[Closed] Secondhand prices of ebikes

Bump for the new post issue ;o)

I sold my ‘17 MY recently, with transferable warranty to the end of this year as I had bought a new motor and battery, out of warranty, 18 months ago.

Went for ‘bite their arm off’ money.

Nope. Especially not at the prices I see being asked.

There's got to be a growing network of repairers to service this sector though. Like independent specialist car mechanics.

I would buy secondhand - but it would be discounted for the cost of a new battery. so around the same price as a similar non e bike ie a big depreciation

Personally nope - but I'm sure there's 1000's who would.....

We sold one last year, a Turbo Levo, for about £1000 less than they were going for but was happy with the price we asked for.
It went local to someone who would and is appreciating it. We didn't advertise it, we were asked if we knew anyone who had one for sale and a bike for his son after they has asked to try one out. He had a limited budget to kit him and his son out and we agreed on a price which was good for both of us.
Not taken advantage of the market in anything we have sold

I would buy second-hand – but it would be discounted for the cost of a new battery. so around the same price as a similar non e bike ie a big depreciation

That would be my expectation except having seen the pandemic triggered non-E bike price hikes I think people have gone mental.

Paying stupid money for an E-bike with a potentially wonky battery pack might not occur to some people as being a bad idea...

I recently sold a 2017 Levo for 2k to a mate, but haven't seen anything similar for anywhere close to that, even older bikes seem to be advertised for 2.7k+ for anything half decent. I did buy a SH Merida for £2750, but it came with a new motor and battery, so felt it wasn't too risky a purchase.

I'm not flaming ebikes, but aren't they pretty much guaranteed to need some kind of warranty attention?

Do many come with transferable warranties as Tom said his did? That seems a more sensible solution when they are starting to cost as much as cars - and have become more fallible due to technical complexity.

I wouldn't buy one used yet, the pace of change is too fast. E.g. if the motor goes, I cant just buy the latest motor to replace it as they have different fittings, I'd have to get that specific age and model of motor which is likely to be expensive. Se also battery packs, you'd have to get an even more specific battery!

I might be tempted when they have some standards....but today these are a little too disposable after maybe 5 years life for my liking.

you can usually get batteries recelled but its a good few hundred pounds

For my out of warranty purchases of motor and battery, Specialized (well, the concept store) did 50% off, on the proviso that they sent the knackered stuff back, total cost for both motor and battery was around £700 I think.

I’d do some research into the ebits - motor rebuildability, battery/spare availability etc etc,

https://www.performancelinebearings.com/ Gets good write ups and note that not all major brand motors are covered.

As a shimano fan for about 30 years I wouldn’t currently get anything with a shimano motor, new or secondhand. See above comment.

Ps I think 2019/20 levos have a 4 yr warranty (motor)

I’d buy one with a transferable warranty - I wouldn’t want one without though.

I wouldn’t pay what they are selling for though, in fact I’m fully about take advantage of the current situation as my new Gen3 Levo is now here so I can sell my 1 year old Trek at strong money 🙂

I figure that’s a good selling point as Treks warranty is transferable and the Bosch CX4 system is probably the most reliable on the market. Having watched what they go for over the past month, it’s a lot!

I bought a "second hand" emtb a year ago (it was an ex-demo). I was aware that it wouldn't be a brand-new warranty situation at the time. It has been fine.

I think it's just about each buyer's attitude to risk. I fancied trying an emtb, but wasnt sure I'd take to it so I didn't want to spend over 2k. Buying a used bike allowed me to do that. I accepted the motor may implode/fireball or whatever, but was confident it was one of the lower-risk motor brands and even if I had to fork out 1k down the line for a new motor, it was still cheaper than buying new.

No difference from any other used bike purchase really - the forks/brakes/shock may need you to pay to sort them out, this is just a higher price risk and some may take it to get an emtb, some won't want to risk it.

I think part of the issue is that the new emtb warranties are so good (clearly a priority for the bike brands to build a market) and replacements widely reported, people feel exposed without the full coverage.

