Pedelec product review representative

[shemozzle999]

I have been wondering if we could have a person allocated to act on behalf of Pedelecs to contact dealers/manufactures requesting product samples for review.

Currently members have been purchasing and reviewing items at their own expense.

I don't know if this site draws enough interest for dealers/manufacturers to send in product but it might be worth trying.

 

[trex]

I may be cynical but I tend to believe more 'bad' stories by owners like denwyn, mjwobble, brianC, maloflora etc. Quite often, the brands come out on top but the stories reveal weaknesses of the products or support system.

 

[Cyclezee]

Cyclezee would be happy submit our products to a truly independent review.
I have some questions though, who is going to do it, will they do it free of charge, if not what are the costs likely to be?

In the past we have offered bikes to various magazines for review, but if you don't pay the magazine for advertising they are not interested.

Another point is if the review is to be of conversion kits then for the purposes of benchmarking they would really need to be installed on one particular make and model of donor bike.

This then raises the question, what bike will that be, who is going to pay for it, who is going to do the installation, supplier or tester, what will be the duration of the test.

Finally, who is truly independent and trusted, has the skills and knowledge to do the review?

I am willing to be proved wrong, but to be meaningful it is not quite as simple as me seem.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Woosh have already offered their bikes to the forum for review free of charge, and the reviewers have also done it freely. There's nothing to stop any retailers/wholesalers from doing the same if they have enough confidence in their product.

 

[Cyclezee]

Woosh have already offered their bikes to the forum for review free of charge, and the reviewers have also done it freely. There's nothing to stop any retailers/wholesalers from doing the same if they have enough confidence in their product.

I am assuming that the OP was was referring to kits when he posted in this section.

 

[Cyclezee]

Woosh have already offered their bikes to the forum for review free of charge, and the reviewers have also done it freely. There's nothing to stop any retailers/wholesalers from doing the same if they have enough confidence in their product.

If the reviews that you are referring to are the ones found in this section http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums/electric-bike-reviews.17/, they are are by individual members and not one person.

I would however like to nominate Jackhandy and Falmouthtony to perform the kit reviews http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/cyclezee-kit-review.16330/

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Hmmm! That's not really a review. it's more like a customer bleating superlatives on first impressions. How does it compare with other kits, which is what most people want to know? Where's the bit about fitting the kit? What's involved? What problems are there? How did he adapt the front forks to get the motor in? What sort of control system does it have? How did he deal with brake cut-offs and PAS, etc. etc?

When you dig under the surface, you often find that people didn't fit half of the stuff because it was too much trouble. and then the forks broke a month later because they didn't have the right instructions or hardware on how to fit the motor. I'm not saying that your Ezee kit is like that, but in order to compare it with others, people would want to know these sort of things from a review.

PS Nothing to do with your posts, and I hope you don't take offence at this , but every time I see Falmouthtony, I read it as Foulmouthtony. Tony, I think you need to change your name if that's possible, or is it just me?

 

[Cyclezee]

Hmmm! That's not really a review. it's more like a customer bleating superlatives on first impressions. How does it compare with other kits, which is what most people want to know? Where's the bit about fitting the kit? What's involved? What problems are there? How did he adapt the front forks to get the motor in? What sort of control system does it have? How did he deal with brake cut-offs and PAS, etc. etc?

When you dig under the surface, you often find that people didn't fit half of the stuff because it was too much trouble. and then the forks broke a month later because they didn't have the right instructions or hardware on how to fit the motor. I'm not saying that your Ezee kit is like that, but in order to compare it with others, people would want to know these sort of things from a review.

With respect Dave, you are not getting my point.

The review section of the forum mainly consists of this type of review, an owners individual experience, rather than an in depth independent assessment.

I therefore nominate you as the person best equipped for the task

 

[Croxden]

PS Nothing to do with your posts, and I hope you don't take offence at this , but every time I see Falmouthtony, I read it as Foulmouthtony. Tony, I think you need to change your name if that's possible, or is it just me?

