Looking for my first electric bike

Hi all, I know this question has been asked many times but I've spent so much time looking I'm just going round in circles, I'm early fifties and have had heart surgery so will never be very fit, but I'm not ready fto give up on life just yet, I've got a mountain bike that I can ride for about 20 mins at 15 mph ish before it starts to get hard going, so I'm looking for an ebike just for riding trails locally and getting out and about on, ideally I'd like to buy it through the cycle to work scheme, three that stand out are kudos arriba, woosh karoo, and oxygen emate MTB, I was just wondering what others thought about my choices, I had thought about converting the bike I've got, but if you buy good quality components the savings aren't that great, I'd be extremely grateful for any advice, thanks in advance

for off road stuff you will want a crank drive as hubs are for more on the road stuff.

 

you will keep braking the spokes off road with a hub motor bike.

 

have a look at bafang mid drive motors to diy 1 ur self

Welcome!

 

On conversions: "savings aren't that great", savings on/over what?

 

I have posted here before "is it a toy or is it a tool?" If the bike is to be a means of transport (tool) then your budget needs to be stretched to the limit because you want the best quality. I have a free bike that I bolted 1000 € of bits onto because it has to take me to the shops without breaking down and being confortable when I am out on a 70+ km ride.

 

If you are at the £1000 UK limit yes there are good bikes for that price and your conversion will probably cost as much. For me the choice was simple: buy bits over a period of time and end up with a useful means of transport with many parts being brand new or plunk down the same sum in one go (I can't get credit) for a second hand factory bike with composants they chose, not me.

 

My second bike which I am building at a more leisurely pace because I already have a means of transport will be a 1300€ bike with many bits of quality not found on store bought bikes of the same price. In my spreadsheet there is a "dream bike" which at 2000€ has some exotic stuff you will never find on a factory bike.

 

Remember you always get what you pay for...

for off road stuff you will want a crank drive as hubs are for more on the road stuff.

 

you will keep braking the spokes off road with a hub motor bike.

 

 

 

Funny that. Like many on here, I've always found hub drives brilliant fun to ride off road, and have yet to break a spoke.

 

http://s3.postimg.org/6u5hf316r/DSCF0785.jpg

 

http://s3.postimg.org/b71rw69qb/cassette.jpg

 

 

Gooner, don't believe everything that you read on here.

 

 

 

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Edited April 18, 201610 yr by EddiePJ

you will with the cheap ones from china what i meant ,give it time we shall see

Hi all, I know this question has been asked many times but I've spent so much time looking I'm just going round in circles, I'm early fifties and have had heart surgery so will never be very fit, but I'm not ready fto give up on life just yet, I've got a mountain bike that I can ride for about 20 mins at 15 mph ish before it starts to get hard going, so I'm looking for an ebike just for riding trails locally and getting out and about on, ideally I'd like to buy it through the cycle to work scheme, three that stand out are kudos arriba, woosh karoo, and oxygen emate MTB, I was just wondering what others thought about my choices, I had thought about converting the bike I've got, but if you buy good quality components the savings aren't that great, I'd be extremely grateful for any advice, thanks in advance

here's my 2p worth: are you sure you need an ebike? im late forties and not very fit. an ebike (very powerful BPM hub drive) does a 10 mile commute I do occasionally in about 40-45 minutes. A rohloff equipped touring bike does it in 60 minutes with similar effort. if you spend your £1000 on a high quality ordinary bike with say a rohloff (ok a bit more than £1k) you will travel marginally slower ("out and about" doesn't sound like a hurry?), have loads more fun, be much much fitter in a year - and with the 524% gear range you will never be out of your comfort zone pedalling. And you wont spend endless weekends working on crap Chinese components, or looking for cheap replacement batteries in 12 months time when yours inevitably begins to sag. After a few years owning an ebike I've come to the conclusion its a waste of time. I've properly returned to ordinary cycling

Jumping too hard might be an issue with a hub.

 

Although, so far so good here too.

