Shortlist

[denwyn]

I have tried the following e bikes out recently

Gepida Berig 1000....Nice but to expensive at almost £2000
Freego Hawk..... comfortable but a little but dull
Batribike Granite LCD...as the Hawk
Batribike Granite Pro... This i did like but her indoors has bought The Diamond Pro xl, and there is no way either of us are going out on matching bikes.. ;- )
Lifestyle City...looked ok, but very little info available

I have looked at Woosh on line and did almost buy the Sirocco CD, but looking at the negative comments on the crank drive and gear change it has put me off the cheaper crank drive bikes, ok some say its possible to work around this by technique, i'm not convinced i want to do that, if i had the money i would by a new Kalkhoff crank drive, which does not seem to suffer from problems, but my budget is at the most £1500, so thats not on. Looked at lots of others, inc Kudos, there mountain bikes, Tornado, Arriba etc look nice, but at 66 years of age i dont want a mountain style bike.

Only one proper e bike shop here and they don't really have anything else in my price range i would be interested in, so after much looking on line etc i have sort of narrowed it down to the following three possibles, in no particular order.

Oxygen E Mate City

E2ee Forza Mk 2

Woosh Big Bear ( although i'm not 100% on this )

Only thing is i would have to buy these online, no dealers for these near me.Anyone had any experience with the e Mate City or Forza Mk 2, there is a lot written about the Big Bear, its the bike size and weight putting me off a bit., I;m 5' 9", approx 16 stone and feeling my age in fitness ( so about 60% fit ) i want the bike for a daily trip to work of about 12 miles a day, and leisure rides of say 20 miles at first, up to about 35 when a bit fitter, area i live is fairly flat.

Thanks

 

[flecc]

As a long time eZee bike owner I'm a fan of the Forza and it's quality, but those in the know also praise the Oxygen for it's qualities.

So down to your personal preferences on those two, plus the situation regarding support. As a very long term member of this forum both outside and inside the trade, CycleZee will always do his utmost to give good support, especially to pedelecs members. I don't know the Oxygen position in that respect.
.

 

[RobF]

I liked the Emate CIty and all but bought one, except the dealer could never get any stock - he dropped them for that reason.

Oxygen have recently been taken over, so that may have improved.

 

[Cyclezee]

As a long time eZee bike owner I'm a fan of the Forza and it's quality, but those in the know also praise the Oxygen for it's qualities.

So down to your personal preferences on those two, plus the situation regarding support. As a very long term member of this forum both outside and inside the trade, CycleZee will always do his utmost to give good support, especially to pedelecs members. I don't know the Oxygen position in that respect.
.

We try to support all eZee owners far and wide regardless of where they bought their bike.
One that springs to mind is a young 93 year old with a vintage Mk1 Torq from 2007

 

[RobF]

I've never dealt with Cyclezee, but there's enough stuff on here to make me fairly sure an eZee owner would be properly looked after.

 

[denwyn]

We try to support all eZee owners far and wide regardless of where they bought their bike.
One that springs to mind is a young 93 year old with a vintage Mk1 Torq from 2007

Do you have any stockists of the Forza Mk 2 near Taunton..

 

[denwyn]

I liked the Emate CIty and all but bought one, except the dealer could never get any stock - he dropped them for that reason.

Oxygen have recently been taken over, so that may have improved.

Not heard that, who own them now then....

 

[RobF]

Not heard that, who own them now then....

Press release on their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/OxygenBicycles

Seascooter make battery operated, er, sea scooters, so there is some synergy:

http://www.seascooteruk.com/

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Seascooter and the South Yorkshire Electric Bike Centre are in the same building and owned by the same guy. They've been selling electric bikes for a fair while, so there's a bit more than synergy. I went to China with Andrew, the previous owner of Oxygen, so I know quite a bit about what's going on there. There were problems of supply, but they've been resolved now. The latest Emates have had a lot of quality improvements (not that they were bad before). I think that you'll find that with the new owners plus the improvements, this brand will make a bigger presence.

 

[RobF]

I think that you'll find that with the new owners plus the improvements, this brand will make a bigger presence.

It's all jam tomorrow with Oxygen - I had some of that during my aborted attempt to give them some money.

Speaking of which, the takeover was done in March, yet you still can't buy a bike from their website.

Half a dozen dealers are listed, one of which is the one I dealt with who hasn't had an Oxygen bike for a year or more.

Didn't they have some clever new bike at the show in Bristol?

No sign of that, either.

The bikes might be quite good, but the rest of the company is a shambles.

 

[Cyclezee]

Do you have any stockists of the Forza Mk 2 near Taunton..

Hi Denwyn,

We only sell direct to customers and don't have dealers.

 

[denwyn]

It's all jam tomorrow with Oxygen - I had some of that during my aborted attempt to give them some money.

