Electric bicycles - who buys them?

[Driver101]

The Orbea ebikes look really good. Their hub motor doesn't produce the torque of a mid drive ebike.

[defblade]

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'.

Below budget, I was recently looking at this:
https://www.pureelectric.com/collections/hybrid-el...
for a short commute.

But I think I'm more tempted to Swytch my old tourer instead.

[RizzoTheRat]

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'.

A lot of the more upright Hybrid bikes these days have a rear pannier rack with the battery built in to that. Not as neat as one integrated into the frame but look a lot nicer than having the battery bolted on the frame IMO

My wife's just ordered a Stella Livorno, probably more city bike than you're looking for, and I'm not sure Stella are available in the UK, but to show what I mean with the battery

[Richyboy]

Driver101 said:

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.

I could’ve changed the settings in the menu but seemed pointless keeping it. I even rode with a super 73 group they were using throttle and I was riding like a push bike.

[sbarclay62]

defblade said:

Below budget, I was recently looking at this:
https://www.pureelectric.com/collections/hybrid-el...
for a short commute.

But I think I'm more tempted to Swytch my old tourer instead.

I'm considering "Swytching" a bike too.

They're doing 50% off their pre-order so i'm thinking it will come in at £500-£600 for the kit?

The only thing slightly putting me off is they are doing some amount of advertising on, although I could be targeted because of cookies etc. Plenty reviews on youtube etc but hard to tell if they are independant and bought the kit, or an influencer thats been given or loaned a unit for their video content.

[Driver101]

sbarclay62 said:

I'm considering "Swytching" a bike too.

They're doing 50% off their pre-order so i'm thinking it will come in at £500-£600 for the kit?

The only thing slightly putting me off is they are doing some amount of advertising on, although I could be targeted because of cookies etc. Plenty reviews on youtube etc but hard to tell if they are independant and bought the kit, or an influencer thats been given or loaned a unit for their video content.

They always have 50% off their kit when pre-ordering. There is no chance their kit is worth the full price.

You'll get a full Bafang 750w mid drive kit for £700-800.

[RowntreesCabana]

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'.

If your commute is 6 miles each way, then you're not going to break even for 3 years, even at £2 a litre (with a £2000 bike). If it's 3 miles total then it's 6 years. I suppose if you were to get shot of the car completely then it'll work out, but I doubt that's realistic.

Edit, missed the first part about the cycle to work scheme. I think that they normally work out at about a saving of a third of the retail price, so probably 2 or 4 years depending on distance. Not sure how durable these ebikes are, but will a battery be good after say 4 years of everyday use or will that then need replacing at a further 4 or 5 hundred?

Edited by RowntreesCabana on Friday 10th June 10:06

[rider73]

RowntreesCabana said:

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'.

If your commute is 6 miles each way, then you're not going to break even for 3 years, even at £2 a litre (with a £2000 bike). If it's 3 miles total then it's 6 years. I suppose if you were to get shot of the car completely then it'll work out, but I doubt that's realistic.

Edit, missed the first part about the cycle to work scheme. I think that they normally work out at about a saving of a third of the retail price, so probably 2 or 4 years depending on distance. Not sure how durable these ebikes are, but will a battery be good after say 4 years of everyday use or will that then need replacing at a further 4 or 5 hundred?

Edited by RowntreesCabana on Friday 10th June 10:06

6 miles - what about an e-Scooter thing, i think they are around 25k range, so what, 12-13miles...... are they legal yet?

[RizzoTheRat]

RowntreesCabana said:

but will a battery be good after say 4 years of everyday use or will that then need replacing at a further 4 or 5 hundred?

Edited by RowntreesCabana on Friday 10th June 10:06

When my Mrs ordered hers recently the guy reckoned the battery live is all about the number of charge cycles rather than total distance, so size the battery based on your planned journeys so you don't end up charging it when it's half full every time.
Makes sense to me although he was trying to sell us a battery upgrade at the time.

[PushedDover]

rider73 said:

RowntreesCabana said:

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'.

If your commute is 6 miles each way, then you're not going to break even for 3 years, even at £2 a litre (with a £2000 bike). If it's 3 miles total then it's 6 years. I suppose if you were to get shot of the car completely then it'll work out, but I doubt that's realistic.

Edit, missed the first part about the cycle to work scheme. I think that they normally work out at about a saving of a third of the retail price, so probably 2 or 4 years depending on distance. Not sure how durable these ebikes are, but will a battery be good after say 4 years of everyday use or will that then need replacing at a further 4 or 5 hundred?

Edited by RowntreesCabana on Friday 10th June 10:06

6 miles - what about an e-Scooter thing, i think they are around 25k range, so what, 12-13miles...... are they legal yet?

Um, is everyone focussing purely on the cost / value of the commute? And is the bike worth zero after 3 years? No.

Not that the bike could be enjoyable? Used for other things? the health benefits / wellbeing etc?

6 miles hanging on to an e-scooter? Nope from me.

[funinhounslow]

RizzoTheRat said:

When my Mrs ordered hers recently the guy reckoned the battery live is all about the number of charge cycles rather than total distance, so size the battery based on your planned journeys so you don't end up charging it when it's half full every time.
Makes sense to me although he was trying to sell us a battery upgrade at the time.

Isn’t that exactly what you should do to preserve the battery ie keep in the 20-80% “sweet spot” - regular topping up in these limits is fine.

