E-Bike direct Manufacture Purchase Unbranded e-Bike

geosped

100 W
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Mar 18, 2015
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I have built several offroad e-mountain bikes over the years but the one thing they have in common is they still look like DIY kits. The new e-mountain bikes are fully integrated they just look awesome and IMO just next level compared to a DIY's type bike. Sure my BBSHD DIY kit performs well and the cost savings are there compared to a store bought "real e-mountain bike" but it's like buying / building a kit car. You can always tell a kit car from a manufacture built car. The idea is to buy directly from the manufacture that makes bikes from the other big manufactures like a Specialized, Trek, Giant, SantaCruz, etc. Basiclly do any of the manufactures sell or offer a house brand? Same concept is there a house brand of some really great ebike that cost much cheaper than the "original" I want the same spec and quality just dont want to pay for the name.

So with that being said would it be possible to buy an "unbranded" bike from a Taiwan / China manufacture that makes the bikes for companies like Specialized, Trek, Giant etc at a much lower cost? I would much rather go this route than go out and buy another BBSHD and put it on a 10 year old bike.

First is this a thing? Second if it is a thing how would I go about doing this?
 
The trade off is the lack of support and difficulty getting warranty replacement/repairs if something goes wrong. Would you buy a new $30K car if the manufacturer didn't have service dealerships within a hundred miles of you? Even if you do the work yourself, what if it took you months and a lot of wrangling with the manufacturer just to get the parts to fix an issue? It is possible to buy these bikes direct from the manufacturer in China. Sometimes there is a minimum order and people do group buys to get them. There are horror stories out there as well. Do your research and know the risks first.
 
RunForTheHills said:
The trade off is the lack of support and difficulty getting warranty replacement/repairs if something goes wrong. Would you buy a new $30K car if the manufacturer didn't have service dealerships within a hundred miles of you? Even if you do the work yourself, what if it took you months and a lot of wrangling with the manufacturer just to get the parts to fix an issue? It is possible to buy these bikes direct from the manufacturer in China. Sometimes there is a minimum order and people do group buys to get them. There are horror stories out there as well. Do your research and know the risks first.

Same can be said about a diy kit. Try getting support from a BBSHD kit bought from AliExpress or other online vendor. Still gonna take a long time to prove there is a valid warranty claim and then to ship a part out of China. Good luck with that or try getting support when you take your BBSD kit into a local bike store so they can work on it. Called two diffrent bike shops and they didn't even want me to bring it in. Guess what, your pretty much on your own. Not to mention the countless hours spent researching on how to measure, BB fitment issues, and deal with chain stay issues and the list goes on and on.

If I can find a manufacture that sells a non branded same bike as a good manufacturer for lower cost that would probably be a much better option. I'm just wondering how to go about this OTHER path. The grass is not always greener! I tried looking at Alibabba but I just see low end spec bikes ebike not really looking for the 10000w bike either. I haven't seen any other post about this although I know they exist. I'm sure there are a few bike manufactures that produce bikes for a lot of vendors just need to find a list and see if they sell direct or group buy etc...
 
That is true for DIY ebikes and ES is the home for DIY enthusiasts. However if you are talking about name brand bikes, they do have local dealers and better support than mail order bikes. I am not sure what kind of bike you are looking for. Frey is a Chinese manufacturer that sells direct and there are reviews about their bikes here and on other forums. I think you have to contact them directly and not through Alibaba.
 
The problem is a one off sale is just a headache for a bike maker who wants to export a container full of bikes. I ordered a little $300 pedal bike from China last year. It's been almost five months. Still somewhere between Shanghai and US customs.
 
RunForTheHills said:
That is true for DIY ebikes and ES is the home for DIY enthusiasts. However if you are talking about name brand bikes, they do have local dealers and better support than mail order bikes. I am not sure what kind of bike you are looking for. Frey is a Chinese manufacturer that sells direct and there are reviews about their bikes here and on other forums. I think you have to contact them directly and not through Alibaba.


I looked at Frey that's kind of what I'm looking for but I think that they are there own bike company not a well known manufacture that makes bikes for other companies. I wanted to choose a manufacture that is making bikes for lots of other brands and that has a lot of experience in the ebike manufacturing not looking to be a beta tester for a startup. Frey looks like they are a startup. What I want to do is find the manufacture that makes Trek or Specialized or Giant ebikes and buy that exact bike with out any of the branding. Or perhaps just the frame / and suspension as I know a lot of those bikes have there own branded components. So how and where do I start looking for those specific manufactures so I can reach out and see if they sell a "house brand" ebike.
 
