Cycling guide: Buying an e-bike: How much should a good e-bike be worth to me?

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I want to buy a new e-bike and I noticed that some models start at prices below 1000 francs. How much should a good e-bike be worth to me?
C. Rossier, Winterthur Z.H.

With e-bikes, as with most things in life: quality comes at a price. Before buying, I need to ask myself these basic questions: What do I want to use the e-bike for and how far do I want to ride it? For example, will I only need the electric bike to occasionally go to the supermarket in town, or are longer nature tours planned as well? There are recommended e-bikes starting from just 1,500 francs. Models starting below this are often, but not always, of poor quality and are therefore only recommended to a limited extent.

Pay attention to the ingredients

Since an e-bike is significantly more complex than a regular bicycle, there are other questions that need to be clarified before purchasing: For example, does the e-bike drive come from a well-known brand such as Bosch or Bafang? These guarantee spare parts supply and high-quality service even years after purchase. This quality and this service are not free, but they ensure sustainability (also interesting: Where do the raw materials for e-bike batteries come from?).

I should also pay attention to the quality of important components such as brakes and gears. Due to their higher weight and higher speeds, e-bikes must have disc brakes. The circuit should be lightweight and work well. To test this, one needs to test ride an e-bike; ideally for one or several days.

Battery size also matters

However, with the quality of the drive system and components, the price quickly rises to over 1,500 to 2,000 francs. The size of the battery is also very important, as the battery is usually the most expensive component of an e-bike, costing between 500 and 1000 francs. But the price has almost no upper limit: particularly elegant and light, high-tech e-bikes can now cost up to 20,000 francs.

This article was created with the support of Velosuisse.

Source: Blick