It has been a few years since our last foray into electric bikes and to be fair a lot has happened since then. New companies have entered the market and battery technology has come along in leaps and bounds. We have been using our standard bikes more and more over the years however age and failing health is taking its toll and even the slightest hill looks like Mount Everest. So we have decided to research this mode of transport again (but will be much more diligent than last time out).
After asking lots of questions and getting bogged down with some controversial answers, not to mention ruffling a few feathers along the way we finally managed to create a shortlist of possible bikes. Before I go into the bikes themselves I should lay out our rationale for choosing these particular types of bikes and hope this will assist other potential e-bikers in helping them make up their mind on what/which to go for.
First of all we considered the type of riding we do and our riding location(s), We don't leap off up mountain trails but mainly poodle along cycle tracks, tow paths or urban trips to town shopping so a full suspension mountain bike would not be required. Then I looked at weight/age and fitness levels to assess the position/type of power/torque needed. Even though we ride the same routes it was obvious from the start that we both needed different bikes as our weights are not the same.(not even close) We made note of reliability and problems mentioned by users on this and various other Bike forums in general then arrived at a rather long “shortlist” Sadly I then had to sort the bikes out by price range and inevitably cross off all the ones we liked as they were too expensive and way above our budget. This left us with a very shortlist of two or three which I attempted to drill down on in detail. Unfortunately this led to an adjustment in both budget and expectations as the bike(s) didn't have everything we wanted for our price point. So back to the drawing board.
There are literally hundreds of e-Bikes around – each manufacturer favouring front, centre or rear motor driven and as expected everyone has their own preference. I decided, based on reviews and comments on the Pedelecs forum, that a centre crank drive motor was the one for me as they delivered higher torque, however my wife being much lighter a hub motor would be suitable. This made one bike a lot easier to buy as their are far more hub models than crank models. So bike weight, range and gears helped to narrow down the list even further. We steered clear of the cheapest brands having been "burnt before" and in my opinion they looked cheap in comparison to the quality brands and decided that better quality secondhand bikes would suffice for our needs. The Nexus hub gear system appealed as it looked easier to operate and could prove more reliable than the derailer type so would suit my wife better. This pretty much sorted one bike out.
As I mentioned earlier batteries have come a long way and output, charging cycles even size as well as technology as made impressive improvements over recent years. At the end of the day owners are really only interested in one thing - range. How far can I go on a single charge of the battery. It gives the manufacturers a real headache as there are too many variables - rider weight, riding style (fast or slow), type of terrain (how many hills) which power setting do you use etc. The likes of Giant don't give a range for these reasons. My rule of thumb answer having read comments on here and elsewhere is to half the claimed range and you won't be far off.
Next I had to decide on the make of motor – there are again many different manufacturers – mainly split into Chinese, European (Bosch Impulse), Japanese (Yamaha or Panasonic). Bosch complicate things even more by producing three types of crank drive – Active, Performance or Speed. I decided in my case that I preferred either Bosch or Yamaha as they appeared more integrated than many of the Chinese models. Now I'm really starting to narrow down the choice. I preferred the Bosch set up as it looked more professionally integrated however the torque on the Bosch Active appeared a little low on power. I therefore eliminated all Bosch Active line motors. The Bosch Performance and Yamaha motors have very similar output but again not straight forward. The Bosch has more flexibility, is fitted by over 50 manufacturers and can be updated by the dealer and has a better LCD display. On the downside it is considerably more expensive. Yamaha is less flexible, the display looks more flimsy, can't be updated and only fitted by one or two manufacturers in Europe but is cheaper.
Eventually I ended up with three or four bikes that suited, so that left me with the task of deciding which one and where I ran into most trouble with my fellow bikers on here. I was surprised to discover how limited bike warranties are in comparison with say a motor car warranty. Also it seems that Bike dealers look after their own customers very well but still could charge labour on any warranty work. Non customers would certainly have trouble with any warranty work and would have to take their place behind customers. It was not clear on whether or not they would get a warranty service. This played a large part of my deliberations as it was clear that any problems would have to be paid for one way or another.
