Think self build may be the way to go to get what I need at a competitive price but not sure where to start.
About me 6ft 7in tall and about 125kg so I'm a big lad. This means many of the off the shelf bikes arent made in my size and means I need to be spending about £2000- £2200 to get a ready made bike in 60cm + frame size and then would have to sell my cube to free up space and money.
However I do have a number of bikes that maybe suitable for conversion?:
Option 1. Late 1990s Custom Built Steel Frame Road Bike with nice Campagnolo groupsets from that era and decent wheelsets. (dont use this much but really dont want to sell it as its a lovely bike and would really love to make more use of this)
Option 2. 2007ish GT Avalanche 2.0 that has skinny tires on that was my commuter bike before the commute became too long to be feasible on a regular basis. (well abused and needs a bit of tlc)
Option 3. 2016 Cube Ltd Race 29er
The problem is my commute is about 20-21 miles with a bit of a short but painful climb half way and me being fat and unhealthy meant about 1hr30 min ride time when I have done it in the past but realistically it needs to be achievable in about sub 1 hour to make it workable for my available time to ride each way so need to look at something unrestricted to achieve close to this.
Budget ideall <£500ish for kit build? Is this sufficient to allow me to achieve what I need. Am I being unrealistic in what I'm looking for? Front hub, mid, rear drive better suited to any of these? Really there seems to be so many options of motors and batteries I'm a bit lost as what makes a good place to start to see if using an ebike as a more regular commuter fits with my family commitments.
About me 6ft 7in tall and about 125kg so I'm a big lad. This means many of the off the shelf bikes arent made in my size and means I need to be spending about £2000- £2200 to get a ready made bike in 60cm + frame size and then would have to sell my cube to free up space and money.
However I do have a number of bikes that maybe suitable for conversion?:
Option 1. Late 1990s Custom Built Steel Frame Road Bike with nice Campagnolo groupsets from that era and decent wheelsets. (dont use this much but really dont want to sell it as its a lovely bike and would really love to make more use of this)
Option 2. 2007ish GT Avalanche 2.0 that has skinny tires on that was my commuter bike before the commute became too long to be feasible on a regular basis. (well abused and needs a bit of tlc)
Option 3. 2016 Cube Ltd Race 29er
The problem is my commute is about 20-21 miles with a bit of a short but painful climb half way and me being fat and unhealthy meant about 1hr30 min ride time when I have done it in the past but realistically it needs to be achievable in about sub 1 hour to make it workable for my available time to ride each way so need to look at something unrestricted to achieve close to this.
Budget ideall <£500ish for kit build? Is this sufficient to allow me to achieve what I need. Am I being unrealistic in what I'm looking for? Front hub, mid, rear drive better suited to any of these? Really there seems to be so many options of motors and batteries I'm a bit lost as what makes a good place to start to see if using an ebike as a more regular commuter fits with my family commitments.