Decisions, not opinions
MathBikes is a decision engine for e-bike buyers: five calculators, a database of 286 bikes, and one rule about every number on the site - it either comes from the manufacturer, or from a formula you can run yourself.
What this site is
Five calculators for the questions that decide an e-bike purchase - real range, running cost, savings against a car, battery economics and finance - plus a database of 286 bikes and a seven-question quiz that matches you to three of them. The tools are free, take no sign-up and can be embedded on another site.
Where the numbers come from
Two places, and only two. A manufacturer's published specification: battery capacity, weight, torque, claimed range. Or a formula published in full on the methodology page, run on those specifications. The range figure on every bike page is the second kind, and it is calculated under conditions the methodology page states, so you can open the range calculator, dial those conditions in, and get our number back.
What we do not do
We do not test bikes. Nothing on this site is presented as a measurement we have made, because we have not made any. Where a figure is an estimate it says estimate, and where the catalogue is missing or implausible we publish no figure at all rather than one that looks confident. Eleven bikes are in that state today.
How the site is funded
Affiliate commission. If you buy through a link here, the merchant pays us and you pay the same price. Every guide says so at the top, not in the footer. Any sponsored placement is labelled as one on the card itself. What none of that buys is a number: the formula does not change for a brand, and a bike that scores badly scores badly whoever links to it.
Where we are likely to be wrong
The catalogue is scraped, and scraped data is the weakest part of this site. 89 of the 286 bikes are listed at exactly 22.7 kg, which is the round 50 lb figure suppliers publish rather than a weighed number, and weight feeds the range estimate. Tyres are inferred from the bike's type. Prices are converted from a euro base at a hand-maintained rate. All of it is on the methodology page, in more detail than is comfortable.
Telling us something is wrong
Corrections to the data or to a calculator constant go to the front of the queue, because accuracy is the whole product. The editor answers them.