592 international buy nothing day


Guys, I don't think I'm buying an ebike today. This deal on the dual battery Lectric XPedition has me tempted. A hundred bucks off, plus a bunch of free accessories. It's a cute little cargo bike with great reviews for the price. It's got 28Ah of batteries, a 750w rear hub motor, hydraulic brakes, and can haul up to 440lbs of you and yours. 

But...

It has no suspension. We live in an area with lots of dirt roads. While cargo and suspension don't really make sense to me, somehow I'd like to find a solution that does it all. Smooth ride off road, capable of long distances, good for cargo. 

So, I'm tempted, and I can think of lots of use case scenarios... But for now... It's international buy nothing day!


Oh, there's more temptation out there. Juiced makes some fun looking bikes, and they're on sale.

I dunno, while my "let's save the world" 90s optimism has me buying into the idea of international buy nothing day (aka Black Friday for the "unwoke"), saving a few hundred bucks on the ebike I've been wanting for a couple years now is tempting... Maybe these deals will still be around on Cyber Monday?

Speaking of cargo bikes, there's a gold rush going on in ebikes. Yes, manufacturers (um, rebranders?) got excited by the crazy supply/demand situation of the past couple years and seem to have over-ordered this year, leading to a bit of surplus stock, leading to these year-end closeouts (I'm sorry, "Christmas deals"), but in general, the sales charts are of that upsloping variety.

This is fantastic. Despite their noisy, kinda gross domination of our landscape and mindscape, cars have been losing to bikes as a means of transit since the get go. And the ebike is only making it better.

None of which is helping me figure out what bike to get. Well, it is saying, "ok, get a bike to replace your car trips."

What car trips do I make?

100 miles round trip into Spokane, the nearest city, with stuff like, uh, anything beyond the basics.

50 miles round trip to Colville, the county seat, with stuff like the dentist.

20 miles round trip and 3500 feet of elevation to the ski area. In the winter. With snow.

6 miles round trip, plus 800 feet of elevation, to a work site, where I also need a bunch of heavy tools.

2000 miles round trip to San Francisco.

San Francisco is out, if I really want to get green about that trip I could take the train or bus.

The ski area? Well damn. That is a self-indulgence, isn't it? A truly "green" person might get a pair of Nordic (cross country) skis and just get some goddamn exercise in the snow without, you know, driving 20 miles and running lifts all day with snow making machines and all of the incumbent pollution, water issues, and violation of nature involved in a ski resort in a national forest.

This is your pretty standard set up these days: 750 watt rear hub motor, fat tires, 14Ah battery, about $1500. Pick your color. I kinda like the yellow.

Speaking of bikes beating cars, here's a solar powered ebike carrying seven people. Not sure how it would do in the snow.

There's no rear suspension on this Watt Wagon Hound. And it's decent-used-motorcycle expensive. It's also debatably ugly.

But damn, what specs! Belt drive, mid-motor (the crazy powerful Bafang Ultra, the 1000 watt M620).

52volt, 60Ah battery! That's like 3kwH, or 3x what most "big battery" bikes have. 200 mile range! (100 on throttle only! That takes me into the city and back! If I could find a road that feels safe!!?)

In a world where money is no object, and I like to live in that world, this could be the bike for me. The rack looks a bit, um, add-on, but I kinda like the industrial design overall. 

But $8k? For a bike? Hmm, I'm beginning to think all of this looking around is going to lead me to buying something on Alibaba, crossing my fingers, and watching the snow melt while my new ebike crosses the Pacific.

This is one of my favorites off Alibaba. It's a mid-motor extended tail cargo bike. I can get it with the M620, attached to a chain, and a 24.5Ah battery. That should be good for some range, they estimate 40-60 miles with peddling. That's not Spokane distance, but it is Colville distance. No suspension though. 

If I remember, I think I could get it for about the same as the Lectric at top. Plus shipping. And waiting. And crossing fingers. 

Oy.

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