Oxygen ebike, crossbar/step-thro, advice please!

[sunshineybrighton]

Hi - I'm new here, and have been wrestling with what to do, and figured can't do any harm by asking advice on the forum.
In Nov 2010 I bought an Oxygen emate, which I love. I live in a hilly area, and my CHF meant I could barely cycle on the flat on a normal bike. The emate is perfect as it will do all the work when I'm tired and the hills feel like mountains to me.
However, at the time, there wasn't a step-thro option available, so I have the cross bar, and now find that I'm not really strong enough to fling my leg over that to actually go cycling.
So, as the bike has only been used for less than 10 miles in total (I know!) (the tyres still have the little sticky-out bits of extra rubber on them), and is in as new condition, and I know I could manage a step-thro, I don't know whether to take a financial hit, sell the barely used crossbar emate, and buy a new step-thro emate, or whether it would be possible to find someone with the opposite problem, and do a swap of some kind.
I've really looked after the bike and the battery, so I'm more than happy to keep my battery, if that makes any difference.
So - any thoughts would be very welcome! Solutions even more gratefully received .
Thanks for reading.

 

[trex]

there may be another solution. How about asking a member or a bike shop if they could move the electrics from your emate to a donor bike?
It may cost you £200 to buy a used step through + £120 labour to move the electrics.

 

[sunshineybrighton]

Thanks! 50Cycles (from whom I originally bought the bike) have just opened up a new shop here (Shoreham). I'll go talk to them next week!
That's got to be a saving compared to selling and buying again.

Also open to any other member offers/solutions.

 

[RobF]

Is it the crossbar you can't get your leg over (ooo, er) or the saddle?

If it's the latter, a dropper seatpost might be a solution.

Mountain bikers use them to get the saddle out of the way when they are bouncing over tree roots and boulders.

You could try putting the saddle right down on your bike just to see if you can get on it any easier.

This site has a few pics of mostly dearer droppers, but there are several makers so there's no need to pay hundreds.

http://www.dropperseatpost.com/

 

[sunshineybrighton]

Thanks - great idea. But alas, it's the entire swing and lift action if I'm in the least bit tired. So step-thro is the lady-like way to go!