My next door neighbor has a ebikes door he just open and he keep changing manufacturers and he hooked up with a local guy who imports a no name no sticker bike meant to for the proprietor to put his stickers on. he also sells them used with low mileage he's over here in southern Cal or Dana point to be exact. As lease is US base and you have some level of support as it looks like he has good support from his importer.
 
geosped said:
The idea is to buy directly from the manufacture that makes bikes from the other big manufactures like a Specialized, Trek, Giant, SantaCruz, etc. Basiclly do any of the manufactures sell or offer a house brand?

What you're missing in that is that there's some certain fitment. I see you can buy the same QS motor/swingarm combo direct, which is a start to what you're after, but then it goes on a frame suited to it, there's some small bodywork, etc. It's a big job getting it 100% tailored, which is what you seek. Researching matching parts will be a big job that won't accomplish as much as you're hoping for.

I might guess the main thing you seek is to make it look like a finished bike, which is something I've worked on. The main thing is some good fairings to cover the cobbled together junctions underneath. I went to school to learn plastic fabrication, but it turns out it's easier to learn to do in in your home without the expensive equipment by watching videos from the company that offers the materials. https://www.smooth-on.com/tutorials/ The one demonstrator from the company came to our school a few times and this is simplified R&D process.

And this stuff is easy to do once you're willing to get a disaster or two out of the way as your growing pains.
 
There are so many knock off Chinese goods out there that look something like the OEM product but aren't manufactured to the same specifications. How will you know you are getting the real grey market goods (which is what you are asking for) and not a cheap imitation that cuts a lot of corners? At least with Frey, they have an Internet presence, customer service, and reviews by people who have bought their product. And they use name brand components. This sounds like a very risky way to buy a bike without a warranty or support.
 
999zip999 said:
My next door neighbor has a ebikes door he just open and he keep changing manufacturers and he hooked up with a local guy who imports a no name no sticker bike meant to for the proprietor to put his stickers on. he also sells them used with low mileage he's over here in southern Cal or Dana point to be exact. As lease is US base and you have some level of support as it looks like he has good support from his importer.
Does the manufacture for your neighbor's ebikes use the same manufacture as the good companies? What other well known brands are made in that factory? I want to find the SAME manufacture as then you have a much better idea of what your getting. That's why I'm asking. Its not easy. I dont want a kit bike I want the real thing like your describing with out any of the stickers but it needs to be genuine.
 
Hard to say I would have to talk to his supplier the wholesaler that lives here in this country and get the answers. I know the guy down the street 10 years ago I helped put them into his easy green bike business. And he had a shitload of problems they were supposed to upgrade and put good tubes in East tubes were made out of plastic bags that seem like and then he had numerous other problems as he contracted his Chinese manufacturer to do the bike in a certain way and of course they didn't follow instructions for at least a year.imagine getting 10x and the first thing you have to do is change all the inner tubes. A Gamble
 
Anyone hear of http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/ebikes-electric-bikes-at-near-wholesale.html are these guys legit? I dont see a lot of offerings and havent really heard of Motobecane but the specs and prices look good.

To someone else point I should probably find another forum as this is mostly DIY stuff and not just e-bike in general. Anyone recommend a good e-bike forum?
 
geosped said:
Anyone hear of http://www.bikesdirect.com/products/ebikes-electric-bikes-at-near-wholesale.html are these guys legit? I dont see a lot of offerings and havent really heard of Motobecane but the specs and prices look good.

To someone else point I should probably find another forum as this is mostly DIY stuff and not just e-bike in general. Anyone recommend a good e-bike forum?

Bikedirect has been around for a while, although I have never ordered from them nor have I heard anything (good or bad) about the buying experience. The website design seems to have gotten even worse than I remember or maybe it just hasn't aged well.

I used to have a Motobecane single speed. The frame was circa mid 2000s and was well built, no idea if that holds true for the newer ones. The e-bikes just look like generic chinese frames with a decal slapped on them. At least they have decent parts and some have Shimano motors. I wouldn't go downhill racing on those but I imagine they should ride acceptably well.

And if you buy with a credit card, it's relatively low risk as you should have some purchase protection.
 
RunForTheHills said:
The trade off is the lack of support and difficulty getting warranty replacement/repairs if something goes wrong. Would you buy a new $30K car if the manufacturer didn't have service dealerships within a hundred miles of you?
I made that mistake when I purchased a new Vespa Scooter (although a bit less than $30K) ... a major known brand and excellent piece of hardware with US dealers as rare as hen's teeth. When I moved to Houston the only dealer was the local Lamborghini dealership and you can imagine what service there costs. :oops: :cry:

I will make one other comment:
Sometime there is a special feature that one wants that can ONLY be obtained by ordering direct from the manufacturer in a foreign country. Such is the case with "shaft drive" bicycles as no one in the US currently sales them. You can still order them via Alibaba, AliExpress and Banggood direct from China ... how long it takes to get here is another question.
 
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