Which Vintage style custom / cruiser is best for general fun.

[Aly]

Hi, I have just joined. I am looking for recommendation for a lightly used or maybe ex display / custom / cruiser vintage style ebike with reasonable range. I am looking for simple reliable electronics. I have an engineering background so am confident to work on most aspects except the elecrics.
My shortlist is Michael Blast Greaser, Cooler King, or Rayvolt. The cooler king seems to have slightly better UK support. Thanks in Advance

 

[AGS]

I would go for the Cooler Kub if I didn’t have my Greaser.. Here’s a photo of my modified Greaser.




A Cooler Kub can be easily modified to accommodate a substantial battery in the frame for extended range. And also offers the ability to be upgraded for exceptional off road performance, without changing the motor.



The Cooler Kub is more comfortable than the Cooler King because it has full suspension. My Greaser Classic doesn’t have any suspension at all, but the Greaser Springer as its name suggests has a Springer front end although I have no idea if it works effectively. Rear Suspension on the Greaser is achieved using a sprung saddle and that’s not effective.

I don’t have any experience of the Rayvolt range.

Oh and my Greaser mudguards are absolutely useless in the rain, particularly the front guard. I think upgraded mudguards are now available to alleviate that problem.

These bikes come up for sale on eBay very occasionally because they are quite rare. So if you see one at a reasonable price, grab it quickly because you may not see another for sale for a long time.

 

[Aly]

Thanks for the info - A friend has a Kub which I rode yesterday for about 10 miles. He has the extra battery and it has heaps of torque, He also found the front mudguard no good and changed it along with the forks. The rear suspension is far too hard - , we let all the air out of the damper and wound the spring pre-load right off the minimum which very slightly improved it but its still only about as good as a decent sprung saddle. The std shock seems massively over sprung, it looks like a std motorcycle shock, I am about 85kg and its only just starting to move when I sit on it. The bikes owner is over 100kg so naturally it works slightly better with him on it ! Also I,m not such a fan of the appearance of the Kub , I much prefer your Greaser or the King, I know they are hardtails but most of my riding will be roads anyway.

 

[AGS]

I kept my eyes peeled on eBay. They were like buses a few years ago, nothing for ages then a load came along at once.

There’s nothing on there at the moment, probably because the weather is so good. But a few may pop up during the winter when they are taking up space in a garage not being used.

 

[Aly]

yes, thanks i looked on there tooo..................

 

[AGS]

The only thing I could find was a Micargi e-bike that Cooler King used to sell. They imported them from the US and sold them for around £2k.

This one is up for sale but it doesn’t appeal to me at all.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Aly]

Yeah, I saw that - might be Ok with different bars but as its not really what I want, not particularly cheap and a long way away I wasn't too keen.........

 

[AGS]

There are a couple of Rayvolts as well, but neither are UK legal despite one of them saying so, and they are also expensive.

If you ride one of those on the road the Police will have it off you in no time.

 

[Aly]

Ah, thanks for telling me - I thought they were OK

 

[Aly]

What happened to the Italjet Ascot? did they stop making them?

 

[saneagle]

Hi, I have just joined. I am looking for recommendation for a lightly used or maybe ex display / custom / cruiser vintage style ebike with reasonable range. I am looking for simple reliable electronics. I have an engineering background so am confident to work on most aspects except the elecrics.
My shortlist is Michael Blast Greaser, Cooler King, or Rayvolt. The cooler king seems to have slightly better UK support. Thanks in Advance

I think you'd get more fun with a normal ebike that you can use for shopping, commuting, touring and anything you want. A cruiser type is pretty inefficient and doesn't offer any advantages at all if you're pragmatic. It seems weird to me to limit the use of your ebike, just because you want it to look a particular way that has no practicality. Is there a particular reason why you think you need a bike like that.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

How about adding an e-bike kit to a custom / cruiser pedal bike ?

 

[Aly]

Yes I totally take your point - and agree with the practicality aspect. Funnily enough I had just started looking at good quality pedal bikes for that exact reason!

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Pardon our interruption...

Pardon our interruption...

That motor isn't ideal, rated 500w

Maybe @Woosh has some 24" motor wheels ? - looks like it might be a fat bike wheel

 

[saneagle]

Yes I totally take your point - and agree with the practicality aspect. Funnily enough I had just started looking at good quality pedal bikes for that exact reason!

If you already had a few electric bikes and you just want one to show off once a year at a show or show your mates down the pub once, such a bike is a great idea, but if you want an ebike for ridin g around on, you're going to wish you had an ordinary one. My advice is to get an Amazon 48v 250w one with a standard downtube battery and a rear hub-motor for about £600. It'll give you years of cheap riding, and if you become an enthusiast, you can get whatever takes your fancy later when you know a bit more about what works well and what doesn't.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

If you already had a few electric bikes and you just want one to show off once a year at a show or show your mates down the pub once, such a bike is a great idea, but if you want an ebike for ridin g around on, you're going to wish you had an ordinary one. My advice is to get an Amazon 48v 250w one with a standard downtube battery and a rear hub-motor for about £600. It'll give you years of cheap riding, and if you become an enthusiast, you can get whatever takes your fancy later when you know a bit more about what works well and what doesn't.

I'm tempted by this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09JB3YKNW/ with 48v 13Ah (624Wh) battery to keep at my sisters so I can go out for rides with her for £550 including delivery. I'd end up changing the tyres, brakes and probably controller at some point, but at £550 there's probably not much difference to buying a second hand bike and converting, and it has a 2 year guarantee (if you don't mess about upgrading it !)

 

[esuark]

That's a good starting point and almost what I`ve ended with mucking about with a £600+ 48v kit with an old bike and bits off eBay. But for my own peace of mind I`ve got 80mm Marzocchi air forks hydraulic disc brakes and changed to KT controller + other bits. Don`t need the 21 speeds. Only use 7 at a push. So I`ve probably spent two three times that.

 

[Tony1951]

I'm tempted by this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09JB3YKNW/ with 48v 13Ah (624Wh) battery to keep at my sisters so I can go out for rides with her for £550 including delivery. I'd end up changing the tyres, brakes and probably controller at some point, but at £550 there's probably not much difference to buying a second hand bike and converting, and it has a 2 year guarantee (if you don't mess about upgrading it !)

That package seems to offer quite a lot for the money Peter.If you retained the old brake parts you could still replace them with the zoom cable/hydraulic type we've discussed before and if you had a failure that needed support from the supplier, it is a ten minute job to take them off and restore the original fitments.

As for the controller - I found it very easy to tolerate the foibles of the speed type controller on the Argos cheapo bike. I know you can get better, but 'Why bother?' is my attitude. It does the job and I am at nearly 1100 miles and happy. Tyres and brakes can be changed and put back to original spec if needed for warranty in a short time. I doubt you will have a warranty issue anyway unless very fussy, or very unlucky.