This is an inherently inefficient design, where that inefficiency means increased 1) battery use and 2) tire wear.

From a cyclist’s perspective, this is fundamentally a stopgap product for “curious” customers dipping their toes into e-bikes. I don’t say that necessarily to criticize it. There’s a place for a product that someone can put on any old bike and see if they want to buy a more expensive long-term solution. But that doesn’t make it a product I’d recommend.

The tire wear problem is significant enough that there are heat resistant tires specifically for this type of drum application (designed for old-style indoor trainers, not for use on the road), because use on a drum will cause premature wear for normal road tires.

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mswphd 3 hours ago | parent [-]

it's also likely mildly more dangerous than a standard ebike, as ebikes typically overprovision their brakes. A customer putting this on a standard bike (especially a disc brake bike) might have less stopping power than they want on an ebike.

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loeg 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I wouldn't worry about it in this application, because the added weight and power is so minimal. Also: many of the cheap ebikes ($1000-1500 range) have absolutely terrible, underprovisioned brakes.

	▲	mswphd 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		only real worry I'd have is a scenario like 1. someone has a cheap disc brake bike for pleasure rides (mostly in the sun) 2. they get something like this for commuting or whatever 3. now they're on their disc brake bike most days (including when it rains), going faster than they're used to it's not the end of the world, but it also doesn't seem great

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prmoustache 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The requirement for better brakes is more a myth. Yes an e-bike is heavier but the rider + bike pair is not significantly heavier so e-bikes don't really need better brakes as most of them aren't going significantly faster than regular "muscular bikes", especially the legal ones that have an assistance speed limit. Rider weight makes a much bigger difference yet bike brands don't insist on speccing more powerful brakes on bigger riders.