What were the main worries queries you had before purchasing your e-bike?

[carpetbagger]

i was concerned as to whether the bike would assist enough on hills and whether the battery would get me up the hills.Also would i get value for money over a conventional bike

[rock_hopper]

Being a shortie my main issue was frame size and that is something you should really only determine in the flesh. Tried all possible e-bikes in my local area but finally took a gamble on the Pro-connect based on available advise - lucky for me it proved to be spot on.

The other main issue was support if problems occur - hopefully by the time I fall out of warrenty period the number of dealers might of grown somewhat !

[moon]

Wether it could get me to work and back on one battery charge, reliability, customer service, speed, weight.
I spent a week reading this forum then bought the bike.

[Footie]

Making the right choice.
I spent about six months deciding on my ebike.
The Pedelecs Forum proved invaluable in enabling me to make an almost perfect choice.
Unfortunately, even after all that thinking I didn't make the perfect choice as the SLA batteries made the bike very heavy and virtually unridable without power. However, in truth this boiled down to costs - what I could afford or wanted to spend.
Regrettably, there were no local ebike dealers so I had to purchase over the Internet.
I paid by credit card, in case anything strange happened to the supplier or things went horribly wrong.
The first bike arrived damage (crushed forks) and had to go back.
.

[Conal]

As they say, its a minefield out there! The only thing I knew was that I knew nothing! As Donald Rumsfeld (google is god!) said
"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."
I quickly realised that my knowledge of electric bikes fell firmly into the last category. I now see the job of the senior members here to illustrate the unknown unknowns, and then tell us all about them!
Unfortunately, such is the nature of the individual that if one knew everything there was to know about electric bikes (flecc???) he or she could not recommend the perfect electric bike that would suit everybody.
The purchase of an electric bike (like a car or a computor) is a perfect example of experiencing unknown unknowns. As soon as you buy one and try it out over a reasonable period, you realise that that you didn't know exactly what you wanted when you bought it, and that there is a better one for you out there right now.

[JohnofCambridge]

Could I really get to work without needing to change clothes on arrival, without having a necessary shower, without becoming unpresentable, without taking as long as a pushbike, without looking a complete and utter geek or misfit, without resorting to the car if the weather turned a bit bad?

Could I easily get some attention to the bike if things went wrong.

I am pleased to report the bike(a wisper) from a local supplier dispensed with all those worries

[essexman]

1. Whether I could test ride it or not.
2. Who would fix it if it went wrong.
3. Availability of parts.
4. Real world range and speed.

Re-assured on strength of 2reviews for agattu (flecc and a2b) and personal experience of having previosuly claimed money via small courts when someone wouldnt let me return a mail order product that wasnt suitable.

[Jack.Eagle]

From what I can see the many worries seem to be:

-lack of dealers for test rides
-legal situation
-range/battery life
-ability to repair and sourcing spare parts
-picking the correct bike
-would it be value for money
-would the bike fit it's desired use

many thanks for your comments I look forward to hearing more

thanks

Jack

[Saddlesore]

My main concerns were reliability and an adequate spares / servicing backup.

This site became my principal source of information before I acquired an e-bike and the pearls of wisdom reflected in the various threads were most helpful.

I had serious concerns about many of the distributors who appeared to be here today gone tomorrow outfits which I suppose always is the case when relatively new products come to market - all jump in in the hope of making a quick buck and stuff the consumer when the thing goes wrong. As the market matures and there are more dedicated cycling retailers providing a full service to the customer then these worries will no doubt recede.

Allied to this is the location of most of the manufacturers in China and the fear of a lack of spares being readily available or not available at all as the manufacturer has changed spec. The U.K. must be a pretty small market in global terms and our current legislation does nothing to help and the sooner EU regulations are adopted the better as we will then become part of a much bigger EU market place for Chinese manufacturers who don't have to modify their products for little old England.

[Larkspur]

Main concerns were:

Will the bike actually work as well as I need it to, i.e. enable me to commute 28 miles a day, including some fairly steep hills, in reasonable time and without being too hard for me to face every day?

Is a bike actually a viable form of day to day transport in the UK, given the weather and high levels of traffic, i.e. for someone who is not a hardcore cycling fanatic?

£1400 was a big investment for me to make - I couldn't afford the bike to become a white elephant.