Speaking of which, the takeover was done in March, yet you still can't buy a bike from their website

Half a dozen dealers are listed, one of which is the one I dealt with who hasn't had an Oxygen bike for a year or more.

Didn't they have some clever new bike at the show in Bristol?

No sign of that, either.

The bikes might be quite good, but the rest of the company is a shambles

I read about the Bristol bike, and find it odd they have not put it out for sale, there is a dealer in Bristol, and I had been trying to get up there to view one, amazingly he has one in stock, troubke was he doesnt do deliveries at all should I buy it, and Bristol is not my most favourite place to drive in. Given whats going on at Oxygen now I think ill cross the E Mate City of my shortlist, iwoud be concerned about backup etc. So its down to the Big Bear or Forza.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It's all jam tomorrow with Oxygen - I had some of that during my aborted attempt to give them some money.

Speaking of which, the takeover was done in March, yet you still can't buy a bike from their website.

Half a dozen dealers are listed, one of which is the one I dealt with who hasn't had an Oxygen bike for a year or more.

Didn't they have some clever new bike at the show in Bristol?

No sign of that, either.

The bikes might be quite good, but the rest of the company is a shambles.

The new MTB that were shown at Bristol arrive tomorrow. I heard that nearly half of them are sold already. It's been a good year for ebike sales this year. Many of the good ones sold out.

The factory that makes the E-mates has increased their production of them, so there's been no supply problems this season. I heard that the guys in the warehouse at SYEBC have been very busy. You don't always get the truth from dealers. Maybe they get fed up because of historical problems. Many of them don't like to invest in stock.

Since I've travelled to China twice with Andrew to the Shanghai bike show, I've had a chance to see how the ebike industry works. I've visited some factories and seen what it's like to deal with quality and supply problems. I've been in manufacturing most of my working life, and I can say that dealing with the Chinese is not as easy as dealing with Europeans. Agreements are often not fulfilled. Andrew was on his own, trying to sort out everything himself. Now that STEBC have taken over, there's a whole team of people to sort things out.

So, in summary, I'd say that it's not jam tomorrow. It's jam today. Get it while you can.

I'm not an employee of Oxygen, but I've had a large window to observe they're business. I try not to give away any commercially sensitive information. Obviously I know a lot more than I say. I also have associations with other Brands, but I don't take payments from any of them.

 

[trex]

The new lovely Oxygen costs about £1500.
denwyn's budget won't stretch that far, d8veh.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

AFAIK there are several Oxygen models. The Diva is a stepthrough £1399 or less. The E-mate £1499 or less. Two versions of the new MTB prices to be announced in the next couple of days, although somebody must know because some are already sold.

 

[denwyn]

The new MTB that were shown at Bristol arrive tomorrow. I heard that nearly half of them are sold already. It's been a good year for ebike sales this year. Many of the good ones sold out.

The factory that makes the E-mates has increased their production of them, so there's been no supply problems this season. I heard that the guys in the warehouse at SYEBC have been very busy. You don't always get the truth from dealers. Maybe they get fed up because of historical problems. Many of them don't like to invest in stock.

Since I've travelled to China twice with Andrew to the Shanghai bike show, I've had a chance to see how the ebike industry works. I've visited some factories and seen what it's like to deal with quality and supply problems. I've been in manufacturing most of my working life, and I can say that dealing with the Chinese is not as easy as dealing with Europeans. Agreements are often not fulfilled. Andrew was on his own, trying to sort out everything himself. Now that STEBC have taken over, there's a whole team of people to sort things out.

So, in summary, I'd say that it's not jam tomorrow. It's jam today. Get it while you can.

I'm not an employee of Oxygen, but I've had a large window to observe they're business. I try not to give away any commercially sensitive information. Obviously I know a lot more than I say. I also have associations with other Brands, but I don't take payments from any of them.

The new lovely Oxygen costs about £1500.
denwyn's budget won't stretch that far, d8veh.

The new lovely Oxygen costs about £1500.
denwyn's budget won't stretch that far, d8veh.

Budget a max of £1500 if needed ...which lovely new Oxygen, I can only see a emate city and diva on there web page.

 

[denwyn]

Hmmmmm..... Oxygen buy on line not working, phone to buy or buy from dealer. Dislike giving all my card details over the phone, and nearest dealer is collect from shop, wont deliver. ....Do they want buisness......afraid they have lost mine.

 

[trex]

this lovely oxygen MTB:

BPM motor, nice suspension fork, hydraulic brakes, I think 12AH battery. It won the race in Bristol last month.
http://pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/bristol-show.18100/page-3

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Maybe he means this one. It's not a BPM motor, it's the Bafang CST:

 

[trex]

sorry, I meant Bafang CST. Do you know the motor winding code? the Woosh Big Bears are code 13, they top out at about 20mph. I noticed the oxygen has thumb throttle instead of twist throttle. It looks a bit far from the thumb though.