Giant Lafree Twist Dilemma

[alanthebook]

Hello,

Last year as an octogenerian I inherited (from my daughter!) a delicious, as-new, Giant Lafree Twist Comfort with a defunct battery. I had the battery re-celled by a company in North Wales at a cost of around £160, but this was not successful, having lasted only a little over the 12 months guarantee period.

The cost of a new battery from Giant, I am told, is £320. To this should be added a new charger, (for the present Panasonic device is unreliable) - totalling let's say around £400. The bike, still superb to ride, especially in the way it delivers its power, dates from 2004, with original tyres barely worn at all.

My dilemma is, for a pensioner, £400 is a substantial expenditure on a 7 year old bike, no longer in production. Do I swallow hard, pay up and hope that spares are available for a few years yet. Or do I fork out around £650 for a new Chinese device that will certainly go further and faster, with better electrics and battery?

What is the wisdom of the Forum in this matter please?

It would be a shame to ditch the Lafree Twist, top dog in its day. Anyone like to make a bid for a near mint example?

Many thanks for listening,
Alan Shephard, Warminster Wilts.

 

[Scottyf]

If you can spare £200 I'm sure one of the other retailers on the forum can help you out with a new battery.
Will require some tinkering and wiring to get it sorted.

 

[flecc]

Even more than £400 Alan, a new charger for the Lafree was £125 last time I heard.

There are no spares for the power units anyway, never have been, only chainwheels, motor sprockets, batteries and chargers.

If it were me in your position, I'd probably aim to sell that Lafree to an existing owner who wanted a second/replacement less used bike so didn't need to buy a battery or charger, then use the proceeds towards a newer bike. There wouldn't be much choice at around £650 though, and the build quality wouldn't begin to compare with the Giant Lafree, so I'd personally aim a bit higher.

However, the Lafree is such a good bike it could be worth you taking a risk on it's continuing to be reliable and spend that £445 needed.
.

 

[hoppy]

Alan, I'd keep the bike and buy the battery and charger if you're sure you need them both. They last well and the bike is a real classic. If not, how much do you want for it? Best wishes, hoppy(Corsham, Wiltshire)

 

[johnc461165]

You could also consider going to SLA batteries, obviously you would need to fit them as and where you can maybe in panniers there would also be a weight penalty but the cost would be so much lower including the charger. John

 

[TwoBikes]

Yes, if you're only pottering about, rather than riding serious distances, SLAs are viable. On my pottering about bike, I use two 12V 7Ah batteries. They weigh a total of 5kg, which I don't notice as a load on the rear rack. They cost £30 the pair including delivery, with the charger costing £34 from CPC/Farnells. I haven't done a run on throttle only to see how far a battery charge takes me, but I have done the regular run around the ring road (18 miles) using the motor to help with the difficult bits, and the battery wasn't flat at the end (24.7 volts measured with a multimeter).

 

[alanthebook]

Even more than £400 Alan, a new charger for the Lafree was £125 last time I heard.

There are no spares for the power units anyway, never have been, only chainwheels, motor sprockets, batteries and chargers.

If it were me in your position, I'd probably aim to sell that Lafree to an existing owner who wanted a second/replacement less used bike so didn't need to buy a battery or charger, then use the proceeds towards a newer bike. There wouldn't be much choice at around £650 though, and the build quality wouldn't begin to compare with the Giant Lafree, so I'd personally aim a bit higher.

However, the Lafree is such a good bike it could be worth you taking a risk on it's continuing to be reliable and spend that £445 needed.
.

Hello Flecc!

Sorry to be slow in responding, I've been somewhat distracted these last few days. I am most grateful for your knowledgeable and considered response! Without overdoing things, it is something of a dilemma knowing which is the best way to proceed. In the end, I'll probably run this battery until the very end, and then spin a coin!

