Is there a £1000 viable electric bike?

[thepeoplespal]

I have just changed jobs & have a just about doable 13 mile each way commute. There is a salary sacrifice scheme with £1k limit that allows me to hire a bike & eventually own it (with a bit of jiggery pokery)

Criteria:

1. I'm a bloater and about the size of two men, so I need a bit of comfort.
2. taking 2 hours to travel and arrive mega sweaty isn't an option
3. I've little fitness, so while ideally I'd be using pedal power alone, without assistance of electric I will never make the start (perhaps next year)
4. if it is over £1k by a penny, it isn't an option
5. if it's not in a shop it isn't an option

I know £1k isn't much, but is there any electric bike that might be an option? I've only about 4 weeks before the scheme closes for the year.

Edited by thepeoplespal on Saturday 24th March 10:14

[Some Gump]

Can't help on the ebike, but fair play for having a go of it.

The good news is that if you get the cycling bug, 13 miles will be comfortably under an hour each way unassisted within a few months.

[gl20]

If you can't find one In price range, then how about a regular one, just do short rides to begin until you're good to do the 13 mile commute.

[Evanivitch]

On the button...

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

[yellowjack]

Buy whichever bike you fancy, then add an Electric Bike conversion kit?

There's a mob in Winchester who'll sell you a DIY kit, convert your own bike for you, or sell you a complete new bike with the kit fitted. The kit is removeable too, I think, so can be ported over to a new bike if you upgrade. Worth a look, perhaps?

https://www.cytronex.com

I wandered into their store by accident, thinking it was a "regular" bike shop, and have nothing to do with them, but what I saw looked pretty good. I'm not in the market for an E-bike (yet) but if i were, I'd be looking in their direction...

[thepeoplespal]

yellowjack said:

Buy whichever bike you fancy, then add an Electric Bike conversion kit?

There's a mob in Winchester who'll sell you a DIY kit, convert your own bike for you, or sell you a complete new bike with the kit fitted. The kit is removeable too, I think, so can be ported over to a new bike if you upgrade. Worth a look, perhaps?

https://www.cytronex.com

I wandered into their store by accident, thinking it was a "regular" bike shop, and have nothing to do with them, but what I saw looked pretty good. I'm not in the market for an E-bike (yet) but if i were, I'd be looking in their direction...

LoL - PH, Mission Creep Matters :-) . Does look interesting, but as this is for a salary sacrifice scheme, it falls on a number of levels, namely can't be DIY & a hard £1000 limit.

I'll have a look at the Halfords offer on the Carrera Mountain bike a few posts up.

[bakerstreet]

thepeoplespal said:

I have just changed jobs & have a just about doable 13 mile each way commute. There is a salary sacrifice scheme with £1k limit that allows me to hire a bike & eventually own it (with a bit of jiggery pokery)

Criteria:

1. I'm a bloater and about the size of two men, so I need a bit of comfort.
2. taking 2 hours to travel and arrive mega sweaty isn't an option
3. I've little fitness, so while ideally I'd be using pedal power alone, without assistance of electric I will never make the start (perhaps next year)
4. if it is over £1k by a penny, it isn't an option
5. if it's not in a shop it isn't an option

I know £1k isn't much, but is there any electric bike that might be an option? I've only about 4 weeks before the scheme closes for the year.

Edited by thepeoplespal on Saturday 24th March 10:14

There isn't much jiggery pokery. They will never ask for that final balance. Pay your £70pm for 12 months or what ever it is and you own it after a year

Not sure I would both with electric. They are pretty damn heavy and if you get your self and your kit organised, you should be able to do 13 miles in an hour. Do you have a shower at your office? You could shower there. I have been doing that for 3 years at this company and two at the previous company.

A lot of it is the organisation of everything round the cycling including:

Being organised in the mornings
Kit laid out for cycling to work and not anything else
Bag packed the night before including lunch made. Cycling to work saves money, so why waste it on buying lunch
Decent lights and thermal clothing for winter. However if you are a big bloke, you will need less than average sized people (I speak from experience)

When you reach a point when you are confused and out of sync if you don't cycle to work then you are there! This is pretty much me now. I struggle to get up and the right time and leave the house on time to get the train as I am used to cycling to the station.

I would just buy a normal hybrid bike and give that a go. Electrics are very very heavy and quite frankly, at sub £1k, its a solution that didn't even exit a couple of years ago, so just crack on with a normal bike.

I occasionally see an electric bike on my commute and all the fast roadies suddenly up the pace as they don't want to be beaten by an electric bike

[dtmpower]

I'd definitely consider the C1 kit. Buy a sensible road or hybrid bike on your work scheme. Add the C1 kit for now until you find you don't need it anymore, then either leave it on for the boost home or remove it as you won't need it. After a month or so 13 miles will be easier and in the summer months you'll be taking the long way home for the Strava segments and hills

[HardtopManual]

Forget about the eBike. Your bag of sand will fund a good £500 pushbike, leaving you with enough cash to buy a couple of pairs of quality shorts, jerseys, a jacket, shoes, pedals and tyres instead. After three months, you won't need an eBike and its associated weight, complexity and expense.

