Electric bikes were never so popular as during the COVID pandemic. People sought the freedom and personal space of riding a bike for transportation and recreation. With high demand, supply chain issues, and inflation prices went up. They’re finally starting to come back down again, and not just for electric bikes, but also regular bikes. That’s good news.
Ride1Up, Aventon, and KBO Bikes have all recently announced lower prices for many of their models. Other brands are beginning to follow suit. You can pick up a pretty decent ebike for $999 from Aventon and even Juiced Bikes.
With supply chain issues calming down, we also won’t see all the component substitutions like before. Brakes, derailleurs, shifters, and other bike components were in short supply, so even name brand bike companies were slapping on whatever they could find. I never knew what a bike was going to ship with until I opened the box. Would I find Tektro, Shimano, or some off-brand components? Hopefully, those days are over.
As the demand for ebikes settles down and brands compete more aggressively with each other, I expect more discounts this year. One exception might be Rad Power Bikes, who seems to be going the opposite direction. Once known as a budget friendly direct-to-consumer ebike brand, Rad is trying to position itself as more a mid-tier ebike company focusing more on customer service and upgraded bikes. I’m okay with paying more for good service and a bike I can get parts for into the future. But we’ll have to wait and see how it all pans out.
Of course, Lectric has always been priced well and continues to crank out new models that are priced right.
So, it’s definitely good news to see prices for ebikes coming down. I’m also happy to see that many ebike companies are now getting their batteries UL certified. I’ll be writing more about that, but as the ebike industry matures, we’re going to see more standardization and regulation for safety in the United States.
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