I bought a piece of 1.5 inch stiff foam to try to fix a sag in a bed. It didn’t work but having that thick piece of solid foam around has been a life saver.
Need something flat to put a laptop on? Throw it on the foam. Going to be doing something that requires you to be on your knees for a while? Get the foam!
It went from stupid purchase to something I’d gladly replace if it broke.
I ride an ENGWE EP-2 Pro, I got it because it was on sale for $700, can fold up into the back of my hatchback, and seemed to have a reasonably well designed battery. It is fun, it looks kinda cool, has lots of features including cruise control, but is by no means the best bike.
It weighs 74 lbs and the range in practice isn’t all that great: Part of me wishes I saved up a little more to get a Lectric Xpedition because it has crazy range and more storage. If the battery goes out, this thing is not fun to pedal uphill.
Farthest I’ve ridden is 12 miles one way, took about 40 minutes. On average I usually ride maybe 1-5 miles a day, not far really but everything is pretty close to me. The only major exception is when I take it joyriding, up to maybe 20 miles. I have only had it for a couple of months so far so I don’t know how it’ll do in cold weather or snow, but I suspect the thicc tires would do well even without chains.
Speaking of extreme weather, extreme cold and heat are problematic for batteries, so don’t expect to go on a big journey in -20 F cold or 110 F heat.
I can tell you that my best advice would be to find your nearest reputable bike shop, get their input based on what they carry, and then do your own research to verify it’s a decent brand before you buy. One of the most important and often overlooked things when people buy an ebike is whether they can get it serviced or not.
Another possible consideration if you’re handy would be to take a traditional bike you think would be ideal and then use a conversion kit to make it electric. If you are mechanically savvy, you’d get more bang for your buck and would probably do all your own maintenance and repairs anyhow.
I own an Xpedition and can confirm that it’s a great bike. (I didn’t have the choice to shell out for anything less because my primary use-case was carrying two kids, and when it comes to cargo bikes that one’s literally the cheapest option.) That said, an Xpedition would definitely also suck if you had to pedal it without assist (even on flat ground, frankly), so I’m glad I got the dual-battery version just in case.