Anyone Reviewing Idealworld Bikes

[Singerman]

I was wondering if anyone had any plans to review the bikes being offered by Idealworld. These are typically E-Life but they are also doing some Dorchester and Viking bikes. It strikes me that these bikes are probably the most accessible ones for new enthusiasts to see and buy and while not 'class of the field' they may be pretty reasonable or Idealworld would be getting lots of them back.

Reviews could be useful to the more careful buyer and have the effect of increasing Pedelecs membership and web traffic as people research these. They would also graduate to the other makes that appear on your site feeding a supply of newbies who cut their teeth on the E-life's but now want something better..

i would certainly appreciate seeing some unbiased reviews of these. The folding bikes are also my main interest as I have no interest in fitting bike racks to the car but taking a bike on a train or just being able to store it easier in a small shed or flat would also help increase the population of electric cyclists.

 

[Woosh]

Reviews could be useful to the more careful buyer and have the effect of increasing Pedelecs membership and web traffic as people research these. They would also graduate to the other makes that appear on your site feeding a supply of newbies who cut their teeth on the E-life's but now want something better..

true, but they sell end of line bikes.
What happens if you need support, spares or repairs after the guarantee runs out? who is going to deal with these issues?

 

[Singerman]

true, but they sell end of line bikes.
What happens if you need support, spares or repairs after the guarantee runs out? who is going to deal with these issues?

Most of these 'End of line bikes' are on sale in batches for over a year! As for support I had no difficulty getting the local bike shop to agree to service them. After the guarantee runs out you will have to buy spares anyway. One of the questions a review might answer is about the prospects of getting parts and maintaining them. I have seen a few on sale second-hand in bike shops and there is nothing unorthodox about them so getting bits is not a problem. Certainly those selling them were prepared to service them as well.


It’s also worth bearing in mind the following

The idealworld site attracts large audiences, and for many of these it will be their first exposure to electric bikes.

Many of them will be savvy enough to search for a second opinion. A fair, objective review on this site could provide that and open their eyes to the rest of the electric bike world, not forgetting Woosh of course.

Even if they buy an ideal world as their first bike they may well want to graduate to something else or better for their second, or third, or perhaps want something different and that’s where Pedelec and the various manufacturers on here came in.

I had assumed this was a site for enthusiasts as well as manufacturers and if Idealworld introduce more people to this movement why should that be a bad thing?

 

[Woosh]

I had assumed this was a site for enthusiasts as well as manufacturers and if Idealworld introduce more people to this movement why should that be a bad thing?

I didn't say it's a bad thing, QVC offers similar bikes in the past.
However, if you look at value for money, their offers are not outstanding. Most of their bikes are at the very low end of the market: steel frame, small motors, LED panels, low end components like stem, handlebars, saddle post, and crankset. Things that are exposed to rain need to be reasonably good quality so they don't get pitted with rust shortly after purchase.

The biggest cost for any manufacturers is the battery. You literally pay for the number of Watt Hours (WH). Their £1,299 eLife Peak has 36V 8.8AH = 316WH, it's certainly not good value for money.For the same price, you can get my Woosh Rambla.

Their £999 eLife Cruiser also has 36V 8.8AH battery, still not good value for money. For less money, I can sell you my Rambletta.
Their next bike is their £499 eLife Tourer, 24V 7AH= 200WH is really at the very low end of the market.
For first e-bikes, I would recommend Halfords and Decathlon.

 

[RobF]

I've only seen the Ideal World bikes once a few years ago, but that £1,300 eLife sounds close to taking the mick.

There are woosh bikes which would slaughter it in terms of price and performance.

At the bottom end of the market, the cheaper Halfords bikes looked surprisingly decent to me.