Good South Downs ebike

[ngoodson]

Hi,

My name is Nick and I'm after a nice looking £500-700 MTB for cycling across the South Downs to work each day. The Downs part is fine, I love taking my usual bike but it's the getting there, 4 miles up a long slow busy road, doesn't inspire me any more. So a bit of power to help me along would be great. Any recommendations for that price range? Reading about these bikes, it sounds like I need 250 W Motor minimum and 36V 10aH battery too.
Also, are there any dealers around the Brighton/Sussex area?
Regards
Nick

 

[dmcgoldrick]

hi, you may get a kit to add to existing bike for your budget or you will probably be looking at the second hand market for a complete bike from the bigger brands.
there may be some cheaper 'copies' around but with little if any after sales support......
if you can stretch to a grand you will be nearer the ball park....the technology is still demanding a premium price point....

regards

 

[JuicyBike]

hi, you may get a kit to add to existing bike for your budget or you will probably be looking at the second hand market for a complete bike from the bigger brands.
there may be some cheaper 'copies' around but with little if any after sales support......
if you can stretch to a grand you will be nearer the ball park....the technology is still demanding a premium price point....

regards

Sorry, but I have to disagree. You should find reputable bikes at the top of your range, without looking too far...

 

[Blew it]

Hi,

My name is Nick and I'm after a nice looking £500-700 MTB for cycling across the South Downs to work each day. The Downs part is fine, I love taking my usual bike but it's the getting there, 4 miles up a long slow busy road, doesn't inspire me any more. So a bit of power to help me along would be great. Any recommendations for that price range? Reading about these bikes, it sounds like I need 250 W Motor minimum and 36V 10aH battery too.
Also, are there any dealers around the Brighton/Sussex area?
Regards
Nick

Nick,

Here are a couple of suggestions:

The first bike that comes to mind is the Cyclamatic, but I'm bit concerned about that four mile climb up onto the downs, how steep is it?. Long steep climbs can really knock the stuffing out of a 24 volt battery. The cyclamatic is available on Ebay, the price depends whether the regular 28 day special offer is on or off.

Cyclamatic

Another contender at the top end of your budget has to be the Juicy Sport. This is a 36 volt bike with a 10ah battery. It's a powerful bike and a good hill climber.

Here's a photo of my own slightly modified Juicy Sport

This is the original version of the Juicy, which is available at £744 delivered, slightly above your top price limit.

Juicy Bikes

However!

There is a later version of this machine, with threadless headset, currently being offered on Ebay at £700 delivered, fully assembled. HERE

It may help if you could give a little more information regarding your commute. What is the total round trip mileage?, How steep is that four mile climb up to the downs?.

Hope this helps for starters
All the best
Bob

 

[dmcgoldrick]

Sorry, but I have to disagree. You should find reputable bikes at the top of your range, without looking too far...

you are welcome to disagree, but you really need then to flesh this out and give some examples to the question asker......
for example, your own mtb bike is over the enquirers limit, has only one year warranty on a return to base scheme....others suppliers offer 2 year warranty and a network of service points... but all these are above the price limit in the question.

i spent quite some time looking into this recently before buying , so i comment as a recent buyer not as a seller.....

regards

 

[jac]

there is ebikes direct at bodiam east sussex i think there is a place in lancing sell ebikes near the station also bike shop on london road has a few models

jim

 

[Mussels]

a network of service points

there is a lot to be said for this for a novice ebiker, now I know how to fix most things at home but when I got my first bike I needed to make a couple of trips back to the retailer and was thankful that it was only a 3 hour round trip.

 

[JuicyBike]

There are a few decent bikes with good after sales service for under a grand (I was disagreeing earlier that you need to pay £1,000 for a decent bike). I do agree it's very hard to beat £700 and find a supplier who has been around for a couple of years (if only to test those warranties!).

If you choose a BEBA registered make then service at a BEBA registered shop will not be a problem. Not all BEBA Members are listed on the BEBA site yet, so it's worth checking individual websites.

There are returns for extra money spent on the more expensive bikes, but a perfectly respectable, well-built and decent quality bike can be found for under a grand. I'd recommend you start your search via the BEBA website.

 

[ngoodson]

Wow, didn't realise all these replied had happened, I imagined i would have been emailed telling me there were replies. Maybe I need to fix a setting. Thanks everybody for the information, very helpful indeed.

Nick

 

[flecc]

Hi Nick, if you go to "Quick Links" in the horizontal green bar above, choose "Edit Options", then in the "Messaging
and Notification" area you can choose to be mailed with responses in the second item.
.

 

[ngoodson]

Nick,

Here are a couple of suggestions:

The first bike that comes to mind is the Cyclamatic, but I'm bit concerned about that four mile climb up onto the downs, how steep is it?. Long steep climbs can really knock the stuffing out of a 24 volt battery. The cyclamatic is available on Ebay, the price depends whether the regular 28 day special offer is on or off.

Cyclamatic

Another contender at the top end of your budget has to be the Juicy Sport. This is a 36 volt bike with a 10ah battery. It's a powerful bike and a good hill climber.

Here's a photo of my own slightly modified Juicy Sport

This is the original version of the Juicy, which is available at £744 delivered, slightly above your top price limit.

Juicy Bikes

However!

There is a later version of this machine, with threadless headset, currently being offered on Ebay at £700 delivered, fully assembled. HERE

It may help if you could give a little more information regarding your commute. What is the total round trip mileage?, How steep is that four mile climb up to the downs?.

Hope this helps for starters
All the best
Bob

Hi Bob,

I like the look of that Juicy Bike, is it quite powerful? Is it a reliable bike too? I don't want to pay out and regret it within 6 months. Regarding the commute, the total mileage is approx 20 miles, the climb isn't steep, just long enough that any gradient becomes hard/annoying/tedious.

Cheers
Nick

 

[ngoodson]

Thanks for that Flecc.

Nick