ahhhumm Electric bikes hides in shame
Discussion
I really have no issue with them - don't see why others do TBH. They extend the age at which you can keep cycling and they help if your OH is much faster / fitter than you.
There is a company that can fit a motor and batter down the down-tube which drives the crank so there are no obvious external clues as to it being an electric bike. Perhaps google them if the shame is too much
There is a company that can fit a motor and batter down the down-tube which drives the crank so there are no obvious external clues as to it being an electric bike. Perhaps google them if the shame is too much
Each to their own!
Make sure you buy from a shop that can support them and can get parts!
My local shop gets loads of people in with them who buy cheap ones off the internet, they then break and are too heavy to send back and shops cant get parts as they are generic cheap electric bikes
Make sure you buy from a shop that can support them and can get parts!
My local shop gets loads of people in with them who buy cheap ones off the internet, they then break and are too heavy to send back and shops cant get parts as they are generic cheap electric bikes
My wife bought this one about 3 years ago.
I'd say go for it if your wife has been out of biking for a while, as we both had. This one has 3 grades of power and works off pedal assist so you still pedal up hills but the battery gives you however much help you need.
My wife looked at that many she actually bought the wrong one and when it arrived she was gutted she still had to pedal. She thought you'd just press a button to get up hills. Moral of the story, cheaters never prosper.
All I would say is as ever, check the gearing and better still test ride one. We have now moved house to a much more hilly, rural area in Northumberland and her cadence is slow up steep hills compared to a road bike with compact gear set etc. That doesn't bother her though as the battery kicks in and away she goes.
I'll be struggling away up a hill and hear what sounds like a milk float coming past and off she goes into the distance.
It's served it's purpose well although it's had very little use. My wife now wants a proper road bike but with flat bars as she doesn't like drops.
I would say they give a nice helping hand to someone who isn't an avid speed or fitness freak and just wants to get for a pleasant ride.
Not sure how much they go for now but the one pictured cost us the best part of £1000 when new. It's a heavy bike too. Not just due to the battery. That's why I now think a nice light road bike or hybrid would be as good as you don't have the helping hand from the battery but you haven't all the weight and probably have better gearing for climbs, hence my wife looking at new ones.
I'd say go for it if your wife has been out of biking for a while, as we both had. This one has 3 grades of power and works off pedal assist so you still pedal up hills but the battery gives you however much help you need.
My wife looked at that many she actually bought the wrong one and when it arrived she was gutted she still had to pedal. She thought you'd just press a button to get up hills. Moral of the story, cheaters never prosper.
All I would say is as ever, check the gearing and better still test ride one. We have now moved house to a much more hilly, rural area in Northumberland and her cadence is slow up steep hills compared to a road bike with compact gear set etc. That doesn't bother her though as the battery kicks in and away she goes.
I'll be struggling away up a hill and hear what sounds like a milk float coming past and off she goes into the distance. It's served it's purpose well although it's had very little use. My wife now wants a proper road bike but with flat bars as she doesn't like drops.
I would say they give a nice helping hand to someone who isn't an avid speed or fitness freak and just wants to get for a pleasant ride.
Not sure how much they go for now but the one pictured cost us the best part of £1000 when new. It's a heavy bike too. Not just due to the battery. That's why I now think a nice light road bike or hybrid would be as good as you don't have the helping hand from the battery but you haven't all the weight and probably have better gearing for climbs, hence my wife looking at new ones.
I read that Brian Robinson has started using one on club rides following his accident and quite frankly, if he is using one who are we to judge?
superlightr said:
Wife would like an electric bike, halfords have a nice fold up one which will fit the caravan (i know it gets worse!) has anyone had an electric bike any views !
I've had one for a couple of years, as Marky911 said go to a proper EBike shop and go out for a test ride on a couple after you have read up on the various models.The one that I had set my heart/head on was horrible to ride and I ended up buying a cheaper folding bike for my motorhome, after test riding several, which has multiple modes, pedal, pedal assisted with 3 power levels, or just smug mode turn the throttle with no pedalling.
