905se

Wisper Bikes

Trade Member
Apr 11, 2007
6,239
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69
Sevenoaks Kent
705e

Might you do an equivalent improved 705? My personal preference is for a step-through, upright-position bike. The 705e is my kind of style, but right at the top of my "acceptable" weight range. If you could shave a bit of weight off, and give it that 4-mode switch, I'd be seriously interested.

Mary
Hi Mary

Yes we will be compiling the full range in 705's early in 2008.

Best regards David
 

Wisper Bikes

Trade Member
Apr 11, 2007
6,239
2,214
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Sevenoaks Kent
Here is a sneak preveiw of the 905se Sport and 905se City



905se City



905se Sport

The 905 range is nearly complete now and will be made up of the 905, 905e 905se Sport and 905se City.

The basic specs will be;

905. 8a 36v Li ion, 180w brushless, no front suspension, 6 gears, basic Shimano bits, no disk brakes, no hand throttle, no mud guards no rack, 18kg price about £585.00

905e. 10a 36v Li ion, 200w brushless, steel front suspension, 7 gears, Shimano Alivio bits, disk brakes, hand throttle, sport mud guards, off/on switch on handle bars, 22kg price about £885.00

905se City. 13.8a 36v Li ion, 200w brushless, magnesium front suspension, 7 gears, Shimano Deore XT bits, disk brakes, hand throttle, off/on switch on handle bars, full polycarbonate mud guards, rack, 21kg price about £1185.00

905se Sport. 13.8a 36v Li ion, 250w brushless, magnesium front suspension, 7 gears, Shimano Deore XT bits, disk brakes, hand throttle, off/on switch on handle bars, off road turbo switch, sport mud guards, 21kg price about £1185.00

If you have any comments I would love to have your opinions.

Finally we have just finished road testing the 13.8a 200w City and achieved 32.5 miles power only on flat out door roads with a 75kg load (rider and weights) The 250w sport is getting 21 miles but can climb wonderfully.

The 905se will be available in two weeks, however as the first container is more than half sold, we are taking orders now (no deposit, no commitment) for people who want first refusal.

Last bit of great news as far as Pedelecs are concerned 14 off, 905se (no throttle) have been ordered by one of the larger UK police forces after having a wide selection of ebikes including the 905e on trial for 6 months. Full details will follow soon with pictures and press release. Their comments were that there were one or two very good bikes on trial but none of them peddled as well as the 905e. Happy days!!
 

ltn_wx

Just Joined
Oct 25, 2007
4
0
Hello David,

Thanks for the info. It's starting to get a bit pricey though. I would have thought that as popularity grew prices would fall.

Are you still going to offer discounts on the new models for pedelecs members!?!

Many thanks
 

Wisper Bikes

Trade Member
Apr 11, 2007
6,239
2,214
69
Sevenoaks Kent
Hi David

I have just returned from China where we have finalised the 905 range.

The first container sold out very quickly but we wanted to make several changes, so please accept my apologies for the extended wait. There may be a possibility that we can get one from Germany if you need it urgently, please let me know.

The final high spec 905E and SE City and Sport will be complete in early January. I am going back to approve the final specs on 10th January and we will be placing bulk orders at the same time. We expect them to be in the UK by the end of February or early March 2008.

Best regards David
 

frank9755

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 19, 2007
1,228
2
London
I believe there will be some changing / upgrading of components and redesign of controls but that the frame, motor, battery and controller will be the same, so it will be fundamentally the same bike.

I don't think it will be available in January. David's message says March, and these things tend to move backwards...

Frank
 
Sep 24, 2007
268
0
Cost of electric bikes

I've had several electric bikes of various types and they all seem to have one thing in common. They all appear to me to cost a heck of a lot of money for what they actually are. They're nearly all made in China, where labour is cheap, environmental restrictions are nil, raw materials are cheap and production costs much lower than in the West. So we get loads of cheap clothes, shoes, computers, tools etc etc.... right? Nearly everything we buy comes from China and the real cost of electric drills, circular saws, machines of all sorts and.... normal bikes.... has dropped no end. Yes, it's possible to buy a reasonable quality normal bike for about £200... alloy frame, 21 gears, reasonable suspension etc etc. Then there are electric bikes. They have a motor (mass produced in China at any number of factories), a controller (always a little ribbed aluminium box... available NEW in the US for about £10), a throttle (available new for about £5) and a little disk with magnets in to make it work as a pedelec estimated cost £3).. then the charger (available new for about £30). Li-ion batteries are available for about £150 on a one-off basis from a Chinese manufacturer, so buying thousands must make them cheaper. Then the bike has to be shipped from China.

