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E bike recommendation

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toofast2live
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E bike recommendation

#90125

Postby toofast2live » October 23rd, 2017, 2:38 pm

Looking to buy an e bike for relatively unfit me. The reason is we have bought a place in southern Spain, in the hills. VERY STEEP hills. My budget is no more than £2,000 it will only be used on roads. We have a decathlon nearby so one of theirs maybe an option. I have also tried a Halfords Carrera crossfire and an Evans own brand. Both seemed ok but the Evans bike was significantly lighter, and more expensive. I don't need range as I'd rarely go more than 20 miles a day.

I know e bikes aren't everybody's idea of cycling, but my 62 year old legs and lungs can't get me up 20% hills anymore - however much training I put in.

Any recommendations?

redsturgeon
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Re: E bike recommendation

#90145

Postby redsturgeon » October 23rd, 2017, 3:37 pm

toofast2live wrote:Looking to buy an e bike for relatively unfit me. The reason is we have bought a place in southern Spain, in the hills. VERY STEEP hills. My budget is no more than £2,000 it will only be used on roads. We have a decathlon nearby so one of theirs maybe an option. I have also tried a Halfords Carrera crossfire and an Evans own brand. Both seemed ok but the Evans bike was significantly lighter, and more expensive. I don't need range as I'd rarely go more than 20 miles a day.

I know e bikes aren't everybody's idea of cycling, but my 62 year old legs and lungs can't get me up 20% hills anymore - however much training I put in.

Any recommendations?


I don't know much about E bikes but Decathlon's normal bikes are very good value so I'd guess the same applies to their E Bike offerings. If the Decathlon you refer to is in Spain then it would make sense to get it from there.

John

moorfield
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Re: E bike recommendation

#90167

Postby moorfield » October 23rd, 2017, 5:07 pm

redsturgeon wrote:
I don't know much about E bikes but Decathlon's normal bikes are very good value so I'd guess the same applies to their E Bike offerings.



+1 vote for Decathlon - I bought their basic Rockrider a few months ago for general use very happy with it.

I don't know much about E-Bikes but would be fascinated to know how their motors cope up those hills! I see an increasing number of them out and about now.

todthedog
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Re: E bike recommendation

#90195

Postby todthedog » October 23rd, 2017, 7:08 pm

Converted an old bike to ebike about £450 including carriage to Sweden.
Might be worthwhile a second hand bike and do a conversation.
I found the conversation easy but made the bike a little heavy for non electric use however gets me out and about.

Devjon
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Re: E bike recommendation

#90314

Postby Devjon » October 24th, 2017, 10:22 am

I just had a quick look at the Decathlon site. They have a range of 7 E Bikes and a handy comparison tool.
They also have the owner manuals available on each page. The basic model has a 7.6Ah battery and 250 watt motor, the higher range models have a 11.6 Ah battery which should give a better range ( the weight of the bike will affect range, as will hills etc )

I walk along a disused railway line, now a trailway and I am seeing more and more electric powered bikes. I saw an electric tandem a couple of weeks ago, and 2 refurbished Sinclair C5 only last week.

Bosch do an excellent Bike power train but they are expensive

( I once was asked to repair the electric motor / gearbox from a Fokke Wulf 190 that was being restored after being retrieved from a forest in Russia, when I started to dismantle the unit I saw a familiar logo and remarked to a colleague that it looked just like the Bosch logo. It was indeed manufactured by Bosch. As I stripped the unit down I was very impressed indeed with quality of both the electrical and mechanical work )

redsturgeon
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Re: E bike recommendation

#90324

Postby redsturgeon » October 24th, 2017, 10:42 am

Devjon wrote:
( I once was asked to repair the electric motor / gearbox from a Fokke Wulf 190 that was being restored after being retrieved from a forest in Russia, when I started to dismantle the unit I saw a familiar logo and remarked to a colleague that it looked just like the Bosch logo. It was indeed manufactured by Bosch. As I stripped the unit down I was very impressed indeed with quality of both the electrical and mechanical work )



It would have been more surprising if it was a Lucas unit!

John

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Re: E bike recommendation

#147151

Postby Pastcaring » June 21st, 2018, 4:40 pm

toofast2live wrote:Looking to buy an e bike for relatively unfit me. The reason is we have bought a place in southern Spain, in the hills. VERY STEEP hills. My budget is no more than £2,000 it will only be used on roads. We have a decathlon nearby so one of theirs maybe an option. I have also tried a Halfords Carrera crossfire and an Evans own brand. Both seemed ok but the Evans bike was significantly lighter, and more expensive. I don't need range as I'd rarely go more than 20 miles a day.

I know e bikes aren't everybody's idea of cycling, but my 62 year old legs and lungs can't get me up 20% hills anymore - however much training I put in.

Any recommendations?
.

