Spent $2000 building ebike, selling it a year later for $1000. Facepunches plz.

[baconschteam]

I had been driving a Nissan Leaf to commute 30 miles (total) each day but decided I could step up my mustache game and ditch the car entirely (fiance has a Prius if we need to make a long trip). I decided to build a badass ebike - I bought a 1000w Bafang motor kit with a nice big battery and a used Trek mountain bike and built it. I sold my Leaf for the same price I bought it for a year earlier, and lived a 100% bike life for half a year. It was awesome. It felt very healthy. I arrived at work more alert. But my total daily commute time grew from 40 minutes to 2 hours. As the months wore on, I began to really feel this last point - the time suck. I had less time to do the things I wanted to do after work and I was tired of waking up at 5:30am to get to work on time (I am more of a late night person, not a morning person). Over time I found the commute was exhausting and, long story short, once winter came I purchased another Nissan Leaf for the same price I had purchased and sold the other one for. I thought I would break even but after having the ebike on Craigslist for a couple of months, it seems I won't be able to get more than $1000 for it.

It's sort of a boring story,  but since my fiance and I are trying to bring our expenses down to $18K a year, a $1000 loss really sucks! Face punches for not just sticking with it? Face punches for not realizing initially that my Nissan Leaf situation (with free charging at work) was totally ideal? Face punches just for face punches?

[chemistk]

Kind of hard to facepunch this. You avoided depreciation on your first Leaf, and somehow managed to score (I'd assume) an equivalent one for the same price. You're only 'out' $1k with the added satisfaction that you have a much clearer understanding of your priorities.

Most people lose way more selling a used car/buying another car, especially over the course of a few years. Better yet, did you invest the proceeds from your Leaf? If you did, you're actually ahead now, as the value of those investments is absolutely worth much more now.

[BikeFanatic]

I think the experience was worth one K, and why not keep the Ebike. 20 miles is a long way to commute by bike and if you are not totally into it, I can see it being a drag. But still the Ebike is so fun and you could , in the end, commute with it one day a week or maybe 2 days a week in the nice weather?

I think you did very well and no one is going to face punch you for trying, if you bought a boat, or two motorcycles maybe but I think you did well and are a good example of trying things out, failing , and reporting on it for others to learn. I really dont mean to say you failed but can not come up with the right word at the moment.

[Metalcat]

I would just keep the bike.

It's all good to have spending targets, but sometimes saving money and building your best life requires trial and error. You tried something intense, you reasonably concluded it doesn't work for you. It's not like you pointlessly wasted money, you tried to do something that would have been a huge money saver. It didn't work out, so what, cut yourself some slack and look more at the long horizon, not the difference of a thousand or so in one year.

Unless you are really hurting for money and this could affect your ability to afford food, I wouldn't stress it.

[Samuel]

It's not that bad. If you really have to take a $1000 hit on the ebike you've effectively spent $166 a month on commuting costs for 6 months. I'm not sure how much the Leaf is depreciating per month but it's not zero dollars. You're really only out the difference between those two numbers.

Plus you got in some good daily exercise and ran an interesting experiment.

If you really can't get more than $1000 for your custom $2000 ebike I'd also be tempted to keep it a while longer. 

[PDXTabs]

What everyone else said, I would concur that you should consider keeping the bicycle if you like having an eBike. Furthermore, I would sell the e-parts and convert it to some other type of mountain bike if you would prefer that. Of course if you want a completely different bicycle then sell the whole thing and buy a bicycle that you want to ride.

Of all the things in the world to have, a bicycle isn't a bad one. You can ride them for fun, exercise, transportation, and they really are a pretty good form of transportation for any sort of emergency. No gas? Bicycle. No electricity? Bicycle. Roads messed up from earthquake? Bicycle.

[baconschteam]

Thanks for all of the encouragement and good point to consider. I've recently began my journey to early retirement (read: recently surpassed $0 net worth) and I suppose I'm a little antsy to get there! I do have two other regular bikes, so will still be trying to sell this one at a reduced price. Anyone interested?? hehe

[Dicey]

Thanks for all of the encouragement and good point to consider. I've recently began my journey to early retirement (read: recently surpassed $0 net worth) and I suppose I'm a little antsy to get there! I do have two other regular bikes, so will still be trying to sell this one at a reduced price. Anyone interested?? hehe

What size is it? Asking for a friend.

[baconschteam]

It is a size large. I am 5'9" and it is very comfortable. It is a pretty adjustable bike so probably anyone 5'8" to 6'4" could be comfortable.

https://ventura.craigslist.org/bik/d/ventura-trek-marlin-hardtail-mountain/7226660321.html

[ericrugiero]

If you were reasonably local to me I'd be very interested in this.  That said, there doesn't seem to be a lot of downside to keeping it for a while.  Do you enjoy riding it?  Would it replace some of your driving?  For $1000 it would need to replace 4000 miles at $0.25/mile driving cost.  If it does that over the next several years while providing exercise and enjoyment you could make a good argument to keep it.  Could you ride to work twice a week on days you don't have lots of other plans?

Also, you certainly don't deserve a facepunch for riding 15 miles to work each day.  That's pretty impressive.  You saved much of the money in commuting cost that you will "lose" and found out that it didn't work for you.  If that's the biggest money mistake you made in the last year it's not so bad. 

