eBikes - Game-Changer for Preppers

[@torjones1701]

Towing a canoe (and yes, I mean canoe and not kayak... some people can't seem to tell the difference and use them interchangeably...) would maybe be a better option than the little cube trailer. It gives you an easy way to get across water bodies and rivers rather than having to go around them or look for bridges that may all be out. Canoes have the capacity to carry an entire family, all their gear, and the bikes, and can even be set up to sail under wind power. (A highly recommended modification for preppers)

[@williamwiese9963]

This is awesome! I'm gonna look into this model.

[@aceonweb]

Ebikes with swappable batteries make so much sense for having a plan to get out of town and the traffic is terrible, or the roads are closed. Being able to tow supplies or small kids makes it even better. And they are just fun to have!

[@williambontrager2349]

I have a 72v 60 ah battery Enduro with a solar panel charger for the bike and USB port for rechargeable electronics. 100 mile range every other day, 50 plus mph, plus more power storage than TWO jackery 2000s. My electric generator is also my transportation and it has unlimited range with the caveat of 6-20 hours of sunlight to fully recharge.

[@Vex916T]

I have a Paselec PX5 which is mid-end ebike similar to Wallke but without back suspension... it is from my half- year experience with my ebike that back suspension bikes do not work well with back rack because the back suspension causes too much movement during bumps. I have also installed front and back baskets which work fine so long as I do not hit too hard on road bumps or dips. A bike trailer works well with ebikes, it just sucks to haul it when you no longer have electrical help when pedaling.

[@drivestorage1779]

Nice bikes. I'm surprised that they are aluminum, I would think steel would be stronger as frames, but these 2 bikes look great! Thanks for sharing.

[@historicpatriot7635]

Great info! Thanks

[@LexYeen]

I've been thinking this ever since e-bikes became a thing, and I'm glad to see someone as sensible as you agree. If you, the reader, can't ride a standard upright bike due to disability? I _cannot urge you strongly enough_ to look into recumbent bikes and trikes. Even if you aren't looking for preparedness reasons, the exercise and transportation options do make them worth considering. They can even be electrified with aftermarket kits, even the folding models, and many specialist bike stores sell pre-electrified recumbents.

[@davepetro5676]

Question what stop someone from jumping on the bike and taken off leaving you stranded?

[@nickexarheas2880]

Thank you for the video but where will you get electricity in a shtf situation?

[@johnstack5008]

Pack a folding solar panel. A 200 watt panel can charge the bike from empty to full in about 5 hours. Even when the battery is empty you can still walk alongside it and ride it downhills. Some ebikes have a walk mode feature where the bike will move at about 2 mph using very little battery power. In such a way the bike can act like a pack mule carrying your gear up hills and across rough terrain.

[@Authoratah]

The second link to djbikes won't connect due to insecure connection

[@DesertPrep]

Thank you! I typo'd it, and very much appreciate you taking the time to let me know. I'm always grateful for the kind=d assistance and support from people like you.

[@Meleeman011]

But emp what about emp

[@NothingToNoOneInParticular]

Excellent! Love your wife's choice in bike! Do you have a plan for protecting electronic components from EMP? Just curious, that's on my list.....lol Thank you for a great vid!

[@torjones1701]

As long as it isn't recharging when the pulse hits, the bikes should be fine. Rebooting the electronics should be all that's necessary, and of course, they can still be peddled. The problem with the EMP is power lines pick the pulse up and basically amplify it beyond all reason and the resulting surge travels along the wires and blows out anything connected to it as it travels along. Even a stand alone car, not one that plugs in or is plugged in when the pulse hits, is not damaged by the pulse beyond stalling out and needing to be shut completely down and restarted. Your wrist watch, or smart watch, your smart phone, and all your other personal electronic gadgets are all too small to be effected by the pulse unless they are plugged in and charging when the pulse hits. The absolute worst that will happen is that they need to be rebooted. if they're recharging when the pulse hits though, they'll be fried. anything connected to the grid? Kiss it good bye. This is true for a nuke generated pulse and also true for the strange conditions generated by an SME. just turn your devices off until the SME passes by completely, and you can reboot your phones and such. The grid will be down, and your solar panels will be fried, but if you've got a diesel generator, it'll be fine. wind turbines should be fine too. micro/pico hydro systems should also be fine. The problem there will be the unshielded lines transmitting that power from the generator to the storage bank. If those lines are long, they'll also pick up the pulse and zap anything connected to it.

[@TRGSellsAZ-KenandVelmaRohn]

I've been considering this bike for a few weeks. Your review is exactly what I needed to hear. What bag did you choose and does it work well with the included rack? Also, I've seen complaints about the screw protruding from the brake handle and potentially rubbing against your index finger while riding and or shifting. Have you experienced this or has Wallke fixed this issue?

