best ebike for someone in their 70's

[Carol K]

My husband and I are 74 and looking a comfortable, simple to use e-bike for around town with gentle hills. Like keep the price below $1500. Any recommendations?

 

[JerryB]

You only have me beat by a couple years.....I bought a Lectric XP 2.0 step thru.....great bike and it cost $1000. My bike is a folding bike.....I take it camping with us. Came fully assembled....just add air to tires. I ride hills every night....the bike does well. Well made...good exercise.....good luck.

 

[Inspector gadget]

My wife and I are both in are 60’s and new to ebike. She ordered a volt elegant on line delivered to our house in nine days. I like it better than my trek which was nearly twice as expensive. No dealer support but have not had any issues as of yet

 

["A"]

I bought my Father-in-law (78) a fat tire, folding ebike back in 2017 for $800.

He rode his ebike in Queen, NY to his fishing spot about 3 miles away and back. Once in a while he goes on grocery runs with his ebike.
All that was before the pandemic.
His neighborhood in Queen, NY was hit hard by COVID, freezer trailer with bodies, only traffic on the road were ambulances.
FIL (now 82 y-o) is back on his ebike, but not riding nearly as much on his own. I try to ride with him to local parks so he gets back to it slowly.
Maybe one day I will ride with him to his fishing spot again.

The reasons I bought a fat tire, folding ebike for my FIL is because they are very stable and easy to ride.
Tire pressure can be in the single digit and still offer excellent traction, control & comfort.
Low step-thru that makes them easy to get on & off the bike.
Low seat height so rider can easily put their feet down to steady themselves.
Hub motor is reliable. Mine was purchased back in 2017 and still functions as the day we received it.
Yes, they may be heavy when you try to maneuver on human strength or putting them onto a car rack.
But if you don't have to transport your ebike, the weight doesn't really matter.

They are not fancy ebikes, they don't offer high performance, they just get you where you need to be, cheap & reliable when you operate it within its capabilities.

 

[JerryB]

I love riding my ebike and have never fallen. With that said.....I don't ride my ebike like I rode when I was a teenager.....I guess experience and common sense fianlly prevailed. Ride within your capabilities......be smart and enjoy the ride.

 

[Tonerider]

Nothing beats the feeling of two wheels. 3 are for invalids and old folks, and if you are still reasonably limber and mobile, have at er. Larger wheels will offer more stability and easier roll over on obstacles.

 

[JerryB]

What is the difference between a poorly dressed man on a tricycle and a well dressed man on a bicycle?​

Attire

 

[Deleted member 4845]

Step-thru, small tires, lo-speed - Many to pick from, quality is a crapshoot. Most are at least fairly decent.

 

[SR-71]

Wife and I are in our late 60's. Since we boat, RV, and occasionally like to take our bikes with us in the car. Both our bikes (folded) fit in the back of our Prius or Jeep without a problem (transporting the bikes inside the vehicle provides better security). These bikes are fairly light so they're easy to fold and transport. Fenders, front and rear lights, disk brakes are standard equipment. The 500w hub motor reaches around 20mph which seems to be fast enough for these bikes. Either pedal as a normal bike, or use the pedal assist mode (5 levels of pedal assist), or just use the throttle mode (no pedaling necessary). The stock seat was a bit hard for our tastes so we added wider gel seat and also mirrors. Overall nice quality and excellent customer support. Blix offers numerous accessories: racks, baskets, bags, etcs. Discounts available if you buy two. (www.blixbike.com)

 

[Jack237]

My husband and I are 74 and looking a comfortable, simple to use e-bike for around town with gentle hills. Like keep the price below $1500. Any recommendations?

I second the recommendation for a step through. I think a class 2 bike would be sufficient. Comfort seat with post suspension would be good. Also one with fenders and wired lights. The blix Skyline is only a few hundred over your target price and gets good reviews, although maybe a bit heavy.

 

[Smaug]

Hi Carol. A couple questions to help narrow your search:

1. Are you looking at $1500 per bike, or $1500 for the pair? $1500 per bike will leave you some good options. $1500 for pair and you'll need to be looking just at the cheap, smaller ones.
2. Will you need to lift them into cars, or will they strictly be from home to wherever you're going in your town? I figure if they're light enough that you can put them in your car, you can travel with them and explore other towns a lot more effectively than you could with a car.

