kudos tornado or kudos cobra (or sirocco cd?)

[velixer]

the cobra is 1.5kg lighter than the tornado yet cheaper.

which one should i go for?

i will be using the bike to take me 20miles to work then 20miles back.
Its straight through london at peak hours so scooter or car wont work.

or a curve ball is the sirocco cd (chain drive and estimated longer range)

 

[Clockwise]

the cobra is 1.5kg lighter than the tornado yet cheaper.

which one should i go for?

i will be using the bike to take me 20miles to work then 20miles back.
Its straight through london at peak hours so scooter or car wont work.

or a curve ball is the sirocco cd (chain drive and estimated longer range)

I cycle in london and would say a kudos based on that it has disc brakes front and back and you will spend much more time stopping than going.

 

[Mike63]

I cannot speak for the other bikes but I have just completed 900 miles in 2 months on my Sirocco CD.
..all leisure cycling...not one mile was strictly necessary..I'm 73 and retired..I received it on 10th. August.

Overall I'm delighted , It's quiet, comfortable and fast....enough for me.
....I've proved It'll do 50 miles and I could probably get 70 but I usually do 20/30 miles on full power between charges ... and I weigh 100 kgs.

....unfortunately soon won't be the weather for doing 40 miles in one day

 

[Kudoscycles]

Velixer....the Tornado has low speed grunt but above 8 mph there is little difference between the Tornado and Cobra....London is largely flat so I expect that you will easily achieve 8 mph on most of your journey.
We are very low on stock on Tornado,I think only 1 ex-demo left at Kudos.
If you let us know which location you live in London I may be able to recommend a local dealer where you can test ride a bike.
Hope that helps
KudosDave

 

[velixer]

Velixer....the Tornado has low speed grunt but above 8 mph there is little difference between the Tornado and Cobra....London is largely flat so I expect that you will easily achieve 8 mph on most of your journey.
We are very low on stock on Tornado,I think only 1 ex-demo left at Kudos.
If you let us know which location you live in London I may be able to recommend a local dealer where you can test ride a bike.
Hope that helps
KudosDave

thanks for looking in kudos dave, will the cobra be able to do a 10% gradient as that is the steepest part of the climb. also just to be sure you are saying no point paying the premium for the tornado when the cobra will do the same job but being lighter?

@mike what kind of speed did you average your 50mile trips at?
what was the max gradient you had?

thank you for your help
need to make a decision by 14:00 tomorrow

 

[LEBC Tom]

Hi Velixer,

Is it you that came into the shop on Monday? If not, I only have one Tornado left but that's due to go back to Kudos as someone else is interested in it. I have another chap picking the other Tornado up tomorrow,

all the best

 

[Kudoscycles]

thanks for looking in kudos dave, will the cobra be able to do a 10% gradient as that is the steepest part of the climb. also just to be sure you are saying no point paying the premium for the tornado when the cobra will do the same job but being lighter?

@mike what kind of speed did you average your 50mile trips at?
what was the max gradient you had?

thank you for your help
need to make a decision by 14:00 tomorrow

Velixer,one man's 10% can be completely different to another's 10%,don't forget there is still rider input in pedelecs and its difficult to gauge how easy such a hill can be managed. It all depends whether you can maintain the speed above 8mph,in which case the Cobra will do your job.
I was going to suggest that you visit Tom at the LEBC(Hampton Wick,Kingston) to try the Cobra against the Tornado...perhaps you could try it against the Arriba (the motor in the Arriba and Tornado are same,the Arriba has torque sensor and hydraulic brakes)...if you are intending 40 miles per day,you really do need a bike that you are comfortable upon....at LEBC you could also try maybe the Tourer and maybe the KTM Macina Bold,giving you a broad spectrum of what these bikes can do.
Its been said many times before but never buy a bike you haven't ridden....you can adjust a car to make it fit you but if a bike is not right it will always be not right....
KudosDave

 

[velixer]

Morning tom good to see you here.
Means I can question you more on your day off >

rode the sirocco and it is quite comfortable and ends up being half the price and payable in installments with the cycle to work scheme they offer.
The reviews also have quite a few people who say they do over 30miles on the sirocco, but with you being so close I hope that you could sort out any issues I have with a kudos bike faster than woosh.

right now the only hesitation I have with the cobra v tornado is why is the weight less on the cobra but then it also costs less

22kg .: Kudos Cycles - e-bikes with style :.
20.5kg .: Kudos Cycles - e-bikes with style :.