[@DesertPrep]

The bag I got was the Rockbros model you can find here: amzn.to/2S0FQuJ My wife got her bag from her bike manufacturer. Turned out to be the exact same bag, except with her manufacturer's logo embroidered on it. (They're very nice bags, with extendable panniers (saddle bags) for extra capacity, and movable dividers like a camera bag. I saw the same review video and had to go back to my bike to look at the previously-unnoticed adjustment screws. On the left side I'd moved the brake lever 5/8" inboard to allow for the mirror bracket so the mirror could be as far outboard as possible. This moved the screw head away from my index finger. On the right, the up-shifter lever protrudes more that the screw, so I never felt this one, either. I also tend to ride with my fingers over the brake levers anyway, so feeling the adjustment screws wasn't even on my radar until I saw that review. If I recall, even the reviewer saw it as "minor" and I'd say more like "microscopic". I hope you do get the bike, and enjoy it as much as I have. For me, it's been the best money I've spent on anything in quite some time.

[@TRGSellsAZ-KenandVelmaRohn]

@@DesertPrep Thank you for the info. My bike is on its way. I can't wait. How long did it take for you to receive your bike once you placed the order?

[@AndrzejSQ9PKW]

Hey, how hard is to ride without electricity? In optimal "prepers" bike (i like to travel with my ham gear, so i have heavy eq most of the time with me) it should have long range on fat whells. But with fat whells it is really hard to ride on bike with manpower only :/ How long can take recharge it with solar to full capacity?

[@DesertPrep]

I expected it'd be harder, but the effort to ride without power is the same as our non-electric mountain bikes. When the motor is not used, the rear-wheel free-wheels so you don't have to turn the motor when riding. The motor assist makes pedaling effortless, and I can't imagine a common circumstance when you wouldn't have power. An 8-10 mile trip gets me home with the battery still showing 100%. The manufacturer claims 55-60 miles with some pedaling, and that's a long way. I have a spare battery, so I can theoretically ride to the limit of the battery, and have enough power in the spare to return. More practically, I can leave one battery on the solar charger, while doing daytime riding with the other, then swap each day.

[@AndrzejSQ9PKW]

@@DesertPrep Really nice option. Those bikes look like what i need :) Can you also describe your solar charger? just maybe model and parameters. And battery capacity. If it is possible, there is always a way to instal PV on trailer and charge spare battery during ride :D E-bikes are really interesting kind of transport :)

[@DesertPrep]

@@AndrzejSQ9PKW I'm working in a video on the solar charger now. It's about the easiest project I've done, and combined with the spare battery, I can use the bike all day while the spare is charging. Unlimited off-grid range, and off-road capability makes this an amazing setup.

[@mcgrath274]

I have a 2nd battery for mine

[@stijn2472]

Interesting choice but quite expensive in my opinion. 2000 dollars for the bike and 500 more for a spare battery.

[@DesertPrep]

It's certainly a premium bike, with features and options not many have. I specifically chose it because I wanted the high-end capabilities: 750W motor, high-capacity battery, hydraulic brakes, payload, cruise control, thumb throttle, cell phone holder with USB charging, heavy-duty carrier, rear suspension, folding frame, internal battery, large highly-visible color display. There's nothing else that's even close, and I got the manufacturer to discount it . With the discount it's $100 more that it's closest, much-less equipped competitor. As of now list is $2399 (considerably less than eBikes at dealers), the website has it at $1999, and with the discount it's $1799. This is an unbeatable bike at this price. If I'd been able to find anything better, I'd have bought it.

[@titter3648]

1. Mid drive is superior. 2. Batterys typically can only take around 1000 cycles before they are almost useless and needs to be replaced. By that point you have a useless heavy bike. 3. What do you need a folding bike for in a prepper situation?

[@davidgriffin14]

There is a 17% off discount on another one of their bikes.

[@DesertPrep]

Great! The bigger the discount you can get, the better.

[@herbertwerner2287]

While your video points out a lot of good points and idea's it also seems somewhat unrealistic because not every ebike owner can tow around a foldable solar panel to charge their bike and even if they could the charge time could be very long [days]. I would also like to add that these ebikes may be in short supply but ebikes in general are in huge supply with different models from a ton of different companies. So they are not in short supply just maybe the one's you picked out. Anyone can build one cheaply under 1000 US dollars [even 500] and match everything that these bikes have and even exceed them. Not to take anything away from your video because I liked it and the bikes do look nice but as a prepper item I'd be leaving it for them.

