My Journey (so far) With Sailnovo’s Fairly Cheap Ebike

I have recently joined the ebike revolution in a small way. It occurred to me that now that we have a garage it could be handy for my wife & I to upgrade to a one-and-a-half car family with the help of an electric one-person vehicle, although I knew practically nothing about such things.

A little research showed me that getting something that would really do car stuff (carry cargo, protect me from the elements, go much faster than regular-biking) would be impractical, but that a small folding ebike could both help me get around and have the added bonus of fitting inside our small car, which would allow me to meet up with my wife for events more often.

Most of the choices I made in my purchase are reflected in the factors below, but the quick summary of my buying criteria is: something I could pedal as a backup, with a motor about as fast as I could regular-bike at my fastest, and that folded up compactly.

I’ve therefore bought a Sailnovo 14" ebike, for $500 including tax & shipping (being so used to free shipping it was a shock that ebikes routinely have a $50-$150 delivery charge). My uncle Tom Koester’s long-ago advice, when buying something you don’t know much about, is to get the second cheapest option that meets all requirements, and this was pretty much it. Here’s how it’s been…

ASSEMBLY: Pretty darn easy.

BASIC OPERATION: Also easy, but mostly because I’d already done research about how ebikes work. The manual was so focused on assembly & safety warnings as to leave one in the dark about actual riding. It works like a one-gear bicycle, plus an electric motor that kicks in when you’re either pedaling or twisting a “throttle” on the handlebar. If you’re doing neither of those things, the motor disengages, thereby dead-man-ing the bike so it won’t drive off on its own into crowds of potential litigants.

MORE NUANCED OPERATION: The motor has three settings: Low, Medium & High, which mean it disengages when you reach the speeds of 6, 12 or 18 mph. On throttle, you just accelerate to these speeds. When pedaling it’s more complicated: in Low, you’ll reach 6 mph quickly so the motor will only help if you pedal very slowly or uphill; on Medium, it gives a big enough kick that you can pedal about a third of the time without losing much speed; on High, the kick is so big that pedaling is pointless once you get moving and you might as well just throttle.

ENJOYMENT: It’s fun! Not exactly exciting once the novelty wears off (after all, in a car 20 mph can feel like you’re standing still,) but it’s still fun, which is important for a strictly optional form of transport. Comfort is fine but not great. The seat is pretty basic, but upgradeable, though I’ve decided to keep it and instead upgrade the seat on my regular bike, so I have an incentive to get some exercise once in a while.

SAFETY: This was my big concern going into this, as I feared that feeling like I was biking when I was in fact under power might throw off my instincts, but that hasn’t been a problem. The brakes are great, and when coasting without pedal or throttle the bike decelerates faster than a regular bike would (not always a welcome aspect, but a safe one). However, the handlebars really require both hands most of the time. I’ve also been extra careful about potential skid situations and about wearing safety equipment, and I feel that choosing a more high powered bike that throttles up to 30 mph would increase the dangers for a new ebiker.

SECURITY: The Sailnovo doesn’t cost much more than a new conventional bike, but it looks a lot like other ebikes that cost two or three times as much, so I consider it an elevated theft hazard. In addition, I knew going in that it had a non-removable battery, so anyone who grabbed it would get the whole package. You need a key to turn the motor on and off, but turning it off doesn’t lock up the wheels like a car would. The compactness and foldability mean I haven’t had to park it outside yet, being able to stash it in an area in my workplace too cramped for my regular bike. But I intend to use it for light shopping trips at least, so locking it up becomes important, and…it’s a little scary. The seat can be removed with one lever, and both wheels with a wrench. The sparse body that makes it so collapsible also means there are fewer places to anchor locks to, such that the sort of short cables many cyclists use to indefinitely chain-up their seats won’t do the trick. My plan is a medium-length cable top to bottom, and a longer one front to back, thereby taking in the wheels, seat, and whatever I’m anchoring it to, meeting in the middle at a U-lock. Should be workable for short stays, but I can’t easily store the long cable on the bike itself. Which brings up a weak point…

CARGO CAPACITY: Out of the box, it’s zero. No basket. No phone holder on the handlebars. No rack or platform in the back. Such can be added, but that would compromise the compactness and foldability. So for now I’ll have a designated backpack for bike accessories and whatever I choose to transport. Fun fact: the owner of a Vivi Electric Mountain Bike solved this problem by making a little trailer to put stuff on and pull behind his bike, and in so doing apparently blew some part of the system and voided his warranty.

