Bought An E-Bike

[GTOguy]

Originally Posted by TheHammer

Does your husband have one?

Anjdog is a six-foot two, Vietnam Veteran with all of his hair. You would never say this to him in person. I know I certainly wouldn't. It's not like he's Antfarmer.

[CurtP]

Originally Posted by Anjdog2003

THE 20 BEST ELECTRIC BIKES MADE IN THE USA

Made in china and assembled here ≠ made in USA.

[TheHammer]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

Anjdog is a six-foot two, Vietnam Veteran with all of his hair. You would never say this to him in person. I know I certainly wouldn't. It's not like he's Antfarmer.

Only 6' 2"?

[MidLifeinMI]

Originally Posted by CurtP

Made in china and assembled here ≠ made in USA.

Keep in mind, even the top-shelf ebikes are going to have name-brand components that are sourced from Asia (things like Bafang motors, Shimano gears & brakes, Panasonic tires, Samsung batteries, etc.). The difference between so-called "US manufacturers" and others is usually where the frame is fabbed & welded; AFAIK, makers like Trek still build most of their frames here.

As an example, the bike I bought (KBO) has an American HQ and design team, but their frames are made in Asia, then they buy all the components and assemble there, also. I knew that going in, and accepted it as it kept the price at a point I wanted to pay (around $1300), vs. the $4K a friend of mine paid for his Trek.

[Mike Mercury]

Originally Posted by MidLifeinMI

To be fair, I don't own those shoes any more.

I'm still waiting to buy my first pair of

Converse All Stars.

[LATB]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

For $14K I would opt for one of these:

14K would pay for 1/2 of one of these.

[CurtP]

Originally Posted by MidLifeinMI

Keep in mind, even the top-shelf ebikes are going to have name-brand components that are sourced from Asia (things like Bafang motors, Shimano gears & brakes, Panasonic tires, Samsung batteries, etc.). The difference between so-called "US manufacturers" and others is usually where the frame is fabbed & welded; AFAIK, makers like Trek still build most of their frames here.

As an example, the bike I bought (KBO) has an American HQ and design team, but their frames are made in Asia, then they buy all the components and assemble there, also. I knew that going in, and accepted it as it kept the price at a point I wanted to pay (around $1300), vs. the $4K a friend of mine paid for his Trek.

Trek has all but stopped making frames in the USA (<1%), and it's been that way since 2018. None of their e-bike frames are made here that I can find. Emails to corporate only get me boilerplate global economy responses. Bike shop is telling me they're being made in China and Taiwan. If you know of one that is US built, please let me know so I can go track it down. The Fuel EXe 9.9 may have a US built frame made by Hexcel, but I haven't been able to get confirmation and I haven't found one locally. I believe all of Trek's batteries are now UL 2849 compliant though.

[Aerovette]

I bought an EV exercycle. Cut my workout regime to nothing.

[MidLifeinMI]

Originally Posted by CurtP

Trek has all but stopped making frames in the USA (<1%), and it's been that way since 2018. None of their e-bike frames are made here that I can find. Emails to corporate only get me boilerplate global economy responses. Bike shop is telling me they're being made in China and Taiwan. If you know of one that is US built, please let me know so I can go track it down. The Fuel EXe 9.9 may have a US built frame made by Hexcel, but I haven't been able to get confirmation and I haven't found one locally. I believe all of Trek's batteries are now UL 2849 compliant though.

I knew they started off welding frames here, but it's sad to hear (but not surprising) that they've offshored most of it now.

[Craig]

I’m enjoying mine, but if I’d seen a price tag of $1K or more, I doubt I would have bought it. I don’t know how someone would justify 2x, 3x, or 10x the cost of one…there’s no way they’re having that much more fun on theirs than I am.

[MidLifeinMI]

Originally Posted by Craig

I’m enjoying mine, but if I’d seen a price tag of $1K or more, I doubt I would have bought it. I don’t know how someone would justify 2x, 3x, or 10x the cost of one…there’s no way they’re having that much more fun on theirs than I am.

