What are you really getting ?

[Chief eZee Power]

I visited Onbike Ltd our new distributor in UK in end 2009, and I was very suprised by what the competitors are offering at the same retail price as eZee.

I have requested Onbike to post the specifications / components on eZee Bikes in a more informative way, but of course not every person knows what the parts differences are, so if anyone is going to purchase one, maybe he or she should check this with the local bike shop for advise and see what the quality and value differences are. Or else visit Onbike and take a close look at the bikes there, and make test rides.

Attached is the table for Wisper and eZee.


Yours truly
Chief eZee Operator

 

[piotrmacheta]

Thanks for the info, all very useful. They seem very similar to me which is what I'd expect from 2 bikes costing about the same. The most important things (to me at least) are the quality of the frame (weight in particular) but also geometry, the quality of the motor (efficiency and power) and the quality of the battery (lifetime).
This is why I fitted an eZee kit to my Specialized Epic mountain bike.

 

[flecc]

Many thanks for this extremely useful eZee information Wai Won, an example to all on how much better an e-bicycle's specification can be presented.
.

 

[dan]

I visited Onbike Ltd our new distributor in UK in end 2009, and I was very suprised by what the competitors are offering at the same retail price as eZee.

I have requested Onbike to post the specifications / components on eZee Bikes in a more informative way, but of course not every person knows what the parts differences are, so if anyone is going to purchase one, maybe he or she should check this with the local bike shop for advise and see what the quality and value differences are. Or else visit Onbike and take a close look at the bikes there, and make test rides.

Attached is the table for Wisper and eZee.


Yours truly
Chief eZee Operator

very interesting specifications...but what would a light weight 27 speed shimano deore non electric bike of similar specification cost in the UK ? ...remember import duty on an electric bike from China is much lower than a non electric bike

 

[Scatty]

Mybe you should do a comparison on a better spec bike wisper have always been a bit low end for the money. £1450 seems expensive for either.

 

[alex_h]

Yo chief,

thanks for posting on here. That is all the time what i was saying. Wisper offer **** parts for BIG Money which is totally inadequate to what Ezee is offering.

On the other hand Mr chief you gotta understand that Wisper has a network of dealers and you don't. Their bikes are most widely available and have more service points in the UK. You only have a On Bike which has two shops in the middle of goats pasture. So not really accessible to the public unless you travel 100 miles.

On the other habd becaus eyou don't use dealers you can fit a better quality parts to your bikes so God bless with you

as always best regards

Alex

 

[flecc]

very interesting specifications...but what would a light weight 27 speed shimano deore non electric bike of similar specification cost in the UK ? ...remember import duty on an electric bike from China is much lower than a non electric bike

Mybe you should do a comparison on a better spec bike wisper have always been a bit low end for the money. £1450 seems expensive for either.

In fairness, scale of production seems to nave been ignored:

Normal bikes UK annual sales circa 2,000,000

e-bikes UK annual sales circa 20,000, that's just 1%

A producer like eZee simply cannot compete on costs with the large scale normal bike producers.
.

 

[Cyclezee]

Exactly what I have been saying in other posts Chief, £ for £ Ezee is quite simply better value for money than Wisper when you really examine what you are getting for your £!

Somthing that always puzzles me, is that despite Wispers popularity, they have never had a test or review by AtoB. Maybe the forthcoming Electric Bike Mag could do a head to head Wisper/Ezee comparison?


J hn

 

[Xcytronex]

Exactly what I have been saying in other posts Chief, £ for £ Ezee is quite simply better value for money than Wisper when you really examine what you are getting for your £!

Somthing that always puzzles me, is that despite Wispers popularity, they have never had a test or review by AtoB. Maybe the forthcoming Electric Bike Mag could do a head to head Wisper/Ezee comparison?

I guess lack of battery + actual electrical problems for Wisper who have in their favour what appears to be a dedicated dealer service in place could be the answer to this.My Torq 1's electrical components were prone to water ingress/frequent cutting out/non running etc .This type of thing + the well detailed horror stories about Ezee battery problems /warranties not being honoured + customer problems with the original Ezee stockists in this country have knocked Ezee back in the U.K.
Having said this the Torq 1 is the best ebike I have owned -I have never had a battery problem despite thrashing the bike over 18000 miles derestricted [3rd battery purchased recently] ---a bit of waterproofing and Flecc soon solved the electrical problems.