I have 2 eBikes now with one more on the way. Here they are with my comments on each:

1. heybike Ranger, from Amazon, $1400 (and there is currently a $70 coupon) It's heavy and the brakes screech horribly, which I've been unable to fix; but other than that, it is good. It is Class 3, so it will go 28 mph on the high end. It has fat tires, for a cushy ride over any surface, but that makes it heavy (71 lbs.) and bulky if you want to take it in the car with you. It has plenty of power for the hills. It has 7 gears, so you can pedal with the bike to help it out and extend range up to 23 mph or so. Aside from the fat tires, it has a shock fork for the front and a shock in the seat post, so it's a smooth ride.
2. Sailnovo, from Amazon, $480. This one is smaller and 1/3 the price. It is slower and less powerful, but maybe still fast enough for you. It tops out at 18.5 mph. It only has one gear, and it is a lower one, so you can only really pedal along with it up to 9 mph. This one is a bit lighter, at 50 lbs, but still on the heavy side for me to put in the car's trunk. (and I'm 30 years younger than you) If your husband and you are in reasonably good shap, you could load this in your car. The wheels on this one are only 14" and it doesn't have fat tires, so the steering is a bit more twitchy than on the Ranger, with its 20" wheels and 4" wide tires. This bike has rear suspension, for a smoother ride on the ol' bum. I think it's worth the extra few pounds of weight.
3. Lectric XP Lite (on the way) This was $800 and I bought it to try to get a "Goldilocks Bike" between the above two. It folds and is lighter than either of them, at 46 lbs. Has one gear only, but a more powerful electric system should give it more guts than the Sailnovo. It has 20" wheels. I ordered the cushy seat & seatpost with shock absorber, but that's back-ordered until August, so I'll have to suffer a bit in the meanwhile, as this bike has no suspension.

I wrote up full reviews in the compact & folding eBikes subforum here; take a look. I also made an initial YouTube video review on the Ranger; here it is: LINK

I will do one soon on the Sailnovo and an update on the Ranger, now that I have almost a couple hundred miles on it.

 

[Train Dan]

I'm 73, and a Trex hybrid, plus the urgings of a buddy, got me back on a bike. I've had some epic wrecks in the past, and indeed try to be more circumspect than in the past. (Example; limb hiding in a leaf pile on a bike trail dumped me)
And I've succumbed to rational pressure, and now wear a helmet.
Encountered a family on the GAP; the woman's gradfather, who was 80, was out on an extended ride, on a rail trail. Wow.

 

[Kayla]

I buy a Magicycle cruiser ebike for my grandpa about 1500$ three months ago, he has been 78 years old. I always ride with him, and he very love his ebike. I will get some other accessories for him, because he wants to have a short trip with his bike.

 

[Smaug]

Post & run by Carol. :-(

 

[JerryB]

I second the recommendation for a step through. I think a class 2 bike would be sufficient. Comfort seat with post suspension would be good. Also one with fenders and wired lights. The blix Skyline is only a few hundred over your target price and gets good reviews, although maybe a bit heavy.

I recently had a friend call my step thru ebike a "girl's bike".........I slapped him silly.

 

[rewheel]

I am in my 70s and went with a 2000 watt hub motor and a medium quality MBT frame. Kind of wish I had more torque for the hill leading up to my house.

 

[Snoop]

I'm 57 yo. Still fit and active no problem swinging my leg over to saddle up. To be honest I still refer to step thru bikes girls bike.
Short story, I grew up with two older sisters we all have bikes Roger de Coster BMX for me Huffy step thru for them. One day my bike had a flat tire so I hop on one of my sister's bike to buy inner tube and upon returning my father saw me on the bike. First thing he said to me was "What are you doing riding a girls bike" in his native language. I guess he was in disbelief that his only son was riding a girls bike.
That's why I still call step thru Girls Bike.
But anyone can ride them. Perhaps even me ten years from now.

I‘m in my early 50’s and was a little cautious about getting the Pace 500 with the top tube, as my lower back gives me grief sometimes. Unltimately, the supply chain solved it for me as the step-thru version was out of stock when I decided to buy.

In retrospect, I’m glad I have the top tube as I feel the frame is just sturdier with it. Maybe I’m wrong.

The only time I had problems swinging the leg over was when I added a cargo bag to the rear rack. I was able to quickly solve this however by improving my mounting technique by tilting the bike toward myself before getting on. This dramatically reduced how high I had to get the ol‘ leg up in the air.

 

["A"]

I am in my 70s and went with a 2000 watt hub motor and a medium quality MBT frame. Kind of wish I had more torque for the hill leading up to my house.

What kind of hills do you have?
How much do you weigh?
2000w hub motor is still not enough?

 

[JerryB]

I'm 57 yo. Still fit and active no problem swinging my leg over to saddle up. To be honest I still refer to step thru bikes girls bike.
Short story, I grew up with two older sisters we all have bikes Roger de Coster BMX for me Huffy step thru for them. One day my bike had a flat tire so I hop on one of my sister's bike to buy inner tube and upon returning my father saw me on the bike. First thing he said to me was "What are you doing riding a girls bike" in his native language. I guess he was in disbelief that his only son was riding a girls bike.
That's why I still call step thru Girls Bike.
But anyone can ride them. Perhaps even me ten years from now.

It's easier to get on my step thru ebike when I am wearing my skirt and heels.......it ain't a girl's bike! LOL!