馃攳
11 Things You Should Know About eBikes - YouTube
Channel: Propel
[1]
[Music]
[7]
so
[8]
being an electric bike business for
[10]
about 10 years now there's questions
[12]
that come up
[12]
all the time and i just wanted to make
[14]
one video to cover
[16]
the most common ones so i think i'll
[17]
start this as like a part one
[20]
and maybe if there's more questions that
[22]
come up or if you have questions that i
[24]
didn't ask that you think
[25]
we should include in this sort of thing
[27]
maybe i can make a part two and
[29]
add it in there so the first question
[30]
i'd like to answer
[32]
used to come up all the time it doesn't
[34]
come up as much these days as people
[36]
become more familiar with electric bikes
[38]
and the technology and they've gotten to
[39]
have their own experience with them but
[41]
it's should an electric bike be
[43]
considered cheating
[45]
and from my opinion which i guess this
[47]
could only be considered an opinion
[49]
is no i think different people can have
[51]
different perspectives on this thing but
[53]
i think if you're racing an electric
[55]
bike should be considered cheating
[57]
you know if you're you know pretending
[59]
that you don't have an electric
[60]
motor and you know the other people
[63]
don't have an electric motor
[65]
this actually happened and i think that
[67]
probably gave electric bikes a bad name
[69]
a little bit but
[70]
i don't know that that's necessarily
[71]
what we're talking about i think we're
[72]
talking about the general public
[73]
and that you're losing some health
[75]
benefits or you're not really like
[76]
earning your spot to the top of the hill
[79]
i don't know from my perspective the
[81]
more people get out on bikes the better
[83]
and this is all a good thing but yeah
[87]
that's how i put it i would just say no
[89]
so this next question is kind of related
[91]
to the first one
[92]
it's can i still get exercise riding an
[95]
electric bike
[96]
and the answer is yes absolutely
[99]
i mean you should i guess there's some
[102]
types of electric bikes that have
[104]
throttles and
[105]
they're kind of becoming less and less
[107]
popular but those types
[108]
generally you don't have to work so much
[111]
some people will pedal with the throttle
[113]
but you have the option to not pedal
[115]
so in that instance maybe you're less
[116]
likely to get exercise
[118]
we're a big proponent of pedal assist
[120]
bikes i mean that's all that we offer in
[122]
our shops
[123]
but in that case you're always pedaling
[126]
you have to pedal
[127]
you have control over how much you pedal
[130]
but
[130]
from my perspective and what i've seen
[133]
in
[134]
experience is that people end up getting
[137]
out on their bike
[138]
a lot more often because they have a
[141]
little bit more control over how much
[143]
energy they put into the electric bike
[146]
and you know if you're in a place that
[148]
has big hills or something like that you
[149]
might be intimidated say hey i don't
[151]
want to go out today
[152]
because i have to go up this big hill to
[153]
get where i want to go but with the
[155]
electric bike
[156]
you know you could say okay well i have
[157]
the power to get there and then maybe
[160]
once i go over the hill i'm not really
[161]
using
[162]
the power so much there's a lot of
[164]
studies on this there's a lot of data on
[166]
this but the the reality is that most
[168]
people get
[169]
exercise and if you actually look at it
[172]
from like a big picture
[174]
people end up getting more exercise
[175]
because they end up writing more that's
[177]
in simple terms what most of the data
[179]
and the studies have shown
[181]
and that's kind of been my personal
[182]
experience and i think that's been
[184]
a lot of my customers experience so i
[187]
wonder
[187]
what's been your experience now this
[189]
next question can vary
[191]
depending on where you're located in the
[193]
world but
[194]
i will note that where in the u.s but
[196]
this question is how fast can electric
[198]
bike go
[199]
i mean in theory there's not really too
[201]
much limits there's limits to like the
[202]
parts and that sort of thing but
[204]
generally speaking you're going to see
[205]
limits based on the jurisdictional laws
[207]
that exist
[208]
now here in the u.s most electric bikes
[211]
will go either 20
[212]
miles an hour or 28 miles an hour in
[214]
special instances
[216]
but in other places in the world uh
[218]
something that's more common is maybe
[220]
like 15 miles an hour
[221]
some places like japan i think it's 12
[223]
miles an hour is the top speed
[226]
and you know this is this going to vary
[229]
now you might
[230]
see some other claims out there like oh
[232]
this electric bike goes 50 miles an hour
[234]
is it still considered a bicycle at that
[237]
point from my perspective it's probably
[238]
considered more like an electric
[240]
motorcycle it's certainly not considered
[242]
a legal electric bike in the u.s or
[244]
most jurisdictions throughout the world
[246]
yeah to put it simply
[248]
it's somewhere between 15 and 28 miles