It probably depends on how serious (and how long) you will be using it. I did a bunch of research before I bought ours a couple of years ago, and in general, ebikes seem to fall into 3 main categories:

1. Entry Level (sub-$1000): Made in China (duh), 250-500W generic brand motors, non-name-brand components, iffy batteries, hub drive, basic warranty. Probably OK for starting out, or if you only use it 1-2 times a month.
2. Mid-Level ($1000-3000): Tons of options in this level; Aventon, Himiway, Velotric, KBO, Lectric, Rad & others. Usually 500-750W motors, entry-level name brand components, mech. disk brakes, better batteries, still hub drive.
3. High-Level ($3K-12K): Trek & other name-brand makers are in this category. Usually 750w Bafang motors, high-level Shimano shift gear, hydraulic disk brakes, crank drive, best warranties & serviceability. You'll be able to find these in dedicated bike shops, so easier to take a test ride than the others.

[99 pewtercoupe]

Originally Posted by CurtP

If you mean assemblers of imported components, then yes. If you mean manufactured in the US, not that I’ve seen.



Which ones are US built? I only found US assembled, even on their high-end e-bikes.



Trek has a $14k e-bike: https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...ode=black_grey

I was going to get an e-bike until I started looking at prices. I may convert my old Trek Fuel 100 to electric, but it doesn’t have provisions for disc brakes. I ended up getting a motorcycle instead - brand new it was cheaper than the Trek Fuel EXe 9.9.

I paid less than $14k for my custom ordered cart. Gave the dealer the GM paint code number to match the color on my Vette (a nonstandard color for the manufacturer so I paid a hefty premium). Several other options for additional $$$

[Craig]

Your golf cart isn’t going to be much fun on the trails.

[CurtP]

Originally Posted by Onebadcad

My 20" Mongooose BMX, fake nickel plated, back in 1979, could:
go 40+mph if the wind was right
bunny hop 5' from a standstill
clear 10' fence coming out of skateboard park bowl while doing a 1080 aerial
and launch 25+' feet from a four cinder block ramp--landings were tough on the nutsack

1985 Mongoose Californian in work. Waiting on bars and seat post from Elf.

[Onebadcad]

Originally Posted by CurtP

1985 Mongoose Californian in work. Waiting on bars and seat post from Elf.

Looks damn good!!

Back when I bought mine, late 1970s, Mongoose was NOT top-tier.
Redline and FMF were higher-quality brands.
Mine was nice, I bought the best rims, crankcase, forks, handlebars, pedals, seat, etc... one piece at a time.
I knew a rider for Redline, he was very good, we would go daily to a closed skateboard park, crazy fun, crazy air, he again was the best, I would like to think I was good competition.

I miss those days, would ride for hours, never got tired, always looking for trouble while not crossing the law.

[Frankie the Fink]

$1300 for a damned bicycle - my first car was only $800...

[GTOguy]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

$1300 for a damned bicycle - my first car was only $800...

I paid $1200 for my '65 GTO.....in 1982 dollars. Still have it.

[Anjdog2003]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

$1300 for a damned bicycle - my first car was only $800...

And gas was only 25 cents

[Vince Clortho]

Originally Posted by MidLifeinMI

I knew they started off welding frames here, but it's sad to hear (but not surprising) that they've offshored most of it now.

They were famous for hand brazed frames. Reynolds 531 double butted racing frames. Waterloo,WI is still the headquarters but it sounds like they only do the carbon frames now. I would guess metal frames are all done by robots now, mainly aluminum.

At the heart of its Wisconsin headquarters is Trek's carbon manufacturing. A number of the high-end road models including the H1 fit Madone and Domane and Session 9.9 downhill bike are made here. The rest of Trek's bikes are made in Asia, where most of the bike industry sources its manufacturing.

[CurtP]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

$1300 for a damned bicycle - my first car was only $800...

The wheels I had built for my fat bike in 2018 were $1k. $500 for the ones I just had built for the Mongoose and would have been considerably higher if the Profile hubs I wanted were available at the time. The Eunorau Specter S e-bike I was considering after seeing the price of the Trek is $4,500 optioned the way I want. $1300 gets you a shit bike these days.