Bristol-please someone tell us about the bikes.

[Kudoscycles]

I was told before the event that so much was going on yesterday in Bristol,that over 30% of the roads would be closed that parking and getting around would be difficult. The events are a victim of their own success.
Alistair at Atmosphere bikes spent many meetings getting this event organised,without any payment,he is reliant on other utilities to organise the infrastructure.
I respect the parking problems but could someone who attended give us a review of the bikes and the races,for that surely is what is of interest to most pedelec members.
Please someone TELL US ABOUT THE BIKES!!!!
Thanks
KudosDave

 

[flecc]

Mountainsport said the bikes were spot on, and jackhandy said he'd never seen so many bikes in one area, so they're trying!

Seriously, it seems the failings of the test circuit spoilt the chances of getting useful opinions of the bikes. This is a regular blight of e-bike shows, poor and often very confined areas for testing, it seems it's difficult to set up a large enough area with real hills.

 

[jackhandy]

Patience is a virtue...

I've already said I'll be posting videos of some of the racing & photos of bikes.

Today's a working day, but I'll get to it later.

 

[oldpeddler]

Have to agree with flecc. My wife and I arrived at test area at opening time. At this stage only potential testers were allowed into the area and you had to leave a credit card (already a queue, we were 11th in). Test track around council house very short with some almost impossible bends By 12.30 people were wandering everywhere within the test area (not on bikes) and it appeared that so great was the interest that viewers were being let in and the credit card deposit had been dropped because of sheer numbers. So impossible to give any feedback on the bikes. However it proved a great venue for examining different models "hands-on" and meeting some of the faces behind the names. I'm after a folder and did ride 4. It was interesting to find that most are small changes on the same frame. I was most impressed by the Swift by Conv-e, it's a beautiful looking machine and I'm off to Temple Cloud this week for a proper test. Thought the event was a great success. I'm sure when the dust has settled transport into the city will improve for next year. Thanks Alastair for all your great work in setting this up.

 

[mike killay]

Yes, congrats Alistair.
I hope that this will grow. I shall make a more determined effort next year to actually get there!

 

[funkylyn]

Have to agree with flecc. My wife and I arrived at test area at opening time. At this stage only potential testers were allowed into the area and you had to leave a credit card (already a queue, we were 11th in). Test track around council house very short with some almost impossible bends .

I have to say that I dont like that idea of having to leave credit card details before being let in, after all, the test area was totally fenced off and in full view of the traders.
Surely the idea has to be to encourage potential e-bike customers not put them off

We already knew the test area wasnt going to be like Redbridge, but after all, to most of the general public, a quick wizz around what was available was probably enough to get them hooked.
Obviously more seasoned e-bike owners would want more but for most people the test area was enough to see if they liked the e-bike concept.

Im sure that the serious potential buyers wanting to trade up to another model would then have been happy to leave credit details/car keys/the wife or whatever, with the trader of their choice, to facilitate taking the bike outside for a more in depth test.

Lynda

 

[Cyclezee]

Patience is a virtue...

I've already said I'll be posting videos of some of the racing & photos of bikes.

Today's a working day, but I'll get to it later.

Oh no, I can't wait for this my face was almost as red as the Forza I was riding.

Prior to that race, I was fairly confident that the Forza was more than capable of giving the other bikes a good run for their money.

I waited and waited for my turn with growing anticipation, then when my name was announced, walked over to parc ferme (the crush barriers in English), wheeled my trusty steed to the starting grid, waited for the flag to drop (walkie talkie in this case), pushed down on the pedals which moved all too easily due to the fact that chain was not actually on the chainring, so basically my forward motion was purely down to electric assistance.

It took a few seconds for the penny to drop and after that there was nothing to do but cruise sedately up the hill shrugging my shoulders and watching the other rider in my heat disappear until he was no more than dot on the horizon.

During my more rapid decent I did consider saying, please sir can I have another go, but choose the other option, skulking away with embarrassment.

Apart from that, we had a brilliant day, lots of people riding bikes and coming back with some very favourable comments.

 

[funkylyn]

Oh no, I can't wait for this my face was almost as red as the Forza I was riding.

