Over 2,800 test rides at the Gadget Show Live

[Wisper Bikes]

The dust is now beginning to settle after the most hectic few days of my electric bike career.

The FreeGo Wisper Group were one of four electric bike businesses offered the opportunity to partner the Gadget Show Live at Earls Court. It was very short notice, so the other three companies understandably decided not to go. Being very close to London, I decided it would be worth while exploring a little further. The Gadget Show organisers were looking for a single company to take over the management of the whole test ride area, including decoration, health and safety etc.

Although we were asked not to let others use the track, everyone that contacted me was catered for. We even had the M55 out there, a real beast but at £28,500 maybe a tad over my budget. Smarta had a bike on the stand and also showed a new E Monocycle! I tried out the Volt 2KW mountain bike, wow, really tricky keeping the front wheel on the floor when I opened it up down the back straight!

The crowds were absolutely amazing, we managed to get 2,843 people to test ride an electric bike, many for the first time ever. Some of the we 30 bikes available for testing knocked up more than 140 miles in the three days. Hard work indeed but the interest in our bikes was nothing short of phenomenal.

The undoubted star of the show was the amazing Riese and Muller BlueLABEL Charger, definitely the best electric bike I have ever ridden. In 2013 only the second electric bike ever to win the coveted Gold Medal at Eurobike. It is light, responsive and so, so nimble. The Riese and Muller Delite was also a great favourite for those who were looking for a full suspension off roader. The model we had on the track boasted Fox air suspension that could be remotely set up from the handle bars, with the Rolhoff 14 on the rear wheel, this bike was truly incredible.

With more reasonable price tags, the FreeGos and Wispers were the most popular amongst those thinking of buying their first electric bikes.

A great event, and the busiest I have ever attended, there is no doubt that we are on the way. Maybe it will take a while to get to the same levels as the Dutch and Germans where now electric bikes far outsell (in terms of revenue) all other classes of pedal bikes put together, but we have certainly turned a corner.

For more information and images of this fantastic event please go to https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=575177755885737&set=a.575173309219515.1073741832.385772541492927&type=1&theater



All the best

David

 

[Croxden]

David, where is the 'Charger' on the web page?

 

[Electrifying Cycles]

You can only see it if you display German language. They are updating website so it should be up shortly.

Or you can see it on our website Riese & Müller inc. Blue Label electric bikes folding bikes
Or email me: dw@electrifyingcycles.co.uk and I can email you the Blue Label brochure. Our website is being updated with more information about the bikes and others over the next few weeks.

Hope this helps.

 

[Croxden]

Ok got it now, thanks. I should have a Delite 2 on order via my dealer but the Charger seems good too, I like the belt drive but can't have both bikes. Just have to put up with the Delite and smile

 

[Wisper Bikes]

I have just finished crunching the numbers from the questions asked and notes taken at the Gadget Show. More than 2,800 people tested our bikes. From the sample of about 20% of all those that tried a bike, interestingly, considering that the cross section of UK public with an interest in Gadgets were at the event, nearly 70% hadn't a clue what an electric bike was and for more than 95% this was their first ever ride!

Probably shows why in the UK were are selling so few machines compared to Germany and Holland!

Any ideas on how we get our message to the general public?

All the best

David

 

[Blew it]

Any ideas on how we get our message to the general public?

The 'General Public' got the message way back in the forties. The difference between Britain and Mainland Europe is quite simply a matter of the way in which transport was prioritised in the following years. In Europe, bicycles were provided with their own network of routes, the bicycle being recognised as a legitimate form of transport. Compare that to Britain, where motor transport has always taken precedence over bicycles, contraptions that clutter the roads and reduce traffic flow and, the "sacrificial lambs" who are bravely trying to change this are paying with their lives. Fortunately, I live in a town which has recognised the bicycle for its worth as a means of travel, always on segregated routes. Yes, they are shared with pedestrians but, I can still average 10-11 mph over a twenty mile ride...a normal average speed for any bicycle.

Until such time as the Government changes its attitude towards bicycles, they will remain fashionable "green" novelties, not an alternative form of transport.

It's not the British public you need to target.

 

[trex]

might it have something to do with average rainfall?

 

[Croxden]

To get the knowledge of power assisted bikes into the mind of the British public is TV promotion via a soap opera, a pop group video or a series of plays, where a charecter would make good use of the bike. Drip the information into the minds of the viewers.

