Another Dave or chubby bloke on a bike.

[DavePat]

Hi everybody, been lurking a while so thought I would say hello. Plenty of Daves already on here so I will feel at home and maybe add to the confusion.
57 this week and not been on a bike for years as the mountain bike set up throws all the weight, which has increased over the years, onto the dodgy elbow joints..............
However me and the lady friend, Pam, also not been on a bike for years, went to Kos end of October and hired a couple of Giant Twist Doubles for a couple of days, what a revelation. We managed 60km the first day on a flatish route but with a bit of a climb at one stage. 2nd day we managed 37km but that was with a fairly long gradual climb and later in the afternoon a climb into the hills above Kos Town.
Both times we only just flattened one battery so loads in reserve.
So both sold on the idea of a pedelec, Pam more than me she was absolutley delighted.
First post so hope the photo uploads ok.



Got a few more comments to make but don't want to bore people with my ramblings.

 

[Old_Dave]

Hi Dave, welcome to the forum and happy birthday


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Deleted member 4366]

We look forward to seeing your posts on the forum. Now you have to do the hardest thing in ebiking: you have to choose a bike (or two), which isn't easy because of the huge number of different ones.

 

[indalo]

Welcome to the forum Dave.

It's worth keeping an eye on the pages here as there are some interesting pieces occur from time to time about the ever-growing, (it seems) ebike market.

Probably, the biggest difference which exists at the present time between the various legal, (we hope!) bikes is the price. A large percentage of them, especially at the budget end of the market, are not dissimilar in the way they perform and I say that having now managed to test-ride quite a few.

Some stand out for one reason or another but it's not until you get into the lighter and more expensive models that performance is noticeably better...(with one or two exceptions.)

I'm sure you will enjoy whichever ebike you settle on but try as many as you can within your budget.

Indalo

 

[DavePat]

Thanks for the welcome and the Birhday greetings for thursday, Old Dave.
First thing I am doing is modifying my old mountain bike with a raised stem and a butterfly bar to do a bit of normal cycling round the doors until the better weather,wishfull thinking, when I shell out for an ebike.
Ok so far I have tried the Giant which was fairly comfortable and ok on the flat but heavy to lift and with only 8 gears hard to get up decent speed above the 15mph, not because of the lack of assist just not enough gears.
Living in Newcastle not much choice of E bikes locally but I did drop by Storck in Gateshead and had a very quick spin on one of their bikes. Without the assistance it was hard work even on the flat and to be fair it was only a quick spin and not set up properly for me. I would not like to be too critical as the guys there were really friendly and patient when I dropped in with my daughter. Will probably go back later in the year and have a proper demo.
Edinburgh Cycle Coop got one of their demo Wisper bikes for me to try and have offered to loan me one for a weekend. They had a 906 Alpino in the shop which I could not even get on as the frame was too big, 29 inside leg no doubt the problem. The demo bike was a 905 and the first one I tried with a throttle, it felt quick but I was not a fan of the throttle and the gear indicator was stuck so I could tell which gear I was using.
So I have experienced 3 different bikes so far and all different, I really want to try a crank drive next which certain people seem to think is the best set up.
Still a few more points to make but I will leave it for now.

Dave

 

[RobF]

Dave,

We have the same inside leg measurement and I found the same with the Wisper Alpino.

You are in Newcastle and there is an electric bike stockist in South Shields, although not where you'd expect it.

Sports Recycler, which among other things dismantles and sells bits from stolen bikes recovered by the police, has an ebike off-shoot.

The business is subsidised by the local authority and I think ebikes come into it because the tree huggers in the town hall see them as a good thing.

The lad who runs the ebike side is called Vince and he normally has about eight or ten in the showroom.

Sports Recycler - Home Page

As has been said further up the thread, the performance of most legal 15.5mph restricted ebikes is very similar.

If you routinely want to go faster, you need a de-restricted bike.

