In the past few years we’ve attended to tons of concerns of people who are planning to purchase an electric bicycle. Unfortunately, we’ve also seen many people make mistakes and end up with electric bicycles that are more troublesome than fun.

Avoid These 5 Mistakes While Buying an Electric Bicycle:

#1 Cheapest Isn’t Best:

When you see a really low-cost electric bicycle available online, you might be tempted to grab the deal. But there’s a reason it is so low cost. Such e-cycles either have low quality components or bad assembly, or other issues. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Paying a few thousand extra today will save you a lot of heartache later. If you like an electric cycle from a reputed company online and can afford it, don’t go looking for slightly just for the thrill of a bargain.

#2 Give a Rest to Range Anxiety:

People sometimes tend to opt for electric bicycles based only on the default battery capacity. Range anxiety is a real thing and it’s natural to want more kilometers on a single charge. But, before you select an e-cycle only for its battery capacity, think about how many kilometers you travel on a daily basis in your car or on your motorbike currently. It is likely less than 35km both ways.

#3 Non-Portable Battery:

Electric bicycles with in-built batteries sometimes seem more appealing. However, maintaining them is a hassle; and god forbid something were to go wrong with the battery, you cannot remove the electric bicycle battery yourself and send it to the manufacturer for repair or replacement. More importantly, charging your battery requires you to move your whole cycle to a plug point, which is quite impractical. Always, always go for an electric bicycle with a portable battery that can be charged like your laptop.

#4 No After Sales:

There are some highly reputed, old brands out there that sell good-looking electric bicycles with good components. But at the end of the day you e-cycle is a vehicle that’s going to be used extensively. Wear and tear will happen over time, some technical glitches may crop up no matter how careful you are. You’re going to want to talk to a qualified After Sales person who is actually able to get your e-cycle back on the road with as less hassle as possible. Buy your electric cycle from a brand that offers dedicated manufacture-end After Sales.

#5 Social Media Validation:

Before you purchase your e-cycle, check out the brand’s Facebook, Instagram, and even LinkedIn. Does the company post regularly? Does it have enough interactions —likes, comments, shares? Does it have any photos of actual happy customers?

Customer photographs mean that the customer is genuinely pleased enough with the product to take the efforts to click and send a photograph to the company.