I have a Specialized Vado right now and I love it! I’ve ridden it for three seasons and I’ll probably hang onto it for quite a while. It’s essentially like this:
A handful of things I like about it:
- It’s just like… a normal bike.
- It’s only pedal assist, no throttle, so it’s still a bit of a workout riding it.
- Cool look, especially how the battery is integrated into the frame.
A few months back, my wife bought a Tern. It’s essentially like this:
She really likes it, and I’m jealous of it for a few reasons:
- She got the two-battery version, which gives it incredible range. We’ll probably never need that but it’s still cool.
- The Clubhouse is awesome and Ruby prefers riding in that over my bike.
- The kickstand is directly under the bike, meaning the bike stays perfectly straight up and down and stable when it’s in use.
- It can collapse down to fit in a trunk.
It’s not my favorite because I don’t love the mini tires (they both look weird and feel weird to me) and it feels underpowered to me (the hill up to our house is still a bitch to ride up even on full power).
So now that I’ve had hands-on experience with several different electric bikes, it’s fun to think about what my ideal electric bike would be.
- Normal-size wheels. Would be nice if it could adapt to mountain bike tires, slick city tires, or some kind of hybrid (gravel?) tires.
- A super stable kickstand that keeps the bike straight up.
- Amazing range. Would be cool to see bikes getting like 200 miles, so you could plan all-day rides.
- The screen on the handlebars should just be a phone mount. It would have a special app for while you’re riding (speedometer, odometer, and all the other data you normally get). Obviously, it charges the phone. Bonus: this way you don’t have to worry about removing the screen when you leave the bike locked up outside, because there isn’t one.
- Rubber belt drive. I test-drove a bike with this and its so smooth! I’m so sick of my derailers getting out of whack and the chain rubbing and being weird.
- A “clubhouse” in the back. Big enough for a kid or even two, up through grade school. Ideally mounted as low as possible, which I know is limited by the size of the rear tire, but still. Saddlebags off the sides of it for storage.
- I prefer pedal-assist, but I think I’d take an optional throttle-only usage if it was offered.
- A locking system somehow built into bike.
I’m not sure if I’d ever be able to get everything on my list, much like my ideal TV, but it’s still fun to think about. And if I get the itch to replace my Vado, I can come back to this blog post and remember all the things I’ve thought about.
The Riese & Müller Multicharger is pretty sweet and checks a lot of boxes:
I like your design points.
Don’t have a bike yet, but will.
My concern is it being stolen when I’m doing errands.
Should the bike design handle that, or should there be commercial bike racks that offer their own lock-down? I’m thinking of the rent-to-use types of racks freed with an app.
Thinking of an ultimate and best solution. Of course, best if the bike’s system alone could guarantee being theft-proof. Maybe some claw that would grab any would-be thief by the crotch and send a signal (ha).
I don’t know how other e-bikes work, but I can lock the hubs on my VanMoof which effectively makes it a 50lb. very awkward object to carry. I had thieves try to steal this bike earlier in the year and after smashing through the “unbreakable” lock, they were confused that the bike didn’t roll and ended up leaving it behind.
I dunno what the frame on your Vado is like, but if you have some space behind the bottom bracket where the chainstays meet the seat tube, you can clamp one of these bad boys on there: https://velo-orange.com/products/vo-retractable-dual-leg-kickstand?_pos=1&_sid=698670122&_ss=r
The Copenhagen is a great, stable kick stand. I have one on my commuter bike (an old 1980s Stumpjumper mountain bike).
ooooo NICE