Recently, I had a few family members visiting me in Amsterdam and I wanted to show them around the Dutch countryside. To give us a larger radius – and put towns like Marken, Zaandam, and Naarden comfortably within reach – I decided to rent e-bikes. In this post, I document my findings about the available options and the bikes I rented. Note that my lessons learnt are valid as of summer 2022 and are likely to change in the future.

Options

When looking around for rental options, I discarded the offerings which require a lengthy minimum contract period, such as the Swapfiets Power 1 where this is 6 months. This left the short- and medium-term rental offers such as the ones by MacBike, A-Bike, Amsterdamse Fietswinkel, and e-bike-to-go.

In the following, I detail my experiences with the two bikes I rented.

ByAr Volta

Amsterdamse Fietswinkel lends out ByAr Volta e-bikes. The bikes come with a very unique design – it definitely stands out even in Amsterdam.

  • Costs: The ByAr Volta bike costs 35 EUR/day plus the insurance (which is strongly recommended) is 6 EUR/day, yielding a total of 41 EUR/day.

  • Rental process: I used the online form to select an appointment the next day. The Amsterdamse Fietswinkel shop is near Museumplein. There is some paperwork to fill out (which takes 2 minutes to complete) and a deposit of 500 EUR which can be paid with a debit/credit card (I used a Mastercard debit card). The deposit is transferred back after returning the bike. The rental is open-ended and you can keep the bike for extra days if you keep paying.

  • Locking: The bikes come with two sturdy chain locks with their individual keys. Additionally, the frame lock can be unlocked using a mobile phone app through Bluetooth. The payment of the daily fee is done through this app. (The insurance is paid separately in the shop.)

  • Drivetrain: The drivetrain is shaft-driven. I didn’t notice any meaningful difference compared to traditional drivetrains that rely on a chain. The bike comes with an 8-gear Shimano Nexus internal-gear hub. (Some reviews, the shop’s site, and even the product page states that the bike only has 1 or 2 gears but these apply for older models.)

  • Brakes: There are two hydraulic rim brakes which can be operated with the levers on the handlebars. Their modulation and braking power are both great. Additionally, backpedalling activates regenerative braking – in theory. In practice, the braking effect from this is barely noticeable and it is definitely insufficient for stopping in a traffic situation.

  • Motor: The motor is located on the rear wheel. The boost level of the electric motor can be configured on a 5-level scale. I found that on the flat and with little wind, the first level is already sufficient for riding along at 25 km/h (the maximum speed for the motor’s assistance).

  • Battery: The battery is non-removable, meaning that you have to move the bike next to the nearest power outlet which may be in your apartment. The range is pretty good: it could do 80+ kilometres when riding in a lower boost mode.

  • Lights: Lights can be turned on or off from the console on the handlebars.

  • Observations: This feels like a premium bike, the design is sleek and the ride is comfortable thanks to the fat tires. The calibration of the motor is good: after a short practice, one can ride along quite smoothly without any sudden acceleration/braking. However, I found this bike to feel quite heavy which was surprising given that it weights just 22 kg (incl. the battery) which is pretty light for e-bikes. Maybe this is due to its weight distribution – the battery pack is located below the front rack, in front of the handlebars.

  • Summary: Overall, I found this bike to be a very enjoyable ride. However, the pricing is steep, so its value-for-money could be better.

e-bike-to-go

As a second bike, I rented e-bike-to-go’s classic e-bike.

  • Costs: The bike costs 21.5 EUR rent plus 4.5 EUR insurance per week with a 4-week minimum rental period. Therefore, the minimum rental cost is 4×26 = 104 EUR. While this is expensive, it is pretty good value compared to other e-bike rental offerings: even for a 3-day rental period it is lower than the ByAr Volta’s rental cost.

  • Rental process: Registration and payment are done online. I registered for my bike on a Wednesday and found that the pick-up times in Amsterdam were all filled up until the middle of the week. As I needed the bike sooner, I picked it up in Alkmaar (where there were lots of free slots) on Friday morning. At the end of the rental, I returned the bike into e-bike-to-go’s Amsterdam shop. Note that there is a one-month cancellation period according to the FAQ. Therefore, if you need the bike for less than a month, cancel it immediately after picking it up, then return it when you no longer need it. (This is a sneaky tactic that other medium- to long-term bike rental companies such as Swapfiets also use.)

  • Locking: The bike can be locked with a single chain lock attachable to the frame lock (i.e. the typical Dutch setup).

  • Drivetrain: The bike is belt-driven and has a 7-gear Shimano Nexus internal-gear hub. The drivetrain is smooth and quiet. Similarly to the shaft-driven drivetrain, I didn’t notice a significant difference compared to traditional chain-driven ones.

  • Brakes: This bike comes with a coaster brake which is barely up to the task. When braking heavily, they are noticeably weak and pulsate a bit under pressure. Using the roller brake on the front is recommended.

  • Motor: The motor is on the front wheel. You cannot set the level of assistance from the motor: the only options are on and off. The maximum speed for the motor’s assistance is 25 km/h.

  • Battery: The manufacturer gives a 70 km range – I found this to be slightly optimistic. Luckily, the battery is easily removable (using a separate key), so you only have to carry a 2.5 kg battery near your power outlet.

  • Lights: The lights come up automatically when turning on the electric motor.

  • Observations: The bike has less of a premium feel but it is sturdy and does its job well. The greatest downside of this bike I found is that it often detected that I’m pedalling forward and started accelerating in situations even when I just wanted to go forward a bit. This can be particularly problematic near traffic lights when I just wanted to inch forward a bit and the bike started accelerating. This problem is amplified by the fact that the coaster brake has a lot of internal friction, thus, even when walking and pushing the bike along, the pedals rotate a bit. This sometimes makes the bike “think” that you are pedalling so the motor starts accelerating. Because of this, I made it a habit to keep my hand on the brake lever so that I could pull it and stop the bike immediately.

  • Summary: Due to the lack of control for the boost levels, some surprise accelerations form the motor, and subpar rear brake, the ride can be a bit jerky initially – I needed some practice to ride the bike smoothly. In exchange, its value for money is great especially if you need a bike for more weeks.

Conclusion

Overall, I found that both bikes did their jobs well and my family members got to our destinations with ease. Next time, I plan to try different options. A-Bike’s Gazelle e-bike (23.50 EUR rent plus 7 EUR insurance per day, with a 75 EUR cash deposit) and e-bike-to-go’s Noord (21.5 EUR rent plus 6 EUR insurance per week with a 4-week minimum rental period) are likely candidates.