micromobility - Bikes, scooters, boards: Whatever floats your goat, this is micromobility

This reeks of elitism.

Buy the e-bike that you want to buy for the price you want to buy it. If you find out after the fact that there are issues, you're on your own.

But it's not like the $2,000 e-bikes are any cheaper or less difficult to work on than the $250 one.

Worst case, your $250 or $600 spend will be the kickstart of a new passion that gets you excited about being outdoors and riding bicycles and you can resell your $250 bike to someone else for $100 and give them an opportunity to experience the same passion.

They don't sell bikes, they sell the infamous bike-shaped object. adding a motor to it doesn't make it more a bike.

Some of the e-bikes on Amazon seem fine. The problem I have is with the huge number of TMBMs - Teenage Mutant Bikelane Marauders, fat tire motorcycle wannabes. When these show up in bikelanes they ruin it for everyone.

One should avoid buying anything from them, period.

Buy the cheap thing. See if you like it enough to keep going in the hobby. It will also teach you about things that matter to you and things that don’t and help you prioritize what you want to upgrade. I do the same thing with tools. Why would I spend $3000 on a tool that I use once a year. Buy the cheap tool and see if it’s something you’ll use often.

I bought a Lectric 3 "clone" branded Gosen (from Canada) that also listed on Amazon. It is 3 years old, and an absolutely amazing bike, even though its now out of business. The Lectric XP "format", fat tire 20" hub motor 750w or more, folding with sturdy rear rack is an ideal design with torque and cargo capability, and geometry that makes pedaling relevant at the maximum range of usable bike weight. These designs will fit in an elevator. Folding will fit in a cab/car.

Specialized make much better mountain (E)bikes, but I had fun running mine through stupidly hard (just medium) trails, and "bike parks" knowing that no matter how slow or scared I was, I can always power out of the trail.

Mine was slightly more expensive than XP 3 (before shipping to Canada), but 8000km later, the brake pads and tires are worth changing. Fine shimano entry level 7 speed shifting can have its complaints after 3 years, but ebikes just don't need to shift that often.

OP is basically comparing higher end priced bikes. Higher end motor and battery than what I got. Fine, getting a "janky wheel" is a disappointment for sure. I didn't have that proble on a $1000 ebike instead of the walmart $1700 ebike. I can't vouch for chepaer ebikes, or today's ebikes, but the 20" fat tire format is an absolute winner. Rear suspension not really needed.