Electric motorbikes

[ChocolateFrog]

Personally if I was going to the hassle of getting something that needs taxing, insuring and MOTing, I.e. more than a regular ebike I'd want something more than a 50cc equivalent.

BMW's older eScooter (think it's called C-Evolution) is down to around £4k now.

Think that would tempt me.

[TurboHatchback]

The CE 02 does look fun and perfect for city use in 11kW form. I saw one in the metal yesterday, it's a good looking thing in a futuristic sort of way, I liked the chunky tyre size they've gone for. The price is ambitious but I guess there's not much direct competition yet.

[gareth_r]

ChocolateFrog said:

I was. I hadn't read the thread and seen someone had already mentioned BMW before I commented about the CE04.

Which is worse £8k for a 50cc equivalent moped or £13k for a 650cc equivalent?

£7.5k for the moped.
£8.5k for the 125.

[Birky_41]

I was seeing them Seat Mo Electric peds equiv. to a 125 pre reg'd on AutoTrader for about £2500 pretty much half price

I thought about it but decided against as the ICE peds I have are a fraction of that and get 100+ MPG so would take years to break even and then see the electric to be cost effective

[Caruso]

There seem to be a ton of newish CE 04s at BMW dealers at the moment starting at £7k.

e.g. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/20240529...

I had this one on loan and have just bought it to replace my ageing C Evo and a Honda ADV 350 which I didn't bond with.

I'll have to ditch the D lock due to the solid wheels!

Edited by Caruso on Saturday 8th June 20:34

[Ken_Code]

Caruso said:

There seem to be a ton of newish CE 04s at BMW dealers at the moment starting at £7k.

e.g. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/20240529...

I had this one on loan and have just bought it to replace my ageing C Evo and a Honda ADV 350 which I didn't bond with.

I'll have to ditch the D lock due to the solid wheels!

Edited by Caruso on Saturday 8th June 20:34

I did enjoy mine on the test ride, but after running the battery down in about 40 miles the £14,000 price seemed a bit too much.

[Caruso]

Ken_Code said:

Caruso said:

There seem to be a ton of newish CE 04s at BMW dealers at the moment starting at £7k.

e.g. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/20240529...

I had this one on loan and have just bought it to replace my ageing C Evo and a Honda ADV 350 which I didn't bond with.

I'll have to ditch the D lock due to the solid wheels!

Edited by Caruso on Saturday 8th June 20:34

I did enjoy mine on the test ride, but after running the battery down in about 40 miles the £14,000 price seemed a bit too much.

At £14k I entirely agree, but at half the price it starts to make sense.

[Ken_Code]

Caruso said:

t £14k I entirely agree, but at half the price it starts to make sense.

I agree. They are really nice, and at that price definitely worth a try.

[TooLateForAName]

Caruso said:

There seem to be a ton of newish CE 04s at BMW dealers at the moment starting at £7k.

e.g. https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/20240529...

I had this one on loan and have just bought it to replace my ageing C Evo and a Honda ADV 350 which I didn't bond with.

I'll have to ditch the D lock due to the solid wheels!

Any chance of a review of the c evo? real world experience?

[Caruso]

TooLateForAName said:

Any chance of a review of the c evo? real world experience?

The C Evo is a great commuting machine, although the wind blast is quite pronounced unless you add a deflector like the one in the pics or a taller screen. It's acceleration off the line is phenomenal, it's the fastest BMW ever over a short speed range like 20-40 or something. Top speed is limited to 75 mph although with 48 bhp it would be capable of more. Nevertheless it can get to that top speed quickly and B road overtaking is a doddle. As an EV there is a wall of torque that gives instant and smooth throttle response anywhere in it's speed range. Handling is a bit ponderous due to the weight and wheelbase, but at parking speeds it's easy to manoeuvre due to it's reverse gear and the weight being low down. So if you're into that style of riding, it is relaxing and rewarding to ride.

Now for the downsides, mine has a range of between 42-50 miles. My normal commute is a mixture of dual carriageway, town and B roads which return 42 miles. But keep the speed down to 40mph on B roads and it will do 50 miles. Due to the fact it has a Type 1 charging socket, it's not compatible with any public charge points I found, though some owners have had success with a type 1 to type 2 converter. But if you are regularly doing the same journey from home and back i.e. commuting within it's range then it's not a problem. There is a long range model which can do up to 100 miles on a charge but they are few and far between. The final downside is that you generally have to go to the main dealer for any work, and the last time mine was in they had to send someone on a training course before they could work on it!

Having said that, other running costs are negligable - free road tax, £250 insurance for me, fuel is 7p per kwh on my tariff and regular servicing is minimal. It is literally cheaper than walking.

Mine is for sale by the way!

