580 ebike rabbit hole part 2

(Continued...) Where were we? Exploring all the screenshots taken while exploratory shopping for an eMTB. At this point we're looking at Frey, the most reputable direct-from-China seller.

Frey's are kind of pricey. They have a sub-brand now called "evolve" that's a bit cheaper. We'll get to that in a minute. But first, how about a free trailer?

No, that's your standard rear hub motor fat tire hard tail there. Although here's an interesting point... All of these $1500-2000 bikes might actually represent a pretty good value. They're made in higher numbers, which brings the cost of all the parts down.

So, comparing a $5000-10000 eMTB to a $1500-2000 adventure bike, what is the better value? It might well be the adventure bike. That's why they're selling so many.

But I still need to keep up with the brother-in-law, so let's keep looking at eMTBs, in a very roundabout way.

Ecells Super Monarch. This was an early contender in my favorite bikes. Two motors, two batteries, full suspension. Now I know there are a bunch of competitors doing about the same for less.

V-volt sirius. Mid-drive yes, suspension no.

The Mokwheel Basalt. It's also a mok-mid-drive, that's just a big cover for the controllers, the actual motor is in the rear hub. Still, at $1900, it's a good option for an adventure bike because it has a torque sensor, a pricier, smoother way of telling the motor when to help out.

Why not take a look at Alibaba? Apparently buying from Alibaba is a bit of an adventure. You're never quite sure what will show up at your door or when. But there are some interesting looking options at lower price points than we can find from an American reseller. Even after factoring in shipping, taxes and tariffs.

This "Trust Bikes" T700 carbon fiber model popped up several times in my searching. Hopefully I took a screen cap with the price. We'll get there.

The 4Leaf looks pretty good, but it's got that "old school" vertical rear shock. Hmm. If only there was a showroom for all these Alibaba bikes!

HPC bikes are made in the USA, to some extent. A bit more than our budget, tho.

Nope, need to order too many. Plus, 36 Volt.

This actually looks like a pretty sweet bike to my eye. The brand is "cyctrac." This one is a hardtail, but they make a full suspension for just a bit more. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any info about them on YouTube, or any real reviews, so it would be a total shot in the dark.

Hard tail, fat tire. But mid-drive and a decent battery, for cheap! Oh, but you have to order 10. For that price, still, you could order 10 bikes for about the same as one really high end brand-name bike.

Um, ditto. Except you only have to get one. Roll the dice? Also, where is the full suspension? I see a hard tail.

Guys, thanks for coming along on this journey. It's going to get weirder. And all over the place. But that's what it takes sometimes to learn.

From Alibaba and Made-in-China.com I went on to look at some bigger/known brands. This Giant Explorer E+ 2 GTS gives you a Yamaha motor and a kinda mid-range 500Wh battery for about $3k. That's pretty good and also pretty middle of the road.

This Propel Gazelle gives you slightly more torque, but it's a hard tail, not really an eMTB at all.

These Vitus E Sommets are supposedly decent bikes, but just a bit above my price, and, uh, not the geometry I'm looking for.

I'm sure there's a difference from the bike above. Fancier motor?

There are A LOT of options available. Many of them are very similar. Similar frames, similar components, similar price. On an electric bike forum I read that there are 450 ebike brands. I'm not sure if that's globally or just in the US. One review I watched about fat tire adventure bikes basically said, "You could go crazy trying to differentiate all these bikes. So just pick the one you like the look of."

Now wait, this is getting closer, price wise. The E-Sommet VR comes without the X for $1500 less. What is the X?

Cheaper components, smaller battery, less powerful motor. 

Have you figured out right now that these blog posts are basically me looking back at all the bikes I looked up, trying to figure out what's what?

Apparently next I checked out used options. These are from Upway, who I blogged about a while ago. They might actually be great options. I'm a bit leary about not buying the latest greatest tech in such a rapidly changing market, but yesterday's high-end purchased used might still be a better bike than a new mid-grade option.

Some of these might actually make pretty good options. They're not the latest and greatest, but they might be better than the cheapest.

But I didn't stop there.

Oh no, we've got a long way to go. Really, we're just getting started. At this point, I'm guessing you like looking at screenshots of eMTBs just as much as I do. Bueller? Bueller?

Is the motor in the middle or at the back?

Eunarau, based in Las Vegas, seems to do a pretty good job of importing Chinese bikes. Their prices start low, but they give you all these fabulous options until you've spent a couple grand more.

Here's a mid-drive, fat tire, full suspension. Old geometry. And does it have a dropper? (That's my new mantra. We're going to get tired of hearing it before this series is over.)

Well it turns out that the Eunarau Defender-S is indeed hub drive. You can get two, even. AWD. For about two grand less than that ECells up above.

But it also turns out two motors is a battery hog, and too heavy for real mountain bike trails. Imagine jumping with a six pound motor in your front wheel. Thud.

You can also get a mid-drive with two batteries. Around this point, I was figuring out some stuff. Geometry. Dropper. Weight.

That's the bitch about two batteries. You might get more range, but you're also going to suck up more juice per mile, carrying the extra weight.

There it is with two batteries, a rack in the back, and fenders. Kinda... Terrible.

We keep looking. Another fat tire full suspension mid-drive, the Himiway Cobra.

$4k. Not bad-ish. But it's fat tire, not a real mountain bike. Does it have a dropper post?

Still not sure, but it does have the mighty Bafang M620, capable of breaking chains and stripping gears with a mis-shift. 

Apparently I was pretty interested in this bike. And now we start getting into a new level of detail: what kind of cells does it have? There are two standards right now, the older 18650 cells and the newer 21700 cells, called the "Tesla" cells. This has the newer cells. They have more charge per cell, largely because they're bigger.

This bike, the Himiway Rhino, advertises the most battery in the US. I think. 

At $3k for a mid-drive with tons of battery, I'm intrigued. I even kind of like the look. But... No rear suspension, no dropper... Not a real mountain bike.

Still, I gave it two check marks. I kind of like this one.

But not enough to commit. So I went back to Alibaba and then to Amazon. What did I find? Come back for the next Bike & Battery to see!