[Tiggsy]

Having spent all day yesterday in an E bike shop (and bought 2 of them)....your idea is a good one, and in a few years will be a no brainer, but right now the £1k doesnt get you much at all.

I was looking at full sus MTB with £6k each budget but they had loads of "cheaper" commuter bikes that I was thinking of for my 14 year old next term when he has a long ride (due to a house move) - but they were still more than twice your budget.

Frustrating time with the tech because in a few years they will cost half as much and go twice as long....still pretty early in their life (think Iphone 2)!

[The Mad Monk]

thepeoplespal said:

I have just changed jobs & have a just about doable 13 mile each way commute. There is a salary sacrifice scheme with £1k limit that allows me to hire a bike & eventually own it (with a bit of jiggery pokery)

Criteria:

1. I'm a bloater and about the size of two men, so I need a bit of comfort.
2. taking 2 hours to travel and arrive mega sweaty isn't an option
3. I've little fitness, so while ideally I'd be using pedal power alone, without assistance of electric I will never make the start (perhaps next year)
4. if it is over £1k by a penny, it isn't an option
5. if it's not in a shop it isn't an option

I know £1k isn't much, but is there any electric bike that might be an option? I've only about 4 weeks before the scheme closes for the year.

Edited by thepeoplespal on Saturday 24th March 10:14

Ear you go squire.

https://www.e-bikesdirect.co.uk/

A good range of bikes. I bought my Oxygen from them and they were very helpful. Lots of bikes to test ride.

[Evanivitch]

The Carrera is on budget, has front suspension and disc brakes and more than enough range for the OP.

Plus any issues and it's an easy job to return.

OP, also a quick check that your Cycle2Work scheme doesn't have a list of providers? Ours does.

[FiF]

The local uni has this sort of scheme with a local manufacturer of e bikes, as well as other cordless domestic products, think vacuums if you need a hint.

1000 outright purchase price is what they charge punters off the street according office tittle tattle. Well 995.99.

Not sure how the uni scheme works but there are reports of dissatisfaction with battery life. Apparently charge can be showing as a reasonable amount left say 30% ISH, and then bang, it's flat. At which point you are knackered, no gears.

[anonymous-user]

Are you limited to any particular shop/scheme ?

[funinhounslow]

HardtopManual said:

Forget about the eBike. Your bag of sand will fund a good £500 pushbike, leaving you with enough cash to buy a couple of pairs of quality shorts, jerseys, a jacket, shoes, pedals and tyres instead. After three months, you won't need an eBike and its associated weight, complexity and expense.

I am not sure about this. I have been cycling in London for over 20 years and I cycle a lot more since buying an ebike last year.

Arriving at my destination not hot, sweaty or stressed is a huge advantage

I was an ebike cynic before riding one, now I can see they make perfect sense.

Hopefully their prices will drop - and this combined with improved cycling infrastructure could genuinely transform our cities I believe.

[Evanivitch]

funinhounslow said:

I am not sure about this. I have been cycling in London for over 20 years and I cycle a lot more since buying an ebike last year.

Arriving at my destination not hot, sweaty or stressed is a huge advantage

I was an ebike cynic before riding one, now I can see they make perfect sense.

Hopefully their prices will drop - and this combined with improved cycling infrastructure could genuinely transform our cities I believe.

Also I imagine they make getting ahead of traffic at the lights a lot easier.

[paulrockliffe]

Whether the ebike makes sense will largely depend on how hilly the ride is?

The problem is that the bikes are limited to assistance below 15mph, so if you can pedal the route at 15mph+ the motor will do nothing but slow you down. If it's hilly though it'll keep you at 15mph up the hills and save you lots of time.

I've looked at this a few times as I have a hilly 20 mile commute, but you really need a higher assistance speed to get the commute time down enough. It's illegal, but I wouldn't bother other than with a modified system that lets you run quicker. Last time I looked there where kits on eBay out of China that had no restriction and up to 2kW so it is possible, but still expensive for something that's dodgy.

[jockinthebox]

If you are going to spend 1k at Halfords, join British cycling for 20/30 quid and you get 10% off at Halfords.

[poing]

Exactly on price and one of the best electric bikes around

https://www.gtech.co.uk/ebike.html

Not from a bike company but kept about as simple as possible. No chain or gears to wear out and still does the same 15mph cruise as every other electric bike. You'll need to invest in a better seat though, especially if you're a huskier gentleman

A good honest review from a slightly hipster type:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us210HoccCc

[Evanivitch]

poing said:

Exactly on price and one of the best electric bikes around

Is it better because of the software?

It just strikes me that for the same money you don't get disk brakes or gears (IMO a benefit) compared to the Halfords bike.