Anybody tried this little amazingly inexpensive Costco folding electric bike they are selling in the store now? (1 Viewer)

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e9999

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just saw this, could not believe how inexpensive it is. Like $350 or so. Disc brakes, 14" wheels, folding handlebar tube, 350W (!). They claim 15miles max. If that is true, that is a great deal and I would get one. Perfect to fit in the back of the cruiser or any SUV. 41lbs. 15mph.
The one issue I can see is they claim a 36V battery at 6Ah. That is really only about 2x what my drill is carrying. Not much. With 18V 5Ah, I can get something like 15-20 mins of fairly constant chainsawing. So I kind of doubt you'd bet more than 1/2 hr of serious pedal assist. Which makes me doubt the 15miles claim TBH.
But then again, there is the great Costco no question return policy...

Anybody tried one?

added: just saw a whole bunch of reviews on Costco. Surprisingly good actually. There are also some YT vids on it. Sounds like the range may not be too far off actually. mmm.... And the battery is a generic shape so easy to upgrade...
 
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What? No pics?
Fail.
 
it's called the Jetson Bolt Pro.
Amazingly, it seems like it started to be sold at $300 just a few months ago, then went up to $330 quickly and now is $350. Must be the high demand. Still seems to be a good deal for what it is. Limited, obviously, but if you need / can use a small folding bike with limited range...
 
One of the doctors who works with my wife bought one, rode it for one month, and returned it. He used to commute to and from work about 3 miles away, 6 miles total.

He says it’s a piece of garbage. The motor just totally died one day.

There’s a reason why good electric bikes cost literally thousands of dollars.
 
I'm sure something's gotta give at that price range, indeed. It's just unbelievably low. The battery alone on any reasonable ebike costs more than that. But there are many surprisingly good reviews on it out there so some at least must be going for a while.

On a more general note, however, I have done a bit of research on pricing of ebikes in general, and I'm reaching the conclusion that most ebikes sold whole so to speak are vastly overpriced over what you can build a nice one for from an existing pedal bike with custom parts, and it's pretty easy too. It seems like this is still the Wild West for ebikes and lots of people / companies are trying to make the big bucks on the trend/fad while it's still new.
 
Right now, I think an electrified version of a dual suspension mountain bike is like $1500-$2000 more.
 
Not exactly sure what you meant there, but from what I recall you can electrify your existing mountain bike with a 750W middrive motor and a good 48 or 52V battery around 15Ah for about $1,000 or a bit more total. Which will run circles around many $2,500 and up premade ebikes. The former implies you have a bike already but you can get a good one off ebay for something like $300 and I see a lot of older ones being given away for free. The beauty of the custom upgrade approach is that you can remove your components and put them on a better bike later on if you want, it's completely modular.
 
I don't want to belabor the point any further since I won't buy one given my own needs but I was quite surprised to see how low they can sell an electric bike for.
Anyways, to finish this up, I just saw a review on YT of the bike by a guy who is a professional custom ebike builder. So a bit biased towards high power I imagine, but I do like his perspective on ebikes in general and his no-nonsense DIY approach. And he's not a cult fanboy of the Costco bike, like some of the other "reviewers" online. here is what he has to say if you are interested in the bike, no big surprise:
 

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