How the rest of the industry actually works
ElectricBikeReport, ElectrekBikes, BikeRide, and most YouTube channels make 70–90% of their revenue from affiliate commissions when you click 'Buy Now.' That's not inherently corrupt — but it shapes what they review, how they rank, and what they don't tell you.
Bikes that don't offer affiliate programs (or that don't sell direct online) get systematically under-covered. Bikes with high commission rates get pushed harder. That's the market structure. Don't blame the writers — blame the model.
Our model — fully disclosed
We do not accept payment from brands for editorial coverage. We do not run sponsored 'best-of' lists. We do not offer paid placement in our comparison engine. Period.
We make money from: (1) the newsletter audience we've built over 15+ years, (2) consulting work the team does separately for non-bike clients, (3) future paid premium content (deep-dive ownership reports — clearly marked when launched).
We may add affiliate links in the future — but they'll be marked, won't influence editorial rankings, and won't appear in 'best of' content. We'll publish the disclosure policy publicly when we do.
How to spot a sponsored review elsewhere
If every review is 9/10 or higher, it's sponsored.
If the 'cons' section is one sentence and stylistic ('we wish it came in blue'), it's sponsored.
If the same brand appears in 4+ 'best of' lists on the same site, it's affiliate-heavy at minimum.
If there's no byline or the writer has 12 reviews across 12 categories in 6 months, the site is content-farmed.
"We're not anti-affiliate. We're anti-pretending-to-be-editorial. The industry needs a site that says what it is, every single time. So we built one."