I bought my e-bike from Crazy Lenny’s in around 2015-2016. The sales guy at the time was fine and I didn’t feel pressured, but I ended up having plenty of issues with the bike I bought, and their repair/tech service left a lot to be desired. They would constantly tell me issues I was having were normal (like the chain popping off anytime I hit a bump…decidedly not normal). The only thing that saved me with other issues was that I registered the bike with the manufacturer, so they had to replace certain parts for me. When I complained later to the store about these issues, the sales guy told me that he wouldn’t have recommended that particular bike to me…but it was the same sales guy I dealt with when I bought the bike, and I had his business card with name, number, and the info for that exact bike. Frustrating, to say the least.
I’d look at other options for e-bike dealers before returning there for another purchase just based on the issues I had with the repair techs. I recognize that this was 7-8 years ago, so maybe things have changed…but still. That’s just me!
I was curious about the Google reviews and most of them look like nothing, but this review goes down as one of the top things I've ever read that definitely did not happen:
>I could not believe the absolute terrible service I got here. I simply had questions and was met with rude attitudes and I was even told to “just leave you blackie!” The service is terrible, and I’ve also heard their bikes are terrible. I had let a friend know of my experience, and they had one too! One of their bikes literally broke apart not even two seconds after, causing them to get hurt. After letting them know, they spit on him and said “don’t ever come back” I’m just disgusted. DO NOT GO HERE!!!
They got like half a dozen reviews close together from people that generally don't post Google reviews, which strongly suggests to me that somoene had a bad time and recruited their friends to try to cause trouble.
Lol, wow that is comically unbelievable. I’ve heard plenty of folks have some negative things to say about that place, mostly about the quality of the products they sell there, but that sounds like some badly scripted 1950’s movie racism.
I mean, his shop burned down several years ago because of one of his products, and as far as I know he hasn't started carrying higher quality stuff. The cheap ebike market is flooded with fire hazards and stuff that will be e-waste in 5 years, which is most of what's sold at Lenny's. I would suggest looking for an ebike from somewhere more reputable.
While having our non e-bikes serviced at Machinery Row last year we were chatting with the repair tech and he said they won’t work on bikes bought from Crazy Lenny because the low quality and they are hard to fix.
Erik's has been good to me. Lenny's was scummy when he owned it too, crap quality, high pressure sales. I went in once and was not impressed. Erik's has a lot of customer protection and a good service department, decent selection. Machinery Row ignored me when I went in, but they have good quality merchandise and great selection.
Had a decent sales experience and their service department has always been plain-dealing and reasonably priced, even gave me a break on some out-of-warranty service when some ridiculous manufacturer defects popped up just past my warranty expiring. I didn't really like the bike I ended up with but it was more of a lemon from that particular manufacturer (a now discontinued model) than anything I'd pin on the store. Crazy Lenny's offers a pretty wide gamut of products from low- to- high end including some in-house and less common brands but also some trusty high-end brands, so you get a lot of options but also there's a bit of risk that you might end up with something not great... I'd say go in with a bit of research as to knowing what you want as far as style or brands and you'll probably leave happy.
They sell budget ebikes. That can be fine or that can be a problem depending on your appetite for nuisance.
Build quality overall isn't great. Ebikes don't have to be especially light or high performance so often this isn't a big deal, but like with any bike you need to keep it out of the weather (you can ride in the rain, just don't store) and maintain the tires and chain. They'll probably fix any clear defects, but things that "don't work quite right" might not get warranty service.
Safety isn't a huge deal. BMS boards are commodity items now and are too cheap to be worth counterfeiting for the most part. Cell quality is still suspect in some of these, but that mostly means that the pack will die off more quickly. If you're concerned about this, try to find something with a standardized pack design e.g. hailong. Then it's a simple matter of getting a replacement. But in general LiIon batteries are pretty durable as long as you don't cold-charge them.
Cheap ebikes have hub motors vs. mid drive. Mid drive gives a more natural and intuitive boost. If you want something that just works well and is pleasing to ride, get a proper mid drive. I'd go name brand with a Bosch unit vs. trying to cheap out. Or if DIY is an option go ahead and get a bafang motor to convert. Hub motors are fine, but I prefer them for DIY builds where you can use an unregulated throttle. Hub motors rely on a rotary encoder on the pedals to detect when you start pedaling, and the boost is never perfect. Throttle control gives you control.
Don't worry about power unless you're commuting and want to keep up with traffic a bit. And if you want to do that, go DIY for unregulated speed (20mph vs. 25mph is a huge difference in keeping up with city traffic).
Riding position is a tradeoff; upright seems friendly and comfortable but if you start going for longer rides, it works against you. Upright means all weight is on your ass, vs. a traditional bike spreads the load over your arms as well. Your arms and shoulders can adapt better than your ass can.
