Electric bicycles - who buys them?

[Jobbo]

LeadFarmer said:

It was kind of essential to get my Bosch CX motor ebike derestricted as at 15mph when the motor shut off there was a lot of resistance from the motor when it wasn't turning. You'd suddenly find pedalling difficult and would have to drop down a gear or two. As you dropped below 15mph the motor would kick in, increasing your speed and and then turn straight off again as you went over 15mph. They call it the treacle effect.

Are you sure the resistance was from the motor? There’s a freewheel at the crank so as far as I can tell, you’re not turning the motor when it’s not helping.

It’s quite obvious when the assistance tails off on my bike at 15mph but if ridden with the motor turned off it rolls exactly as I’d expect a fat tyred 25kg mtb to.

[Barchettaman]

Yeah, there is significant resistance from the older Bosch CX Performance motors. Mine is the same.

It is an absolute pet hate of mine that reviewers never ever talk about resistance beyond the cut out point; it’s such a fundamental characteristic of the motor. Friends here have Yamaha mid motors (I think) that uncouple the drive completely above 15.5mph, and offer zero resistance.

[PushedDover]

I bought mine early lockdown with whatever Gen Bosch CX Motor it has.
No issues whatsoever emerging out of assistance mode at about 15.5

Regularly riding at 17 mph

[JeffreyD]

PushedDover said:

I bought mine early lockdown with whatever Gen Bosch CX Motor it has.
No issues whatsoever emerging out of assistance mode at about 15.5

Regularly riding at 17 mph

Same here.

I did, however, run out of battery about 5 miles from home once.

That was absolutely brutal

[OutInTheShed]

How much resistance is there from a hub motor?

Kind of not noticed it in my limited experience, the two I've ridden seemed to freewheel down hills much as you'd expect from a pedal bike.
Didn't really do any flat straight sections, we don't have many!

[Barchettaman]

Significant resistance from the SWYTCH front hub motor on my 26” folder.

[GSE]

No motor resistance that I can detect in my rear hub motor Orbea. Free wheeling down hill feels no different than a normal bike, I believe the motor has a clutch inside it, I can hear it disengage sometimes.

Is the 'pushing into treacle' above 15.5 mph on an e-bike at bit of a fallacy? Surely what you feel is just the transition from assisted drive to non assisted?

Edited by GSE on Friday 3rd June 15:55

[Barchettaman]

GSE said:

Is the 'pushing into treacle' above 15.5 mph on an e-bike at bit of a fallacy? Surely what you feel is just the transition from assisted drive to non assisted?

There’s significant and undeniable resistance from the Bosch CX Performance motor on our e bikes beyond the assistance cutout. Newer ones are better, apparently, and no two drive assist systems are completely alike.

My wife’s e bike is nicer than mine once you exceed the assistance limit; 35 mm street tyres vs. 52mm knobbly MTB tyres on mine!

I rode hers into work this evening. It’s 5 years old, just ticked over 10,000km, the motor is still pulling perfectly and more or less silently, it rides as it did when brand new.
Other than consumables over that time (brake pads, a tyre, new chain/cassette/chainring and a new rear mech when I stuffed it up) it’s been perfect. Amazing really.

[funinhounslow]

OutInTheShed said:

How much resistance is there from a hub motor?

Kind of not noticed it in my limited experience, the two I've ridden seemed to freewheel down hills much as you'd expect from a pedal bike.
Didn't really do any flat straight sections, we don't have many!

Zero resistance as far as I can tell from my GoCycle (front hub motor)

[nails1979]

GSE said:

Is the 'pushing into treacle' above 15.5 mph on an e-bike at bit of a fallacy? Surely what you feel is just the transition from assisted drive to non assisted?

Edited by GSE on Friday 3rd June 15:55

That's what I believe aswell, I'm riding a bosch cx fs cube with big nobby tyres. The assistance you get up to the 15mph or whatever limit is massive, come cut off you're left riding a very heavy bike that you're used to having upto 340% assistance.
When I get on my 11.5kg ht with aftermarket lighter wheels and not as aggressive smaller 2.3 tyres it initially feels like riding in treacle aswell but give it a mile or so and it feels normal again.

[JeffreyD]

nails1979 said:

GSE said:

Is the 'pushing into treacle' above 15.5 mph on an e-bike at bit of a fallacy? Surely what you feel is just the transition from assisted drive to non assisted?

Edited by GSE on Friday 3rd June 15:55

That's what I believe aswell, I'm riding a bosch cx fs cube with big nobby tyres. The assistance you get up to the 15mph or whatever limit is massive, come cut off you're left riding a very heavy bike that you're used to having upto 340% assistance.
When I get on my 11.5kg ht with aftermarket lighter wheels and not as aggressive smaller 2.3 tyres it initially feels like riding in treacle aswell but give it a mile or so and it feels normal again.

I suppose it depends what you are used to riding

My other main bike is a Surly fatbike with 4.8" knobbly tyres. That's laughably crap at pressing on when you are on tarmac.

