halfords urban mover

[avronb]

Does anyone know what those Urban Mover ebikes that Halfords are selling are like ?

 

[electric_avenue]

For starters, bear in mind that halfords sell them from all stores but support them aftermarket at only a handful. And if they drop they line the drop the support. So why not just go to sportshq and get a cyclamatic? As little as £360 check out this thread

 

[Haku]

I have owned a UM36 for over 4.5 years and recently got a 2nd hand UM36X, both bikes are virtually the same, just a few upgrades from the UM36 to the UM36X; springy seatpost, better suspension forks, integrated wheel lock with chain, pannier rack mount points, matt black paint job instead of the strange silver/green the old range had.

The only difference I can see between the UM36X and the UM33X is the frame size, the UM33X having a larger, 19" frame whilst I've had to buy really long seatposts for my two bikes as I'm 6'2" and the orignal supplied seatposts made me feel like I was riding a bmx.

They're a nice ride, feels like a mountain bike with a bit of a kick to it because of the motor, the only main things that have given me trouble are the things that even ordinary bikes have trouble with, brakes/tyres/chain/sprocket all wearing out through use, the motor & controller of my 4.5 year old (and very used) bike still work like new, batteries tend to last about 2 years with me but I gather that's about normal for most ebikes.
I was recently quoted £329 for a replacement 26v li-ion battery pack from Urban Mover, I intend to re-cell my oldest battery soon for about 1/6 to 1/4 that.

I upgraded the sprocket on my UM36 to a megarange one with a much lower first gear and that has really helped on the hills where I live, I'll be doing the same to my UM36X at some point too.

They've been making this design of bikes for over 5 years meaning spare parts have been around for that long, which I would take to mean they've invested a lot into this particular design and the parts will be around for quite a few years to come.
I do live about 15 miles away from their main buisness residence which has been helpful in the past.

 

[fatts]

Nothing wrong with Urban mover.
Its just the Halfords side.
They say there staff are trained but only to make tea and coffee, on rare occasions you will find a good staff member but good ones tend to get frustrated and move.

 

[Haku]

My brother worked for Halfords many years ago, I don't ever recall him saying anything about training for what he ended up working on mostly. He is an excellent bike mechanic as downhill mountain biking is his passion (you can't tear down through steep hills, big jumps and through trees at speed if you don't trust & know your own bike), he took all that knowledge with him to the job (and away when he left because he got real fed up with the job) and ended up practically running the bike maintainance section single handedly.

He's one of the nutcases in this video: KIS - 1999 A usual sunday of dirt jumping and track riding - YouTube

 

[PennyFarthing]

I sat astride one in a store and I personally didnt like the feel of the handlebars, compared to other ebikes. I think I felt they were too narrow to control. Just a personal thing though. There are lots of other bikes at various prices out there.