E bike

[Blobber]

I contemplated one* then bought something far more sensible and with greater range
View attachment 309404

* No that's a lie, I've never contemplated one

Is that so you can fit the bike in the back when the LR product breaks down?!

 

[rhubarb7]

Riding on footpaths is illegal, full stop. Permitted mobility vehicles are restricted to 4/8 MPH.

Mobility scooters are meant to stick to 4mph on pavements hence the bigger 8mph ones have a low/high switch fitted

 

[Rkweld]

Mobility scooters are meant to stick to 4mph on pavements hence the bigger 8mph ones have a low/high switch fitted

Sounds like a good idea to have a dedicated switch.

I have looked at the tong shen kits and bafang kits. The tong shen with the torque sensor seems like the ideal design, harder you work harder it will work.

I dont know, if you have a home made bigger than 250w ebike, if you would have to get an sva test, number plate, tax and insurance.

 

[Rkweld]

Please do not let this thread descend into yet another anti-scooter/cyclist/pedestrian rant.
God knows how many of those we've had lately but all they do is get people wound up and the threads get locked or deleted.
Keep your personal opinions out and all will be good.

I do apologise, I do not want an arguement, in fact I wish we could all use paths and pavements and roads safely together. I have not intended to rub anyone up the wrong way.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Would have been obvious a trial was on. Surely the Clark would have advised local residents.

A lot of Mx tracks have been lost over the years.
People move into a house locally then proceed to complain constantly about the noise until closure is forced

Where I used to live, in the Churnet Valley, there was a farmer who decided to have a motorcross track on one of his hilly field. It was like a swarm of bees all day long and even I, as a motorcyclist, got fed up of the noise

 

[Wozzaaah]

I do apologise, I do not want an arguement, in fact I wish we could all use paths and pavements and roads safely together. I have not intended to rub anyone up the wrong way.

It wasn't aimed at you specifically but I could already sense the way it was going, and probably still will.

 

[rhubarb7]

Sounds like a good idea to have a dedicated switch.

I have looked at the tong shen kits and bafang kits. The tong shen with the torque sensor seems like the ideal design, harder you work harder it will work.

I dont know, if you have a home made bigger than 250w ebike, if you would have to get an sva test, number plate, tax and insurance.

I don't own one..I had a go on a French assisted e bike a couple of years back and was quite impressed with it.

 

[Gareth J]

Me being rather hefty and with our hills around here you would need 1000W just to get to the top

Go to a bike shop and enquire. I think you'll be surprised. It's the bulk of bike shops sales now and they, often, love to get you out on one as for someone who's not riden one, there's a brilliant wow factor. Our local shop wanted my partner to take one away for a long weekend to try the commute on (though she does deliver their post so is maybe less risky than a total stranger).

 

[rtcosic]

Go to a bike shop and enquire. I think you'll be surprised. It's the bulk of bike shops sales now and they, often, love to get you out on one as for someone who's not riden one, there's a brilliant wow factor. Our local shop wanted my partner to take one away for a long weekend to try the commute on (though she does deliver their post so is maybe less risky than a total stranger).

I nearly fell into that trap some years ago when eBikes were still a novelty.

'Try this one'. I now know it was a torque-sensing jobbie with the motor integrated with the crank. It was magical - like having a strong tailwind. So easy to maintain a steady 15.6 mph uphill and down dale without breaking a sweat. The power assistance was smooth, seamless and near undetectable.

'Now try this one'. Ugh! I now know this was a cadence sensing effort. It was crude, with an all or nothing power delivery. Thoroughly unpleasant to ride.

How much I asked. Second one c. £1300. The first one was around £2500.

Thank you and goodbye!

 

[roofman]

It wasn't aimed at you specifically but I could already sense the way it was going, and probably still will.

I will de-fuse the thread Wozz by stating my ebike will be a peddle assist 250W,i wont ride on anything more than a road,will wear a cyclist helmet and will pick up litter along my way including cleaning the windows for old people that i feel need it....This is not aimed at your posts,its for the ones that might start buying hanging rope....Anyway chaps has anyone else got any more Ebike experiences or tips to throw in the mix

 

[Cobbler]

...Anyway chaps has anyone else got any more Ebike experiences or tips to throw in the mix

Both my wife & I have Trek Ebikes, she got hers & I found I couldn’t keep up with her on the hills so I bought one. The legal limit of 250 watts is fine, I am yet to find anything to stop me. The Bosch system has 4 settings, eco, tour, mtb or sport & turbo, I use tour for virtually everything, never used turbo, I would think you could climb the side of a house if you wanted. I have found it transformed cycling for an old fart like me, I can now enjoy the hilly bits rather than look forward to the down hill bits. Not cheap though!

 

[Rkweld]

My uncle had a similar experience with his, he first had one on loan, he writes for a local paper, to do a review of the bike and riding ebike in general. He is fairly old and probably has a high BMI he also has knee damage from an accident, the ebike was a big hit, got him out and about on a bike where he would have been in a car and made cycling pleasurable and doable with his damaged knee. He bought himself one after he gave the loan bike back.