 

[dan]

Yo chief,

On the other hand Mr chief you gotta understand that Wisper has a network of dealers and you don't. Their bikes are most widely available and have more service points in the UK. You only have a On Bike which has two shops in the middle of goats pasture. So not really accessible to the public unless you travel 100 miles.

On the other habd becaus eyou don't use dealers you can fit a better quality parts to your bikes so God bless with you

as always best regards

Alex

Yes taking the dealer layer out of the cake makes all the difference....but is it value for money.

 

[Chief eZee Power]

Value for money

Thanks for the info, all very useful. They seem very similar to me which is what I'd expect from 2 bikes costing about the same. The most important things (to me at least) are the quality of the frame (weight in particular) but also geometry, the quality of the motor (efficiency and power) and the quality of the battery (lifetime).
This is why I fitted an eZee kit to my Specialized Epic mountain bike.

Bicycles have 2 wheels, and they are not all the same. Walmark or Tesco may have one at $100, the one that Lance Armstrong competes would be more than $10,000. That's where the cost of each and every part comes in to make the difference.

I can understand not everyone is in the bicycle business so such things are not so obvious.

Shimano mountain bike series starts with entry level - Tourney (made in China) , next is Altus, then Alivio and then Deore (made in Japan) at the top. Within Deore sub-series there are those that cost an arm and a leg. I don't know what the OTC retail prices are in UK, but just very basic information Tourney shifter, derailleur, sprocket cost adds to about US$10 and the same in Deore we use is about US$ 30.00 for mfrs like us. This is 3X more. There is a very big difference in performance between the Tourney and the Deore.

Devil is in the details. We replace all the steel screws, nuts, and bolts that comes with the many of the parts like the head stem, carrier, kick stand, etc and even the grub screw in the throttle with high quality stainless steel parts.

Value for money is what we provide. eZee as the manufacturer is located in Shanghai and we sell direct to Onbike which sells direct to the consumer. Wisper bikes are made by a company called Active (near Shanghai) , goes to Wisper and then to dealers or retailers then to consumer, each step have to take a cut.

Talk about development, we have frequent and direct access to numerous suppliers for the frame, bicycle parts, battery, chargers, etc, in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, some within an hr drive and others with 3 hrs flight. We have our own design and engineering team here.

We have all the options available in Shimano Alfine (since 2007), Nexus 8, Magura, Rohloff, and very soon the NuVinci. And other European products like Axa Defender locks, Pletscher carrier and kick stand.

eZee will have the ultimate Deluxe e-bike, hopefully but July 2010 we will have a FULL titanium Torq model - " eZ Torq T1" available made with superb craftmanships, with incredible options available for the discerning rider with deep pockets. It has been more than 3 years in the making.

Let Onbike know if you are interested, and keep a look out on our website eZee electric bicycles: index


Yours truly,
Chief eZee Operator

 

[dan]

In fairness, scale of production seems to nave been ignored:

Normal bikes UK annual sales circa 2,000,000

e-bikes UK annual sales circa 20,000, that's just 1%

A producer like eZee simply cannot compete on costs with the large scale normal bike producers.
.

eZee sell all over the world not just the UK....the only non standard part on their bike is the frame, and that is also probable used by other manufacturers...so scale of production is not the big issue....the issue is scale of margin

 

[flecc]

eZee sell all over the world not just the UK....the only non standard part on their bike is the frame, and that is also probable used by other manufacturers...so scale of production is not the big issue....the issue is scale of margin

Wai Won has given one answer to this with his comments on the detailing, which involves higher labour/time costs. Hand built wheels also.

Normal bikes also sell all over the world, usually in more markets than the e-bikes.
.

 

[flecc]

eZee will have the ultimate Deluxe e-bike, hopefully but July 2010 we will have a FULL titanium Torq model - " eZ Torq T1" available made with superb craftmanships, with incredible options available for the discerning rider with deep pockets. It has been more than 3 years in the making.