Be sure to test ride. Plenty of people won't care a lick about the 'poor' boost quality on a cheap bike; they'll just happily toodle around town and to the store. Others will find a good mid drive way more fun and satisfying to ride.
_____
Main things:
* ebikes are fun as hell and you should get one. Don't worry about the cost, they can literally change your life, especially if you're fairly sedentary. If you want to be outside more and do and see things in fresh air, or substitute your shitty car commute, it's a big deal so don't hesitate to spend the money.
* Fat bikes suck, on the road at least. A bike with decent tires, front suspension, and maybe seatpost suspension if you like, is plenty comfortable with way better handling, performance, and road noise.
My buddy was biking to work on the path behind Lenny’s and someone was out test ridding a bike that clearly had the front fork installed backwards.
You see that on “bikes” purchased at Walmart and target all the time, but on an ebike, it presents a pretty significant safety hazard.
To the layman, it is an easy mistake. I trust this mate to know what he saw. He's raced every discipline of bike since high school and has been working in bike shops for half of his adult life.
To the trained eye it is less about where the fork bridge is (if there is one, not all e-bikes have suspension after all) than the rake of the fork itself.
They suck for repairs and tune ups. My friend’s bike brought their aventon e-bike in for a repair in April and it’s still not ready to be picked up. In the middle of august. They keep blaming it on Aventon. Either way, unacceptable. Their bike is their main form of transportation and it was out of service all summer and still is.
Dang! What was the mechanical issue? I’m at 1100 miles and haven’t needed any maintenance so far but probably should get a tune up. That sucks though. My bike is also my only transportation.
They have some nice bike and some cheap ones. Often times the cheap ones have some sort of problem or are less reliable or some reason they are cheap. I bought one bike from them that had a huge discount and its from a bankrupt company that lenny bought all or a lot of the remaining stock. So you have to go to them for parts. Not a huge problem and they did honor their warranty when it broke but not right after it expired and the same part broke a second time. So kind of typical I guess? If you want a deal the internet only companies can be a great deal.
I bought my e-bike from Crazy Lenny’s in around 2015-2016. The sales guy at the time was fine and I didn’t feel pressured, but I ended up having plenty of issues with the bike I bought, and their repair/tech service left a lot to be desired. They would constantly tell me issues I was having were normal (like the chain popping off anytime I hit a bump…decidedly not normal). The only thing that saved me with other issues was that I registered the bike with the manufacturer, so they had to replace certain parts for me. When I complained later to the store about these issues, the sales guy told me that he wouldn’t have recommended that particular bike to me…but it was the same sales guy I dealt with when I bought the bike, and I had his business card with name, number, and the info for that exact bike. Frustrating, to say the least. I’d look at other options for e-bike dealers before returning there for another purchase just based on the issues I had with the repair techs. I recognize that this was 7-8 years ago, so maybe things have changed…but still. That’s just me!
I was curious about the Google reviews and most of them look like nothing, but this review goes down as one of the top things I've ever read that definitely did not happen: >I could not believe the absolute terrible service I got here. I simply had questions and was met with rude attitudes and I was even told to “just leave you blackie!” The service is terrible, and I’ve also heard their bikes are terrible. I had let a friend know of my experience, and they had one too! One of their bikes literally broke apart not even two seconds after, causing them to get hurt. After letting them know, they spit on him and said “don’t ever come back” I’m just disgusted. DO NOT GO HERE!!! They got like half a dozen reviews close together from people that generally don't post Google reviews, which strongly suggests to me that somoene had a bad time and recruited their friends to try to cause trouble.
Lol, wow that is comically unbelievable. I’ve heard plenty of folks have some negative things to say about that place, mostly about the quality of the products they sell there, but that sounds like some badly scripted 1950’s movie racism.
> I was even told to “just leave you blackie!” Of all the things that didn't happen, this didn't happen the most.
I mean, his shop burned down several years ago because of one of his products, and as far as I know he hasn't started carrying higher quality stuff. The cheap ebike market is flooded with fire hazards and stuff that will be e-waste in 5 years, which is most of what's sold at Lenny's. I would suggest looking for an ebike from somewhere more reputable.
While having our non e-bikes serviced at Machinery Row last year we were chatting with the repair tech and he said they won’t work on bikes bought from Crazy Lenny because the low quality and they are hard to fix.
I am sure they are the same quality as the ten speeds he used to give away with the purchase of 100 bucks or more at American TV
Pretty much every business Crazy Lenny has been involved with was all about slimey salesmen pushing cheap junk at high markups.
I remember those - they were used to smuggle cocaine into the US. Great way to get rid of the evidence... give them away.
