Advice on 3 bikes

Bobajob

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 1, 2019
313
140
Cornwall
I’m a newbie here and need some advice before buying my first bike.
I’ve seen three bikes which have caught my eye,

1). Haibike sduro trekking 6.0
2). Trek allant 7
3). Cube Kathmandu pro 625

Of the three does anyone have an opinion on which to go for.
The Haibike is the cheapest
Followed by the trek, then the cube.

Bob
 

Bad Machine

Pedelecer
Sep 1, 2019
35
7
I’m a newbie here and need some advice before buying my first bike.
I’ve seen three bikes which have caught my eye,

1). Haibike sduro trekking 6.0
2). Trek allant 7
3). Cube Kathmandu pro 625

Of the three does anyone have an opinion on which to go for.
The Haibike is the cheapest
Followed by the trek, then the cube.

Bob
Yeah, easy.

If you're skint, I'd recommend the Haibike. On the other hand, if you've loadsamoney, get the Cube !

(I'm also pretty sure if you want to share a little more about what you're looking for the bike to do, and other things that are important to you, someone will chip in with a more useful reply ?)
 

Bobajob

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 1, 2019
313
140
Cornwall
Yeah, easy.

If you're skint, I'd recommend the Haibike. On the other hand, if you've loadsamoney, get the Cube !

(I'm also pretty sure if you want to share a little more about what you're looking for the bike to do, and other things that are important to you, someone will chip in with a more useful reply ?)
I’m looking for a comfortable on/off road more like paths not mountain biking at all.
The bikes retail at
Trek £3000
Cube £2700
Haibike £2200

The Haibike is a 2019 version the trek and cube are 2020, both with the gen 4 motor but lower spec than the Haibike.
The cube also has the 625w battery.

All look good but I haven’t had a bike since my old diamond back mountain bike sporting full Deore xt group set so I know they are bullet proof.
 

D C

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 25, 2013
1,140
575
I would go for a make you can get serviced/repaired as locally as possible.
In my case it's still a sixty mile round trip but better than having to use a courier.
Dave.
 

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,986
Basildon
You buy whatever bike you want that you can afford, with consideration of how it's going to get fixed when it goes wrong, which will happen sooner or later.

For road and trails, all electric bikes work pretty well. You don't need to spend anything like that money to get a nice bike that does the job really well.

It's an absolute fallacy that if you spend more money, you get a more reliable or more durable bike. I can guarantee that the opposite is true and that your running costs for an expensive bike will be more than they'd be for a cheap one - by a substantial amount.

Buy an expensive bike because you have money to waste. It's very easy to psych yourself up to spending more and more when you research that this bike has better gears and this one better forks, and so on. You don't need any of those things, and if you're truly pragmatic, they give you very little benefit when riding on the road. The only thing that really makes a difference is hydraulic brakes. The rest is just one-upmanship, and in many cases is detrimental to normal riding.

For riding on the road and trails, a hub motor has many advantages over a crank motor, so that's what I'd be looking at.

In summary, you cannot fix Bosch and Shimano systems yourself, so, if that's what you want, you have to buy from a local dealer. If you want to fix your bike yourself and be master of your own destiny, buy a bike with a Chinese electrical system.

General advice: Don't buy anything you can't afford, and never take a loan for anything. If, like me, you have thousands of pounds in the bank because you never wasted your money on things that you didn't need, you can buy whatever you want, but you'll probably have a bigger problem deciding what to spend it on because you realise that there's nothing you need.
 
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Bobajob

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 1, 2019
313
140
Cornwall
You buy whatever bike you want that you can afford, with consideration of how it's going to get fixed when it goes wrong, which will happen sooner or later.

For road and trails, all electric bikes work pretty well. You don't need to spend anything like that money to get a nice bike that does the job really well.

It's an absolute fallacy that if you spend more money, you get a more reliable or more durable bike. I can guarantee that the opposite is true and that your running costs for an expensive bike will be more than they'd be for a cheap one - by a substantial amount.