On my rides I meet people, some are vaguely aware but have never seen one but if I let them have a try they certainly are impressed. It was the cost (of mine) that put them off but it was a dear bike. I tell them there are others available, local dealers would help but it seems most of the country doesn't have any and little choice of bikes
to try.

Kudos did his tour last year and invited others to join, with a bit of publicity around the area, get a football player to have a go. TV news would be there to get the message out.

Where I live it is hilly and that puts most off biking who would otherwise do it. They want one, (E-bike) but just don't know it.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

There also needs to be an effort to get eBikes into traditional bike shops.

At the moment most bike shops are owned by cycle enthusiasts, and they view eBikes as cheating. As more shops open and evolve to view bikes as a form of transport and not just a sport / hobby the ebike market in the uk will grow.


Up until now the ebike industry in the uk has had too many small unreliable brands that traditional bike shops have tried and aren't prepared to support so gave up. Hopefully now more decent sized brands are getting into the ebike market we will see good growth over the next couple of years.

Comparison to Europe isn't really fair, because even the normal cycle market is very different, lots of brands sell huge volume in Europe that don't sell any in the uk,, and this is because in Europe cycling is a form of transport, and in the uk it's a hobby.

 

[trex]

for e-bikes to become more attractive to the traditional cyclists, you need to have bikes that look similar to their bikes, weigh only a little more and last as long as their bikes.
Until you can shrink the battery to half their current size, pipe dream I think.
Too many brands concentrate on designing futuristic frames leveraging on the electrical features, making them stick out so obviously and put cyclists off. Competition also drive many brands to add features that are hard to justify the cost of, such as 14-speed Rolhoff on an electric bike while most of the time, 3 would suffice.
In the short term, to get more cyclists to become e-cyclists, you need e-kits, not fully built bikes.

 

[Kudoscycles]

might it have something to do with average rainfall?

Trex....every business trip I do to Holland,it always seems to be 'precipitating'....translated ....issing down!!!
KudosDave

 

[Kudoscycles]

Unfortunately the market still makes it difficult to have stand alone e-bike shops,the profit on lower priced e-bikes is just not enough for a shop to survive. A good e-bike shop may sell say 200 e-bikes per annum,that averages out at say £50k profit,take £15k rent and £20k business rates plus all the other costs that governments have dreamed up and quite frankly it is almost impossible to make a profit.
That is why the e-bike shops have tended to sell higher value bikes where the profit is much greater,alternatively they have to be part of a cycle shop with its greater volume in non assisted bikes...but unfortunately most bike shops don't want the complexity and image problem associated with e-bikes. So that leaves the internet,where e-bikes can be sold cheaply because they don't have the costs associated with a bike dealer,but then you don't get the personal service and the ability to 'try before you buy'.
The business rates cost has to be addressed,it is killing small businesses....in Germany and Switzerland rents are half what we have here and business rates are 10% of the UK.....if you Google Stromer-Switzerland just look at the beautiful bike shops,they are like airport terminals in size,massive stocks and not all high price bikes. But unfortunately here,the local councils rely heavily on business rates for their income,albeit handed out by governments,the government cannot easily replace that revenue.
Until there is a massive change in the overheads of retail space then e-bike shops will primarily be small and in low budget locations...its a shame because I don't think that the internet is the best way of buying e-bikes.
KudosDave

 

[Blew it]

Comparison to Europe isn't really fair, because even the normal cycle market is very different, lots of brands sell huge volume in Europe that don't sell any in the uk,, and this is because in Europe cycling is a form of transport, and in the uk it's a hobby.

Which is exactly what I said, so how is it unfair to compare Mainland Europe with Britain? A cyclist is a cyclist no matter what flag they ride under.

 

[EddiePJ]

Shame that the Riese and Muller BlueLABEL Charger doesn't come fitted with rigid front forks as stand, or an option of.

Still a very nice looking and clean/simplistic styled bike though.

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

A cyclist is a cyclist no matter what flag they ride under.

No they are not, which is my point... In most of Europe people ride bikes as a form of transport, and shops and the market cater for this, a small % ride bikes as a hobby and sport. In the UK the situation is the exact opposite, here most shops and the market cater for the sport / hobby rider, and it's these same people who generally ride to work. In the UK the number of people who have a bike and only use it as a form of transport is very very small. And this is an important difference between uk and European cyclists.

 

[flecc]

Indeed, utility cycling is almost non-existent in the UK, but in much of Northern Europe it's a normal way of getting around for any purpose.