A couple of years ago I knew I wanted to try an e-bike. I spent the winter of 2019 doing my research on them and I landed on the Voltbike Mariner. I like how it looked, and what it came standard with. I know that many e-bikes and the frames are all massed produced in china, and then assembled here. I suspect that the Canadian resellers do assembly of the units and probably a lot of quality control.
One important thing I researched, that may affect your decision, was that the volt bike mariner has a smaller wheel that is wide (fat tire). Now, this smaller wheel adds just the right amount of gearing for climbing steep hills. It plays a much larger role than you might expect compared to the standard wheel size.
I ordered the e-bike in May and it arrived middle of august. I planned to install a child seat as soon as I got it. I was happy that it turned out pretty easy to do thanks to the rear rack.
My reasons for getting an e-bike were kind of silly, I sold my motorcycle because I couldn’t enjoy it with my family and I took that money and planned to buy two e-bikes. Safe to say my toddler 1.5 loved it, she’s three now and she still loves it. I love motorcycles but when you’re a new dad your priorities change a lot, so an e-biker I became.
The Benefits
After owning one for 3 years I have almost nothing bad to say about the experience. In fact, I wonder why many urban dwellers still haven’t traded in their vehicles for one.
- No registration costs,
- No insurance costs,
- No gas
- No maintenance
Besides the cost to charge it(less than 5 cents), it’s free economical transport. I’ve got groceries with it, coffee, and use it to travel to the park daily. I enjoy it, my toddler loves it and it allows us to go on adventures.
Last year we were camping near the Nakusp area in BC and I brought my e-bikes a long. We went 20kms there and back to Nakusp for dinner on our e-bikes on quad trails it was a blast!
These kinds of adventures have become a regular occurrence and the whole family gets to enjoy them.
The Range is hardly ever an issue and being equipped with headlights and tail lights you don’t have to worry about riding after sunset.
I have put over 3000kms on mine and it still runs like knew, and where it should have popped a tire it hasn’t yet.
I think there an affordable and fun option for a young family and recommend you try one.
The things I hope are improved
For the Volt bike Mariner that I ride, I want better shocks and rear suspension and more power! (Pretty standard for any Dad who is used to ride dirt bikes.) I also think the gauges are out of date, it would be nice if there was USB charging available on the bike as well, it would be nice to be able to charge accessories on while on the bike, and saddles bags would be great.
I also find the gearing kinda terrible, the lowest gear is really hard to turn.
Another complaint I’ll put in that my father-in-law pointed out is that the front rack doesn’t turn with the wheel which can be dangerous if you are not used to it. It creates an illusion of the bike not turning when turning.
