Let's talk about the terrible trends of eBikes
eBikes
eBikes are an absolutely awesome innovation. In a world filled with trucks and SUVs, ebikes are an incredibly efficient, safe, and eco-friendly form of transportation, and I would argue THE solution to an absolutely incredible amount of waste and senseless deaths found on our roadways on an ongoing basis.
In fact, according to many studies, ebikes are actually even more efficient than analog bikes, as in they can more efficiently turn electricity into pedal power than your body can turn your Costco rotisserie chicken into pedal power.
And yet, almost every eBike suffers from the same awful trends:
The app
The app brings with itself all sorts of problems. For one, having to whip out your phone to change any settings. Some use them for showing them for displaying speed (which is unnecessary) or changing power levels. Some of them are more dependent on the app than others. This often drains the battery on your phone. Also most certainly that company is selling information about you to data brokers. This is really the main reason why every eBike has an app, just like every TV now comes bundled with it's own streaming service software instead of plugging in an external device like we used to.
More importantly, many apps have dependency on OEM servers. This means they require a cellular or other connection, which makes their use very annoying and slow. And despite what tech companies would have you believe, even in large cities there are still often dead zones.
And most importantly, these dependencies mean when the company goes under, these bikes essentially turn into bricks overnight. Your several thousand dollar device is completely broken.
Fat Tires
Almost every eBike comes with fat tires. Why? Presumably for compliance (ride smoothness). What's the problem? Efficiency. Fat tires have high rolling resistance. If you've ever ridden a mountain bike, you know the significant increase in energy it requires to pedal something like this. Only these are usually larger than that.
Increased rolling resistance = less efficiency = more battery = more $$$.
The only bikes that need fat tires are ones you intend to ride through mud/sand/snow, which, presumably, almost no one is doing with these things.
Suspension
Most of these eBikes also almost always include some sort of suspension fork. Again, these are unnecessary. Will they make your ride more compliant and comfortable? Yes, but at what cost? These suspension forks require ongoing maintenance, including periodic complete disassembly and rebuild. It's also just another moving component/failure point. Especially with many of them being no-name Chinese brands. Not to mention, yet another cost inflation. And what do you get in return? A very minimal increase in ride comfort.
Components
A lot of these ebikes come with non-standard components from brands you've never heard of. If something breaks on them (which they will, because they're cheap), good luck getting a replacement.
Aesthetics
Here comes a very hot take: most trendy ebikes are ugly as sin. Often times because they have to have giant batteries shoved into the downtube, due to the above inefficiencies.
Often because they have "step through" V-shaped designs. That's a fair trade-off if you are truly SO inflexible that you can't throw your leg over the top tube or seat. But it's U-G-L-Y.
Enter the Ride1Up Roadster V3
Matthew S
To be clear, I am not sponsored and have never even contacted Ride1Up so I have no bias other than my bias for beautiful, cost-effective, and practical bikes.
However, this bike differs from every other ebike I've seen in all of the above ways.
It has no app, no fat tires, no suspension, standard size, name brand components from the likes of Shimano and Schwalbe that can be replaced/upgraded with other standard-sized, name brand components, and it's absolutely beautiful (especially if you get the belt-drive version), all at a very reasonable $1400 price. Very simple and understated. Minimal branding (although I strongly prefer none, I've only ever seen 1 bike in my life that came with none).
It's very practical, even including fenders, which are pretty much mandatory if you don't want to arrive at your destination covered in road muck. It can be optioned with a cargo rack and panniers (little bags on the side) so it can carry groceries or other actual cargo.
It doesn't have cables and wiring hanging all over the place.
As mentioned earlier, it can be optioned with a belt-drive, which does offer some trade-offs. Most importantly and obviously is a loss of gear range, which won't work for me due to the fairly large hills right outside my door. But if you live in a flat area like Florida or Houston, this is a good choice, as it's a zero maintenance system that will probably last the life of the bike. The motor can make up for some lost gear range. Over time a bike chain will wear out and lose efficiency, while the carbon belt drive will not. And it looks oh-so-good...
The lack of shifter cleans up the cockpit even more...