I am grateful to have Gerry from Bostonebikes nearby, have learned much from him, and highly recommend him for your e-bike purchasing and maintenance. I appreciate his willingness to explain the different components and options for the e-bike so you can talk through the best solution for your needs. His shop has a lot of variety of parts needed, but he is also able to source from elsewhere. He is responsive on texts and calls and gives good estimates for pricing and ETAs. All the staff are nice, patient, helpful, knowledgeable, and reasonable.
I was in the market for a high performance e-bike on a low budget in 2022. I wanted front suspension, 29inch wheels, 54 V battery and 750W motor, to get at least 30 miles of range and at least 30mph of speed. I wanted to be able to take the bike on light offroad trails, such as at the Middlesex Fells Reservation, and to have the bike be discreet. The bikes I wanted were all over $3.5k, and I was somewhat worried about the parts being proprietary or specialized. My research on off-the-shelf brand bikes led me down a rabbit hole to custom e-bikes, and it seemed cheaper to slap on a battery and motor on an existing bike instead. I didn't have the time or bike knowledge to engineer it myself, so I bought a used mountain bike online for $500 and took it to Gerry to convert it for around $2k, with all the repairs, additions, and labor. The result is an awesome machine that I feel confident taking on trails or the main roads, and locking up in the city. I liked that I was able to customize the handlebars and rear rack, and have optionality for upgrades, such as a removable and lockable battery. An ebike like this is a lot of maintenance though, so fair warning. Brakes will wear out a lot sooner, and MANY bikes shops refuse to perform even simple repairs on any e-bike or custom bike. All electronic components come with a warranty too, and we swapped out components that were potentially malfunctioning. If you want to save on money and have a customized solution for a high performance e-bike, then look no further. If you have more money to spend, you might convince yourself that buying off-the-shelf is less stress and worry, since components are rated for the speed (less maintenance and repair, but maybe more $ if the components are proprietary?), but definitely do your research and stop by Bostonebikes to talk to Gerry and play with his dog, Tessa! read more