[snagzie]

Birky_41 said:

I was seeing them Seat Mo Electric peds equiv. to a 125 pre reg'd on AutoTrader for about £2500 pretty much half price

I thought about it but decided against as the ICE peds I have are a fraction of that and get 100+ MPG so would take years to break even and then see the electric to be cost effective

I saw a used one on AT for... I st you not..... £1200. It had just over 1,000 miles on it. Private sale.

[TGCOTF-dewey]

Ktm E-XC with some road tyres.

[mikey_b]

snagzie said:

Birky_41 said:

I was seeing them Seat Mo Electric peds equiv. to a 125 pre reg'd on AutoTrader for about £2500 pretty much half price

I thought about it but decided against as the ICE peds I have are a fraction of that and get 100+ MPG so would take years to break even and then see the electric to be cost effective

I saw a used one on AT for... I st you not..... £1200. It had just over 1,000 miles on it. Private sale.

There's a few for sale on there now, starting from under £2k for a bike with only 59 miles on the clock. Plenty of the others could probably be haggled down to similar, and many of them are either new or pre-reg with just a handful of miles on them. If I could live with the range (I can't, my 70 mile round trip commute would be cutting it way too fine), I might be tempted by something like that. You can spend more on a bicycle.

[snagzie]

mikey_b said:

snagzie said:

Birky_41 said:

I was seeing them Seat Mo Electric peds equiv. to a 125 pre reg'd on AutoTrader for about £2500 pretty much half price

I thought about it but decided against as the ICE peds I have are a fraction of that and get 100+ MPG so would take years to break even and then see the electric to be cost effective

I saw a used one on AT for... I st you not..... £1200. It had just over 1,000 miles on it. Private sale.

There's a few for sale on there now, starting from under £2k for a bike with only 59 miles on the clock. Plenty of the others could probably be haggled down to similar, and many of them are either new or pre-reg with just a handful of miles on them. If I could live with the range (I can't, my 70 mile round trip commute would be cutting it way too fine), I might be tempted by something like that. You can spend more on a bicycle.

If I was in the market for one I would pal. I mostly WFH, only in once every couple of weeks (if that!) and its a 30mile commute in total.

Applying for a couple of jobs at the moment which means in office at least twice/thrice a week so might change.

The train is fine though as well for the current job and others I'm applying for so still its borderline. If I could guarantee parking undercover its a no brainer (I do at current role and its free)

[TooLateForAName]

Caruso said:

TooLateForAName said:

Any chance of a review of the c evo? real world experience?

The C Evo is a great commuting machine, although the wind blast is quite pronounced unless you add a deflector like the one in the pics or a taller screen. It's acceleration off the line is phenomenal, it's the fastest BMW ever over a short speed range like 20-40 or something. Top speed is limited to 75 mph although with 48 bhp it would be capable of more. Nevertheless it can get to that top speed quickly and B road overtaking is a doddle. As an EV there is a wall of torque that gives instant and smooth throttle response anywhere in it's speed range. Handling is a bit ponderous due to the weight and wheelbase, but at parking speeds it's easy to manoeuvre due to it's reverse gear and the weight being low down. So if you're into that style of riding, it is relaxing and rewarding to ride.

Now for the downsides, mine has a range of between 42-50 miles. My normal commute is a mixture of dual carriageway, town and B roads which return 42 miles. But keep the speed down to 40mph on B roads and it will do 50 miles. Due to the fact it has a Type 1 charging socket, it's not compatible with any public charge points I found, though some owners have had success with a type 1 to type 2 converter. But if you are regularly doing the same journey from home and back i.e. commuting within it's range then it's not a problem. There is a long range model which can do up to 100 miles on a charge but they are few and far between. The final downside is that you generally have to go to the main dealer for any work, and the last time mine was in they had to send someone on a training course before they could work on it!

Having said that, other running costs are negligable - free road tax, £250 insurance for me, fuel is 7p per kwh on my tariff and regular servicing is minimal. It is literally cheaper than walking.

Mine is for sale by the way!

Thanks. didn't know they were type1 - although I guess you could replace the socket with type2 - aiui its only a physical connector difference.
That range is a bit of a kicker though.

[Talksteer]

Ken_Code said:

RazerSauber said:

Would an Keeway E-Zi Mini not fit the bill for a damn site less than the BMW? 40 mile charge, probably £1500 bought, charged and insured.

1.3bhp makes it a bit of a liability in traffic compared to the BMW’s 15.

The ability to ride with the traffic rather than in the gutter is a massive benefit.

Big advantage of something like that is that you can take that into a lift or over a threshold, thus much less likely to get nicked and wet.

They are limited to 28mph but pretty easy to derestrict, 1000W would equate to just shy of 40mph on the flat.

[Wacky Racer]