RANGE: Without fully meaning to, I put the bike through a pretty big test right away, riding in circles through the neighborhood one day and then to work and back the next, all without recharging. That was 15.5 miles altogether, mostly on High and so heavily drawing on the battery. It was definitely running out of oomph by the end, max speed dropping from 18 mph to something like 12, but it did get me home without me having to just pedal. So that’s all good to know, but I don’t plan to tax it like that on the regular because apparently it’s bad for the battery. I now have chargers both at home & at work ($15) so it’s getting recharged every 7 miles and showing no ill effects.

GIZMOS: It has a built-in headlight controllable from the handlebar, as well as a tail light that goes on with it and gets brighter when I break. A small LCD shows me my current motor setting, very accurate speed and distance, and very approximate battery status. And there’s a tinny electronic horn.

BAD SURPRISES: The only thing I really miss is a kickstand, but I feel they’ve been undervalued for decades. Since the bike is already much heavier than it looks (50 lbs) and covered with relatively delicate components, finding places to lean it is more of a hassle than I’m used to.

GOOD SURPRISES: Basically that it works at all and that I can operate it easily. I went into this not quite believing it was real; kind of feels like the future, or more accurately a more convenient version of the past.

BIG UNKNOWN: How long it’ll last. If nothing else, the battery is bound to give out at some point, and replacing it could turn out to be easy or hard.

ALTERNATIVE CHEAP EBIKES: The three I most strongly considered buying and think might be better for people in slightly different circumstances are…

(1) The Jasion EB-3. Slightly cheaper than the Sailnovo, lighter, goes faster at 21 mph, has a removable battery, and is from a bigger company, but is only rated for people up to 5'6", and even though reviews said this was conservative I decided to exclude it. (My Sailnovo, btw, is rated up to 5'10".)

(2) The Ebkarocy Ebike For Adults. Basically the deluxe version of the Sailnovo in every way for a little over $100 more. Goes 22 mph, height limit is 6 feet, has turning signals (unusually useful because of the importance of keeping both hands on the bars), built-in alarm, removable battery, and even a back seat. Now that I know I like ebiking, I might wish I had bought this one except that the increased price might also bring increased theft risk, and all the accouterments make it five pounds heavier.

(3) The Vivi Folding Electric Mountain Bike. For the same upcharge as #2 you get a completely different design: a multi-gear ebike that looks and theoretically performs like a regular bike, so you can get real speed by pedaling and interact with the motor in a more dynamic way, rather than all-pedal at slow speeds and all-throttle at high ones. If the Sailnovo is essentially a scooter with back-up pedals, this is a bike with a back-up motor. The downside is that it’s heavier (60 lbs total) and although it folds up, it isn’t nearly as compact. Also it uses a more powerful motor to get a similar speed, which makes me think it burns more electricity. But if I was in a situation where I’d regularly be going on longer, less urban treks, this one’s advantages could win out.

BUYER’S TIP IF YOU’RE LOOKING AT SOMETHING OTHER THAN THESE: Everyone shouts about the motor size, but you shouldn’t sweat it. Shoot for 350W — 500W, but pay more attention to other aspects. A 250W will generally be for children, or something very slow, and you only need a 750W if you’re trying to reach the legal limit of 30 mph, and I don’t recommend that for your first bike. Between the two, they’ve probably picked the right one to move you however fast they say it goes, so you don’t need to worry.

BIKER’S TIP ONCE YOU HAVE THE EBIKE:
Develop the habit of letting go of the throttle when you sense any impending complication or difficulty. Not only does that cause you to (gently) decelerate, it also means that your right hand will be freer to adjust your balance and steering. Even if you’re the only one on a bike path, and you just want to take your left hand off the bars to adjust your volume or scratch your nose, not having your right hand locked on the throttle can make a big difference for control and concentration. That’s probably why they put the throttle on the right side, since most people’s first instinct will be to use the throttle hand for any non-biking movement, but as a lefty I had to teach myself this.