I will be doing around 30km per day which one part would be trip 2 people to Huantupo area ( means uphill ).
Im looking on 72/1000W at the moment (3400rmb, but I guess there is a space for negotiation ). It has a semi-wide tires with disk breaks at the front .
Something like this(just slightly bigger ) :
www.yadea.com.cn/product/xinqishi/detail8453.html
Its in authorised yadea shop ( 2nd floor that big shop on Xichang road near Milesi bus stop) but I cant find exact same model on official site.
Im not big fan of buying a new scooter, but all that sh** about fake fapiao, buying new battery, finding a problems with breaks or suspension, or other problems can find later, I have no other choice.
Of course the best would be buy a 2nd hand one and buy new battery,so nobody will steal the bike nor battery ( as they do with new bikes ). But I found that 2nd hand prices (except those very old ones where its difficult compare real price coz not produced anymore ) are not far from the prices of new ones ( counting with extra 600-800rmb for new bat. ). Ive let my gf ( local ) go her self just check few bikes ( to avoid laowai price-tag thing ) but it seems no difference. Im going to check Beijing road tomorrow but if anybody can recommend any other place ( except Xichang & BJ ) where to check e-bikes,please share.
Any other advices regards to e-bike matter are also appreciated.
Prices for each model is normally the same in each shop/branch. Xite and TAIG are also good. At the time of purchase, they will ask you to fill in the registration on their computer. You can also go to the police station and verify that your registration synced with their database.
tigertiger previously mentioned that spraying your new e-scooter in ugly patterns and colours will disinterest thieves.
Would chances of the bike being nicked still be high if you parked it in the attended bike parks?
What's the system with that?
@scouser.
Risk of theft from attended bike parks would be much lower, but bikes still get nicked from attended parks. The scallywags abound.
@Alexez. People steal second hand bikes. Probably the second hand you buy was until recently somebody elses new bought. If it rolls, and can be sold, it can be stolen.
The new bikes I was looking at had a new things like builded-in back weel lock. Also steering lock will prevent easy theft, therefore this kind of bike u need to load up ( 2people ) in mianbaoche and bring somewhere where u have more time and tools to break it. In attended parking hopefully they wont allow anybody just take the bike out like that.
these dudes steal bikes to order. they sacked a guy in our building for telling theives when the right bike came in. no kiddin
I got my ebike 2nd hand for 1500rmb from Xixhang Lu, with a new battery. It looks pretty lame; small, with cutesy stickers and thin tires. But for me, its great. Because its lighter than most its nimble and easy to ride, and its thinner tires mean less resistance so longer free wheeling up to junctions, which means you can go pretty far on a single charge. It can easily do 30km - probably could do 45 with a light load and careful driving. Because it looks old and not cool it doesn't appeal to thieves. I was tempted to get a flashy new one, but I'm glad I got this one. Oh - and one more great feature - the indicators make a loud beeping noise which means you don't leave them on by accident and alerts pedestrians to your presence without the need to honk. Really like this feature, I see so many people riding with their indicators left on - wasting battery and potentially misleading other road users.
I've seen GPS advertised as a feature, where is it linked up to? and how likely will this lead to getting your bike back if it went missing?
Well, Id love to buy a 2nd hand one, but I still havent figure out how to avoid the problem with fake fapiao. In authorised shop we were told that there is no new registration provided for any bike this moment. Only that fapiao is required when police stop me. Which bring me another thought, that local gov. might think the ban of e-bikes might be inevitable in the near future, like it happened in SZ. Ive seen quite lots of fights ( police - local people ) when massive confiscating e-bikes action started when people driving on the road after ban. I cant imagine same happening here, it would be a war:-)
Kunming is a tier2 city, no need to worry about bans on ebike for a while. Get old or new depending on what you prefer. Just buy it from a big shop that looks like it will be in biz for another year, so if any problems, you can go back and hassle them. Also, at the end of the day, the absolute worst case scenario for a used ebike with a fake fapiao would be confiscate it, and even that's going to be pretty rare. Furthermore, even if that very rare event should happen, what have you lost, 1500rmb? We're not talking motorcycles where plates and registration and license really matter and you could get deported in addition to confiscation. The actual biggest issues with ebike are theft and getting hurt in an accident since 72v you'll no doubt go fast enough to do serious damage and not just scrapes and bruises if you accident/wreck.