[251]
an hour
[252]
or in you know special instances like
[253]
japan like 12 miles an hour and i kind
[255]
of just covered this one
[257]
just a moment ago but this question
[259]
comes up all the time
[260]
do i have to pedal now if it has a
[262]
throttle you don't have to pedal
[265]
basically you can sit on the bike and
[267]
just twist the throttle
[269]
or push the throttle lever and just
[272]
moves along pretty easily this is
[274]
becoming a little bit less common
[276]
is what i'm seeing more and more is the
[279]
technology called pedal assist
[281]
and basically the pedal assist just
[283]
assists you as you pedal so you always
[285]
have to pedal but you don't really have
[286]
to pedal a lot especially when you use
[288]
the higher levels of assistance
[290]
the benefit to this is you're always
[292]
getting exercise
[293]
and it's a lot more efficient and
[296]
generally the higher quality motor
[298]
systems are going to be the pedal assist
[299]
ones
[300]
so might be something to consider if
[302]
this is like really important to you
[304]
that i want an electric bike that i
[305]
don't have to
[306]
to pedal you might be limiting your
[309]
choices and eliminating some of the
[311]
better quality options that are
[312]
available on the market
[313]
okay next question how much do they cost
[317]
now this can vary all over the place i
[319]
mean i've seen electric bikes for as
[321]
cheap as 300
[322]
on amazon and that sort of thing but
[325]
i've seen electric bikes go up to 50 000
[329]
in the most extreme cases and that's
[331]
really extreme
[332]
mostly what we see is somewhere between
[335]
a thousand dollars and ten to twelve
[338]
thousand dollars and some like really
[339]
special
[340]
bikes out there and most of the bikes
[343]
that we sell in our shop
[345]
range generally somewhere between three
[347]
thousand and six thousand and that might
[349]
be slightly higher than what
[351]
some other shops do but we really focus
[353]
on the best quality that's out there
[355]
so it really depends you're going to see
[357]
some different changes
[359]
as the electric bikes move to these
[362]
different price points
[363]
and starting out with these like 300
[366]
dollar bikes you're going to see like
[368]
very cheap parts on it very proprietary
[370]
it's kind of a little bit more like a
[371]
scooter or that sort of thing
[373]
and then as you move up you start start
[375]
to see
[376]
a little bit better quality starts to
[377]
look a little bit more like a bicycle
[379]
another common question is how much do
[381]
they weigh
[382]
and this also can be all over the map
[385]
but i've seen
[387]
bikes start somewhere around 30 pounds
[389]
on the
[390]
lower weight of side of things maybe
[392]
there's some out there that are a little
[393]
bit
[394]
lighter and go upwards of over 100
[397]
pounds in the case of electric cargo
[399]
bikes and that sort of thing
[401]
so it really depends but i'd say most
[403]
electric bikes generally fall somewhere
[406]
in like high 40 pound to
[410]
mid 60 pound range you know a lot of
[412]
that weight is coming from
[413]
the battery and the motor but a lot of
[416]
times the other components on the bike
[418]
can be
[418]
reinforced and enhanced and there's
[420]
other features that might be included on
[422]
these bikes
[423]
to make them more comfortable or you
[426]
know
[426]
offer more utility and that sort of
[428]
thing so these can tend to add weight to
[430]
them
[430]
next question where are they
[432]
manufactured now
[434]
like a lot of my other answers you might
[436]
be seeing a trend here
[438]
this varies historically a lot of
[440]
electric bikes
[441]
or probably the majority of electric
[443]
bikes were manufactured in china
[445]
china happened to have the largest
[446]
market for electric bikes for their
[449]
actual domestic
[450]
market so i've seen a lot of the
[451]
products which were manufactured for the
[453]
domestic market
[454]
in china actually come to other markets
[458]
like the us and
[459]
europe and that sort of thing i imagine
[461]
some of the people that might be
[462]
watching this video
[463]
but actually the bike industry in
[465]
general
[466]
there's a lot of shifts that have
[468]
happened in previous years where a lot
[470]
of the manufacturing went from china
[472]
to taiwan and taiwan has become kind of
[475]
a special place for
[476]
bike manufacturing in asia and we see a
[479]
lot of electric bikes come
[481]
from taiwan but there's also many
[484]
manufacturers
[485]
in europe that's probably outside of
[488]
asia that's probably the most common
[490]
thing that you might see
[491]
is that there's many manufacturers in in
[494]
germany
[495]
now we're seeing a lot of manufacturing
[496]
for bike frames actually happening in
[498]
portugal now
[499]
other places like that we work with
[501]
another manufacturer that
[503]
builds their bikes in france the
[505]
netherlands
[506]
and copenhagen it's really all over the
[509]
place
[509]
we found that the quality can vary quite
[512]
a bit as well
[513]
