Chinese EMTB's

[LordSpam]

Does anyone have any experience with Chinese EMTB's seen these or similar setups on aliexpress.

Electric Mountain Bike 27.5 Full Suspension | Bafang Electric Mountain Bike - Bike - Aliexpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

I know its not going to be the greatest spec but for the price gives lots of room for upgrades a bit like Robs done with his stilus.

 

[Astom22]

2 year quality or 2 year warranty?

 

[maynard]

Made in China. Same as my Levo . Woa 28 kgs . So that's what my extra $ 5000 pays for . Oh and brakes ,handling , suspension and stuff

 

[GrandPaBrogan]

Does anyone have any experience with Chinese EMTB's seen these or similar setups on aliexpress.

View attachment 42556

Electric Mountain Bike 27.5 Full Suspension | Bafang Electric Mountain Bike - Bike - Aliexpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

I know its not going to be the greatest spec but for the price gives lots of room for upgrades a bit like Robs done with his stilus.

I'll comment on two aspects, a bike frame like that in particular, and the motor:

The Bike Frame:
• Upgrading components like forks, rear shock, dropper post, drive train, brakes (derailleur, cassette, shifters, crank arms, pedals) over time ends up waaay more expensive in the long run - because you'll be purchasing these individual items at retail prices. When buying a complete bike, the company gathered all the components together from wholesale prices. You're better off buying an eMTB with decent componentry on interest-free hire purchase (or finance) if you can find it. The idea is to not have to upgrade anything.
• What you can't upgrade is the frame itself, and judging from that photo you could have problems with the pivot points and linkages that comprise the rear suspension. Depending on how hard you ride it might not be a problem, but if it breaks then you're stuck with an inadequate frame even if you can get it replaced repeatedly under warranty. That bike frame is no where near the quality level of Rob's Stylus.

The Motor:
• The bike appears to show a mid-drive "cradle mount" Bafang motor, but the inset shows a different Bafang motor which is a BB mount same as what you will find in conversion kits. Careful of AliExpress ads. I get emails advertising low prices, but when you click to order the prices jump up hoping you won't realise.
• I actually have a MTB with a BBS-01 motor. The good: They're everywhere and there's lots of them... so if you have an issue, you're bound to find someone over the internet that has the solution. It's very powerful and torquey, almost dead silent, and has incredibly low power drain so unexpectedly more battery mileage. They have a plastic gear on the inside so no belts to break or snap. Appears to be better sealed against water ingress. The bad: There's lots of external wires and connectors. The display and power control switch feels dinky. On stock form the power-surge is quite abrupt (but can be infinitely reprogrammed). The chainring and the chainline has a weird offset. The crank arms are mounted on a "square tapered" BB axle, so not good if you are an aggressive jumper or enduro rider. The right pedal is farther out than the left which is a known quirk of the Bafang BBS motors.
• You can never be sure of the battery quality. Chinese batteries sometimes use high quality matched cells, but some are low quality and there's no way of knowing. My current battery is 14Ah 36V premium quality components and it leaves my Giant Trance battery for dead which will drain down to the last dot where as my Chinese battery will only go down by only one bar... along the same distance. My previous Chinese battery however was useless.

My advice:
If you do mostly commuting and easy recreational river trail rides, that bike could very well be fine. Subject it to anything more... it's likely going to be woefully inadequate. If you're envisaging changing the componentry for it to eventually cope with whatever you plan to do with it, I'd say it's the wrong bike for you. I'd say that for every brand of bike even the high end ones. If budget is an issue, you might be better off buying a reputable brand used acoustic MTB already set up with the correct high end components, then get a Bafang BBS conversion motor installed. That will get you up and running in the meantime to enjoy the eBiking experience. Just be aware, it's NOT gonna give you true EEB joy, and that most conversion setups places the Bafang motor quite low and could be hit by rocks or other obstacles present along Grade 2+ rated MTB trails and tracks. You want your donor bike to have a frame with a straight down tube that goes straight down to the BB shell of the frame. Many modern acoustic bike frames have the downtube jutting forward from the BB shell - kinda like with an elbow bend (a modern design trend)... avoid that kind of frame style if you're considering a conversion kit.
.

 

[Steve38]

This could be you

 

[LordSpam]

I'll comment on two aspects, a bike frame like that in particular, and the motor:

The Bike Frame:
• Upgrading components like forks, rear shock, dropper post, drive train, brakes (derailleur, cassette, shifters, crank arms, pedals) over time ends up waaay more expensive in the long run - because you'll be purchasing these individual items at retail prices. When buying a complete bike, the company gathered all the components together from wholesale prices. You're better off buying an eMTB with decent componentry on interest-free hire purchase (or finance) if you can find it. The idea is to not have to upgrade anything.
• What you can't upgrade is the frame itself, and judging from that photo you could have problems with the pivot points and linkages that comprise the rear suspension. Depending on how hard you ride it might not be a problem, but if it breaks then you're stuck with an inadequate frame even if you can get it replaced repeatedly under warranty. That bike frame is no where near the quality level of Rob's Stylus.