Don't know where you are based but I used these people http://www.cyclingmadeeasy.co.uk
Their website has lots of info to help you pick a model to suit the missus.
There are so many models & price points, so take some time to decide.
Consider factors like weight, range, recharge times, reliabliity etc., and how you will use it.
I use small CLs in rural locations so picked a rugged mountain bike style with hefty tyres for cycling down farm tracks for essential food/booze resupplies
I can't help with the detail of the question, but I think e-bikes are the future of personal transportation - it removes one for the big arguments for why the UK can't be a cycling nation like the Netherlands (i.e. we have hills).
Even as a reasonably keen roadie, I'd be happy to use one to get around town - no sweat (literally) when climbing the hill from where I live to the centre of town. And as I get older this becomes even more true - I could keep "cycling" to a ripe old age rather than having to resort to a Honda Jazz or whatever it is that the old people drive these days.
Even as a reasonably keen roadie, I'd be happy to use one to get around town - no sweat (literally) when climbing the hill from where I live to the centre of town. And as I get older this becomes even more true - I could keep "cycling" to a ripe old age rather than having to resort to a Honda Jazz or whatever it is that the old people drive these days.
Zigster said:
I think e-bikes are the future of personal transportation
This, multiplied by a large number.I witnessed some revolutionary thinking at a low carbon vehicles exhibition some years ago. Chap suggested train operators needed to re-think their carriages, providing for space to park e-bikes which could be charged-up during the journey. Made perfect sense to me although I didn't agree that all destinations would eventually have secure charging points. London (the exception to this) just doesn't have room. Elsewhere, yes.
Anyway, that's the future. As a current leisure bike, why not. Doing *any* exercise is good, whether it's assisted exercise or not.
Porkbrain said:
superlightr said:
Wife would like an electric bike, halfords have a nice fold up one which will fit the caravan (i know it gets worse!) has anyone had an electric bike any views !
I've had one for a couple of years, as Marky911 said go to a proper EBike shop and go out for a test ride on a couple after you have read up on the various models.The one that I had set my heart/head on was horrible to ride and I ended up buying a cheaper folding bike for my motorhome, after test riding several, which has multiple modes, pedal, pedal assisted with 3 power levels, or just smug mode turn the throttle with no pedalling.
Don't know where you are based but I used these people http://www.cyclingmadeeasy.co.uk
Their website has lots of info to help you pick a model to suit the missus.
There are so many models & price points, so take some time to decide.
Consider factors like weight, range, recharge times, reliabliity etc., and how you will use it.
I use small CLs in rural locations so picked a rugged mountain bike style with hefty tyres for cycling down farm tracks for essential food/booze resupplies
superlightr said:
Porkbrain said:
superlightr said:
Wife would like an electric bike, halfords have a nice fold up one which will fit the caravan (i know it gets worse!) has anyone had an electric bike any views !
I've had one for a couple of years, as Marky911 said go to a proper EBike shop and go out for a test ride on a couple after you have read up on the various models.The one that I had set my heart/head on was horrible to ride and I ended up buying a cheaper folding bike for my motorhome, after test riding several, which has multiple modes, pedal, pedal assisted with 3 power levels, or just smug mode turn the throttle with no pedalling.
Don't know where you are based but I used these people http://www.cyclingmadeeasy.co.uk
Their website has lots of info to help you pick a model to suit the missus.
There are so many models & price points, so take some time to decide.
Consider factors like weight, range, recharge times, reliabliity etc., and how you will use it.
I use small CLs in rural locations so picked a rugged mountain bike style with hefty tyres for cycling down farm tracks for essential food/booze resupplies
Research the basics, then, as I did, arrange with them to test ride the bikes that you fancy.
I don't ride on the road unless necessary, just tracks, so they took me on an accompanied ride where they supplied helmets to a local park, which included some very steep hill sections.
Thats when I decided which bike to buy.
(And standard disclaimer, I don't work for them, just a happy customer, with two knackered knees).
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