when you're looking at these different
[514]
manufacturers but it's not always the
[516]
case it's just where the manufacturer is
[518]
located
[519]
i'm sure as many of you may know these
[522]
days
[523]
you know we operate in this kind of
[525]
global marketplace and global
[526]
manufacturing
[527]
and it's really about how these places
[530]
are managed and what the process is and
[533]
what the engineering
[534]
is behind these different facilities and
[537]
that sort of thing
[537]
don't necessarily be convinced just
[539]
because a bike was manufactured in a
[541]
specific place
[542]
that it's going to be this quality
[544]
although that might be one of the early
[546]
indicators of quality
[547]
from my shop specifically we primarily
[550]
work with
[551]
companies that manufacture from europe
[553]
but we do have
[554]
a couple of suppliers that manufacture
[556]
their bikes in taiwan
[558]
those ones they have a very specific
[560]
oversight
[561]
and they actually operate there as well
[563]
we've been pretty impressed with the
[565]
quality so
[566]
again don't take the location as the
[569]
pure indicator for
[571]
what the quality of that electric bike
[573]
is going to be one other important
[575]
topic in relation to where a bike is
[577]
manufactured is standards
[579]
now i should note that there are not
[581]
really any specific standards for
[584]
quality or testing or that sort of thing
[587]
throughout the world however in europe
[590]
there are many standards which are
[591]
developed and
[593]
required by many of the manufacturers
[595]
and their insurance providers and that
[597]
sort of thing that
[598]
they meet these certain standards so
[600]
we're a big proponent of this so
[603]
we really like working with
[604]
manufacturers that do have certain
[606]
testing protocols and that sort of thing
[608]
in place because
[609]
some of the manufacturers unfortunately
[610]
they just don't so the next question is
[612]
one that we really like to answer
[614]
it's can i carry a passenger or can i
[617]
carry kids on my electric bike
[619]
and although some places they might have
[621]
different laws and rules around this
[623]
the answer generally speaking is yes and
[626]
fortunately there's many bikes that are
[627]
specifically made to do this we actually
[630]
happen to specialize in offering these
[632]
bikes they're generally called
[633]
cargo bikes or cargo electric bikes we
[636]
have a variety of different options and
[637]
you can carry
[638]
one kid two kids sometimes three or even
[642]
four in some instances
[644]
you can carry a full-size adult really
[646]
if you wanted to
[647]
so it's pretty amazing what is possible
[650]
and also i guess thinking in that cargo
[652]
side of things
[653]
it kind of extends the utility of the
[655]
bike that it might be more competitive
[657]
with a
[657]
automobile okay so this next question is
[660]
related to
[661]
legality and we actually did a whole
[663]
video on the legality topic
[665]
you might want to check that out but
[667]
it's do i need a license and insurance
[670]
to ride an electric bike now i'm going
[673]
to answer this
[674]
question specific in the u.s
[677]
but some of these rules might be a
[679]
little bit different outside of the u.s
[681]
for the most part the answer is no you
[683]
don't need any special license you don't
[685]
need any special insurance and for the
[688]
most part
[689]
electric bike particularly in the u.s is
[691]
just considered a traditional bicycle
[693]
this can vary in some jurisdictions and
[696]
certainly can vary when you go outside
[699]
of the u.s
[700]
particularly in europe actually if you
[702]
have one of these high-speed electric
[704]
bikes that's
[705]
that can go 28 miles an hour or 45
[708]
kilometers per hour
[709]
you might need a special like moped
[711]
license it means
[712]
technically consider it something like a
[714]
moped for the most part you don't need
[715]
any special
[716]
license or insurance but i do recommend
[718]
that people are
[720]
you know familiar with the rules of the
[721]
road and it might be a good idea to get
[723]
insurance not necessarily just
[725]
to ensure your liability and that sort
[728]
of thing but
[728]
also for theft that could be really
[730]
helpful so this next question is kind of
[732]
related to the legality thing and we did
[734]
go a little bit deeper into this in that
[735]
video i mentioned before
[737]
but it's where can i ride my electric
[739]
bike
[740]
and similar to what i mentioned before i
[743]
mean you could pretty much
[744]
ride or treat your electric bike like a
[746]
traditional bicycle
[748]
for those standard 20 mile an hour ones
[750]
there could be some instances with the
[752]
28 mile an hour ones or particularly the
[754]
throttle activated bikes
[756]
that there might be certain regulations
[758]
on where you can ride them
[759]
uh for example some bike paths they
[762]
might not allow them
[763]
and that sort of thing so it's important
[765]
to be mindful of that but for the most
[766]
part you can ride an electric bike
[768]