[BikeFanatic]

That is a nice Ebike. With the used battery though I can see how people would not want to pay more than a grand. That controller must be very powerful to get you over 30 MPH. ANyway with a bike like that that can do off road too and super fast, I think you did OK to buy it for 2 grand, and No face punches. For me, I love my Ebikes whether they save me money or not. I saved money commuting because the bus and parking at work cost a fortune, but I could have saved more by just riding a 200 $ walmart bike also. I experienced a lot of pleasure riding in the snow on the Ebike that it was worth the price I pay, and only a side benifit of not having to pay for parking.

[AccidentialMustache]

So you built a not-road-nor-public-trails-legal ebike and are wondering why people aren't lining up to buy it? If you want a facepunch, that's it right there. You shrank your buyer pool to so small you'll have a hard time selling it at any price, for what it is.

[PDXTabs]

So you built a not-road-nor-public-trails-legal ebike and are wondering why people aren't lining up to buy it? If you want a facepunch, that's it right there. You shrank your buyer pool to so small you'll have a hard time selling it at any price, for what it is.

This is really common in the USA, at least where I live. In real life you can ride them on the road all day long and no one will mess with you. They are very popular for commuters. Along those lines I would imagine that you could set the controller to be legal USA Class 3 eBike.

[baconschteam]

So you built a not-road-nor-public-trails-legal ebike and are wondering why people aren't lining up to buy it? If you want a facepunch, that's it right there. You shrank your buyer pool to so small you'll have a hard time selling it at any price, for what it is.

Where I live this is common and the consequences are nonexistent, but I did ask for facepunches, so, thanks! I believe the issue may lie more with, as BikeFanatic aptly pointed out, the used battery. It works like it did the day I got it, but there’s no way to verify this and it is the most expensive ingredient of an ebike.

I’ll have to sell it, anyway, because there's no more room for it in our tiny apartment!

[Artem_F]

in this situation "your loss is their gain", so I would just keep the e-bike and use it whenever it is possible. In this case, you'll break even after a couple of years and you will have a "free" e-bike, which you can still use.

I've built two e-bikes myself, but on a completely different budget (600 EUR for two 250W front wheel driven e-bikes), which we've been using for more than 2 years. One of them was used for commuting (30 miles once a week and 4 miles a day for the rest of the week). I agree that a 30mile daily commute is a bit exhausting (once I did it 4 times in a row), but as someone wrote, you're not obliged to do it all days.

[Just Joe]

So you built a not-road-nor-public-trails-legal ebike and are wondering why people aren't lining up to buy it? If you want a facepunch, that's it right there. You shrank your buyer pool to so small you'll have a hard time selling it at any price, for what it is.

It only goes fast if you ask it to.

We love our two ebikes. Mine is going into its fifth year with the same battery. Keep it between 80 and 20 percent and the batteries age well.

Big batteries are great b/c depending on your needs your depth of discharge is not huge and that helps the batteries age slower too.

[AccidentialMustache]

Where I live this is common and the consequences are nonexistent, but I did ask for facepunches, so, thanks! I believe the issue may lie more with, as BikeFanatic aptly pointed out, the used battery. It works like it did the day I got it, but there’s no way to verify this and it is the most expensive ingredient of an ebike.

I’ll have to sell it, anyway, because there's no more room for it in our tiny apartment!

No, where you live the consequences are the same as where I live. While the chance of the consequences happening is super low, if you roll snake eyes you'll be up shit creek. I'm not talking about a cop busting you for having an illegal e-bike. I'm talking about when there's a wreck you are involved in (even if it is tangentially and you weren't injured) and someone's lawyers figure out that your bike wasn't street legal.

[PDXTabs]

Where I live this is common and the consequences are nonexistent, but I did ask for facepunches, so, thanks! I believe the issue may lie more with, as BikeFanatic aptly pointed out, the used battery. It works like it did the day I got it, but there’s no way to verify this and it is the most expensive ingredient of an ebike.

I’ll have to sell it, anyway, because there's no more room for it in our tiny apartment!

No, where you live the consequences are the same as where I live. While the chance of the consequences happening is super low, if you roll snake eyes you'll be up shit creek. I'm not talking about a cop busting you for having an illegal e-bike. I'm talking about when there's a wreck you are involved in (even if it is tangentially and you weren't injured) and someone's lawyers figure out that your bike wasn't street legal.

If the OP programs the correct speed governor they are good to go in Oregon without even lowering the max output of the controller. Both of which are configurable in FW on this controller.

“Electric assisted bicycle.” “Electric assisted bicycle” means a vehicle that:
(1)Is designed to be operated on the ground on wheels;
(2)Has a seat or saddle for use of the rider;
(3)Is designed to travel with not more than three wheels in contact with the ground;
(4)Has both fully operative pedals for human propulsion and an electric motor; and
(5)Is equipped with an electric motor that:
(a)Has a power output of not more than 1,000 watts; and
(b)Is incapable of propelling the vehicle at a speed of greater than 20 miles per hour on level ground. [1997 c.400 §2; 1999 c.59 §233]

ORS 801.258