Reasonably priced retro commuting bike wanted - must be able to cope with hills

[Sam Brown]

Hi there,

I cycle around 7 miles per day into Bristol city centre. The route has some hills! After doing this for 7 years I've developed a knee injury that won't go away. It's time for me to get an electric bike.

Can anyone recommend a good make and model? I would like a step thru as I often wear smart clothes for work on the bike. I love the old retro styled upright bikes. I would ideally like one around the £1k or less mark as I'll be using the cycle scheme salary sacrifice to pay for it. Could go over a little bit though. Will be using panniers etc loaded with stuff. I'm quite fit so happy to put some work in although the object is to sort my knee out so I can carry on cycling and doing other exercise too.

It's really important to me that the bike lasts well. I phoned 4 different shops across the country about Momentum's model T and 3 out of 4 said they'd experienced electrical problems with the bikes.

I like the look of Sparta's Original Electric Bike and also the D Cycle Discovery range. I tried a Gazelle Impulse C7+ this was great but a bit pricey.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance for your expert help.

Sam

 

[trex]

woosh Big Bear LS.
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?bigbear-ls
if you are not in a hurry, woosh will have a lighter step through bike in September, the Karoo LS with 8-Fun SWX02 rear hub motor and 13AH battery.

 

[Sam Brown]

Thanks for the recommendation. If possible, I'm looking for something slightly more retro styled. I also like the look of the Bellini models but can't seem to find a supplier in the UK that does the cycle scheme...

 

[trex]

when you say 'a knee injury' and 'must be able to cope with hills' - you would be better off with a powerful motor and a throttle to rest your legs when you need to.
The Big Bear LS and the Karoo LS have much more powerful motors and batteries than the Bellini Classica.

 

[Sam Brown]

Do you know what the torque and battery capacity are of that big bear one? I can't see it on the spec. The D cycle downtown cargo also looks quite good on the torque front (75 nm).

I looked at some reviews of the big bear and it looks like it's suitable for older, heavier people with arthritic knees. I'm very slight, the knee problem is caused by too much running and cycling, not arthritis. I don't mind my legs doing some work just not as much as I'm doing on my sit up and beg normal bike!

 

[Kudoscycles]

It may be of interest that we have a Kudos Liberty ex demo bike on auction on e-bay at the moment. The Liberty is a Dutch styled bike,very strongly built. It has some minor marks,probably has done no more than 100 miles on show demos.
How tall are you?
KudosDave

 

[trex]

Do you know what the torque and battery capacity are of that big bear one? I can't see it on the spec. The D cycle downtown cargo also looks quite good on the torque front (75 nm).

I looked at some reviews of the big bear and it looks like it's suitable for older, heavier people with arthritic knees. I'm very slight, the knee problem is caused by too much running and cycling, not arthritis. I don't mind my legs doing some work just not as much as I'm doing on my sit up and beg normal bike!

most of the D Cycle models have sold out. When they come back, their price range is above your set limit of £1000 C2W scheme.
Most of D Cycles have 120mm hub motor. The Big Bear has much more powerful 180mm hub motor.
The BPM motor can deliver 55-65NM of torque at the wheel when hill climbing. http://www.ebikes.ca/tools/simulator.html
The new SWX02 from Suzhou Bafang on the Karoo LS is a later model, esentially a BPM squeezed into 130mm form factor. If you are not heavy, the Karoo LS would be better.

 

[Sam Brown]

Thanks for your replies. I'm 5 ft 10inches tall, so quite tall. Will check out the ebay listing.

Trex I don't suppose you have a photo of the Karoo LS do you? Can't find one anyone and am thinking that's because it's not come out yet!

 

[trex]

it's a bigger version of the Petite. The Karoo has bigger motor, 26" wheels and 18" frame, the Petite has 24" wheels and 16" frame.

This is the Woosh Petite:

 

[Kudoscycles]

Sam....claims of torque,range,hill climbing ability have to be taken with a degree of sceptimism....I once was opposite a Dutch stand who made a claim that their identical spec bike had twice the range of my bike.
When I offered to put it to the test,prize buying the beers they declined the challenge,in fact they got quite nasty!
There is no definitive standard to these things so manufacturers can pretty much claim what they like....put Froome on an e-bike,tell him to use as little power as possible and 100 miles is probable range.
The only definitive test is trying the bike yourself,if it feels good and does what you want at your budget,that's your bike....I can get 30 miles out of my Secret but get lazy,use the throttle all the time and it goes down to 15 miles.
One of the problems is customers fall in love with their bike and have no benchmark to compare,so their bike is the best,despite recent changes making considerable advances in e-bike performance.
The Bafang SWX type hub motor did its job ok,then along came the Bosch crank motor,it was a leap forward in performance so everyone said that crank was better than hub,then the Bafang BPM hub motor and the Panasonic hub motor appeared and now hub looks better than crank. One of my dealers recently rode a Yamaha crank unit and said it was very powerful and Bosch are upgrading their motor so I suspect that crank will find favour again....the point I am making is find the bike that does what you want and that is the best bike,despite what claims manufacturers make,you can be over educated at this game!!!
The Kudos Sonata is pretty much the best that can be built from the best Chinese parts,but at £1395.90 it is over your budget.
KudosDave

 

[SteveRuss]

Have you checked out 50Cycles in Bristol (sadly out of your current budget but a good place to see a bit of what is generally available) as well as Atmosphere bikes in Hotwells? All very close to the city centre and a good source of inspiration..