anywhere you can ride a traditional bike
[770]
which is pretty nice
[772]
historically there's been some
[774]
restrictions around this but that's
[775]
really loosening up quite a bit
[777]
as education is improving as people
[779]
getting more familiar with
[781]
the technology and that sort of thing
[784]
in the future it'll be more clear so
[786]
another important question that comes up
[788]
all the time is how can i transport
[790]
my electric bike can i take it on a
[792]
plane
[793]
so first transporting electric bike it's
[795]
really not all that much different than
[797]
a normal bike
[798]
however if you're putting on a car rack
[800]
you have to note that the electric bike
[802]
can weigh a little bit more than a
[803]
normal
[804]
non-electric bike i would recommend
[806]
removing the battery that's going to
[807]
help you save a little bit of weight
[808]
there
[809]
generally speaking you might want to
[810]
look into a special rack that's
[812]
specifically made to carry electric
[814]
bikes because
[815]
if many of them can be over 40 pounds or
[818]
so
[819]
upwards of 50 60 pounds in many
[821]
instances
[822]
you know you can remove the battery that
[824]
might save you six pounds or
[826]
so generally speaking uh the hitch
[828]
mounted racks
[829]
will work the best but there might be
[831]
other trunk racks that you can kind of
[833]
figure out your way to do that my
[835]
general recommendation is a hitch
[836]
mounted rack or carry
[838]
inside the vehicle there are other ways
[840]
you might want to transport the
[842]
electric bike as well maybe taking on
[844]
train perhaps put it on a
[845]
bus for example one thing to note about
[848]
that
[848]
and this has been brought up from other
[850]
commenters that transport their electric
[852]
bike on a bus often
[854]
is the tire size can be important detail
[856]
because those racks can have different
[858]
sizes and that sort of thing so if you
[859]
have really wide tires or a really long
[862]
bike you might have trouble with that so
[863]
just
[864]
be mindful of that and do a bit of
[866]
research if that's considered an
[868]
important part of your
[869]
purchase or you know selection of
[871]
electric bike the
[872]
most common one that actually comes up
[874]
as a question because it's a little bit
[876]
confusing and it's definitely important
[877]
to note
[878]
is transporting electric bike on a plane
[881]
now
[881]
you are technically allowed to bring the
[883]
bike on the plane
[885]
there might be some special fees and
[887]
you're generally going to want to put it
[888]
inside of a special box
[890]
however you generally can't take an
[893]
electric bike battery on a plane
[894]
now this is part of an international
[896]
regulation where
[898]
you can't take anything that's over a
[899]
hundred watt hours
[901]
there are very few electric bikes or
[904]
really not much of any that i'm aware of
[907]
that have a hundred watt hour batteries
[910]
most of them
[910]
are at least 300 watt hours and
[913]
generally
[914]
four or five or more 100 watt hours so
[918]
that's not going to meet that regulation
[920]
so you can't take the battery on the
[921]
plane
[922]
and you might be wondering what do i do
[923]
with that how do i deal with that
[925]
it's kind of a challenging thing i want
[927]
to take my bike on a trip with me
[928]
there's a couple different options one
[930]
you can ship the whole bike with the
[931]
battery and everything to that specific
[933]
place it might cost a bit of money to do
[935]
so
[936]
you can take the bike on the plane and
[938]
take and then ship the battery
[940]
or in some instances you might even be
[942]
able to rent a battery in your
[944]
destination
[945]
this is really helpful if you have a
[947]
popular battery
[948]
uh someone that's a little bit more
[950]
common for example if you had a bosch
[952]
battery
[954]
this is something that we actually bring
[955]
up a lot because we primarily work with
[956]
bosch
[957]
is that throughout europe there's
[959]
actually many
[960]
dealers with bosch and some of them
[963]
might be willing to actually
[965]
rent you a battery while you're in town
[968]
and we've actually done this with people
[969]
that were visiting
[970]
our specific city from other places
[973]
they bring their bike along we rent them
[975]
a battery they use it while they're
[976]
staying there
[977]
and then you know give it back to us
[979]
that sort of thing
[980]
it's a really nice option well i hope
[982]
you guys found this video to be helpful
[984]
if you have other questions you think
[986]
that i should have answered
[988]
maybe we can cover in a future video as
[990]
i mentioned before so leave them in the
[992]
comments below and
[993]
i'll try to answer them quickly in the
[995]
comments
[996]
but i'll try to address them more
[997]
comprehensively in a future video as a
[1000]
part two if you will well i hope you
[1003]
enjoyed
[1003]
and i look forward to seeing you in a
[1005]
future video well see you soon
[1018]
[Music]
[1021]
you
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage