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7 Mistakes when Buying an E-Bike

Nov 18, 2025 | E-Bike Benefits

The 7 Biggest Mistakes when Buying an E-Bike.

Don’t end up owning an expensive paper weight.

Don’t buy an Electric Bike that won’t get you where you want to go.

Electric bikes can change your life!

Bob Lippman in Moab with his Optibike R series

But they can also be a waste of money if the wrong bike is purchased for your needs.

I have seen people lose 50 pounds, eliminate prescription drugs and feel a decade younger when riding an electric bike. You can do this too, but you need to choose the correct electric bike for your needs.

I have also seen people buy bikes that will not climb the hills they need, have the battery go dead half way through their ride and have the bike fall apart after a few months riding.

There are hundreds of choices in the market for electric bikes, and they are not all the same. This short report tells you the 7 biggest mistakes not to make.

Each section includes some questions to ask the E-bike dealer when you are looking at bikes.

This report is a quick and short overview. For additional and more in depth information about each topic we have included links on some pages to other articles and videos.

For a more complete understanding of electric bikes, you can download best selling “The Electric Bike Book” here for free!

Mistake #1

Believing the Range Estimates of the Manufacturer

Unlike the car industry there is no “MPG standard” which all electric bikes are tested to.

The mileage claims by each E-bike manufacturer are just their own claims. When a company states a range of an E-bike, it is easy to alter the range. In fact an E-bike can have an infinite range if you do all the pedaling.

Your weight, the terrain and most importantly the speed affects the range of an E-bike. The best way to compare E-bike range is by comparing the battery energy in Kilowatt hours (KWh).

If two E-bikes have similar drive systems, such as mid drives with similar power, the one with the bigger battery will go further. If the battery is twice the size, it will go twice as far.

More Resources: https://optibike.com/electric-bike-basics/

Questions to ask when buying a bike:

  1. At what speed was the range estimate done?
  2. How much was the rider pedaling?
  3. What was the terrain?

Mistake #2

Buying a Hub Motor Bike to Climb Hills

There are two main types of electric bike drive systems:

Hub motors and Mid Drive motors.

While hub motors are simple and work fine on flat ground, they are unable to climb hills efficiently like mid drive systems do.

The reason is that the mid drive systems use the gears of the bicycle in parallel with the rider to maintain optimum efficiency on flat ground and steep hills.

A hub motor is like a fixed gear bike and only optimized for one speed, so they tend to be inefficient climbing hills and can often overheat.

More Resources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL7tTUZCFDs

Questions to ask when buying a bike:

  1. Does this bike have a hub or mid drive motor?
  2. What is the continuous power of the motor?
  3. What is the peak torque of the motor?

Mistake #3

Not Understanding How to Compare Batteries

The battery is like the gas tank in your car.

Ultimately, the range of two bikes with the same type of motor, such as a mid drive is determined by the size of the battery in Watt Hours (Wh).

A battery is described by both its Voltage (V) and Amp Hours (Ah).

Most E-bike batteries come in either 36 or 48 Volts and are between 8 and 30 Amp Hours.

The Watt Hours are equal to the Voltage times the Amp Hours.

Watt Hours = Voltage * Amp Hours.

If you have a 36 V 10 Ah battery, it has 360 Wh of energy. Which means if you have a bike with a 360W motor it will run for 1 Hour.

More watt hours means longer distance, just like a larger fuel tank in a car.

More Resources:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkuJzOV9VFs

Questions to ask when buying a bike:

  1. What is the Watt Hours of the battery?
  2. How much does the battery weigh?
  3. What is the Watts Hours per kg of the battery?

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November 18, 2025

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