Bought me an e-bike today

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MadScientist

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Jul 15, 2001
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I've been looking for awhile and reading tons of reviews on several e-bikes. I'm not a mountain biker but an old fart who needs fat tires for stability. After reading several positive reviews, the price + free accesories and a $50. off miltary discount I purchased this one from lectric bikes. Lectric bikes is making some improvements to the original model and the new and improved ones are suppose to ship the week of March 4th. It's a class 3 bike, maybe I should take out more life insurance. :)
 
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pete6032

pete6032

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Dec 3, 2010
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MadScientist said:
I've been looking for awhile and reading tons of reviews on several e-bikes. I'm not a mountain biker but an old fart who needs fat tires for stability. After reading several positive reviews, the price + free accesories and a $50. off miltary discount I purchased this one from lectric bikes. Lectric bikes is making some improvements to the original model and the new and improved ones are suppose to ship the week of March 4th. It's a class 3 bike, maybe I should take out more life insurance. :)
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Where are you planning to ride it? Streets? Off-road? Mountain?
 
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MadScientist

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Jul 15, 2001
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Mainly streets and off-road. The main 4 lane not far from my house has bike lanes on both sides. Maryville/Alcoa, TN has a greenway. We have a popup camper and mainly camp at the state parks so the fat tires will be perfect for park trails. There's also bike trails in Smokey Mountain National Park, not far from us; and in Knoxville and Townsend.
 
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mindless1

mindless1

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Aug 11, 2001
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If not riding it in snow or sand, first thing I'd do is swap out the fat knobbies for a smaller tire, with street tread if not going off-road. I can appreciate not wanting a skinny road bike tire if the roads are rough but there is a middle ground, even for most off-road uses.

On the other hand if you have a spinal injury then I could see the higher displacement then airing it down, in conjunction with a padded seat and possibly a shock absorbing seat stem as well.

Edit: Fat tires are not perfect for (existing, light) trails. A ~2.5" wide tire is plenty for that. Fatter becomes inefficient, slower, awkward. The trend in ebikes to market them for other uses is inappropriate.
 
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MadScientist

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Jul 15, 2001
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I'll give the fat tires a try before I spend more money and time on 2.5" wide tires. I think this bike has more than enough power to compensate for the fat tires.
 
mindless1

mindless1

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Aug 11, 2001
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I'd consider that video to be owner bias aka ignorant bliss. I mean similar things could be stated about the majority of standard ebikes, without the detriments of fat tires.

No matter how *good* it is, for road or light trail use it will be better with optimal tires for the specific uses, not to mention that the knobby tires make extra noise and transmit vibration even on silky smooth roads, and it sacrifices traction on paved roads which is more important on slick corners. They also included too narrow a rim for a tire that fat, adding to deformation while cornering. If not kept inflated enough, that can even be a safety hazard.

Regardless, now that you own it, it makes sense to use the fat tire *up*, get their wear out of them and then consider a more optimal tire for your next tire purchase.

DO be careful taking curves at speed!!
 
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M

MadScientist

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Jul 15, 2001
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mindless1

mindless1

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Heh, I prefer larger diameter tires, but could easily see making that compromise for a folding bike, storage purposes esp. take along for camping.
 
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MadScientist

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Jul 15, 2001
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I received the Ride1Up Portola bike yesterday. It took 6 days to ship from Salt Lake City to mid TN by FedEx. Besides the larger battery I also ordered the Passenger seat kit (seat and retractable foot pegs). It came ~90% assembled. Assembly of it and the passenger seat was easy. The bike is a tank, well constucted, weighs 59 lbs. I rode it around the neighborhodd today to make sure everything was working properly, no problems. This is a class 3 e-bike, capable of 28mph. I'm going to need more life insurance. When folded it fits perfectly in the back of my Hyundai Tucson.
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M

MadScientist

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Jul 15, 2001
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The Ride1Up Portola's rear rack has a 130lbs. weight limit. So obviously the passenger seat is not made for us biggins, except maybe my wife who is 5'2" tall and weighs 115 lbs. I intend to use the passenger seat for my 5 grandkids, who are 3 to 8 years old. The seat has a quick release latch on it to easily remove it when not needed.
 
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Micrornd

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Mar 2, 2013
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When you really start using it, would you please post back - What you weigh and how far it goes on a full charge, Thanks!
 
sdifox

sdifox

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Sep 30, 2005
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MadScientist said:
The Ride1Up Portola's rear rack has a 130lbs. weight limit. So obviously the passenger seat is not made for us biggins, except maybe my wife who is 5'2" tall and weighs 115 lbs. I intend to use the passenger seat for my 5 grandkids, who are 3 to 8 years old. The seat has a quick release latch on it to easily remove it when not needed.
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So you are gonna load up the five grand kids, pick up speed then hit the quick release? What kind of monster are you?
 
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IronWing

IronWing

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Jul 20, 2001
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I was going to comment on the lack of rain-proofness on this model. Then I remembered that biking in the rain sucks and was literally the reason I bought a car, so I didn't have to bike in the rain anymore. You already have a car so you're good there.
 
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MadScientist

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Jul 15, 2001
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Micrornd said:
When you really start using it, would you please post back - What you weigh and how far it goes on a full charge, Thanks!
Click to expand...
It's been 4-5 months since I purchased this bike and have put about 250 miles on it. I ride it mostly on the Maryville-Alcoa, TN Greenway, which is about 10 miles long one way. I'm ~5'10" tall and weigh 190 lbs. The bike fits me perfectly. Range of course varies with the battery size, I have the upgrade 13.5ah battery, and if you use throttle mostly and/or what pedal assist mode. I can go 20-25 miles in PA 3 or 4 with battery power to spare.
So far, except for some QC issues, I have had no problems with the bike. There is a Ride1Up factory tour video that praises their QC. You can read about issues I and another poster have found with it on this forum: https://ebikesforum.com/threads/ride1up-portola-thread.5915/ My member name there is RCP.
Except for the fact that it is heavy, 59 lbs, may be a bit more with the upgraded battery, for the price, IMO, this is the best foldable e-bike out there.
Full review of it here: https://electricbikereport.com/ride1up-portola-review/
 
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