What are the Kudos bikes like?

shep

Pedelecer
May 3, 2011
84
34
I was just having a look at the Kudos website at Kudos Cycles :: e-bikes with style and i understand that they were shown at Presteign, i was not able to go, but i was wondering what people thought of the quality and the way they ride? the price looks good considering the specification. But what are they like in reality? any good up the big hills?. I am specifically interested in the Tourer.
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
They look pretty good for the money. I would imagine that they are about the same as Juicy or Sunlova bikes, as it looks like most of the bits come from the same source. My favourite is the King Carbon, or you can get similar from what was Sunlova (whatever they call themselves now) with aluminium frame for about £650.
26" New Electric Aluminium Mountain Bicycle bike-26M03S | eBay UK
 

eddieo

Banned
Jul 7, 2008
5,070
6
They look pretty good for the money. I would imagine that they are about the same as Juicy or Sunlova bikes, as it looks like most of the bits come from the same source. My favourite is the King Carbon, or you can get similar from what was Sunlova (whatever they call themselves now) with aluminium frame for about £650.
26" New Electric Aluminium Mountain Bicycle bike-26M03S | eBay UK
Blimey that looks good value...what would you think the weight was?
 

eddieo

Banned
Jul 7, 2008
5,070
6

Kudoscycles

Official Trade Member
Apr 15, 2011
5,566
5,048
www.kudoscycles.com
Hi Guys,would not normally be tempted in to defend my product but shep was interested in our TOURER but the Sunlova is a competitor to our SPORT model. Our SPORT has free delivery,integral lights,LifePo4 battery etc etc. The TOURER is a completely different bike with Shimano Deore gearing,21kg weight,integral Spanninga lights,700c wheels,pannier bags etc etc. I must admit that I too have been pulled into the marketing hype of 21 speed,24 speed or now 27 speed gearing but these multi-gear systems are relatively inexpensive to specify,what adds real cost and quality is the quality of the underlying systems,my personal favourite is the Shimano Deore 9 speed,but it cannot easily be afforded on minus £700 cycles.
These multi gear systems are really only relevant on mountain bikes where the intention is to use little or no power assist-with 400 watts power available (rider plus motor) the 8/9 speed gearing gives a generous range,with modest steps,even with the 3 speed Nexus the ability to grab 2nd gear is available excepting the steepest hills.
Reading through the Pedelec forum reveals knowledgeable guys who are capable of seeing through the marketing hype of some pedelec claims,it is important to read the specifications carefully,for within lies true value for money.
Dave Elderfield
KudosCycles
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
Dave, I'm glad you've come to the market and I can see that you've got some excellent bikes. Sorry about the comparison, but I thought Juicy and Sunlova are your closest compeditors. I can see that there are differences, but there's also a lot of similarity. One of your bikes is exactly the same as mine (Sunlova) but different forks (as far as I can see). Why don't you put the bottle battery on that one like Sunlova? it would be a major selling point. Also, I hope you see this next comment as trying to be helpful: I've been looking at the bikes on your website, but no on-line catalogue. When I download your pdf brochure, it locks up my netbook for ages - and again when I try to expand it to read it. I'm sure a lot of people are going to get bored and shut it down before they can see what you've got. Plus, no mail order ordering system - shame! Anyway, I hope you do well.
 

Kudoscycles

Official Trade Member
Apr 15, 2011
5,566
5,048
www.kudoscycles.com
d8veh....the bottle battery is LiMh,we used a similar Panasonic battery on our King Carbon bike...this battery type is lightweight and has a style which suits that type of bike. If spending £400 on a carbon frame to achieve 3 kg weight saving it seemed wrong to select a LifePo4 battery adding 0.75kg.
However the advantages of a LifePo4 battery (1500 cycles,quick recharge,inexpensive replacement cost,green to dispose,low self discharge rate) to us outweighed the slight weight increase on the less weight sensitive bikes,the £200 average replacement cost compares favourably with our competitors.
With regard to our temporary website and brochure,I agree the 2nd page has to download a lot of content-it takes 10secs here but only 1 sec at my London location,with lightning fast broadband.
We have waiting in the background a full e-shop but this will not be on line until the majority of our product is in stock-if you look at our parent company's site,namely Rally Design,that would be our norm.
We have over 700 bikes in production or en-ship I am sure that you will appreciate that we would not support that amount of investment with a poor website,but your current criticism is valid.
thanks for your interest
Dave Elderfield
KudosCycles
 

Fordulike

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 26, 2010
3,802
1,537
The 'King Carbon' looks absolutely awesome and so stealthy.
Dave, it states on the webpage (took 4 seconds to load, d8veh, time to get a new netbook ;))