[Richyboy]

Richyboy said:

Got this one as it folds so can be put in a car and I hardly use it. Did 42 miles around London and the battery was at 73%. Maybe I pedal a lot but I felt like I could do another 100 miles easy. It’s good for cruising on critical mass I guess. I bought it because of the EUC crackdown but a normal pushbike would’ve sufficed.

I sold my electric bike. The motor was too powerful, I was mostly using it in mode 1 because I like to pedal so pointless for my use. The huge battery made weight an issue lugging it around folded. I liked the upright riding position though, very comfortable.

[Driver101]

Richyboy said:

Richyboy said:

Got this one as it folds so can be put in a car and I hardly use it. Did 42 miles around London and the battery was at 73%. Maybe I pedal a lot but I felt like I could do another 100 miles easy. It’s good for cruising on critical mass I guess. I bought it because of the EUC crackdown but a normal pushbike would’ve sufficed.

I sold my electric bike. The motor was too powerful, I was mostly using it in mode 1 because I like to pedal so pointless for my use. The huge battery made weight an issue lugging it around folded. I liked the upright riding position though, very comfortable.

Could you not change the settings on the controller?

The Bafang mid kits come with different settings depending who is selling them. They are set up to be too powerful in the lower settings and need changed.

[N0ddie]

Including this mornings 30 miles ride into work I've now done just under 200 miles on my Cube Reaction in a week. Any time its dry I just wanna jump on it. I really have taken a shine to it.

Edited by N0ddie on Monday 6th June 09:09

[skinnyman]

Right then, it's time for an ebike.

With petrol set to hit £2 over the summer I've had enough, and have decided to trigger the use of my company's cyclescheme. My commute is only 6miles, so arguably is easy enough to achieve on a standard bike, but there's some meaty hills involved and I don't fancy arriving to work a big sweaty mess everyday.

Requirements:
£1500-£2000 spend
Hybrid style
Hidden/integrated battery, I don't like the look of the bikes with the battery packs just bolted on.

So, any go to bikes fit the bill?

P.S - I imagine this has been done to death in this thread already, but I don't fancy trawling through all the pages if the general consensus is 1-2 bikes are the 'go to'.

[Gerradi]

Dusted my Old 2001 Giant LaFree 24Volter , original battery charges to a full 5 bars. Has the Panasonic Motor which sounds similar to the Bosch motors , great little Aluminium bike & still a good mode of transport to this day with its trusty Nexus 3-speed gears Ha Ha Tortoise yes, but its never let me down. On the odd occasion I have run out of Juice, its not a big problem as its only 22.2kg & pedal off home!

The main thing is ,to me , its great VFM, but its no ball of Fire but it is very comfortable , built in lights, Locks & Parcel rack!

[Gruffy]

skinnyman said:

Right then, it's time for an ebike.

With petrol set to hit £2 over the summer I've had enough, and have decided to trigger the use of my company's cyclescheme. My commute is only 6miles, so arguably is easy enough to achieve on a standard bike, but there's some meaty hills involved and I don't fancy arriving to work a big sweaty mess everyday.

Requirements:
£1500-£2000 spend
Hybrid style
Hidden/integrated battery, I don't like the look of the bikes with the battery packs just bolted on.

So, any go to bikes fit the bill?

P.S - I imagine this has been done to death in this thread already, but I don't fancy trawling through all the pages if the general consensus is 1-2 bikes are the 'go to'.

The bulk of the coverage on Velomatch is currently £2,000+ but with your requirements plugged in you get this.

[Driver101]

skinnyman said:

Right then, it's time for an ebike.

With petrol set to hit £2 over the summer I've had enough, and have decided to trigger the use of my company's cyclescheme. My commute is only 6miles, so arguably is easy enough to achieve on a standard bike, but there's some meaty hills involved and I don't fancy arriving to work a big sweaty mess everyday.

Requirements:
£1500-£2000 spend
Hybrid style
Hidden/integrated battery, I don't like the look of the bikes with the battery packs just bolted on.

So, any go to bikes fit the bill?

P.S - I imagine this has been done to death in this thread already, but I don't fancy trawling through all the pages if the general consensus is 1-2 bikes are the 'go to'.

£1500-2000 is at the low end for an ebike. The good looking ones with the integrated battery normally aren't cheap.

This is the best I can think of. It's above your budget, but Halfords did occasionally have it on sale.

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/electric-bikes/boar...

[Gruffy]

There are some deals on the outgoing Vanmoof S3 that would drop it within your budget, but that doesn't have a removable battery, so might not work for you if you're not storing it next to an outlet. I prefer the Cowboy, personally.

[skinnyman]

After further research it would appear my budget would need to increase to approximately £2.5k, and maybe drop the requirement for the integrated battery.

With that in mind, what's people's opinions in this:

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Merida-eSpresso-300-EQ-SE...

Or this:

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Orbea-Vibe-H30-2022-Elect...