Lost on where to start

[Electrickicks]

Hi.

I’m interested in getting an e-bike to cut the short-distance trips I take in the car and maybe to do the odd recreational ride with the family. I cannot tell where to start as there are so many on the market and I’m well outside the cycling world!

Ideal for me is low maintenance but I know little about bikes, I think I’m looking for:

• Comfy and easy to ride
• Battery not in frame (easy to replace)
• Will cope with the significant hills around where I live, slowing is ok - stopping not! Maybe not a hub motor then?
• Won’t break (!) - is a belt better than a chain here?
• Good value - I want to use a cycle to work scheme but even £1000 feels a lot for a bike (I know….

I’m not the lightest, don’t have a current bike and live in a more rural area. Frankly I have idealised dreams of European style commuting to the shops etc rather than Lycra-clad recreational cycling.

Any bike suggestions really appreciated, thanks.

 

[sjpt]

Hub motor should be fine unless the hills are very bad. Where are you? People's ideas of 'significant' hills vary a lot.
Something like https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?santana3 or https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?camino worth a look.

 

[Electrickicks]

Hub motor should be fine unless the hills are very bad. Where are you? People's ideas of 'significant' hills vary a lot.
Something like https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?santana3 or https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?camino worth a look.

Thanks. I’m in North Wales, the hills I have in mind are 10-15% over up to 2km.

 

[egroover]

Agreed, check out Woosh, pretty sure they deal with cycle2work schemes and they have some powerful hub motored bikes to get you up those Welsh hills. The Camino or Grand Camino with a 17ah battery looks favourite depending on your weight/height

 

[Electrickicks]

Agreed, check out Woosh, pretty sure they deal with cycle2work schemes and they have some powerful hub motored bikes to get you up those Welsh hills. The Camino or Grand Camino with a 17ah battery looks favourite depending on your weight/height

Thanks very much - it doesn’t look like Woosh are on my bike scheme but I’ll check with them.

is that (Woosh Camino) really twice as good as, say the Raleigh Array At half the price? I find it really tough to see which elements of any bike are ‘worth the difference’ so help appreciated! Thanks.

 

[sjpt]

Raleigh Array seems to be £999. so cheaper than the Camino but not half the price. Smaller battery (400wh for Array rather than 540 for the £1329 Camino). Camino has hydraulic brakes; could be helpful on those hills.

The Suntour system the Array uses has traditionally been unreliable (search back threads here). There has been hope the more recent versions are better, but I think that remains unproven. Also it is proprietary, so if anything does go wrong you may find replacement parts expensive or even unobtainable.

 

[AndyBike]

I started off with the basic idea of what I wanted one, what i was intending to use it for and how much I could afford to spend on the outside. then using bookmarks gathered together every bike manufacturers sites and slowly went through each one.
I looked at what spec each had etc
Trek, specialized,Haibike,Scott,Cannondale,Giant,Cube,Canyon,Focus,Marin,Orbea,Kona,Commencal,Whyte,Nukeproof and some i forget.

It took me some months to compare spec wise. Which had the best parts for the outlay i was intending to spend.

Thing you need to remember is nothing Ebike is cheap. Its like a license to print money and there is far too many new companies which have formed in the last couple of years touting their offering as 'best ever' and implying they know more about the bike so are the best company to choose. Chances are none of them know much about bikes other than it has 2 wheels and is not a car.
But again cheap isnt your friend. And those that are forr the most part are going to set you up with a host of problems down the line, which will probably put you off riding and the money you have spent becomes wasted.

 

[Zlatan]

In your region I, d go crank drive. They have a much wider efficient speed range.
IMHO age old adage applies. You get what you pay for. You simply can't compare climbing ability. All top brands MTB use crank drive for a reason.
Some elements of this forum are obsessed with hub drives and I don't think generally you will glean a realistic, objective answer.
To do so, pop out to some local bike route and just look what is being used. Have a word with riders tackling the routes you envisage using.
I, m in Peak District and now see dozens of pedelecs/emtbs. Some legal, a few not but nearly all crank drive.
If you haven't tried a decent (legal) crank drive yet you, ll be staggered how they climb. Have a 20% cycle path climb on my normal route. In none electric days I, d go up it at 3 or 4 mph. Speed varies now between 11 and 15 mph. (dependant on how I, m feeling)
I, d recommend anything with Yamaha motor.

 

[Electrickicks]

Thanks. Yes, twice was an exaggeration but it’s still a third more and the following comment about crank drives is a good example of how complicated the landscape is.

There’s no bike shop near me that will lend out an e-bike anywhere near that price range and so it’s hard to know which type will make the hills feel like cycling on the flat!

 

[Ocsid]

Unless others know something, I don't, a £1000 budget is not going to buy a new premium brand crank drive e-bike with a belt drive, both IMO highly desirable features but very expensive ones.
The belt drive is in my experience highly reliable and requires in the on road use, all but zero maintenance. It dictates that the bike can't feature derailleur gearing, so for any gearing requires a hub gear. That also aids minimising maintenance, but also adds into the higher pricing asked for belts drive bikes.
I think your original specification for your stated need and the area you live in is well placed, just your associated budget is a long way out for purchasing retail, new kit meeting it.