Meanwhile I might investigate the challenge of converting (if that's practicable) to a SLA battery, following the advice of Pedelec contributors who wrote:

"You could also consider going to SLA batteries, obviously you would need to fit them as and where you can maybe in panniers there would also be a weight penalty but the cost would be so much lower including the charger. John" AND -

"Yes, if you're only pottering about, rather than riding serious distances, SLAs are viable. On my pottering about bike, I use two 12V 7Ah batteries. They weigh a total of 5kg, which I don't notice as a load on the rear rack. They cost £30 the pair including delivery, with the charger costing £34 from CPC/Farnells. I haven't done a run on throttle only to see how far a battery charge takes me, but I have done the regular run around the ring road (18 miles) using the motor to help with the difficult bits, and the battery wasn't flat at the end (24.7 volts measured with a multimeter)."

Another contributor in this county seems interested in buying it - so that could be another option.

If I might trouble you for another tip please - Is there a website giving a reasonably authoritative and objective review of the whole field of electric bikes, with supporting information?

Flecc, I thinkvery highly of your contribution in this field, and wish you well.
Most gratefully,
Alan.

 

[alanthebook]

Alan, I'd keep the bike and buy the battery and charger if you're sure you need them both. They last well and the bike is a real classic. If not, how much do you want for it? Best wishes, hoppy(Corsham, Wiltshire)

Hello Hoppy, Many thanks for your response. As you are not far away, would you care to come and inspect and try it out? Price ? I dunno. Something like £350 perhaps? Call me for a chat.
Alan

 

[flecc]

Thank you for your kind words Alan, greatly appreciated. No site is really yet a fully comprehensive guide since this is currently a fast changing field. However, the site I'm linking to below which has been produced by a keen young forum member is very useful:

Electric Bikes Buyers Guide | Produced by Electric Bikes Experts

and here's another one which overlaps to some extent:

Electric Bicycle Guide

If you don't have long range requirements I'd also support the use of pannier mounted moderate size SLA batteries such as 7 Ah ones. That wouldn't match the range of a new 6.5 Ah battery from Giant due to something called the Peukert effect which prevents lead-acid batteries giving up their full content in high drain applications.

Most owners and reviewers found the original range of the Lafree to be around 20 miles with the new 6.5 Ah battery, so with 7 Ah SLAs it would probably be around the 12 to 15 miles mark, depending on your pedalling input.

 

[alanthebook]

You could also consider going to SLA batteries, obviously you would need to fit them as and where you can maybe in panniers there would also be a weight penalty but the cost would be so much lower including the charger. John

Many thanks indeed for your response and suggestion, John. I will investigate in due course.
Very gratefully,
Alan.

 

[johnc461165]

Happy to help, hope you can sort out an economical solution to your situation, guess it depends on how far you travel. John

 

[tangent]

Hi, I have a 2004 model Giant Lafree. It has done over 20,000 miles and I have replaced the rear wheel, front wheel twice, chainwheel and countless tyres, inner tubes, chainsand rear sprockets. It is an excellent bike and you will be unlikely to find a worthy replacement for under £1000, so keep it going if you can.

I no longer use NiMH batteries. Instead I use an external Li-Ion NiCoMn battery from BMS Battery. It is 24V 10Ah, consisting of soft pouch cells. To protect it I keep it in a padded camera case and carry it in a panier. It is connected to the bike through a cable running to the underside of the battery compartment. I cut through the 2 power cables under here and soldered bullet connectors in place so that I could easily swap between the standard battery an the external one. In reality though I never use the internal battery now. The BMS Battery cost me about £100 including delivery, but I think this would cost about £120 now.

Another possibility is to use 5Ah NIMH RC packs connected in series. I used 2 12V 5Ah packs from Component Shop (Large Packs) for a while. These were fine, giving me a range of about 10 miles, but the performance of the BMS Battery is better as it provides a slightly higher voltage. One advantage of these NIMH packs is that you could put them inside the existing case. There is plenty of room for these, but you would need to pad them to stop them bouncing around. Personally I would not bother with SLAs.

A couple of years ago Component Shop made me up a 9Ah NIMH pack from D cells in the exact configuration to fit inside the standard case. This cost about £130. This was ok, but I do not think that the NIMH cells available now are of the same quality as the ones available in 2004, so I would not go down this route again. I much prefer the external solution I have with the lighter Lithium battery.