New ebike for carrying kids

[richjamesturner]

Hi all,

Not sure whether this should be under family or ebikes...

I have a 16 month old who loves being on the bike with me (rear seat - Thule Ridealong). I tried my road bike but it felt horrible. My mountain bike is much better but by far my favourite is my wife's Specialized Turbo Como. The weight of it makes it so stable and the power really helps, especially where we live as it's hilly. So, I've decided to get myself an ebike

I don't want a tourer as I want something that's more capable off road and something that I can enjoy without him as well as with him. I'd decided on a hard tail mountain bike but I keep coming unstuck. The Trek Powerfly has a weird shaped downtube making the bracket unworkable. I then looked at the Canyon Grand Canyon:On which looked perfect but when I spoke to them today they said none of their bikes are suitable for child carriers and it voids the warranty (apparently this is common with manufacturers according to them - I've asked about warranties in a separate questions elsewhere).

So... my question is, have any of you got any suggestions for an e mountain bike that is great for both cross country and touring/riding with a child on the back. At some point I'll also need to use a trailer - we have a second child due in June! Budget is prob around £3500-£4000.

Thanks,

Rich

[stodd]

It may be worth considering buying a non-electric bike and converting it. That will give a wider choice of basic bike style.

Most up-market bikes have propriety systems that work very well; but any problems out of warranty will come very expensive (and often slow), as will replacement batteries when the time comes. Even the agents can do almost no work on Bosch system bikes; it's back to Bosch. If you buy good quality Chinese conversion kit it will be just as reliable, but if anything does go wrong much easier and cheaper to fix.

[Jdsk]

I don't want a tourer as I want something that's more capable off road and something that I can enjoy without him as well as with him. I'd decided on a hard tail mountain bike but I keep coming unstuck.

Having read the associated discussion of attaching child seats and warranties:
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=144327&p=1583720#p1583720
I wonder if you'd consider an alternative approach: keep the mountain bike and buy or assemble another machine for you and the two children. That would give you a whole range of different options for carrying or pulling them and letting them join in the work:
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=144168

Jonathan

[richjamesturner]

The issue with both of these solutions is that bike seats void the warranty on ALL bikes, not just ebikes, and they insinuated that the same applies elsewhere. I read a review of one bike with a Bosch motor that said the motor was perfect for towing... It's all very ambiguous. I'm getting the impression that if I want to completely safe I need to buy a child carrying Dutch style bike. It's an option, but isn't my ideal as they're not exactly great off road!

Why is nothing ever simple!

[Vorpal]

There are a number of threads on the forum about carrying children with bikes. viewtopic.php?f=54&t=130079 also has links to other threads. I will also post on the thread about warranty.

[Henry Will cycle]

There's plenty of great new child carriers that can securely attach to electric gravel bikes. A friend recently purchased the Bellelli Bike Taxi Child Bike Trailer and said at no point has he worried about the connection or security of the join. Although that said he often cruises on his electric bike and isn't much of a boy racer.