 

[Zlatan]

Thanks. Yes, twice was an exaggeration but it’s still a third more and the following comment about crank drives is a good example of how complicated the landscape is.

There’s no bike shop near me that will lend out an e-bike anywhere near that price range and so it’s hard to know which type will make the hills feel like cycling on the flat!

Well, I can guarantee a Haibike Hard 7 will. That was exactly comment a mate made after borrowing mine. (long story but I ended up with 2 crank drive emtbs)
Lent one to a friend last week who is in same situation as yourself. (ie thinking of buying one) We did what should be a long hard gruelling climb. (about 2 miles or so, long winding fire track going to top of a local peak). At top, we turned around and played at been down hill racers... At bottom friend said"I can't believe the pedal up was so easy to come down like we did".
Mate is 72, has had 3 stent ops (one around 4 months ago) is a little overweight, struggles with his knees and by his own admission not that fit, and hadn't been on a bike in 10 years. We were out a little over 3 hours and did 38km with 1500ft of climbing. He was fine, phoned following day to say his legs were a little stiff but not that bad and was surprised his knees were fine.
And he had around 25% battery left. (he is lighter than me so does get better range)
He was on a 5 year old Haibike Hard 7 (circa 6000 miles) and I was on Giant Fathom E2.. Around a year old with 1000 miles or so on it. Honestly they are incredible at climbing.

 

[soundwave]

Bafang 48V 750W BBS02B E-bike Mid Motor 68-73 mm Electric Bicycle Conversion | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Bafang 48V 750W BBS02B E-bike Mid Motor 68-73 mm Electric Bicycle Conversion at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

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at full power that will match or beat most big brand mid drive bikes even with a dongle to remove the speed limit.

if you get the HD motor it will go even faster but cost more and nuke the batt esp if you use a throttle.

flat out from a 20ah batt you will get less than 20 miles but can hit 40+mph

 

[Zlatan]

Or buy a Fireblade, fit some pedals and away you go.
Or even an old TT zero.. They must be available cheap now. 38 mile range. 0 to 60 2.5 secs. Top speed??? 150 ish??
Surprised SW hasn't got one for canal banking.

 

[soundwave]

210bhp 360v 150kw 2 of those on the back of a mobility scooter should be fun

 

[Zlatan]

View attachment 50453
210bhp 360v 150kw 2 of those on the back of a mobility scooter should be fun

My mate is just in process of attempting to raise Tuk Tuk speed record.
He has ripped out the original motor, replaced that with a CBR1000F motor, ripped out back axle and replaced that with a Trike conversion back end. (It still looks like a Tuk Tuk)
He will be at Elvington with Guinness reps some time this year. He must have a passenger tho. I refused.
It's geared to do around 140 mph.. Think he needs to break 100 for record.???

Reckon battery would have been a tad too expensive to go BLDC way. None at scrap yards.

 

[Ocsid]

at full power that will match or beat most big brand mid drive bikes even with a dongle to remove the speed limit.

Not really a surprise, nor a valid criticism of the big brands, just a reflection that they for sound business reasons, make products for their markets?

Not making for other markets, but for European & US outlets, where for legal public road usage etc, regulations put restrictions on the end products their kit is used in.

 

[soundwave]

put a massive turbo on it off a lorry and run it on race fuel prob wont be much left after 2 runs tho

119.584 km/h

Watch the world's fastest tuk-tuk reach its record-breaking 119 km/h. A Thai tuk-tuk has sped its way into the record books after achieving a record-breaking speed of 119.584 km/h (74.306 mph).29 May 2019

1250bhp

 

[sjpt]

Sometimes threads on this forum go quite a long way off-topic.

 

[soundwave]

Not really a surprise, nor a valid criticism of the big brands, just a reflection that they for sound business reasons, make products for their markets?

Not making for other markets, but for European & US outlets, where for legal public road usage etc, regulations put restrictions on the end products their kit is used in.

the problem with the big brands are that there motors are not serviceable and can bus locked batts that are a rip off.

bafang motor parts are easy to get and any batt will work it just wont look as good m8 uses one to get to work on in any weather for the last 2 years and not even snapped a chain.

 

[Zlatan]

put a massive turbo on it off a lorry and run it on race fuel prob wont be much left after 2 runs tho

119.584 km/h

Watch the world's fastest tuk-tuk reach its record-breaking 119 km/h. A Thai tuk-tuk has sped its way into the record books after achieving a record-breaking speed of 119.584 km/h (74.306 mph).29 May 2019

View attachment 50456
1250bhp

If we, ve done sums properly he will beat that by quite a margin. He is aiming for 100mph..
Its basically back end of a 7 type bike engined car and tuk Tuk steering handle bars.. It will do 100 mph (160 kmh) easy.. 4th gear???

 

[soundwave]

can you get it on a dyno then they can tune the motor but that record seems slow to me lol