Hiya

I tend to do around 1200-- 1500 klms monthly on a plain bike .Thankfully Perth is very flat,but windy!!.

On weekends one of the old boys began to struggle,he does around 150 klms over the weekend,( he is 77 ). He did a lot of research into e bikes and bought one.Motors are restricted here to 250 watt and only kick in when pedalling.They cut out at a speed of 25 klms.

The balance of the bike is better with the battery being central.The motor is also central,it is in the crank for the pedals,perfect for balance he says.

The range is around 70 klms,however as he only uses the assist for hills and against the wind he gets around 180 klms out of a charge .

The brakes are hydraulic disc and the cost was $2400,not much use to you in Spain for price.The battery lasts for around 1200 charge cycles,probably 4 years,battery technology will have improved by the time he needs a new one.

We hired bikes with the battery at the rear and rear wheel motor,the balance is shocking,always felt as if the bike was going to tip backwards .

Hopefully I will never need one but he thinks his is great,I have difficulty keeping up with him once the motor is turned on.Around 1 in 3 bikes down here seems to be an e bike now.

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Re: E bike recommendation

#173788

Postby steve66 » October 15th, 2018, 8:48 am

you can buy E-bikes from gtech.co.uk !!

vrdiver
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Re: E bike recommendation

#173789

Postby vrdiver » October 15th, 2018, 8:56 am

toofast2live wrote:Looking to buy an e bike for relatively unfit me.

As this post has been resurrected, I was wondering how you got on?

VRD

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Re: E bike recommendation

#173799

Postby EssDeeAitch » October 15th, 2018, 9:14 am

I was considering buying an e-bike but eight months after my knee replacement I am flying again so will be putting off that decision for another year at least.

But e-bikes are a very valid option for many; even now, if I really wanted to go out on the longer club rides of 80 to 100 miles, I would want an e-bike so I didn't shoot out of the back on the hills.

I would also like to know if the OP ended up buying one, what it is and how it performs

Mike88
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Re: E bike recommendation

#173807

Postby Mike88 » October 15th, 2018, 9:37 am

The e bike forum for enthusiasts is below and I suggest you ask on there for advice.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums/ ... icycles.2/

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Re: E bike recommendation

#174012

Postby midnightcatprowl » October 15th, 2018, 10:14 pm

I own a Gtech electric bike. I have no criticism of it but not sure if I made the right purchase decision. Aged 68 I only learned to ride a bike in summer last year - I was not allowed to have a bike as a child due to extreme anxiety over only child syndrome linked with reluctance to actually go to the bother of having more than one child - believe it or not this is true as confirmed by both of my parents when I was an adult. Retired and keen to finally learn, get some exercise and not use my van for shorter journeys in particular, and looking round for advice I discovered that my local Council via 'Sustrans' would organise bike training for retired people who wanted to learn. I got a personal tutor who was absolutely excellent. I'd already bought the Gtech (knowing my arthritic knees were never going to do a particularly long and steep hill near to my home without assistance) but during the first couple of lessons I learned on his non-electric bike while he ran beside me. First lesson was just balancing but it was a major victory for me that on the second lesson I actually pedalled away (and have video shot by the tutor to prove it) and in fact left him behind as I didn't really know how to stop. The lessons took place in one of Bedford's lovely parks and I did eventually manage to circle round a bandstand and get back to my tutor.

Since then I've been riding my Gtech but would make these comments:

the battery is at the front and the motor at the back so okay re: balance;
having the battery and the motor makes the bike much heavier. You can have the motor off and just pedal it but it is a much weightier bike to pedal. It is also more difficult to 'park' and secure because of the weight (if I was 20 years younger and did not have arthritic joints this might not matter but it does now);
personally as still a relatively inexperienced cyclist I find it difficult to turn the motor on or off or alter between the two speed levels as this requires you to reach down with one hand and press and hold a button on the battery, so I end up stopping in order to do these things which isn't very satisfactory and which is also, I feel, keeping me at an inexperienced level as I can't really get along as I would like to;
my tutor was not a great fan of e-bikes though he did comment that he went out on charity rides once a month with a group of people one of whom was in his mid-nineties and had been enabled to keep riding by the purchase of an e-bike which was obviously a good thing;
the tutor also commented that people were most likely to fall off their bike when switching from an ordinary bike to an e-bike and he spent some of his time coaching people who were converting from one to the other.

Last week I loaned my bike for an hour or two to a friend (older than me) who is an experienced and daily cyclist. The friend needs a new bike and was wondering about buying an ordinary bike or getting an e-bike with a view to keeping cycling as they get older. The friend was keen to try an e-bike but at the same time was maybe feeling more against than for. The friend tried the bike without motor and with both speeds and switching between and was actually highly impressed going further in a couple of hours than I'd probably manage in a week and will almost certainly purchase an e-bike. Oddly enough it has made me feel even more than maybe I should sell mine and get a bike which is not so heavy and out of which I might get more use even if I can't tackle certain hills.