"The clever controller will optimise battery power plus rider power to efficiently climb hills"

Does this mean that the controller might be able to be tweaked for other things? .... ahem :)
 

iaing

Pedelecer
May 27, 2008
129
0
L31
Hi Guys,would not normally be tempted in to defend my product but shep was interested in our TOURER but the Sunlova is a competitor to our SPORT model. Our SPORT has free delivery,integral lights,LifePo4 battery etc etc. The TOURER is a completely different bike with Shimano Deore gearing,21kg weight,integral Spanninga lights,700c wheels,pannier bags etc etc. I must admit that I too have been pulled into the marketing hype of 21 speed,24 speed or now 27 speed gearing but these multi-gear systems are relatively inexpensive to specify,what adds real cost and quality is the quality of the underlying systems,my personal favourite is the Shimano Deore 9 speed,but it cannot easily be afforded on minus £700 cycles.
These multi gear systems are really only relevant on mountain bikes where the intention is to use little or no power assist-with 400 watts power available (rider plus motor) the 8/9 speed gearing gives a generous range,with modest steps,even with the 3 speed Nexus the ability to grab 2nd gear is available excepting the steepest hills.
Reading through the Pedelec forum reveals knowledgeable guys who are capable of seeing through the marketing hype of some pedelec claims,it is important to read the specifications carefully,for within lies true value for money.
Dave Elderfield
KudosCycles
Minus £700 a bike? I could go for that.

Iain
 

Fordulike

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 26, 2010
3,802
1,537
Bump... I gots to know :cool:

The 'King Carbon' looks absolutely awesome and so stealthy.
Dave, it states on the webpage (took 4 seconds to load, d8veh, time to get a new netbook )

"The clever controller will optimise battery power plus rider power to efficiently climb hills"

Does this mean that the controller might be able to be tweaked for other things? .... ahem
 

eddieo

Banned
Jul 7, 2008
5,070
6
I cant find the website:confused:

For those who know about these things...The carbon model, does it have decent equipment, gears brakes etc....
 

PennyFarthing

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 25, 2011
290
3
Oooh I LOVE LOVE LOVE the style of the Duchess!! I love the price too.=!! (much more realistic for me).

However, I'm concerned for me its only 3 speed and no front suspension. (Hence the low price I guess).

Can I try it out or are you mail order only? I'd to try it on a hill.
 

funkylyn

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 22, 2011
3,172
27
South Shields, Tyne & Wear
Oooh I LOVE LOVE LOVE the style of the Duchess!! I love the price too.=!! (much more realistic for me).

However, I'm concerned for me its only 3 speed and no front suspension. (Hence the low price I guess).

Can I try it out or are you mail order only? I'd to try it on a hill.
Yes thats a really nice looking bike Penny, I like the 700 wheels too......but for me its way too heavy at nearly 29 kilos.....otherwise it would have been tempting, as is the price of the replacement batteries.
Well done to Kudos AND Powerpedals as well for keeping replacement battery price down as this must put a LOT of potential buyers off when they see the normal high replacement battery prices.

If hill climbing is important Penny take a look at the 'coming soon' (aug/sept) Tonaro Esprit, think you might find it will have all you need ....although it will be a little bit more expensive....worth the wait for me anyway.

If you try out the Princess meantime I would be really interested to hear how it performs.

Best wishes
Lynda
 

funkylyn

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 22, 2011
3,172
27
South Shields, Tyne & Wear
Ooops....for princess read DUCHESS ....sorry
 

Kudoscycles

Official Trade Member
Apr 15, 2011
5,566
5,048
www.kudoscycles.com
I personally specified the DUKE and Duchess bicycles. These retro styled bikes were intentionally kept as simple as possible,trying to keep the character of the Hovis advert or Brideshead revisited,the decision to not have suspension forks and only 3 speed was not a cost decision-if you look at our bike LIBERTY we specified suspension and 8 speed Nexus,the price is the same-you are swapping the cost of the retro styling with equipment.We had a lot of interest in the DUKE and DUCHESS bikes at Presteigne,one couple want to buy them as wedding presents for each other,how romantic. By the way,I knew nothing of the recent royal wedding when I named these bikes,but maybe funklylyn your slip of the tongue calling it Princess may have future vision
Dave Elderfield
KudosCycles
 

PennyFarthing

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 25, 2011
290
3
Well you should pat yourself on the back - its a gorgeous looking bike!

I don't like the look the other one though (Liberty?). It doesn't make me go 'OOOH!'. A combo of both bikes would be amazing....

Thanks for that Funkylynn - I will have a look...