Comments from a prospective buyer

Forgetful Cat

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jul 1, 2008
5
0
I've lurked on this site for some time and found it incredibly useful in getting information on the pros and cons of the various e-bikes on the market. One of the things I've found most helpful has been people's accounts of the way in which they've come to make a choice about which to purchase. So, in the hope that it will be of interest to others, here's where I'm up to...

I want the bike to replace the car on a 7 mile urban commute with some fair sized hills. I used to cycle about 5 miles to work, but that was some years ago, and in terms of time and effort, I think that an e-bike will mean I am actually motivated to leave the car behind. I'd also like the option to do longer leisure rides.

I have owned an e-bike before - a Giant Lafree Sport, and I confidently expect that any decent bike on the market now will be superior!

I pretty quickly narrowed the options down to four, Wisper, Agattu, Cytronex and X-byke.

Wisper clearly have very good customer support, and I think the bikes look great, however I'm not convinced that they'd be big enough for me, as I'm 6' tall. Shame, because the range is good.

Agattu has pretty universal good reviews, and despite some apparent glitches, the customer support seems pretty good on the whole. My main issue is that I'm not sure about how it will ride because of the reported undergearing.

Cytronex looks good, but there don't seem to be many out there yet, and I think I want the option of more range than it provides, and the fact that you don't appear to be able to buy spare batteries is concerning. It would, I suspect, be perfect for my other half, who is a regular cyclist with a big f**k off hill on the way home, and is looking to somehow 'flatten' it.

X-byke should have good dealer support (although the links on the Powabyke site for dealers near me are all broken or out of date!), and comes from a long established company. However, I can't get past the look of the thing - the 'rocket launcher' and that weird box on the carrier. Again, range is a possible issue.

One really frustrating thing is that, living in Leeds, test rides of the Wisper and Cytronex just aren't practical. Even test riding the Agattu has had to wait until I could combine it with visiting family near Loughborough. I am planning to do this over the new year, and will report back once I return.

If money was no object, I'd take a punt on an Agattu and a Cytronex, as I suspect they are quite complementary in terms of strengths and weaknesses.!
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,763
30,349
You'd certainly find any newer design a great improvement on the SLA battery and heavy Lafree Sport, but if you liked the power of that and the fact that you could ride moped fashion without much cycling input, don't rule out the Wisper since that can emulate those characteristics as well as being a lighter bike that's better to cycle.

Where the Kalkhoff is concerned, it's very important to try it before buying as you intend since it's character is very different. Don't worry about the undergearing which is only for legal compliance reasons, a simple sprocket change immediately corrects that.

Again the Cytronex must be tried first as it couldn't be further away from the Lafree Sport in character, it's basically very close to a normal bike. Spare batteries are available for it.
.
 

Forgetful Cat

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jul 1, 2008
5
0
I'm going by the Cytronex site which says, if you click through to the full text for batteries -

Battery will be available again at the end of the year - please ignore stock message it is not currently possible to buy
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,763
30,349
Yes, I knew of that gap in the supply, but they will be available again shortly. It's not unusual with e-bikes to have short battery supply gaps, though it's normally more common with lithium batteries due to the need to avoid long storage times enforcing low stocks.
.
 

wotwozere

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 6, 2008
280
1
Hi

I own a Kalkhoff Agattu XXL and it is the best thing I have ever had, it changed my life and sorted out lots of health problems, I never thought I would ever cycle up a hill.

thx

Bob
 

Barnowl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 18, 2008
954
1
So, all we have to deal with now is the insomnia!
There was a short delay before a laugh out loud :D

Forgetful Cat - I think you're right to scrub the X6 in this case. Range might well be an issue, also you'd be looking to charge the battery every day or rather night.
I find that the great thing about the Cytronex is the fast recharge time. For example if you did 14 miles in a day you could recharge the bike the following morning in an hour. A fulll charge is only 1.5 hours. Also it does sound like a good choice for the wife (the ladies version is a very nice looking bike IMHO). But then it all gets horribly expensive!

Mind you if you are just in the market for 1 bike the Cytronex (when it eventually reappears) will probably be reasonably cheaper.
You could always try a standard Trek 7.3FX out locally (also get the frame size sorted). Then imagine it giving you a nice push up the hills etc.
To assuage any guilt you can always buy stuff from the shop at a later date. Then if you really think the bike is for you "nip" down to Winchester, try it out, put one in the boot and go for a walk round the town. That's what I did and it cheered me up no end. Granted Sheffields a fair bit further. :(

Other than that Agattu or Wisper.:) Difficult choice Good Luck.
 

Encantador

Pedelecer
Jul 18, 2008
89
6
If money was no object, I'd take a punt on an Agattu and a Cytronex, as I suspect they are quite complementary in terms of strengths and weaknesses.!
Still about 100 miles, but if you want to try out a Cytronex, you are welcome to try mine, I have both a ladies and gents. Happy to meet at the Railway station if it helps.

Stafford (M6 J14).
 

burncycle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 13, 2008
639
0
Sheffield
I want the bike to replace the car on a 7 mile urban commute with some fair sized hills.
Hi there.
I commute 6miles to work and 6miles back each day.
I climb well over 1000 feet each day and my Pro Connect and I, do it without any problems. I climb a few 1 in 10's and a 1 in 6.
I can climb a 1 in 10 at 9mph, and a 1 in 6 at 7mph.
I live in Sheffield.
Im averaging 13mph on the whole.
My commute takes me 22 minutes.
The Pro Connect is a great bike, though you may have to spend another £100 to make it the perfect bike.
Summing up I dont think its totally worth the price. Though Im sure other may disagree. I was the one of the first people to own the bike. 7months ownership now.