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Re: E bike recommendation

#174670

Postby daveh » October 18th, 2018, 12:47 pm

I've got a Whtye Clifton. The motor is part of the bottom bracket so makes pedalling easier and applies the power at the same location as you do . All controls are on the handlebars so very easy to change between the power options. The only 'problem' I have is that generally I can cycle at or above the 15.5mph cut off for the motor to provide assistance, but on some hills on my commute this is about the speed I try and maintain, which means the motor cuts in and out and it feels like I am pedalling through treacle. I've found its better to either travel at well above the cut off speed or ease back to between 14-15mph and allow the motor to do more of the work, but without letting it cut out.

For me when I was doing my 15 mile each way commute to work the big advantage was that I could do it in ~55 minutes no matter what even if it was blowing a gale and I didn't arrive all hot and sweaty.

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Re: E bike recommendation

#174705

Postby todthedog » October 18th, 2018, 2:53 pm

Living in hilly Wales ebike(home conversion) it actually means I use the bike. Without assistance I would take the car. Happily pottered a couple of hours along the coastal path (flat) not worrying about the hill to get home. Mrs T despite resistance is now a time convert uses it to go to work, headwinds are no longer a problem. It does make the bike quite heavy but with pedal assist not an issue.
As per previous poster I possess dodgy knees.
Hope this helps.

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Re: E bike recommendation

#174771

Postby redsturgeon » October 18th, 2018, 7:53 pm

On a recent biking trip to Italy there were nine of us in the group. Five of us were on carbon fibre road bikes and four were on e bikes. The ebikes enabled the four less able cyclists to keep up with the rest of us and on the hills they totally smashed us. The 26kph limit was a bit of a problem once on the flat though where we had to wait for the ebikes to catch up.

John

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Re: E bike recommendation

#178591

Postby scotia » November 6th, 2018, 5:27 pm

Any recommendations on an E bike that would fit in a reasonably sized car boot? I'm assuming it will needed to be a folding bike. And if it is a small wheeled bike - does anyone have any experience of using them on other than tarmac roads?

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Re: E bike recommendation

#179206

Postby Hardgrafter » November 9th, 2018, 2:55 pm

I am at Halfords. They have the Carrera Crosscity E electric folding bike at £850.30 mile range. 313 Wh battery. 18.7 kg weight. 20" wheels.

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Re: E bike recommendation

#179224

Postby scotia » November 9th, 2018, 4:11 pm

Hardgrafter wrote:I am at Halfords. They have the Carrera Crosscity E electric folding bike at £850.30 mile range. 313 Wh battery. 18.7 kg weight. 20" wheels.

Thanks - I thought about that model. But I fear that it may be inappropriate for off-road travel. So I also was looking at (on the Halfords on-line site) the Carrera Vulcan Electric Mountain Bike and the Carrera Vengeance Electric Mountain Bike. Neither are foldable, so I would need to mount them on a rack at the back of the car. The off-road travel that I would like to engage in is over non-surfaced tracks used by agricultural-type vehicles. I'm not intending (at 74) to get involved with purpose built Mountain Bike Trails! I'll need to look more closely at the small-wheel folding bikes, before I dismiss them. If there is anyone out there who has attempted to ride a small-wheeled folding bike over un-surfaced tracks, I would like to hear from them.

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Re: E bike recommendation

#179263

Postby Hardgrafter » November 9th, 2018, 6:22 pm

If you read some of the Halfords reviews (there are lots), then you can see the bike has been used on unpaved tracks successfully. The tyres are 1.75", so quite wide.

Note the rider design weight is 85kg (appreciably less than the 102 kg /16 stone of some of the riders ...).

But bear in mind the derailleur is pretty near the ground, so rutted rocky tracks are out!

Make sure you can lift it easily into the car. But its size seems to fit most car boots.

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Re: E bike recommendation

#179296

Postby scotia » November 9th, 2018, 9:06 pm

Hardgrafter wrote:If you read some of the Halfords reviews (there are lots), then you can see the bike has been used on unpaved tracks successfully. The tyres are 1.75", so quite wide.
Note the rider design weight is 85kg (appreciably less than the 102 kg /16 stone of some of the riders ...).
But bear in mind the derailleur is pretty near the ground, so rutted rocky tracks are out!
Make sure you can lift it easily into the car. But its size seems to fit most car boots.

The weight limit is not a problem! But the rutted rocky tracks may be. I think I should be OK with the lifting weight.
My wife suggests I stop dithering, and buy one (e.g. a folding model) - and if it doesn't work in all situations - then buy another (e.g. a Mountain Bike) that is more suited to the other situations. The only problem with that solution is that when I go off to the NW of Scotland on a fishing holiday - should I take both (as well as my wife) ?


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