The Motor:
• The bike appears to show a mid-drive "cradle mount" Bafang motor, but the inset shows a different Bafang motor which is a BB mount same as what you will find in conversion kits. Careful of AliExpress ads. I get emails advertising low prices, but when you click to order the prices jump up hoping you won't realise.
• I actually have a MTB with a BBS-01 motor. The good: They're everywhere and there's lots of them... so if you have an issue, you're bound to find someone over the internet that has the solution. It's very powerful and torquey, almost dead silent, and has incredibly low power drain so unexpectedly more battery mileage. They have a plastic gear on the inside so no belts to break or snap. Appears to be better sealed against water ingress. The bad: There's lots of external wires and connectors. The display and power control switch feels dinky. On stock form the power-surge is quite abrupt (but can be infinitely reprogrammed). The chainring and the chainline has a weird offset. The crank arms are mounted on a "square tapered" BB axle, so not good if you are an aggressive jumper or enduro rider. The right pedal is farther out than the left which is a known quirk of the Bafang BBS motors.
• You can never be sure of the battery quality. Chinese batteries sometimes use high quality matched cells, but some are low quality and there's no way of knowing. My current battery is 14Ah 36V premium quality components and it leaves my Giant Trance battery for dead which will drain down to the last dot where as my Chinese battery will only go down by only one bar... along the same distance. My previous Chinese battery however was useless.

My advice:
If you do mostly commuting and easy recreational river trail rides, that bike could very well be fine. Subject it to anything more... it's likely going to be woefully inadequate. If you're envisaging changing the componentry for it to eventually cope with whatever you plan to do with it, I'd say it's the wrong bike for you. I'd say that for every brand of bike even the high end ones. If budget is an issue, you might be better off buying a reputable brand used acoustic MTB already set up with the correct high end components, then get a Bafang BBS conversion motor installed. That will get you up and running in the meantime to enjoy the eBiking experience. Just be aware, it's NOT gonna give you true EEB joy, and that most conversion setups places the Bafang motor quite low and could be hit by rocks or other obstacles present along Grade 2+ rated MTB trails and tracks. You want your donor bike to have a frame with a straight down tube that goes straight down to the BB shell of the frame. Many modern acoustic bike frames have the downtube jutting forward from the BB shell - kinda like with an elbow bend (a modern design trend)... avoid that kind of frame style if you're considering a conversion kit.
.

Thanks GrandPaBrogan that's was the advice I was after. I'd recognised that doing it this way may not have been the best way but hadn't appreciated all the issues.

 

[Slowroller]

There are more "emtbs" coming from China these days. They aren't in the same level of quailty as those from established bike makers/designers, but cheaper, and more powerful since they don't care about the laws at all. Like everything else bike related that comes out of China designed by people that don't know bikes, you get what you pay for.

Frey is actually knocking at some of the big guys door with this one, it's not terrible.
M600 2.0 M600 - Frey Bike International 27.5 kg

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There are two things that FREY doesn’t mess around with: quality and power. The Jinhua, China-based electric bicycle manufacturer lays...

electrek.co

Sondors' powerful new Bafang Ultra mid-drive e-bikes w/ 1kWh battery start at $1,999

Sondors has just revealed three new high-powered electric bicycles known as the Sondors Rockstar, Cruiser and LX. The new models...

electrek.co

 

[LordSpam]

The Frey M600 looks interesting seems a good spec and looks a nice shape, although reviews are limited they seem positive.

 

[Mcharza]

Made in China. Same as my Levo . Woa 28 kgs . So that's what my extra $ 5000 pays for . Oh and brakes ,handling , suspension and stuff

Like everything else is done in China. This is called profit maximization. We western have done it, but this has been designed by the Chinese themselves ?

 

[CodyDog]

Remember the old adage...."You get what you pay for".

 

[KCMitch]

If you are looking to save some money look on e bay for a used ebike. They are all over the place. Contact the seller and ask every question you can think of and ask for extra pictures. I bought my Cannondale ebike, a demo, on e bay for about 1500 less than the shop had them for. Granted it was last years model but it had less than 25 miler on her.

 

[urastus]

The Frey M600 looks interesting seems a good spec and looks a nice shape, although reviews are limited they seem positive.

Try to confirm the reviews are genuine. There are Chinese businesses that specialise in creating accounts and posting reviews How Chinese Sellers are Manipulating Amazon in 2020

 

[hanuman]

looks like China isnt that popular in this forum.

 

[KeithR]

looks like China isnt that popular in this forum.

You can't possibly be assuming that not being impressed by certain business practices equates to a dislike of the entire country.

And a crappy bike is a crappy bike, wherever it comes from.

 

[Slowroller]

looks like China isnt that popular in this forum.

And how many of us are riding on Chinese made frames and parts lol?

 

[RickBullotta]

It's not about where it's made...

The issue with something like that bike would be support. You'll get almost none. Imagine having to ship that thing back to Shenzen. LOL.

A Chinese made bike purchased through a dealer or online presence with support in your home country, or better yet, at local shops, is a far safer bet for a bike with the complexity and potential issues such as an eMTB. On balance, eMTBs are reliable, but when something goes wrong, you'll want to know your investment won't be worth nothing instantly.

 

[John Beedham]

I've used Chinese consumables for the last 5 years or so ... the money I save gets spent on expensive, non-Chinese upgrades ... btw ... with 10000 kms 'on the clock', my bike has nevet run better ... ZTTO Official Store is usually my starting point on Aliexpress ... Chainrings, sprockets, cables and hoses, brakepads, rotors and chains plus other servicing consumables like headset bearings, cable ends, frame protection etc.... never done my money, over 150 purchases, all 3 disputes resulted in full refunds and the process was easy. As I'm a retiree on a fixed income and, with no well stocked LBS within 2 hours, Aliexpree saves lots of time and money!