Let Onbike know if you are interested, and keep a look out on our website eZee electric bicycles: index


Yours truly,
Chief eZee Operator

Now that sounds very tempting!
.

 

[Scatty]

ezee are fast becoming a premium quality outfit in the making.

Best of luck to you

As a side note, I have ridden a few wispers and can honestly say it was nothing to shout about (especially as they're at the `PREMIUM` end of the market)

 

[Rab C Nesbitt]

There seems to be a quite a few posters lining up to have a kick at the Wisper - which is fair enough, as I'm sure they're big enough and ugly enough to look after themselves.

All I would say is this - they have the goolies to stand by their battery with a 2 year warranty - my ex neighbour had the misfortune (his words) to own a Torq and had nothing but constant grief with battery problems (the dearest door stop he'd ever bought, he said) and electrical horror stories. When he tried to speak to dealers /Ezee about honouring battery warranty, everyone seemed to run for cover and disappear.

Now I accept all this happened a while back and has been well documented I believe, however, as xCytronex said, the customer problems from that time knocked Ezee's reputation back a bit in the UK.

Also, I'm all for these comparison tables because they do give you a good overview of several products but do me one favour - don't omit certain lines because your product might not look good against another e.g. dealer networks or battery warranty where Wisper may be better - we're not stupid, we can make an informed and balanced judgement by saying that Ezee may have better derailleurs and other components but Wisper have the back up if something goes wrong.

I should add that I have nothing whatsoever to do with Ezee or Wisper - neither of these bikes float my boat - I fancy something from the Emotion range myself

 

[flecc]

my ex neighbour had the misfortune (his words) to own a Torq and had nothing but constant grief with battery problems (the dearest door stop he'd ever bought, he said) and electrical horror stories.

For all that, the Torq 1 remains a legend in e-biking, quite unique. In this last week alone, two members have said it was the best e-bike they've owned despite the earlier battery issues, and we have many others who agree.

Support is certainly important, but the riding experience on a bike is very important with far more time spent riding than repairing. In that respect and despite it's faults, the Torq 1 had a very special quality with few equals.
.

 

[jasono]

Also, I'm all for these comparison tables because they do give you a good overview of several products but do me one favour - don't omit certain lines because your product might not look good against another e.g. dealer networks or battery warranty where Wisper may be better - we're not stupid, we can make an informed and balanced judgement by saying that Ezee may have better derailleurs and other components but Wisper have the back up if something goes wrong.

I'm with you on this Rab, comparison tables are useful but they need to be on a balanced set of criteria and not just cherry picking where one brand scores higher than another. But then again I guess that's marketing for you! I am sure Wisper could produce another comparison table showing number of dealers, batter warranty and range, etc, etc. It's interesting stuff all the same

 

[Rab C Nesbitt]

For all that, the Torq 1 remains a legend in e-biking, quite unique. In this last week alone, two members have said it was the best e-bike they've owned despite the earlier battery issues, and we have many others who agree.

Support is certainly important, but the riding experience on a bike is very important with far more time spent riding than repairing. In that respect and despite it's faults, the Torq 1 had a very special quality with few equals.
.

flecc
I totally agree that what counts is time in the saddle - whether my neighbour was just unlucky with his Torq I don't know - and I don't doubt that the Torq 1 has many devoted followers and is/was an excellent machine.

I'm not sure if he owned a Torq 1 or Torq 2 (if there was one) . . . . . was there a version called " a f*ck*ng Torq" because that how I remember him referring to his

 

[flecc]

I'm not sure if he owned a Torq 1 or Torq 2 (if there was one) . . . . . was there a version called " a f*ck*ng Torq" because that how I remember him referring to his

That's the one.

I had one and it's motor went in week two, but I dropped the wheels out, stuffed the bike into my hatchback and took a 320 mile round trip to Loughborough. Some might think a lot of trouble, but I was rewarded by "Chief eZee Power" himself fitting a new motor wheel that ran perfectly from then on. It did get through three of those early batteries in 16 months, but it was loads of fun destroying them.
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