[@DesertPrep]

I have a video in production detailing the solar recharging system, and I'd say it should clear up your assumptions. First, the folding solar panel is about the size of a satchel or briefcase, and I don't take it anywhere (although I could strap it to the bike's carrier easily enough). I use it mostly to charge the spare battery while I'm riding with the other. If you may notice, my engineering is usually pretty good, and the 120W panel provides exactly the power used by the wall charger that comes with the bike. The charger provides the exact same 54V 2A charging capability as the bike's A/C charger and charges the battery in the exact same time: 5-7 hours for a full charge, closer to 1-2 hours for the much smaller depletion I incur on my daily rides. My comments about short supply are sourced from dealers themselves, who are placing 2022 and 2023 orders now. Online direct orders to overseas manufacturers are quoting 10-16 week deliveries. A worldwide chip shortage is causing issues for the likes of Ford and other manufacturers, and are likely affecting bike manufacturers as well. I'm always open to input from people directly involved, and I'll continue to report what I find out. I'm naturally inclined to appreciate the idea of building for yourself more cheaply (you may have looked at some of my DIY build videos), but after considering converting our mountain bikes to electric I decided to buy rather than build. Bolting a motor onto my existing bike would not have upped the payload capacity, integrated the components so cleanly, nor delivered to high-end components I got in the manufactured bike. I confess I was probably as intimidated by the idea of lacing spokes as others are by the idea of wiring a solar generator. My hat is certainly off to those souls that can create their own eBike from components. Much respect.

[@alphonsotate2982]

I RUN 3.00X16" MOTOR CROSS BIKE TIRES ON MY E BIKE WAY BETTER I RUN MINE AT HIGHER PSI MAKING LESS ROLLING RESESTANCE

[@DesertPrep]

Cool mod!

[@pwood5733]

Grid down ….. charging them ?

[@johnw614]

Wallke has changed their specs without notice, the bike no longer has WPAS battery regeneration or " recharge " capability as most reviewers had on their models. I took delivery in May 2021. Another issue with thd bike is that its a LOT slower than the display says. 5 to 7 mph slower! And, the bike now has no functioning speedometer or odometer if you are not pressing the throttle, or not pedaling with the assist on sending power to the motor. So if simply coasting down a hill not adding power, not only is tgere no regen, but you have no functioning speedometer or trim counter adding miles. In other words, if you are coasting downhill, not pedaling and no throttle, the speedometer reads zero mph. Very disappointed with this bike based on expectations set from youtube videos showing now extinct features for 2021. A person in Electric Bike Review forums, under "Known Issues for Wallke" guessed Wallke may have run out of direct drive motors and substituted a geared drive motor without changing the controler or display, which he says would give all these symptoms with the speedo. Wallke is not willing to "service" these issues or correct them. They just reply, this is how the bike is! Buyer beware, and if you want any buyer protection, I reccommend to stick with US dealers.

[@DesertPrep]

My Wallke X3 Pro arrived in April, and I've had a regular conversations with the company. They've stopped promoting the regeneration feature as they believe it was causing controller failures, and I believe they're depending on the manufacturer of the component to address it. You're right about the speed differential, which I think is related to the tire-size parameter which tops out at 28" while the actual wheel diameter is close to 30". I haven't asked about this, but I've seen screenshots from the display manufacturer where this can be set up to 31". I expect a firmware upgrade might address the issue. (My speculation.) The speedometer not displaying speed when the motor's not engaged seems like an issue common across all the eBikes I've seen. The Bafang motor assembly doesn't seem to have a sensor for the turning wheel, only for the motor, so when it's freewheeling the controller has no way to determine the bike's speed. This also impacts the odometer. (Again, my educated guess.) As the component matures, I expect future models will have this capability. It's disappointing at the moment, but I'm willing to live with it for the much greater benefit of having the bike -- as every other rider must be doing. If anyone reading this can confirm or refute any of this, I'd appreciate having the additional information. So far, my experience with Wallke for service issues has been way above expectations. An email to them to get help on a part I damaged got a response by phone in under 15 minutes, including a video inspection via facetime by a factory tech, and I received a text with a photo of the replacement part with a tracking number less than 30 minutes later. Your point about a U.S. dealer is a good one, but it should be noted that adding a distributor and a dealer, each with a 25% margin will double the price of the bike. I think it's reasonable to expect more when paying $3,300 to-$5,000 or more at a dealer. The issues you're raising are real, but not unique to Wallke. I expect they're shared by every model using the same very commonly-used components. I'm not here to defend the company or the product -- just to report what I think I know and my experience. So far, I'm pretty darned happy, enjoying my daily rides and the riding experience it's delivering.

[@xMrjamjam]

It can be cheaper to convert an existing bike you own with a conversion kit

[@ralphfalcon1226]

the fat tires will drain your batteries faster and tire you out quicker if you have to pedal

[@DesertPrep]

The rolling resistance of the fat tires depends heavily on tire pressure. They're spec'd at 5-30 psi. At 25 psi, I can't feel any difference at all between the fat tires and the tires on my mountain bike. I've tested the bike without the electric motor system , and if there's any significant difference, I can't feel it.

[@ralphfalcon1226]

@@DesertPrep also the nobbs on the tire create added drag along with the witdh

[@LexYeen]

@@ralphfalcon1226 Thin tires sink into soft terrain, and in a survival situation you may not have the luxury of using roads or well-maintained trails 100% of the time. I think the tradeoff is fine.

[@ralphfalcon1226]

@@LexYeen Not saying the setup is wrong or anything quite practical actually but lets say you had to ride L.A. to Miami most avail routes would be open roads and some routes may be impassable even by bike, survival scenarios may vary