What bike

Garry Poulton

Finding my (electric) wheels
Sep 18, 2018
24
1
70
West Midlands England
OK, so I retired last year and I have been riding an old Ailen ebike for the last year or so. I now feel the time is right for a new bike but i have a budget of £1000 max. What do you advise, im 6' 2" tall and use the bike for leasure rides upto 30 miles or so mainly on country lanes and surfaced paths. I look forward to your suggestions.
 

sjpt

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 8, 2018
3,642
2,652
Winchester
There are bound to be compromises at £1000. For an idea of what is around look at https://www.e-bikesdirect.co.uk/electric-bikes/bikes-under-£1000/. It may be worth stretching to £1200 if you can at all (eg Woosh range http://wooshbikes.co.uk/cart/). Or 2nd hand: we got a 2nd hand Raleigh Motus for just that kind of riding at just over £1000 a bit over a year ago.

You don't mention hills. That makes a huge difference to range. Also how much of your own work you want to put in. Lots of cheaper ebikes will have a low capacity battery and quote figures like 30 or 40 miles, whereas you may well get under half in real life. You'll probably need a 400wh (*) battery for 30 miles; more if you want the motor to do most of the work.

The Bosch range assistant (https://www.bosch-ebike.com/en/service/range-assistant/) will show you how much variation there is under different riding conditions. You'll have to fudge motor type, and scale down for battery capacity, but you'll soon get an idea for the difference between ideal and typical usage.

(*) where wh (watt hour) is not quoted, multiply aH (amp hour) by v (voltage, typically 36)
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,407
16,387
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
slightly over your budget at £1,049 is the Woosh Camino with 36V * 15AH battery that should do 30 miles with ease.
It will suit 6ft2, up to about 16st.

useful features: fully equipped for all weather, very well waterproofed, internal cable routing, matt paint, suspension fork, hydraulic brakes, Selle Royale saddle, kickstand bell, lights, puncture resistant tyres etc.


 

Garry Poulton

Finding my (electric) wheels
Sep 18, 2018
24
1
70
West Midlands England
Thank you both for your replying. I realise now l have looked around that I will need to up my budget. The Woosh Camino looks like a very good deal for the money. Are you likely to be getting any more of the higher capacity batteries?
 

sjpt

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 8, 2018
3,642
2,652
Winchester
The Camino wih 15ah should comfortably do the 30 miles you mentioned unless it is very hilly or you really rely a lot on the motor. We get 30 miles on a 13ah battery on our tandem, slightly hilly (Winchester); but only using assistance levels 2 or 3 of 5.
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
19,407
16,387
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
Thank you both for your replying. I realise now l have looked around that I will need to up my budget. The Woosh Camino looks like a very good deal for the money. Are you likely to be getting any more of the higher capacity batteries?
next arrival of 17AH Camino is in January.