Oiseaux,
I have had test rides on both the 3E City Light Mk2 and on two Kalkhoff Agattu models. I wanted a stepthru model with rear wheel drive which could achieve 30 to 40 miles. I am prepared to pedal at a gentle 80 watts output for a few hours, and I dont really need to go above about 10mph. It is help with hills, into the wind, and long ride endurance that I need rather than speed.
3E City Light Mk2
It was only a short ride on the City Light with an 8% hill which it surmounted OK with some comfortable pedalling from me. You can see my notes on my test at
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/7380-should-i-consider-alterntaives-stepthru-kalkhoff-agattu-raleigh-dover-3.html#post93264
The shop had it on sale for £729 quite a bit cheaper than the list price. But when I went back to look at it again, I found that they had had it in the shop for 6 months since June 2010, and it had been used as a demo model. Although they assured me that it had not been used for extended testing and that battery was as good as new with a full warranty, I was definitely concerned that I would not get the full range of 30 to 40 miles which I require, without purchasing a second battery price £300. The other negative was that I thought the frame at 18 inches was a little small for me (I am 5foot 10 and want to touch the ground with both toes, while on the saddle. I had to raise the seat a bit to get to this position.)
Kalkhoff Agattu
Back in November I had had a very short ride on a older model Aggatu with 7 speeds. Then last Saturday I had a good test on the new, bottom-of-the-range Agattu C3 which comes in at about £1400.It has only 3 gear ratios which I wanted to try out to see if they suited me. My report on this test which focused on hill climbing and also on stability for riding very accurately without wobbles. My report on this ride is here
http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/7535-hill-test-agattu-c3-2011-model-3-speed.html#post94631. You will see I climbed a 12% average gradient hill nicely with the pedaling only getting very hard at a steeper section at the top of the hill. Unfortunately I dont know how steep this last bit was - probably somewhere in the range 15-20%. The C3 has only 3 gears, but it will be good enough for nearly all the hills I encounter. for only a little extra I can get it with an 18Ah battery rather than the 8Ah and that I believe will give me 30-40 miles range.
Conclusion: I am juggling my budget to convince myself I can afford the Aggatu C3!
because they are a great bike with great backup and support + a transferable warranty insuring decent resale value.....