it looks like without the 3.2kg battery pack the cobra would only weigh 17.3kg not much more than a normal bike.

looking forward to your reply tom

 

[Kudoscycles]

Morning tom good to see you here.
Means I can question you more on your day off >

rode the sirocco and it is quite comfortable and ends up being half the price and payable in installments with the cycle to work scheme they offer.
The reviews also have quite a few people who say they do over 30miles on the sirocco, but with you being so close I hope that you could sort out any issues I have with a kudos bike faster than woosh.

right now the only hesitation I have with the cobra v tornado is why is the weight less on the cobra but then it also costs less

22kg .: Kudos Cycles - e-bikes with style :.
20.5kg .: Kudos Cycles - e-bikes with style :.

it looks like without the 3.2kg battery pack the cobra would only weigh 17.3kg not much more than a normal bike.

looking forward to your reply tom

Velixer,the cycle to work scheme was a wonderful deal when first invented....but since the government have modified the scheme it is less attractive....the scheme costs 10% plus vat of the value of the bike to administer and you have to buy the bike at the end,also most retailers will give a discount to avoid using the scheme,I costed it out for a customer on a new Arriba and ultimately it would have cost an extra £400 to use the scheme.
The difference in weight between the Tornado and Cobra is directly because of the motor,the BPM motor in the Tornado weighs 4.7kg,the SWXH motor in the Cobra weighs 3.1kg.
The average weight of the electrics on these ebikes is 11kg (battery,motor,controller,display,sensors,wiring) so a Cobra as a non assisted bike will be about 10kg,not quite Carbon Bianchi but a light normal bike.
I am surprised that you don't consider the Kudos Tourer bike as a ride to work bike,especially at the current sale price....it seems a more logical choice than a MTB style bike,but I respect the choice is yours and weight is important to you.
Whatever bike you choose I hope it works well for you.
KudosDave
no doubt,Tom will have some addition to this posting

 

[RobF]

Twenty miles each way is hardened commuting, even on an ebike.

You will need mudguards, lights and probably a rack to carry stuff - clothes, sarnies, laptop etc.

All can be retrofitted to a Tornado or Arriba, but I would be looking for a bike that is at least part kitted out for commuting.

The range of the Kudos bikes means you will have to charge at both ends to be comfortable.

A 15ah battery bike will probably do the round trip.

 

[velixer]

tested the cobra again and still got to say it is a very nice bike, main differences were the cobra feels much easier to pedal with battery off but with power on cuts annoyingly in and out as you go above and below 15mph where as the tornado gradually ramps down the power as you exceed 15mph giving a much more enjoyable ride.

just rode home with the tornado.like it quite a bit and looks nice.
lets see how tomorrows 20mile trip to work goes.

 

[Streethawk]

Congratulations on the new bike. So how did the first commute go?

 

[velixer]

pretty good made it to work yesterday on level 5 of pedal assist doing minimal effort pedalling and left it to charge and used to to come home.

same again today but this morning really felt the difference the assist gave with the strong headwind.

 

[velixer]

1500 miles on and I am still happy with it.

support from kudos has been good too (got stuck and the guy gave me tele support to get the bike started again, thanks).

 

[Jimod]

1500 miles on and I am still happy with it.

support from kudos has been good too (got stuck and the guy gave me tele support to get the bike started again, thanks).

1500 miles in a couple of months is very impressive. It makes my 2500 in 2 years look rather lazy.

 

[velixer]

I got a 20mile commute to work each way so didn't take too long.
only suffering now with the risk of drivers being unable to see properly in the fog so got to wait till it warms up

 

[Cottonpickers]

I got a 20mile commute to work each way so didn't take too long.
only suffering now with the risk of drivers being unable to see properly in the fog so got to wait till it warms up

I've got 300 miles on my Tornado (fab bike) commuting also. No problems here.

Do you have a rack fitted? I'm struggling to find one that will fit. Have you fitted mud guards at all? Any tips to share on this bike for commuting?

 

[RobF]

I've got 300 miles on my Tornado (fab bike) commuting also. No problems here.

Do you have a rack fitted? I'm struggling to find one that will fit. Have you fitted mud guards at all? Any tips to share on this bike for commuting?

I've advised a few would-be commuters on this forum they will need a rack and mudguards.

Usually falls on deaf ears and they buy something without.

A seatpost rack is the obvious solution, although they are limited to a few kilos.

A seatpost mounted rear mudguard might fit as well, and for the front you could fit a deflector on the downtube.