Prior to that race, I was fairly confident that the Forza was more than capable of giving the other bikes a good run for their money.

I waited and waited for my turn with growing anticipation, then when my name was announced, walked over to parc ferme (the crush barriers in English), wheeled my trusty steed to the starting grid, waited for the flag to drop (walkie talkie in this case), pushed down on the pedals which moved all too easily due to the fact that chain was not actually on the chainring, so basically my forward motion was purely down to electric assistance.

It took a few seconds for the penny to drop and after that there was nothing to do but cruise sedately up the hill shrugging my shoulders and watching the other rider in my heat disappear until he was no more than dot on the horizon.

During my more rapid decent I did consider saying, please sir can I have another go, but choose the other option, skulking away with embarrassment.

Apart from that, we had a brilliant day, lots of people riding bikes and coming back with some very favourable comments.

I felt every second of your pain ........

I also felt every second of Daves's pain......

in fact I was almost traumatised by the whole debacle.........but I managed to get safely home

Lynda

 

[Cyclezee]

I felt every second of your pain.......

I also felt every second of Daves's pain......

in fact I was almost traumatised by the whole debacle.........but I managed to get safely home

Lynda

Indeed Lynda, my pain pails into insignificance.......compared to yours and Dave's

But the psychological trauma may have scarred me for life

 

[billadie]

First. Thanks to Alistair and Atmosphere for organising the event. I enjoyed it. I agree that the test track was very limited but it is understandable that the City Council would want the road for other uses.

As for the bikes:
Seriously impressed by the Momentum Model T and the Annsmann step-through.
Enjoyed the new A to B step-through.
Disappointed by the Moustache.
Still can't see the point of exotic mountain bikes like the Haibike.....

.......... and couldn't reach the pedals on the Tonaro Esprit whilst in the saddle.

Didn't buy anything, but made my poor old Smarta feel a bit dated and very noisy. Another 10,000 miles and I might replace it, or at least fit another motor.

As for the parking, I came on the train.


Bill

 

[Atmosphere]

Hi all

Big thanks to all of you that came along yesterday and especially all that took part in the racing - special regards for Dave and hope he is feeling a bit less sore today.

The purpose of the Bristol event is to show as many bikes as possible to as many people as possible.At a rough count I think we had 140 bikes in the test ride area for people to have a go on. This was never planned as a testing circuit to put the bikes through their paces - this is City Centre with 20,000 visitors.

In other words put EBikes on the map

We were lucky the weather held off and so many people came to watch what was going on

I am now looking forward to sleep more than anything else at the moment and then back to the shop to unpack tomorrow

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.................

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'd tried most bikes before, but there were still a couple of interest to me. I had a go on the Ansmann, but something was wrong with it. I think it was stuck in the lowest setting because it had virtually no power. I was being overtaken by grannies on shopper bikes. I think it was stuck in the lowest setting or some sort of limp-mode because of maybe a flat battery. I didn't get a chance to try it later after the guy had a chance to look at it. unfortunately.

The other one I went on was the Como recumbent trike with the Falco kits. The motor is a five-phase one instead of the conventional 3-phase, which has a few theoretical advantages. It went pretty well, but trikes take a bit of getting used to, and the one I tried was a bit small for me.

The only other thing that stood out was the sprung seat-pin on one of the Moustaches. I had a go on the bike, and it delt like a full suspension one. It wasn't until I got back that I noticed no rear suspension. It's in a totally different league to those normal sprung pins. I think this is the one:
SR SUNTOUR Cycling
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUNTOUR-NCX-SP12-SUSPENSION-SEAT-POST-NEW-MODEL-UNBELIEVABLE-COMFORTABLE-/290886050905?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item43ba28e459

 

[flecc]

Yes, those parallelogram seatpost units are good, they're the only ones that work with my fairly light weight. None of the sprung pillar ones work at all for me.

 

[jackhandy]

No No No... you've got it all wrong...

The Thudbuster is the only one worth having - When will you people learn you get what you pay for...

( The ghost of EddieO )

 

[flecc]

Can't speak of the quality of the various types since no long term use, but the parallelogram principle seems far better than the concentric column spring one.