newbie needing advice

[Redgunner]

Hi, First post here after a few weeks browsing, I am in my early seventies and would
like to try to keep fit by getting out on a bike again, but whichever way I go I have hills,
nothing too bad but it leaves me out of breath before I have even started a ride, so an
ebike seems a good option, my question is, what do the regulars on here think of Raleigh
ebikes and in particular the Captus and the Motus, I have looked but don't seem to find much
about them on this forum, so how do they compare to other brands which are always being
talked about here, the main reason for my interest in Raleigh is because I have a dealer who
stocks them about a half a mile from me, whereas any other brand would be a trip of 12 miles
or so, thanks for any help and hope it makes sense.

 

[RobF]

The Motus and Captus are both good quality ebikes using the Bosch crank drive system which is more reliable than most.

Both are slightly biased towards road use, but would be fine on well-made cycle paths.

I would pick the Motus because of its bigger capacity battery.

While 20/30miles may seem like a long ride to you now, after you get up and running with the bike you may want to go further.

Buying local is a good move.

You could look at other Bosch bikes for about £2K, but they won't be significantly better - or worse - than the Raleigh.

 

[Angelnorth]

Hello, welcome!

I had a test ride on a Captus (step through frame) and although I didn't end up buying it, it seemed a decent enough bike.

If you're lucky enough to have a dealer that close with something you might be interested in, pop in and get a test ride! You'll soon figure out whether it feels right and the attitude of the shop will tell you a lot about the support you might get down the line for servicing etc, too.

If the 12 mile trip isn't too tricky (either you have a car or it's accessible by public transport) I'd vote for a trip there as well by way of comparison - the more you can try out, the more you'll feel like you've made an informed choice. Again, getting a feel for the shop and the knowledge of the staff is no bad thing.

Of course, I may be massively influenced by the fact that there isn't even a "regular" bike shop that close to me so 12 miles sounds wonderful (I had to travel over 100 miles for a shop to try out the bike I eventually bought)!

 

[Redgunner]

Many thanks for both your replies and your welcomes, I thought 12 miles
was a long way if something goes wrong with the bike, but 100, wow, yes I am going to try a Raleigh soon, if I get on ok I will have to choose between
the two, or maybe get in the car and try other brands such as the Wisper
amongst others, decisions decisions, thanks again.

 

[Deleted member 18370]

Some good deals on Ebay right now, as well. I know little about Ebikes but, as with all things, don't buy Chinese and read the reviews first.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Sorry, but I have to disagree re your comment "don't buy Chinese". We moved production to Germany three years ago and within 12 months had moved back to China. It's not the Chinese factories that are bad it's bad buyers. People often go to China to buy cheap, and guess what, they get cheap! We pay the same in China as we did in Germany and get a far better built product.

Companies such Apple, Cannon, Olympus, BMW, and Mercedes all buy complete product or components from China. Knocking "made in China" is really a bit out of date now.

You may be interested to know that the company that costructs our Wisper 575Wh battery makes over 300,000 batteries a week for Iphone, IPad and MacBook.

All the best, David

 

[Kudoscycles]

Some good deals on Ebay right now, as well. I know little about Ebikes but, as with all things, don't buy Chinese and read the reviews first.

Regret your comment about not buying Chinese is now almost impossible... Almost every bike has now Chinese parts,Shimano is 100% Chinese,most of the worlds frames now come from Tisnjin and the battery cells are almost all from Korea,assembled in China.
The Chinese are getting better at assembly quality control,we PDI every bike which leaves our warehouse,the last batch were assembled equally well to the German bikes we sell.
The auto side of our business buys from a company who makes over 70% of the worlds bearings,your VW,BMW and Merc had bearings from Hangzhou.
I think we had a Rsleigh e-bike on special offer worth giving Kudos a ring for size/price.
Good luck with your search.
KudosDave

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I was in a motorsports centre yesterday, when a couple of Recaro seats arrived to be fitted to a car. Keiper Recaro is a long established German company that represents the pinnacle of car seat design and manufacture. I was their UK Quality Manager back in the '90s, so I hung around to get agood look at those seats. Guess what! Chinese writing all over those boxes and labels.