Until you just pointed it out, I did think it foul-mouth. I must pay more attention.

 

[trex]

how about shemozzle? is he too close to you for comfort?

 

[shemozzle999]

Firstly, yes my thoughts were aimed at kits and innovative parts being developed for electric bicycles, complete bicycle reviews are already well covered by the community.

Unfortunately, most parts are made in the far east and the only route to getting hands on testing is for members to purchase them and write about their findings.

I feel as if the community could now use its influence by having a dedicated representative to approach these companies for review samples.

Obviously this would require a great deal of time and administration for the appointed representative and be subject to whether or not site owners would want to pursue along this avenue.

The actual reviews could be opened up to interested members, of which there are many, or a completely independent person.

I just feel we are missing the opportunity to develop this section of the community.

I presently would have no time to participate myself due to other commitments but feel there are plenty within the community capably qualified to carry out this task.

 

[Cyclezee]

Firstly, yes my thoughts were aimed at kits and innovative parts being developed for electric bicycles, complete bicycle reviews are already well covered by the community.

Unfortunately, most parts are made in the far east and the only route to getting hands on testing is for members to purchase them and write about their findings.

I feel as if the community could now use its influence by having a dedicated representative to approach these companies for review samples.

Obviously this would require a great deal of time and administration for the appointed representative and be subject to whether or not site owners would want to pursue along this avenue.

The actual reviews could be opened up to interested members, of which there are many, or a completely independent person.

I just feel we are missing the opportunity to develop this section of the community.

I presently would have no time to participate myself due to other commitments but feel there are plenty within the community capably qualified to carry out this task.

and who else is better equipped to take on this mammoth task other than the person I nominated earlier D8veh



I doubt if there will be a rush of volunteers?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Deathly silence.

It looks like I'll be going to the Shanghai bike show again in a couple of months. I'll ask some of the people there if this sort of thing would be of interest, but I can't really see it being so. Suppose someone came up with a new kit or motor. Let's say they sent it over for review and it was found to be good. How many would they sell direct? I think maybe 5 or 10 per year. I think they'd be happier to appoint a UK agent to do the marketing for them. It would be up to the agent to send the stuff out for review at his cost.

i think that the idea is sound, but I'm not sure about the practicalities of making it work because of the size of the market and diversity of stuff and suppliers.

 

[eHomer]

The basic idea of having independent reviews of Chinese ebike components is excellent.

As always, the funding is the tricky part, in both the sourcing of the components and the tester's (or testers') time.

To be of maximum value, the test conditions and the tester competence would have to be consistent, for the reader's to evaluate and have confidence in the results, good or bad.

I would guess that feedback on eBike kit is the main reason why people visit this part of the forum, to hear about other people's genuine experiences of the products on offer, and for that, it is a great asset.

The accuracy of unregulated amateur reviews varies greatly depending on the actual aptitude and knowledge of the authors, rather than how they see themselves. Internet feedback always has to be read with an open mind, like on Amazon & Ebay etc..

I've learnt a great deal on this forum, the quality of the information is excellent.

 

[jackhandy]

[quote="eHomer, post: 208527, ]

The accuracy of unregulated amateur reviews varies greatly depending on the actual aptitude and knowledge of the authors, rather than how they see themselves. Internet feedback always has to be read with an open mind, like on Amazon & Ebay etc..

.[/quote]

Amen

 

[shemozzle999]

To be able to review first you need to secure products.

It is very difficult as an individual buyer to convince them that the inquiry is genuine and it takes much effort to build up a rapport but once established I find them very pleasant to deal with. They normally prefer to deal with OEM companies.

I think the community is now quite well known and having one dedicated person representing the community would offer a better chance of securing possible review samples.

One simple polite introductory email introducing themselves outlining the nature of the website and offering them an invitation to showcase their product in a review.

If successful I would be prepared to donate funds for the purchase of a basic bicycle to carry out the conversion on, just to get the thing up and running,