 

 

I'm nearer 60 than 50. My ebike has got me fitter but I've only done 400 miles on it so far. I started on max. pedal assist, level 5. Now I'm riding it on level one pretty much all the time. Occasionally I click zero (off). That's hard work indeed.

Edited April 18, 201610 yr by LeighPing

Thanks for the replies, most people seem to be saying do a conversion, I'm thinking more for assistance than hard off road in, Defo no jumps,lol. I do need an ebike, to answer a reply, I've lost 20% of heart function but was very fit before hand so still able to break out into a sweat ,but lack stamina and it isn't coming back, would like to go for a 30 min ride without worrying about getting home

Hmmm! A lot of strange things being said here. In my experience, everything has advantages and disadvantages. There's no winning formular. I must admit that I don't support the idea that you have to spend a lot of money to get a decent bike or kit.

 

Converting a bike is quite satisfying. It's a good solution if you have a suitable donor bike that you're happy with and you have the necessary DIY skills. It also gets you the chance to have exactly the motor characteristics that you want.

 

There's so many ready-made ebikes out there that it's imposible to choose. I've never found one that I'd be unhappy to own if it were the only one you could buy. It's a falacy that the cheap ones don't last, though they're often not as robust against heavy rain and winter salt as the more expensive ones.

 

Unless you have special requirements or lay down some criteria, it's impossible to advise you.

just depends how much you want to spend imo and do you want warranty.

I'd go for the Oxygen out of that list if your looking at doing trails. I was close to getting the Karoo but it's more of a road bike than use of road IMHO.

 

 

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I know it's difficult to say what someone else should buy, but just wondered if the choices I mentioned were any good, they seem to vary so much, from a 250w bike with gentle assistance to 48v 1000th beast

you can get a 5000w hub motor or a 1000w mid drive if power is what you want, will cost a bit tho.

Read your post on the karoo, that's how it's on my list of maybes

As you said you lack stamina, I would say go for cadence sense rather than torque sense. That way, if you get knackered, you can get home by merely rotating the pedals, putting in zero effort. A torque sense won't do this for you as it gives assist power proportional to the amount of effort you put in.

Yeh, had a look at mid drive motors and they are pricy, maybe need less watts with a mid drive?

http://www.hi-powercycles.com/electric-bike-conversion-kits/

The point about torque senser isn't something I'd thought about, would something with a separate throttle be what I need

Seems the more I know the less I'm able to decide what to do lol

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-8fun-Bafang-Mid-Drive-48V-750W-Electric-Bike-Motor-Conversion-Kit-BBS02-/161799678690?hash=item25ac032ae2:g:g2QAAOSwPcVV1Ppa

 

how fast do you want it to go and for how far?

Edited April 18, 201610 yr by soundwave

The point about torque senser isn't something I'd thought about, would something with a separate throttle be what I need

If you build you can have throttle and pedal sensor.

 

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Gooner, it seems to me that you need a bike with enough power to take you home without your leg input. Depending on your weight and how hilly where you ride, you may be OK with a regular e-bike like the Halfords Carrera Crossfire-E or the Woosh Karoo if the hills are less than 7%. On hillier terrains, I would recommend that you look for a bike with 18A controller or a crank drive like the Woosh Krieger or the Woosh Bali.

 

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?krieger

Thanks for the input, it's pretty flat around where I live, and I'm about 80kgs

.both of the bikes you mention are something I'd looked at

Hi Gooner,

 

I just purchased my first ebike on Saturday, I chose the Wisper 905 Torque and I absolutely love it. I was concerned when I first chose the bike because I was told that with a torque bike, you have to work harder than with a cadence bike but on a test ride I fell in love with the torque. I am 43 years old, 2 stone overweight and really unfit however, I collected my bike and cycled the 5.9 miles home and I didn't even break in to a sweat and at the end of ride I actually didn't feel like I'd done much exercise at all. Even the next day nothing ached so don't please don't be put off having a torque bike, my bike has a throttle too and I find that brilliant. To be fair, I can't vouch or any other bikes because I only tried 2 brands but if I can ride a torque bike and not feel any negative effects then anyone can.