e-Bike suggestions for Central London traffic, lots of stopping/starting/filtering

[e-kieran]

Hello!

Interested in people's thoughts and experiences on e-bikes for getting into central London daily, lots of stopping and starting and filtering through traffic.

My personal requirements are:

• daily commute (other than the most miserable darkest bits of winter!)
• 10 miles there, 10 miles back (~ 4000 miles a year)
• about half the journey can be done in bike paths but can't really avoid heavy traffic in some parts to get from West London to Tottenham Court Road area
• route almost totally flat
• i'm not particularly fit but no injuries or anything, 5'11", 75 Kg
• can't easily charge battery at work
• no space for maintenance at home so want low-maintenance as possible even if costs more
• currently have a hub-gear normal (unassisted) Brompton which I really like for nipping about (but 20 miles a day on it too much for me)
• prefer hub gears over derailleur because can change down if have to stop quickly + less maintenance
• total cost of ownership (purchase + maintenance) needs to be less than the tube (about £1800 per year), don't really want to go too much above £2K though if can avoid it

So far I've mostly been looking at two different types of e-bikes:

"sit up and beg" cruising along sort: (bit worried they're too big and heavy though)

• Cube Town Hybrid One 400
• Raleigh Motus Tour Cross Bar Hub Gear (reviews in this forum seem good)

compact urban sort: (more like my Brompton, possibly better for traffic)

• Kalkhoff Sahel 3.i Move
• Riese & Muller Tinker vario 2019 (insanely expensive, never seen a belt drive before)
• BESV PS 1 (really light and quite cheap, though some websites have one with smaller battery)

Not seen many reviews for the compact sort of bikes - anyone got one? Or are they not as good as they sound and I'd be better off with a bigger e-bike?

Cheers,
Kieran

 

[Woosh]

hub motors are more suitable to low cost commuting.

-lower purchase cost compared with CD bikes
- lower maintenance cost
- gear change at stop / start not necessary
- pedal as much or as little as you want
- less attractive to thieves

I would recommend the Woosh Karoo for lightweight bike or the Zephyr for heavier riders. Both bikes suit your weight and height, plenty of range for return journey.
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?karoo
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?zephyr-2018

 

[vfr400]

At only 75kg every bike will be powerful enough and will get you both ways without having to recharge. If I were doing it to save money, I'd be looking at a much cheaper bike. The more you spend on the bike, the higher the servicing costs and the more frequent and more expensive are service parts like tyres, chains, gears, etc.

 

[e-kieran]

Thanks vfr400 and Woosh, it's not so much I'm trying to save money, more trying to avoid having to spend 2 hours on the tube every day. Definitely don't want to spend more per year on an e-bike than I spend on a travelcard though!

Perhaps I wrongly assumed that more expensive bikes would have longer lasting components but, yes, can see it could be the opposite - like sports cars they end up needing more expensive maintenance!

I've not tried a hub motor e-bike, yeah, guess that might be better for starting/stopping. Woosh Karoo sounds good.

 

[Dewey]

The B'Twin Elops 920 E Step Over has a Brose mid-drive motor, Shimano Nexus 7 IGH, disk brakes, and similar size battery to the Cube Town Hybrid, but is 600 less than the Cube from Decathlon stores. If you like the enclosed chain case of the Cube you could replace the B'Twin's chainguard with an Hebie Chainglider from SJS Cycles.

Otherwise the Gazelle Ami C8 HMS and Orange C8 HMB models are good weather resistant town bikes.