 

[Kudoscycles]

I find it amusing that Liam Fox and Theresa May are championing that the UK is going to become the free trade country of the world.
We already suck into the UK far more products than most realise,in many cases we are final assembler rather than manufacturer.
There are so many anti dumping tariffs in place to protect EU including UK industry ,even with these protection tariffs our industries can often not survive ,if these tariffs are removed it will destroy what is left.
Examples are the bicycle industry,normal bikes have 68% tariffs from China to UK, remove these tariffs and bikes can come in from China for 50 dollars.
Alloy road wheels 27% tariff,remove this and what is left of the U.K. Wheel manufacturers will be finished
There are dozens of other examples...leather goods ,shoes etc.
What in this glorious free trade world are we going to sell the Chinese ...,Bentley cars,Scotch whisky.?
Not sure how the service industry will fare in selling insurance/finance to China but this is going to only centralise more the power of London in contrast to the poorer areas of the U.K.
For me personally it will be wonderful,as a major importer of Chinese product but for the UK it could be a disaster.
Don't believe the hype look at the bigger picture.
KudosDave

 

[Redgunner]

As a complete novice to the world of ebikes, all of the above makes interesting reading, I guess the Raleigh Captus and Motus are made in China too, I still haven't had a test ride yet but could someone explain the differences
between the Raleigh system and the one that is used on the Wisper 905 torque for instance, is one more reliable than the other, and is one lighter than the other?

 

[Angelnorth]

I think the key difference is that the Raleigh bikes have crank drive and the Wisper Torque bikes are hub-driven. I'm not an expert by any means but I'm not sure one is inherently more reliable than the other.

The weight distribution will be a bit different - a crank drive has the weight of the motor system pretty central (round the crank, in fact!). A hub drive could be in either the front or rear hub. In the Wisper bikes it's in the rear so the weight of both the motor and the battery is behind you.

The other major difference that comes in to play with ebikes is torque versus cadence sensor. It's not a difference that comes up in the bikes you've mentioned so far but if you do end up in a shop with a variety of brands it could be another choice in the mix. As I understand it, torque sensors multiply the effort you put in, according to how hard you're pushing down on the pedals. A cadence sensor works on rotation. I test rode both types and for me, the torque sensor felt like a more natural ride - I've seen somebody here describe it as being like having a 21 year old's legs

Everybody's needs and styles are different though which is why a few test rides will tell you a bunch more than the reviews will. Reading about a bike first is a great way to figure out what questions you might want to ask, though.

 

[Rosie]

Hi, First post here after a few weeks browsing, I am in my early seventies and would
like to try to keep fit by getting out on a bike again, but whichever way I go I have hills,
nothing too bad but it leaves me out of breath before I have even started a ride, so an
ebike seems a good option, my question is, what do the regulars on here think of Raleigh
ebikes and in particular the Captus and the Motus, I have looked but don't seem to find much
about them on this forum, so how do they compare to other brands which are always being
talked about here, the main reason for my interest in Raleigh is because I have a dealer who
stocks them about a half a mile from me, whereas any other brand would be a trip of 12 miles
or so, thanks for any help and hope it makes sense.

I've recently bought the Captus, having changed from a hub motor Giant. I too bought local, although not as local as you, and having just been for my 6week service find this a benefit. I love the Captus and how it rides just like a normal bike but with power and climbs hills effortlessly. Look at my review on the reviews section. I got the 26ins wheel version and was lucky enough to get the larger battery with it.

Let us know what you decide. Good luck

Rosie

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Apart from the motor position and the near silence of the Wisper, the frame is also important.

The Wisper frame has an oversized dwin tube which gives the bike more rigidity than most other step throughs. This gives the bike a feeling of great control especially when cornering. It does not add any significant weight maybe a few grams.

The Wisper frames are extremely well made and all guaranteed fur 10 years.

Thanks for your interest.

All the best, David