For example, this bike has a 'naughty button', I've tried one and it really belts along in comparison to the restricted ones:

City Sport Electric Bicycles | LifeCyle Electric Bikes

 

[DavePat]

Rob,
Thanks for the useful info.
I did not mean going faster with assistance but pedalling only, with limited gearing on the Giant I tried it meant pedalling faster as no longer gearing over the 7 or 8 in the hub gear.
This seems an issue with most of the crank drive bikes i have seen as they have a single chain ring, my old MTB has 27 gears, 3x7.
I had thought about electrifying ?? that but I was concerned about fitting the shimano gears to the new brakes with the motor cut out cables. I was a bit concerned also about torque issues with 20 yo forks.
I do not really have a budget constraint as Xmas bonus and 2013 golf fees that are not getting paid this year have given me room to play with. I had thought of fitting a kit then get something better later in he year.

Dave

 

[indalo]

my old MTB has 27 gears, 3x7.
Dave

Am I missing something here.....or do you want to re-think your maths there Dave?

Indalo

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can easily change the gearing on any hub-motored bike to whatever you want. Many of the cheap to medium hub-motored bikes have a free-wheel gearset on the back with 14 teeth and a front chain-wheel of 42 or 44 teeth. You soon run out of pedal speed as you pass 15 mph; however, you can always change the back free-wheel to 11T top gear, and if that's not enough, go up to 48T on the front, or even double 39T/52T chainwheels on the front, where you'll be using the intermediate gears a lot more. You don't need a front derailleur. In the rare circumstances that you need to use the 39T one, you can hook it over with a twig - and back again afterwards.

 

[DavePat]

Am I missing something here.....or do you want to re-think your maths there Dave?

Indalo[/QUOTE]

I was always crap at trebles in darts too.

Dave

 

[RobF]

Rob,
Thanks for the useful info.
I did not mean going faster with assistance but pedalling only

Dave

Dave,

I think you will struggle to find a bike you can pedal easily over the assisted limit.

I've tried several different models, and none have been happy going faster than the limit.

You've tried two - the Giant and the Storck - and found the same.

The conclusion is an obvious one, but also correct in my experience.

 

[GaRRy]

Dave,

I think you will struggle to find a bike you can pedal easily over the assisted limit.

I've tried several different models, and none have been happy going faster than the limit.

You've tried two - the Giant and the Storck - and found the same.

The conclusion is an obvious one, but also correct in my experience.

Then you need to try a few more. When I can be bothered I can easily take my NEO Cross up to 20+ mph and with a gentle slope to 25+ and then maintain this until I run out of puff. Now taking into account im 116 kilos and not in any way fit pretty certain a more accomplished cyclist than me could go faster for longer. Very much doubt its the only bike you can do this on.

 

[103Alex1]

I agree with GaRRy .. I am told the Impulse cuts out at 15.5mph. However, you can squeeze a bit more out if you work the gears properly. My usual speed on that is about 18.5mph on slight uphills or bad road surfaces, easily topping 20 - 21mph with a gentle downhill, using the higher gears and a bit of sustained effort. The extra bike weight acts in your favour on longer downhills when you are light like me, and 30+ is no problem.

There's no getting away from it though - unless you fit a naughty motor (and don't restrict it), for high speed cycling and handling, weight and bike geometry matter a great deal ... and you'll get that from riding an unpowered road bike. Unpowered cycling above assist limits on flat and uphill on a 20+kg bike is never going to feel like riding one that's 7kg. Using a motor to get the speed up to 15mph in the first place leaves you saddled with a heavy bike as you break through for faster riding. No problem on a DH. Inevitable limitation on the flat / uphill. But there are definitely eBikes which are comfortable to ride above 17mph.

 

[Robbo]

Yet another Dave (known as Robbo) just joined the community and saying Hi.
I see there is one old Dave, so here is another.
I have been cycling for a number of years including doing the End to End and C2C and have just bought a pedelec due to oncoming arthritis which hopefully will prolong my cycling for some years.
It is a Kalkhoff Agattu Impulse C11 which is turning out to be a great long distance bike. Best so far is 78 miles on one charge. I am certainly now a promoter of E-bikes.