I hope this helps.
Bob.
 
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Caph

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 29, 2008
440
11
Nottingham, UK
Don't forget Powered Bicycles of Nottingham (off J25 M1). Their Wisper equivalent is the City Thunder (which is actually a couple of hundred pounds cheaper!), I've got no experience of this bike but judging from the reviews of it on their website it seems to be one of their best sellers. I bought my bike from them and have been very impressed with the quality of the bike as well as the post-sales customer support. I'm not sure about taking it for a long test drive but you can certainly take it for a spin around the car park. Might be worth popping in the next time you are en route to Loughborough?
 

Phil the drill

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 14, 2008
395
6
TR9
Don't forget Powered Bicycles of Nottingham (off J25 M1). Their Wisper equivalent is the City Thunder (which is actually a couple of hundred pounds cheaper!), I've got no experience of this bike but judging from the reviews of it on their website it seems to be one of their best sellers.
It may look like the Wisper 905se, but it is MUCH heavier (they say 29KG with battery) - a full 6Kg+ more and the battery is 10Ah rather than the Wisper's 14Ah. That may go a long way towards explaining the price difference. The Wisper's better equipped as standard too......
It may be a decent bike from a decent supplier, but a true Wisper competitor it 'ain't.

Phil
 

Barnowl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 18, 2008
954
1
I put on more than half that over Christmas :( The motor's staying off on my journey home all next week.
Can we assume that's mostly downhill then :D

That's another good thing with the Cytronex. It can be cycled easily over distance without power. It's just a tad slower.

The City Thunder is one of the 3 electric bikes I have actually tried. I thought it was quite a nice ride but like Phil said not a fair comparison with the Wisper. Must say I'm looking forward to Presteigne this year and trying out a few more bikes. :)
 

siggah5

Finding my (electric) wheels
Nov 21, 2008
17
0
new bikes

Hi Barnowl

Hope you try the wisper 905se sport .Its fantastic!
But then again thats my opinion.:D
regards Andy
 

Barnowl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 18, 2008
954
1
Hi Barnowl

Hope you try the wisper 905se sport .Its fantastic!
But then again thats my opinion.:D
regards Andy
Hi Siggah5

Yes the wisper was the other bike I tried at Presteigne. I agree it's a cracking bike. I don't think I fully appreciated how good it was at the time. Also had a chat with David from Wisper who I'd have absolutely no hestation buying a bike off. Thing was though I preferred the Cytronex and it suited my requirements better for less cost.
This year though i'd love to try the Kalikoff bikes and also the Mistral and others. Last year I was pretty clueless. It would be great to compare the bikes now. Might even take the wife this time. :)
 

Forgetful Cat

Finding my (electric) wheels
Jul 1, 2008
5
0
Thanks for all the responses, and apologies for leaving the thread hanging - a combination of family commitments and seasonal illness (kids spread germs y'know!) has prevented me from getting back till now.

To cut to the chase, I am now the owner of an Agattu, having test ridden it at 50 Cycles. I did wonder as I stuck my card in the reader whether I was making the right decision, but decided that I could spend even more time havering, or actually start the new year as an e-bike commuter.

Its unfortunate that 50C aren't in a hilly area, but the bike rode better than I'd expected on the test, with the undergearing not as apparent as I'd feared. I found the staff at 50C helpful and not at all pushy. Once I'd decided to buy, they had one ready for me very quickly to take away there and then.

I also tried the Pro-Connect, which was slightly more to my liking somehow, but the margin wasn't great enough to justify the extra expense.

I've now had the chance to try the bike on the type of gradients I'll be using it on, and found that it worked better than I'd expected, providing I got the gear changing right. I'm unused to hub gears, so find that I need to concentrate slightly on getting the change to work. It's true that you have to put in some work, and I noticed I was using muscles that I don't usually, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I wasn't at all stiff or sore the next day after taking the bike up and down hills for about 2 hours.

Issues with the bike so far are the tyre valves, which I decided to try with my existing multi-adapter pump at home rather than finding it didn't work in an emergency! They are fiddly and the pump supplied with the bike does seem as if it came out of a cracker. I'm not convinced that the kickstand is worth the extra weight but will leave it on for now. Likewise the rear wheel lock, as I intend to use a heavy duty cable.

One thing I am impressed with is the fact that the bike is quiet - my old Lafree did sometimes attract unwanted attention from chavscum because of the noise it made.

Hopefully the roads will be ice free tomorrow for my first commute.....
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,763
30,349
Congratulations on your new bike. It's best to ignore Shimano's advice that it's ok to pedal through changes, instead always pausing pedalling to complete the change. On hills you know it's a good idea to select the gear you know you'll need before starting the climb, rather than attempting the change during the climb,

The compensation for those differences is the very useful ability to change gear at a standstill.
.
 

Barnowl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 18, 2008
954
1
I did wonder as I stuck my card in the reader whether I was making the right decision,.
.....
I know that feeling! The moment of madness:D

Good choice though. And in my view money well spent. Every trips a pleasure and it gets so it's a real downer when I have to use the car for work. All the best and good luck.