So, why can an electric bike cost £1200 ?? They usually only have 1-7 gears, poor quality cycle parts, cheapo tyres etc etc and are, from a purely cycle point of view, usually inferior to a £200 mountain bike. Plus the batteries have a limited life and are costly to replace.

Has any retailer of e-bikes has actually invested any capital in Chinese production sites? I doubt it... the Chinese have been making e-bikes for years in well-established factories. I reckon they have modified their designs to suit western demands but they are not in any way built on investment by UK retailers. So, bike 'companies' in the UK are just importers... right? No big cash investment to recoup through high prices. So.... again... why are these bikes so expensive, given what they are? For the price of half a dozen of them, you can buy a brand-new car.... which took a lot more design, investment, technology, metallurgy, distribution etc and which will last a lot longer. I mention the car not because I think it is desirable to use one but to illustrate how expensive electric bikes are. Or am I wrong?
 

ltn_wx

Just Joined
Oct 25, 2007
4
0
Quite agree Jimmy. If you shop around, you can buy a perfectly useable second-hand car for the cost of a new electric bike.
 

Bikerbob

Pedelecer
May 10, 2007
215
0
Isle of Man
I agree that the price of electric bikes seems disproportionate to the cost of an ordinary bike of similar or better quality. I suppose economies of scale - and the amount of competition - come into it. Many thousands of ordinary bikes are imported and you have the choice of many makes and from lots of suppliers, all of which will help to keep prices down. The electric bike market is tiny by comparison, and the few suppliers will charge what the market will bear. If we are prepared to pay those prices then that's what they will charge.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,859
30,411
Sales of ordinary bikes in the UK: 2 million per annum

Estimated sales of e-bikes in the UK: 20,000 per annum (one per cent)

The latter is also too small a share for each importer/seller to run an efficient business, so we must pay for the inefficiencies.
.
 

fishingpaul

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 24, 2007
871
86
if you pay £1000+ you would hope for some reliabillity,at the moment £300 bikes are probably almost as reliable,and often batteries are far cheaper,and longer lasting,(eg lead acid) i realise they are much heavier,but are cheap and reliable
 

Alan G

Just Joined
Nov 9, 2007
4
0
Hi Jimmy
I think the true answer to your question is any one who buys something new is contributing to the learning curve (development costs) remember the first digital watches (up to £2000 when you could get a Timex for a fiver) I was building bikes for friends from old bits and pieces 40 years ago, there must be trillions of ordinary push bikes scattered round the globe also if they havent done it yet you will find goverments latching on to the fact the ebike is different and will charge higher import taxes to get there hands on a share of the new technology
 

Wisper Bikes

Trade Member
Apr 11, 2007
6,239
2,214
69
Sevenoaks Kent
Prices

Thanks Alan

You are absolutely correct of course, for instance our new fan cooled charger costs us five times that of our original lithium chargers and you can buy 15 or so complete cheap Chinese push bikes for the price of one new 14 amp lithium polymer battery.

Both the new battery and charger are at the cutting edge of electronics technology and significantly better than the ones we were buying two years ago. With all new technology R and D costs are ammortised over the first few years sales, consider the price of 42" TVs, when they forst came onto the market they cost £5000 +, now £700. On the up side, we are all helping to pay for development which will lead to the creation of batteries, controllers and motors that will be strong and powerful enough to save millions of tonnes of carbon being spewed into the atmosphere every day! Prices will eventually come down but not until quantities purchased rise significantly. And you never know the electric bikes that we are selling today may eventually end up in electric vehicle collections worth millions!!!!! :)

Best regards David
 
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Wisper Bikes

Trade Member
Apr 11, 2007
6,239
2,214
69
Sevenoaks Kent
The new 905 range

Too keep you all up to date on the 905 range, Doug is traveling to our factory on Wednesday to check the last minute changes I made to the range last month. If he is happy we go into full production straight away. This means that the long awaited 905's will be in the UK in late April / early May. It has been a long wait but we are almost there!

Our website is being updated to show the new spec, but if you would like details of the range now please email me on miall@aol.com for details.

Thanks for you patience.

Best regard David


905se sport
 
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