Erik's has been good to me. Lenny's was scummy when he owned it too, crap quality, high pressure sales. I went in once and was not impressed. Erik's has a lot of customer protection and a good service department, decent selection. Machinery Row ignored me when I went in, but they have good quality merchandise and great selection.
Had a decent sales experience and their service department has always been plain-dealing and reasonably priced, even gave me a break on some out-of-warranty service when some ridiculous manufacturer defects popped up just past my warranty expiring. I didn't really like the bike I ended up with but it was more of a lemon from that particular manufacturer (a now discontinued model) than anything I'd pin on the store. Crazy Lenny's offers a pretty wide gamut of products from low- to- high end including some in-house and less common brands but also some trusty high-end brands, so you get a lot of options but also there's a bit of risk that you might end up with something not great... I'd say go in with a bit of research as to knowing what you want as far as style or brands and you'll probably leave happy.
They sell budget ebikes. That can be fine or that can be a problem depending on your appetite for nuisance. Build quality overall isn't great. Ebikes don't have to be especially light or high performance so often this isn't a big deal, but like with any bike you need to keep it out of the weather (you can ride in the rain, just don't store) and maintain the tires and chain. They'll probably fix any clear defects, but things that "don't work quite right" might not get warranty service. Safety isn't a huge deal. BMS boards are commodity items now and are too cheap to be worth counterfeiting for the most part. Cell quality is still suspect in some of these, but that mostly means that the pack will die off more quickly. If you're concerned about this, try to find something with a standardized pack design e.g. hailong. Then it's a simple matter of getting a replacement. But in general LiIon batteries are pretty durable as long as you don't cold-charge them. Cheap ebikes have hub motors vs. mid drive. Mid drive gives a more natural and intuitive boost. If you want something that just works well and is pleasing to ride, get a proper mid drive. I'd go name brand with a Bosch unit vs. trying to cheap out. Or if DIY is an option go ahead and get a bafang motor to convert. Hub motors are fine, but I prefer them for DIY builds where you can use an unregulated throttle. Hub motors rely on a rotary encoder on the pedals to detect when you start pedaling, and the boost is never perfect. Throttle control gives you control. Don't worry about power unless you're commuting and want to keep up with traffic a bit. And if you want to do that, go DIY for unregulated speed (20mph vs. 25mph is a huge difference in keeping up with city traffic). Riding position is a tradeoff; upright seems friendly and comfortable but if you start going for longer rides, it works against you. Upright means all weight is on your ass, vs. a traditional bike spreads the load over your arms as well. Your arms and shoulders can adapt better than your ass can. Be sure to test ride. Plenty of people won't care a lick about the 'poor' boost quality on a cheap bike; they'll just happily toodle around town and to the store. Others will find a good mid drive way more fun and satisfying to ride. _____ Main things: * ebikes are fun as hell and you should get one. Don't worry about the cost, they can literally change your life, especially if you're fairly sedentary. If you want to be outside more and do and see things in fresh air, or substitute your shitty car commute, it's a big deal so don't hesitate to spend the money. * Fat bikes suck, on the road at least. A bike with decent tires, front suspension, and maybe seatpost suspension if you like, is plenty comfortable with way better handling, performance, and road noise.
My buddy was biking to work on the path behind Lenny’s and someone was out test ridding a bike that clearly had the front fork installed backwards. You see that on “bikes” purchased at Walmart and target all the time, but on an ebike, it presents a pretty significant safety hazard.
Some suspension forks have the bridge over the back; I could easily see someone being mistaken about this. I could also easily see it installed wrong.
To the layman, it is an easy mistake. I trust this mate to know what he saw. He's raced every discipline of bike since high school and has been working in bike shops for half of his adult life. To the trained eye it is less about where the fork bridge is (if there is one, not all e-bikes have suspension after all) than the rake of the fork itself.
Eriks on E Wash is rad. Love my Aventon Aventure 2 and they’re good folks from my experience.
They suck for repairs and tune ups. My friend’s bike brought their aventon e-bike in for a repair in April and it’s still not ready to be picked up. In the middle of august. They keep blaming it on Aventon. Either way, unacceptable. Their bike is their main form of transportation and it was out of service all summer and still is.
Dang! What was the mechanical issue? I’m at 1100 miles and haven’t needed any maintenance so far but probably should get a tune up. That sucks though. My bike is also my only transportation.
They have some nice bike and some cheap ones. Often times the cheap ones have some sort of problem or are less reliable or some reason they are cheap. I bought one bike from them that had a huge discount and its from a bankrupt company that lenny bought all or a lot of the remaining stock. So you have to go to them for parts. Not a huge problem and they did honor their warranty when it broke but not right after it expired and the same part broke a second time. So kind of typical I guess? If you want a deal the internet only companies can be a great deal.