It's really not that difficult to buy an e-bike that doesn't need an app to run, only the fancy ones really have that
this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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I was about to say, aren't most e-Bikes still "dumb"? At least that's my experience here in Germany.
The problem is less about e-Bikes specifically and more about companies locking product features to their cloud, which is frustratingly happening more and more with just about everything that's electrical.
My US-made e-Bike is also "dumb". A regular key to unlock it, a simple onboard trip computer, no apps, no bluetooth, a user replaceable battery... I can see the appeal of a "Tesla-like" e-Bike with a fancy app but reading about these companies going bankrupt makes me glad I got a simple bike.
Sounds like a very different situation to what I'm used to in Germany. I can get my e-bike repaired and serviced at small local shops without any issue. And probably 80% of e-bikes use Bosch motors and batteries (the rest mainly Shimano and Yamaha), so bike shops will be familiar with those.
Van Moof is/was an outlier. AFAIK all other Dutch brands can get serviced almost anywhere.
And this is why I will never spend a cent on any of those fancy high-end ebikes. They are loaded with proprietary software and hardware that make repairs difficult or downright impossible.
My daily workhorse ebike is from 2013 and uses generic parts all over. Even the battery has been re-celled and the internals replaced with generic parts.
If your bike requires an app to function then there is no other way to say this - you just got scammed.
What bike do you use and would you recommend it? I’ve been looking for an e-bike recently since I work so close to home, but I haven’t found any that seem reputable and a good value. I’m definitely looking for one that’s easily repairable and not paired to a specific brand’s software or proprietary parts.
Granted, I’ve only been passively looking (I.e. when I see an ad or doing a quick google search sometimes), but from what I can tell most of the advertised bikes are just the same handful of models with a different logo slapped on it and dubious claims about its performance.
It's an old Easy-Motion Neo Xtrem ebike. Long discontinued and the company doesn't even operate in my country anymore, but because the bike uses generic parts I can easily keep it going.
Genuinely anti consumer article. Extreme anti right to repair sentiment.
I thought you were kidding.
The bottom line: Electric vehicles, whether they have two wheels or four, nearly always come with sophisticated software that needs to be maintained by the manufacturer.
- Buying such a vehicle is therefore a bet that the manufacturer will remain in business and will continue to support its legacy vehicles.
- The problem is that consumers don't have enough information to be able to realistically judge that risk.
Fucking hell, this was begging for a corporate boot to lick.
It's not really about ebikes. Louis Rossmann did a nice video here https://youtube.com/watch?v=UMSIdqdIldw
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