Electric Bike Focus Group

[Jack.Eagle]

Hello

I am currently conduct some research into the prospects for the electric bike in the UK, as part of a masters course. As part of this research I plan to run a focus group on Wednesday 23 July at Imperial College London, South Kensington. The Focus group will start at around 18:30 and last for around 1 to 2 hours. I would be very grateful if some electric bike owners from this forum would attend.

If you would like any further information or like to tell me you would like to come please contact me via email at j.eagle07(at)ic.ac.uk

Many thanks for your time

Jack

 

[droo]

Perhaps you should set an agenda for people to review first

Droo.

 

[Django]

Hi Jack,

Good luck with the research, though it is too far for me to travel. I suggest that you contact Flecc, SimonBarnett, faphillips, David Miall, Larkspur, Robin, PedelecCommuter and others who are within or around the M25.

 

[Jack.Eagle]

Many thanks

Many thanks for the name I shall contact those people shortly.

Kind regards

Jack

 

[Jack.Eagle]

I shall create an agenda shortly and post it here.

Many thanks for your time

Jack

 

[Jack.Eagle]

Focus Group Agenda

Below is the proposed agenda to the focus group. If you have any question please contact me j.eagle07(at)ic.ac.uk many thanks. If you cannot make it to the focus group but have views on the topics below it would be great to hear them. Many thanks for your time

Focus Group Agenda

Aims

Researching the prospects for the electric bike in the UK.
Could it get more people cycling and be used as a form of transport for shorter trips?
What barriers does the electric bike face to greater sales volumes in the UK?

Introductions

Brief description of electric bike will be given here.

Please introduce yourself to the group and tell us if you ride a bike/e-bike/ or are a non-cyclist.

It is best if the focus group is a fairly free flowing discussion but I am here to keep it focused and have some questions to help stimulate discussion. Some of the question may not seem relevant to you but if you have any views on the topic please speak up.

Main section

• Reasons why you cycle or do not cycle?
• For those of you who are aware of electric bikes how did you find out about them?
• For those of you who own electric bikes what were the major factors that persuaded you to get one?
• Everybody, what do you think would be major pull factors that would persuade you to get an electric bike?
• What are the major barriers that are stopping you from purchasing an electric bike if you do not currently have one?
• For non-cyclists does an e-bike seem more attractive to you than a conventional bike and for what reasons?
• What does everybody thing the major advantage or disadvantage electric bikes have over conventional bikes?
• Do you think that electric bikes have a role to play in sustainable transport in the UK?

Thank you for your help and goodbye!

 

[JohnofCambridge]

Jack,

You could almost use the forum as your focus group. Some of the questions are already answered and I am sure others would like to comment on the ones that are not.

If your focus group takes off, do publish the results here and how about publishing a summary of your research here when complete. I look forward to reading it.

John (ex IC)

 

[Jack.Eagle]

Jack,

You could almost use the forum as your focus group. Some of the questions are already answered and I am sure others would like to comment on the ones that are not.

If your focus group takes off, do publish the results here and how about publishing a summary of your research here when complete. I look forward to reading it.

John (ex IC)

John what do you think the best way of running the focus group on the forum would be for those who cannot get to London.

I shall post my findings on here when my research is completed in mid September.

Many thanks for your help

Jack

 

[Django]

Why not treat each of your questions as a new thread and simply posit the first, then work though the rest in order?

 

[Conal]

Electric bike experience

Jack

I note the points on your agena and agree that they have all been discussed in this forum. You will gain a great deal of insite by looking at the posts from people introducing themselves to the site. Like me, many buy electric bikes to assist their fitness and to lose weight (you will see from recent posts that this does not always work).

I feel one area of interest may be a point also dicussed on this forum recently; throttle verses pedelec, especially when looked at within the 10 to 15.5mph (or above, but there is legal limit to the assist speed). #

I first purchased a Powabyke on Ebay and thought it was great, if a little heavy. I used it throttle only and with user assist depending on my mood and the time I had. I then saw this forum and, after much reading, purchased an Ezee Forza through the cycle-to-work scheme.

I paid about £150 for the second-hand Powabyke and £1000 (after VAT removal and tax credit) for the new Forza. There is no comparison, which is not suprising. The Powabyke was a basic model and I was slower on the road than other cyclists. It was almost impossible to ride without help from the battery due to its weight. It is a great bike but its limitations puts it firmly in the "emergency spare bike" for me, although I would certainly recommend it to others as great value. The Forza is a dream (as I am sure are all the other new generation electric bikes - horses for courses) and I now cycle as fast or faster as other cyclists.

The few mph increase makes all the difference. My motives for purchase, a blend of saving fuel costs, avoiding sitting in queues, being able to leave work during peak traffic times, buying a pedelec so I would have to pedal, gently getting back into cycling, feeling and getting fitter ,and lastly losing weight have all been realised to a degree, the last wish being far from being fully met!

But my point is that the experience is far greater than its parts. Forum members have written of the joy and freedom they feel when cycling and the added buzz from the power assist. It is hard to describe but most of us would agree that we have felt it.

Conal

 

[rsscott]

I'm more than happy to create a Focus Group sub-forum where each topic can be served by its own thread as Django suggests.

I can close the forum when you feel you have enough feedback and then perhaps you would publish your report when it's complete in the autumn?

 

[Jack.Eagle]

Focus group on the Forum

Hi Russ

That would be to have a sub forum with all the topic of the focus group in.
Sorry for my late reply.

Kind regards

Jack

 

[rsscott]

Hi Jack,

yes, we would have another forum alongside the others (i.e. reviews, technical etc). From there, only you can create new topics/threads and everyone else can then reply with their answers. Once you've collated enough material we can then close the topics. To keep things in order you could split each question into a seperate thread/topic.

If there are certain questions with a limited number of responses you could also set up polls.

 

[Jack.Eagle]

creation of focus group forum

Hi Russ

Should I just create a list of topics and create a new forum? Most of the answer to my questions will just be people's views so I think it would be hard to use polls, but if anyone else has any questions I could include them in this area.

Is it fairly easy to make a new sub forum?

Cheers

Jack

 

[rsscott]

Jack,

I've created the new Focus Group sub-forum, you should have permission to start a new thread/topic. Can you get the ball rolling by adding a couple of questions to check I've set the forum permissions up correctly!

 

[Jack.Eagle]

Many thanks

Hi Russ

Thanks for setting that up. I will post a few questions now.

Many thanks for your help

Jack

 

[rsscott]

Hi all,

if you would like to put across your views to the Focus Group, please visit this section of the forum:

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bike-focus-group/