have higher-tech batteries that are lighter, charge quickly, and last longer. Batteries degrade over time, holding less charge as they age. The quality of the battery makes a difference, so look for a reputably named battery manufacturer such as Sony, Samsung, LG or Panasonic, and make sure the warranty covers the battery for at least two years. Lithium-ion batteries are typically said to last 800 full charge cycles. That’s about three years of weekday commuting. They survive longer with careful use, so you should get at least 2,000 half-charge cycles. Those are pessimistic estimates though, in practice, a battery life of several years is quite easily achievable. A full charge typically takes between three and a half to six hours, depending on the manufacturer, battery capacity, and battery chemistry. Alpine electric bikes only uses branded batteries on it’s electric bikes giving the customer that extra peace of mind.
Range
The distance an ebike will go on one charge of the battery is called range. It’s probably the most important specification someone will look for when purchasing an electric bike. If your commute involves a big hill, for example, you don’t want to run out of juice halfway up. Without power, an e-bike is just a regular bike. The range depends of the battery capacity, the speed, your weight, profile of the commuting tour, the assistance level you choose and percentage of given pedaling power. If you’re only going to do ten kilometers of daily commuting, you don’t need a 70 km range. Nevertheless, you should buy a bike with a higher range than you necessarily need because the range will drop as the battery ages and loses capacity.
Who to Buy your ebike from
This is also a very important aspect of purchasing an ebike. We have all seen a cheap ebike, maybe second hand or an offer which looks too good to be true online. As electric bikes are an expensive purchase it is advisable to only purchase from a recoginised brand / shop. All reputable electric bike brands / shops will have full back up facilities should something ever go wrong with you new electric bike. Alpine Electric Bikes have full work shop facilities and a standing stock of spare parts so that in the event of a repair all of the necessary components are available to get you back in the saddle as soon as possible.