Wish the above was true, what put the fear factor into me was getting a cube stereo with CX4 that failed and couldn't be fixed, refunded after over 3 months of waiting, went and bought something close by just in case this time, but it's still only 2 year warranty, i'm mechanically minded so always do a good check over (without breaking into the main parts), wiring seems a huge issue, can't understand why they don't protect the connectors a bit better on them as well, not exactly difficult these days, even with a basic shrink wrap, as i see a fair few corroded connectors causing mayhem on ebikes.

I think that's the other issue i see, there's not a huge amount of progress in terms of adding longevity to the motors, it's not exactly cutting edge stuff here, basic motor akin to the design used over many industries for 50 years, PCBs of similar quality and so on, would have liked to see more innovation at this end in ebikes by now.

I figure that’s a good selling point as Treks warranty is transferable and the Bosch CX4 system is probably the most reliable on the market. Having watched what they go for over the past month, it’s a lot!

That’s interesting about trek eBike warranties, I looked at buying a hardly used nearly new Scott eBike secondhand and the warranty wasn’t transferable, so for that reason I didn’t buy it.

As a shimano fan for about 30 years I wouldn’t currently get anything with a shimano motor, new or secondhand.

Couldn't agree more. Shocking that the leading motor repairer can't fix them. I'm not sure why, but until Shimano offer an exchange motor at a reasonable price then I'd avoid anything Shimano.

They could be bomb proof and never need fixing of course.

Couldn’t agree more. Shocking that the leading motor repairer can’t fix them.

They don’t repair the Dyname 3 (Rocky Mountain) motor either.
But when they say “motor repair” isn’t what they really mean associated mechanical parts replacement - nobody is going to repair the actual rotor/stator assembly, are they, or the control board/ECU?

I'd buy a 2nd hand ebike with Bosch - more reliable and not prohibitively expensive to replace motor or battery. Specialized (Brose) replacement battery and motor prices are extortionate.

@Andy-R

True enough, but if the demand is there it'll not be long before one of the ECU/Laptop repair outfits starts fixing the IC boards - ACtronics or Louis Rossman for example. I doubt anybody will ever get into motor rewinds.

Never heard of the 'Dyname 3', so I'm not surprised that performance line don't list them. I assume no demand. Likewise there must be a whole host of other minor brands out there. Anybody seen a definitive list?

Brose, Bosch and Yamaha have a long history of producing electric motors, I not sure if Shimano have the background in electric motors, but then neither did Tesla. Throw money at a problem and you can buy in the talent to produce most things. Interesting to note that Siemens shut down the whole bicycle motor division. I don't know if they ever produced a motor, but the R&D was binned.

I started seriously looking at ebikes 6 months ago, and for now have discounted them.

My last bike cost £1.5k and is 12 yrs in. So for me an ebike that costs >£5k has got to last at least as long

Electric cars come with 8+ yr warranty on battery and motor, and for a bike to offer only 2 they are pretty much saying it’s a disposable item

I wouldn’t look at 2nd hand as at that point not only are you potentially looking at battery and motor, but drivetrain and suspension

I bet in 10yrs from now it’s impossible to get a replacement motor or battery cell for your 10yr old emtb as unfortunately the MTB industry is selling these things as disposable items.

If I could feel assured that I can keep an ebike for 10 years to get through the depreciation I would consider but not for now

Yeah I would no worries, but only specialized and only the current gen2 motor/battery.
Used 500w batteries are prevelant, pretty cheap to pick up as spares or replacements.
Performance line bearings can fix a motor out of warranty.

I would avoid gen1 due to lack of available used batteries. I can't comment on other manufacturers.
Also I've never wrecked a motor, although some seem to get through them on a regular basis.

I started looking for an ebike recently, and the availability is terrible (just like the rest of the bike market) second hand stuff is demanding high prices for all kinds of stuff, I also recently sold a concept2 rower for a couple of hundred more than the new price.

Now is just not a good time to buy second hand gear regardless of warranty and battery/electrical longevity concerns. I have just decided to wait until next year.

I would also avoid 2nd hand.
It is basically sold as seen, and anything goes wrong, you may end up paying for an entire new motor, or battery or both. In fact you could end up spending more than that bike cost originally new.

Buy new and get whatever has the longest warranty. It's a lot of money even 2nd hand, and it provides piece of mind should something go amiss, which judging from this thread alone is not too uncommon a fact.