I am also tempted by the electric cargo bikes

 

[Gareth J]

Anyway chaps has anyone else got any more Ebike experiences or tips to throw in the mix

I realise I wrote a load of waffle regarding them but no specifics relating to actual usage. My partner and I have one. It's a 350W 36V kit with a decentish sized battery. Had it for about 3yrs. Cost about £300-400 all in. On an old steel framed 700c bike. She's a keen cyclist anyway but wanted something to make the ~8mi commute bearable (alongside doing an active job). It has done that well. Makes sense to ride in when it's not raining and the traffic and parking are bad. She goes the quiet way which involves some pretty steep bits; 1:10 up and down the coast. She's racked up ~1800mi now. "They" say you might as well write off the battery after 3yrs. Especially a cheap one like ours. It's still very much usable but has degraded from 3x full commutes to almost (but probably not quite) 2x full commutes. We've not really abused the battery but equally havn't cosseted it. I ride it a bit and it's still fun. If I had time and inclination I'd like to build a taller geared 48V one. Same motor rating though, no need for significantly more power, just in a slightly different place.

Cost wise, unless you can use it to justify not having another car, or do a lot of miles, it may never pay for itself. If you have a vehicle anyway and will do either way, £300-400 buys many extra miles of motoring. Let alone if you're considering a £2000 one. I worked, out very roughly, we'd need to complete over 1000mi in the life of it to break even. So it's nice we achieved that.

 

[ronan]

I'm considering one. I was in Halfords earlier in the year and was having a look at the bikes while waiting to be served. They had a Raleigh e-bike for around 1.5k i think it was, looked very good, fit and finish was good, they are not on their website now though. Its not pure cycling i know, but when you get older and are living on a mountainside, they do appeal to me.

 

[ronan]

Not a cycle i know, but a converted motorcycle, can they be registered for road use or does it have to go through all sorts of testing and rubbish like that ?

Electric bike motor | eBike conversion kit | Brushless hub motor Leaf

Leaf 8 10 12 14 16 17 18 18 20 21 24 26 275 700c 27 28 29 inch hub motor system is easy to convert ordinary bike into ebike with leaf electric bike conversion kit.

leafbike.com

 

[Rudi McAnichal]

I bought a Haibike HardSeven (250W electric mountain bike with front suspension only) very recently, delighted with it so far. Recreational use only, pottering about on country lanes and farm tracks, some fairly steep (Cheviot foothills). Very suitable for one who is ancient and not particularly fit, main snag is that these bikes are bloody expensive.

Mine has the Bosch system as described by Cobbler (#51), and I usually switch off for level roads and only apply some boost when going uphill or against a strong headwind. Electric boost is also very handy if you want to accelerate across a busy road as quickly as possible, or to start off on a hill.

Meter for the 500Wh battery shows 5 bars when fully charged, and it seems to average about 18 miles for each bar. The calibration seems to be fairly linear (unlike my diesel car, which goes 300 miles from full to half on the fuel gauge, but only 150 miles from half to nearly empty).

The gears (single chain ring with 9 sprockets, one click lever to change up and another to change down) seems to work quite well -- a novel system for me, because the last time I rode a mountain bike it had 3 chain rings and 6 sprockets, and all gear changing was done by feel, with no indexing system.

General opinion seems to be that the cheaper e-bikes with hub motors are OK for fairly level terrain, but mid-mounted motors that transmit power via the bike’s derailleur gears are recommended for hilly areas.

I would recommend a soft saddle and/or padded cycling shorts, because riding an e-bike means sitting down for long periods rather than standing up on the pedals or getting off to walk uphill as you might with an ordinary bike.

 

[hazzabo]

I have a Cube Reaction ebike, and have been so impressed with it. I sold my car during lockdown as between the wife and I we had two cars and a van going nowhere and bought the bike for local trips and it’s been a revelation for myself being somewhat sturdy and unfit. I had not heard of Cube before, and availability at the time was limited so I bought it unseen (I did try some other brands in the shop) and it seems very good quality. The motor and controller is Bosch again.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Not a cycle i know, but a converted motorcycle, can they be registered for road use or does it have to go through all sorts of testing and rubbish like that ?

Electric bike motor | eBike conversion kit | Brushless hub motor Leaf

Leaf 8 10 12 14 16 17 18 18 20 21 24 26 275 700c 27 28 29 inch hub motor system is easy to convert ordinary bike into ebike with leaf electric bike conversion kit.

leafbike.com

I assume, if the motorbike is already registered, then it'd simply be a case of informing DVLA of change of motive power

 

[Spot the welders dog]

I fitted a kit to my bicycle 9-10 yrs ago and it has been in 'almost' daily use since and in all weathers. Mine is from a, now defunt, company called Bionx. 250w rear hub motor and a tiddly 22v battery limited to assist to 15mph.. The whole Kit retailed at £1200! and has been 100% reliable. I did once have to replace the battery after a RTA blew the BMS. I found a 'cheap' supplier in Germany but still cost close to £450. The display still remains ,IMO, the best designed one I have seen - I'm a road-rider and using the assist on hills or against a headwind is great. Another useful feature with mine, especially in the wet or snow, is the regen settings which allows you to control your speed going downhill without touching the brakes - almost like changing down the box in a car - and it adds a tickle to the battery.
Downside - The kits addd a considerable amount of weight to the bike, so chucking the bike on your shoulder and running up stairs is OOTQ. Leaving the bike locked anywhere out of sight is a worry that the battery will be stolen, so that means removing it and hoofing it around with you.

Many years since I've looked at 'what's new' so I'll just reiterate what ^^ they said and say try a few out if you can to see which mode (hub,crank etc) suits your needs.

 

[sako243]

Is that so you can fit the bike in the back when the LR product breaks down?!

Only had one breakdown that would have necessitated a bike and that was when the crank snapped on the Severn Bridge. Admittedly snapped a second crankshaft but it did tow a Bridgeport from Sunderland to Pembrokeshire. Not many other vehicles would have done that.