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A very fit looking mountain biker passed me on a road climb earlier today. I suspect he saw me whirring steadily up the steepish bank as a challenge. Fair play to the guy, he had a nice bike and had obviously worked hard on his fitness.

Anything with Schwalbe written on it won't be too bad, but as KTM says, Marathon Plus is best. The tyres you have linked to are cheap for a reason, not least fewer threads per inch in the carcass. You've spent best part of £2K on the bike, trying to shave a few pounds off the cost of tyres is...

I had a go on a Mountainsport bike - it was one with an 'off-road' de-restrict button. It was certainly quick, although I didn't get the chance to try it on hills. But as a bike, well, the kindest thing I can say is basic Chinese.

Good hydraulics require no adjustment or maintenance, which is about as good as a bicycle brake can get. The other thing that occurs to me about rim brakes and a hub motor is changing the wheel is more complex when the rim wears out.

At the risk of appearing dense, has it got one of Sram's three-speed hub/derailleur combined systems like this: http://www.sram.com/sram/urban/products/sram-dd3-27 If so I wonder if it counts as hub or derailleur in Bosch-speak when it comes to how much max assist you get.

The Cube in d8's link also has the bigger 11ah battery. Not critical if you are only ever going to do a few miles at a time, but fewer charges mean longer life and you are less likely to come up against battery sag.

Welcome to the wonderful(ish) world of Bosch assist. I agree eco is all but pointless, I use sport most of the time. Turbo seems a bit peaky to me, particularly at slow speeds. I also agree the system is not 'fast', which suits me but might not some riders. A dongle will give you easier...

With the previous system, Bosch quoted max assist with derailleur gears as 250 per cent, and max assist with hub hears as 200 per cent. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but the lower assist level presumably gives less torque.

Dave was last seen yesterday evening at the same time as he posted in this thread: http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/ebikes-shops-in-derbyshire-area.16913/#post-208211

So that's two experienced ebikers for cheap bikes and two against. Does this mean about half of cheap ebikes sold are reasonably reliable and half give bother? Of course not, but it could still be about right.

And if someone did, the post might not last long.

I'm with Emo on this one, commuting is hard on a bike and cheap ebikes are not up to it. Bike warranties - especially warranties on cheap bikes - are generally poor, so you may find yourself on your own. Upping the budget at the front end could save you money in the long run.

Given that Bosch turn the assist wick down for hub gears, I wonder what the Alfine 11 will make of the claimed 70nm of torque on Kalkhoff's Impulse 2 system.

Fork looks nicer on the KTM, but maybe not £500 nicer, so I'd have the Cube - assuming it exists and is not a bicycle industry 'never never' order. http://www.freeflowbikes.com/Default.aspx?page=ProductDetails&product_id=24392

Giant don't seem bothered about selling ebikes in the UK. The couple that are routinely offered are uninspiring. I know it's a tiny market, but lots of buyers must be wary of brands they've never heard of which have to be ordered over the internet with uncertain back-up service. Giant is a...

On two occasions my Rose/Bosch bike has lost drive for a few seconds. But I don't reckon it's a fault. Drive has been lost at the same place both times, aside from that the system works reliably. The location is a large crossroads in the centre of Sunderland. I reckon something is...

I got to the first page and found you cannot select pedal assist and throttle. This is a fatal flaw, plenty of bikes have both, not least because plenty of prospective owners want both.

Surprising the number of people who don't know that a litre of water weighs a kilo.

Wide choice of bikes at £1K, so you really need to give an indication of intended use. As a starting point, bikes from Woosh and Kudos are well-regarded in their price range. The owners of both businesses post on here, so you know who you are dealing with.

Only if you slapped in more than a pint.