Buy an expensive bike because you have money to waste. It's very easy to psych yourself up to spending more and more when you research that this bike has better gears and this one better forks, and so on. You don't need any of those things, and if you're truly pragmatic, they give you very little benefit when riding on the road. The only thing that really makes a difference is hydraulic brakes. The rest is just one-upmanship, and in many cases is detrimental to normal riding.

For riding on the road and trails, a hub motor has many advantages over a crank motor, so that's what I'd be looking at.

In summary, you cannot fix Bosch and Shimano systems yourself, so, if that's what you want, you have to buy from a local dealer. If you want to fix your bike yourself and be master of your own destiny, buy a bike with a Chinese electrical system.

General advice: Don't buy anything you can't afford, and never take a loan for anything. If, like me, you have thousands of pounds in the bank because you never wasted your money on things that you didn't need, you can buy whatever you want, but you'll probably have a bigger problem deciding what to spend it on because you realise that there's nothing you need.

Vfr

Thanks for replying. Yes I agree with the price tag but I do need a good motor as my knees(accidents) are not brilliant to be honest.
I’m not particularly worried about the price though but saying that any savings are good. My main worry is cycling in unassisted mode when I get fitter and my knee muscles start to rebuild. I don’t want to have an ebike that’s peddling through mud when the assistance isn’t required.
The bikes I’m looking at are old generation Yamaha motor (Haibike £2300 now, Yamaha old gen) the cube Kathmandu (£2700 but with 625w battery, gen 4, Bosch performance cx) and a trek allant +7 (£2250. Gen 4 Bosch performance cx )
I’ve seen anoth good bike a Scott for £1300 with Bosch active line plus motor.
It’s a minefield out there lol
 

Benjahmin

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 10, 2014
2,485
1,699
69
West Wales
If you have dodgy knees I would recommend going for a bike that has pas as opposed to torque sense, and heres why.

On a torque sense bike (such as the ones above) you only get assist power as a proportion of the power the rider provides. So something like 50%, 100%, 150% etc. depending on level setting chosen.
On a pas bike you get power by just turning the peddles. In other words, if your knee gets really painful in the middle of a ride you can get home by just ghosting the peddles (or using the throttle if one is fitted). This is not the case with the above bikes.
The majority of pas bikes are hub drive with easily maintainable/replaceable generic chinese motors, controllers etc., also not the case with the above bikes.
You will find a good hub drive pas bike for far less than the overpriced big names.
Lastly, don't worry that you will not get the rehabilatative excercise you need on the pas. You will (from personal experience)'cos, to get the range, you have to work yourself and also you'll love it so much you'll be out at any oppoetunity.
 

Nealh

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 7, 2014
20,134
8,230
60
West Sx RH
Splitting hairs a bit here, all e-bikes are PAS assist.
For dodgy knees or lack of stamina /leg power you need a cadence system over a torque system, cadence system allows you to ghost pedal whilst being able to easily ride along. For a cadence system you are looking for a geared hub bike ideally for an OEM option or with kits hub or some mid drive kits.
 

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,986
Basildon
I can't say that I've ever ridden an ebike that's like riding through mud with the power off, and I've ridden a lot of ebikes, including ones that people complained about having this problem. If you really go for it, you can just about detect something with the Bosch CX. When people claim they experience this problem, in nearly every case it's an illusion from the unexpected difference between power on and power off combined with the additional weight. Occasionally, there's some mechanical problem with their bike, like brakes binding, tyre rubbing or anything else.

If you want an electric bike that's easy to ride without power, look for a light one with small frontal area and thin (25mm) tyres. Each 1kg of bike weight means you have to pedal approximately 1% harder to go the same speed up any incline, no matter how slight, or you can say each kg slows you down 1% if you pedal with the same effort. That means a 7% difference between an 18kg hibrid and a 25kg MTB. That's without considering rolling resistance and wind resistance that are probably a lot more.
 
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