Looking for recommendations with service & cost both in mind

I have never been much of a bike enthusiast much-less a E bike guy. Considering a Ebike for short commute around town & work travel weather permitting & for hunting access on some back trails.

What questions should i be asking besides which offerings are known for durability & service after the sale. (parts availability) What about modifying a existing mountain bike with a mid drive system vs alternatives.

Unless you are a tinkerer, i would avoid the kits. i believe all e bikes are using disk brakes (or at least the ones i have noticed, and my mountain bike has the old rubber pads). this is a good time to search out e bike specific forums to get reviews. The specifics I've looked at are the expected range, carrying capacity, weight, rider height (I'm 5'7 so I'm on the bubble with some bikes and their different sizes) limits, what accessories they offer for that model that could be helpful for multiple uses, and probably a few things i have forgotten about.

I picked one up a little over 2 weeks now. Went with a hard tail The 26" Fat tire w a 750 W motor fenders & a rear rack. In hind sight I feel the one thing that stands out that I am missing most with this bike, Full suspension would have been nice. Next thing this guy who is not far off from my sixty's, a step through model may be nice on those days a guy is feeling really stiff.

Trouble seems to be very few few full suspension 26 " fat tire offerings are meant to support much of a rear rack. I did opt for a aftermarket suspension seat post & a larger more forgiving seat & am quite pleased with this change.

I am a bigger guy that runs 6' 2" tall & pushing 230 lbs. Max capacity on this offering runs 330 lbs.

Time will tell, suppose after this fall, I'll have a better idea of what I may like better going forward.

LB Hunters ~
Obviously if you are members you are conscientious sportsmen. In town great. We all need to consider plus and minus of anything motorized and non game in the wild. Many non motorized hunters are fearful of what bikes have already adversely affected. Of course every location and situation is different. I am trying hard to be open minded but can not get over the absolute ruin of one of the finest gene pool locations in my state from mountain bikers. Not the individuals but the mass of the sport was over whelming for the herd and gene pool that was and is no more. E bikes are coming, we can only be part and pray that with the flood of ebiker recreators we all be serious partner with our land administrators making pre plans to save the wild for us and our game.

I got an E-CELLS Super Monarch Crown. Dual suspension. 2 batteries, 2 wheel drive, very high build quality. This is a CARGO E-mountain bike with a 400 pound load capacity (including rider's weight but not bike weight).
OK, so they cost $5,100. with free shipping but you are getting top quality in an EMTB cargo bike.

It is one thing to claim a large cargo weight and quite another to back it up with: 1.) a very strong and rigid frame. 2. good brakes (201 mm diameter, 2.3 mm thick brake rotors with TEKTRO Dorado hydraulic brakes. 3.) two 52 volt batteries 4.) two powerful BAFANG motors for AWD traction. 5.) good front and rear shocks.

And finally all this is backed up with great customer service. I've met Dave Cleveland, the owner of E-CELLS, when I drove 50 miles north of the Las Vegas Valley to pick up my bike. Very personable guy and very much into e-bike design and build quality. I was totally new to any kind of e-bike at that time but I've since learned how lucky I was to buy an E-CELLS bike, discovering how well made it is compared to most of the competition.

IMO stay away from the super-low-budget ebikes with obscure brand names. Especially all the Amazon wonders. But there are some bargains to be had. Lectric, for example, buys in huge quantities and keeps their prices low, yet from what I've read they have good CS after the sale. My Ride1Up LMT'D was about $1800 when I bought it and it is pretty good quality (not just my opinion, the local LBS remarked about this); I've emailed for a bit of help and was assisted by people in my own country. So there are some that have no local presence but are still good candidates. Then you have the brands which can be bought at a LBS, and they tend to be good also, although their prices reflect the overhead and middlemen which provide you with that nice local presence.

It's hard to go wrong with a Gazelle, or a Trek (or Electra), or a Giant (or Momentum).

experedon90, where do you live?
If you have a friend who wants the best possible CARGO e-mountain bike I can recommend E-CELLS' newest model, the King's Crown. It is a step above my Super Monarch Crown in features, ride and power. Beware, it is, at $5,800. not a cheap date. But there is NO other EMTB on the US market with these features and build quality.
TREK bikes are good but but a bit overpriced, IMHO. And none offer what E-CELLS does in features. Giant bikes are much more reasonably priced.

If some n'er-do-well steals "My Precious" I will use the insurance money to get a King's Crown.
I use a British made "LiteLock" U-shaped lock for my bike B/C it takes at least 3 angle grinder blades to get it off the bike. Few thieves will hang around to change blades. No KRYPTONITE lock takes more than ONE blade to get off.

Danehunter said:

experedon90, where do you live?
If you have a friend who wants the best possible CARGO e-mountain bike I can recommend E-CELLS' newest model, the King's Crown. It is a step above my Super Monarch Crown in features, ride and power. Beware, it is, at $5,800. not a cheap date. But there is NO other EMTB on the US market with these features and build quality.
TREK bikes are good but but a bit overpriced, IMHO. And none offer what E-CELLS does in features. Giant bikes are much more reasonably priced.

If some n'er-do-well steals "My Precious" I will use the insurance money to get a King's Crown.
I use a British made "LiteLock" U-shaped lock for my bike B/C it takes at least 3 angle grinder blades to get it off the bike. Few thieves will hang around to change blades. No KRYPTONITE lock takes more than ONE blade to get off.

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I reside in NE South Dakota.
I settled on a lesser 85 lb 26" 4" tire, step through, hard tail E bike that comes in at a much lower price point. 330 lb load capacity will fulfill my needs for now. I think it will work well enough for the prairie terrain that I hunt. Time will tell. Not sure I wish to advertise good or bad on this option at this point, so I have purposely avoided sharing any more.

In e-biking as in backpacking, "Ride your own ride." That's why they make so many models. Everyone has different needs. ENJOY!

I have no experience with it personally, but you may want to look at Mokwheel Obsidian. 1000 watt hub, full suspension, 400lb. limit. There is a dealer within 40 minutes from me for service. I recommend no matter what brand that you look at see if there is a dealer with in a certain distance from you.

I got lucky with my E-CELLS e-mountain bike. Not only is there a dealer 50 miles away but the "dealer" is also the headquarters of E-CELLS. Want to talk to the man who designed these bikes? Dave Cleveland almost always there during business hours.
Of course here in the Las Vegas Valley there are a LOT of e-bike dealers so if you want another brand they ae likely inthevalley.
My specific need for a "Hummer" of an e-mountain bikes with VERY good quality was met by E-CELLS.
The nice thing about the company is that they ship to your home for FREE. And there are YouTube videos for the assembly of each model. Really it's mainly putting on the wheels, hooking up the cables to the wheel motors and putting on handlebars. Plus there are good maintenance videos on E-CELLS for brakes, shocks, etc. And then there's the great customer service.

any thoughts on the REVOS brand or that type of conversion where it just clamps on to your seat post (other models/brands will vary some, with the CLIP being on the front wheel) and using friction as a way to just add it to standard bikes? would this be an option for using on regular roads and then unhooking in non-motorized areas?