I thought a “full discharge” ie fully charging then running it down to 10% or less was what really killed batteries?

[RowntreesCabana]

PushedDover said:

Um, is everyone focussing purely on the cost / value of the commute? And is the bike worth zero after 3 years? No.

6 miles hanging on to an e-scooter? Nope from me.

The op said he wanted to buy an ebike because of the price of fuel, so in this particular instance then yes.

The other thing, non finance related, is our weather. I ride 8 miles each way and the weather is so changeable, there's nothing more depressing after a hard day's work than putting on damp clothing to cycle home. I now only do it when the weather is good.

Personally I'd just buy a non electric bike for that commute, I have a few good hills on my commute and I just leave with plenty of time and take my time getting there. I'm not sweating by the time I arrive.

I agree on the scooter front, although most people seem happy with them.

Edited by RowntreesCabana on Friday 10th June 11:16

[Blenkiboy]

Lapierre e-Sensium 2.2 2022? Just over 2k. Integrated battery

https://www.lapierrebikes.com/gb-en/o/e-sensium-22...

[gangzoom]

RowntreesCabana said:

The other thing, non finance related, is our weather. I ride 8 miles each way and the weather is so changeable, there's nothing more depressing after a hard day's work than putting on damp clothing to cycle home. I now only do it when the weather is good.

Thats the difference between an eBike for commuting and normal bike. Before getting the eBike I felt the same about commuting to work, but since getting one, its pretty much replaced the car in all weather conditions and all year round.

If you have right waterproof outer trousers, a good jacket, overshoes over your normal shoes you will be surprised how dry you stay, but it means carrying a huge amount of extra clothing/gear that on a normal bike becomes unpleasant/slow. This all the gear I wear for a wet winter commute, I get to work in my work cloths underneath with no issue (or sweat).



The biggest bonus of using the eBike especially for commuting across site in the city is speed vs the car. I was on the bike for 90 minutes in total today, traveling across the city for work. The bike was significantly quicker than using a car every time, plus there is no fuss about parking. For the final commute home, I turned the assistance up to max 19mph average speed during rush hour, thats significantly quicker than the car.



The best bit of commuting on the bike though is the route you can take, a few weeks ago I just stopped and chilled out by the lake for 5 minutes on the way home, its simply so much nicer than sitting in traffic. I wouldn't be without my eBike now, my analogue road bike hasn't been ridden in over 12 months now, where as the eBike is used nearly every day of the week.

[RowntreesCabana]

gangzoom said:

Thats the difference between an eBike for commuting and normal bike. Before getting the eBike I felt the same about commuting to work, but since getting one, its pretty much replaced the car in all weather conditions and all year round.

If you have right waterproof outer trousers, a good jacket, overshoes over your normal shoes you will be surprised how dry you stay, but it means carrying a huge amount of extra clothing/gear that on a normal bike becomes unpleasant/slow. This all the gear I wear for a wet winter commute, I get to work in my work cloths underneath with no issue (or sweat).



The biggest bonus of using the eBike especially for commuting across site in the city is speed vs the car. I was on the bike for 90 minutes in total today, traveling across the city for work. The bike was significantly quicker than using a car every time, plus there is no fuss about parking. For the final commute home, I turned the assistance up to max 19mph average speed during rush hour, thats significantly quicker than the car.



The best bit of commuting on the bike though is the route you can take, a few weeks ago I just stopped and chilled out by the lake for 5 minutes on the way home, its simply so much nicer than sitting in traffic. I wouldn't be without my eBike now, my analogue road bike hasn't been ridden in over 12 months now, where as the eBike is used nearly every day of the week.

Sounds great, I'm sold!

Now I just need to convince the wife...

[gangzoom]

RowntreesCabana said:

Now I just need to convince the wife...

Good luck, just leave out the bits about daily 'close passes', suicidal pedestrians/dog walkers, the kerb rash when you inevitably fall off during winter etc .

For you budget have a look at the Canyon too if there is stock, and make sure you budget for, mud guards, water proofs, lights, Marathon tyres, and pannier+rack - the last two items has made a massive difference to my commuting experience over the last 12 months.

https://www.canyon.com/en-gb/electric-bikes/electr...

[Barchettaman]

“ . I wouldn't be without my eBike now, my analogue road bike hasn't been ridden in over 12 months now, where as the eBike is used nearly every day of the week. ”

I sold my commuter bike within a month of getting my e bike. I knew I wasn’t going to use it again.

[Barchettaman]

RowntreesCabana said:

….there's nothing more depressing after a hard day's work than putting on damp clothing to cycle home. I now only do it when the weather is good.

Not an issue with an e bike. You don’t sweat from the inside out (unless you want to) and I can dry my wet weather gear at work.

I would suggest that sitting in a rush-hour traffic jam, or standing on a packed overpriced commuter train, are more depressing prospects than a ride home on an e assist bike whatever the weather (ice excluded).

[Pivo]

In my sinister opinion, most eBikes come from a megafactory in Taiwan, where they use standardized parts (Bosch, Shimano , Öhlins, Fox, …) make them well and stick different stickers for different companies.

So I bought a Ducati branded one, and I ride it like I stole it. Highly recommended.

https://www.ducati.com/gb/en/e-bike/tk-01-rr

[benny.c]

Ducatis are rebranded Thoks (as you say, made in Asia like most others).

Edited by benny.c on Sunday 12th June 22:05