Okay, if I were to get an ebike, I'd get one that has a key.
Of course I'd have to live somewhere else and I'm not moving any time soon, but I appreciate that some ebikes require a key for them to work. 
I have a fat tire 2,500 watt bike that goes about 40 mph. Just got an EUC that I can’t wait to ride
2,500 watts is exceptional, didn’t know anyone made one that powerful. What brand and model is it? And what’s an EUC?
They’re not for everyone.
My situation is good for ebikes. I have city streets that I can easily navigate for 1 mile to reach a long MUP (multi-use path) that runs alongside an expressway. The MUP extends about 5 miles in one direction and about a dozen miles in the opposite direction; at that far end I could take more city streets a couple miles to reach some mountain bike trails or other MUPs. I also aspire to spend more time camping on national forest lands and BLM lands, where there often are many back roads and trails to explore; I hope to have a travel trailer with an inverter and enough solar recharging the trailer’s battery to use that system for replenishing the ebike’s battery each day. Cruising 20-30 miles daily through the woods at zero fuel cost should be a fun way to sight-see, smell the forest scents, and stay in shape.
I'd like to get one, and I can afford it, but we kinda live in the middle of nowhere, and it's not safe to bike around here.
If we lived in the middle of town, buying one would be a no-brainer.
@Rex, i’m glad to hear that you have Paths to ride.
@wle, when commuting to work are you on the street or do you have bike paths?
Please be careful and alert, i worry about street riding due to negligent drivers reading cell phones.
Twice in the past year, daytime and night, i have had approaching cars cross the centerline into my lane requiring me to swerve off the road into the grassy shoulder to avoid a head-on collision. A quick evasive emergency maneuver with no time to think or look for pedestrians or bikers in the right of way. It’s can be dangerous to drive off the road like that, catch a tire in soft ground and flip the car.
Even on residential 25 mph roads, once or twice a year in my neighborhood on a 1 mile section, we see brick mailboxes plowed over by negligent drivers drifting off the side of the road.
It’s a pet peeve, please excuse the rant.
Is it one you bought or built yourself? I’ve been looking into building one, but not really sure where to start and what frame to get.
Wow! I mean……wow. My butt is puckered up pretty good at 20 mph. Of course, I’m an old fart but I can’t imagine 40 mph on a bike. Good for you though, party on! 
Today I attached a Wurkkos WK20 to the handlebar with a clamp. 1000 lumen headlight.
The picture angle makes it look like the wires are in the way, but they aren’t. Well, I will have a bit of shadow off to one side.
i’m on roads but 60 % is almost isolated
about half the rest at least has a bike lane
it;s a good route
almost any other riding i do , is worse than going to work
i am not shy about taking the lane
wle
I have a 29+ mountain bike I been looking at converting. I mainly just bomb around on my property checking fences. I live way too far out in the sticks to use a bike to get to town. I ride it to the local gas station from time to time and that’s only a 10 mile round trip.
I’ve had an ebike since 2010. My current is a now defunct Prodecotech Oasis with an Outlaw 1000 Watt motor, Grin Phaserunner controller and just recently, rebuilt batteries, each 52V/22.5 Ah batteries. I can do about 34 mph in no-wind conditions but I mostly cruise along at 13-15 mph. The bike came with only 1 battery. I used a second stock rack mounting and machined a special wedge to mount another stock battery in the triangle. I now have enough capacity for about 125 miles pedaling full time with a moderate leg load. I can run one at a time or both in Parallel, which I always do to keep the load light on the cells. I rarely charge beyond 4.0 Volts per cell so my life cycle will be great. I’ve got the Phaserunner set to limit power to 1,600 Watts.
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Quite a machine!
The WK20 is fairly throwy and has a really good beam profile for ebiking: good light on the pathway even at medium-high (about 350 lumens), and not too much spill to blind any oncoming driver when I’m on the street. But it has a fat tailcap that won’t fit through the clamp. So when it’s time to recharge, I’d have to loosen the clamp, remove the tailcap, then slip the light forward and remove the cell. Bah, too much trouble. I just found a Klarus A1 (the earlier version) for cheap and ordered one, so I can charge via USB-C while in place on the bike.
For a taillight, so far I’m just clipping a Quark RGB (set for red strobe) to my belt in a way that makes it point rearward. I have yet to decide if there’s a good spot near the rear wheel to mount another clamp. I do have a Fitorch MR35 which has a far-brighter red LED.
I use the Garmin rear radar tailight. Besides being very highly visible in strobe mode to the rear, I find the radar info invaluable. I also use a third eye mirror and turn my head before I venture left.
Never heard of the Garmin light. Interesting tech.
since this is a “budget” forum, i am interested in the cost of e-bikes.
how much, including shipping, taxes, etc. did you pay?
how much was spent on extra batteries and maintenance?
how much did the additions or “mods” cost?
i would like to buy an e-bike, but i cannot
make the monetary figures “work” for me.
maybe you have figured out how.
please post. thanks.
i got one for 399 shipping included from walmart last xmas
it was super cheap
it is a decent bike but the battery is not very long lasting
that is prob about as cheap as you could go for a factory made one
i see now they are 700
hyperbike urban ebike
something like that
prob for 300 more you could get a big enough battery, but on some other bike that i do not know what it is
also the ped-elec feature is annoying
when the motor actually starts, is unpredictable
it is very hard to start on a hill, you have to start pedaling [a 60 lb bike] uphill, before the motor will start
when it does start, it is usually ‘lurchy’
throttle control would be better but i assume that is more $$$$
wle
I bought a used one. It’s a chinese mid-drive kit that was about $1000 new, but I got it installed on a used bike with about 50 miles on the kit for $1000.
The decent chinese mid-drives ride and respond almost as nice as the expensive Bosch drives on the $5k+ brand-name ebikes. Mine has great range, too. I test rode some $600 bikes that had front hub drive, and low-cap 24V systems. I wouldn’t waste any money on those. Looks like they’re $1100 now. Mine (and some others were like this 5 years ago) has a plastic drive gear. That makes it quieter, but weaker. It’s supposedly easy to replace, but I haven’t needed to yet. I put about 800 miles on mine, and haven’t ridden it in over a year.
These days, Radpower and Lectric seem to have popular budget models that get pretty good reviews.