Quote:
Originally Posted by order99
The important question-are you comfortable commuting,running errands and traveling on an E-bike? And what sorts of weather would you be comfortable doing the above in?
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El Paso is known as the Sun City, so most days are sunny (unfortunately, the temps in the summer are usually 100F or more). I would probably drive the Prius on rainy days or when there's a dust storm, depending on if my wife needs it.
Insight is more or less sold. Its sad, but its going to a good home. I doubt I could get more locally or that it would be under such good care.
DIY looks like the route I'll be taking. Seems like all the cheaper ones would need a complete overhaul anyway and anything that wouldn't would already cost several times what DIY would. I think I'll just use my current bike and add a torque arm or two to make up for the aluminum. I'm shooting for a middle of the road build, no lead acid but also no 40mph death trap. 20-25mph top speed on the motor would be perfect and a 20 mile range would either force me to get a good workout in or to top off the battery when I'm home during the day. Looks like I'll be spending about $1000 all together. Pretty spendy in my mind, but its not bad when you consider it won't have registration fees, insurance, or expensive maintenance.
I'm looking into getting new tires for my bike that are better suited to street use. The knobby tires it came with (which really aren't too aggressive) are pretty loud and are probably wasting quite a bit of energy. I also need to make them very puncture resistant. Goathead thorns are very common here and replacing tubes every other day isn't very economical.