Now the sensible thing to do would be to test ride each one to make sure all your deliberations were valid and you feel comfortable riding it. Now for me that wasn't too practical as all the ones I had shortlisted were either not in stock or located some 100+ miles away. I tried all the ones I thought would be close in ride and style and that would have to do for now.
In the end I decided on the Haibike Trekking RC with Yamaha motor as it was significantly less expensive than the Bosch Performance offerings yet had all the “extras” such as lights, mudguards and a stand that I wanted. The Yamaha on paper has the most torque and several owners commented that the zero cadence came in instantly.
Next was where to buy them. Again I came under the hammer from fellow Pedelec members who shunned the likes of eBay or purchasing from European dealers in favour of "paying full price or close to full price" from local dealers and secure good customer service, so got to thinking that maybe they are right and I would have to up my price budget again.
Then I thought hang on a minute....
How are we working out some weeks after our purchase. Well good and bad. First the bad. The Haibike was packed and sent from Germany however between the carriers (one German and one UK) the package was damaged so badly that the carriers held it at the UK warehouse for "investigation" and finally sent back to Germany. This could have happened had I purchased from a UK dealer so I can't blame the dealer if the carrier drops the package. It is now scheduled to be delivered in early July. See below for part 2
The Giant on the other hand is an absolute cracker. The quality is superb and it shows. The Nexus gears are great, so easy to change whether peddling or not. Without doubt we made the right choice regarding pedalec or hand throttle. Its just great - the more you pedal the more assistance you get. We haven't needed to use the "turbo mode" as the assistance given on "normal mode" is just fine – even eco mode is fine on the flat. It is a fairly heavy machine at close to 25kgs but we haven't had to carry it yet. The battery is proving extremely good. Given that we reckon it is about 5 years old so far it is holding its charge well. The control unit displays 5 LED's to show full to empty, we can travel 16 miles before one LED goes out so on that basis I reckon we should get at least 30 miles between charges. The panniers are proving very useful for holding wet weather gear (and a substantial padlock and chain) The stand is very solid and holds the bike well. Very pleased so far. Mudguards and lights are a bonus even though they are not linked into the main battery.
Pros:
After asking lots of questions and getting bogged down with some controversial answers, not to mention ruffling a few feathers along the way we finally managed to create a shortlist of possible bikes. Before I go into the bikes themselves I should lay out our rationale for choosing these particular types of bikes and hope this will assist other potential e-bikers in helping them make up their mind on what/which to go for.
First of all we considered the type of riding we do and our riding location(s), We don't leap off up mountain trails but mainly poodle along cycle tracks, tow paths or urban trips to town shopping so a full suspension mountain bike would not be required. Then I looked at weight/age and fitness levels to assess the position/type of power/torque needed. Even though we ride the same routes it was obvious from the start that we both needed different bikes as our weights are not the same.(not even close) We made note of reliability and problems mentioned by users on this and various other Bike forums in general then arrived at a rather long “shortlist” Sadly I then had to sort the bikes out by price range and inevitably cross off all the ones we liked as they were too expensive and way above our budget. This left us with a very shortlist of two or three which I attempted to drill down on in detail. Unfortunately this led to an adjustment in both budget and expectations as the bike(s) didn't have everything we wanted for our price point. So back to the drawing board.
There are literally hundreds of e-Bikes around – each manufacturer favouring front, centre or rear motor driven and as expected everyone has their own preference. I decided, based on reviews and comments on the Pedelecs forum, that a centre crank drive motor was the one for me as they delivered higher torque, however my wife being much lighter a hub motor would be suitable. This made one bike a lot easier to buy as their are far more hub models than crank models. So bike weight, range and gears helped to narrow down the list even further. We steered clear of the cheapest brands having been "burnt before" and in my opinion they looked cheap in comparison to the quality brands and decided that better quality secondhand bikes would suffice for our needs. The Nexus hub gear system appealed as it looked easier to operate and could prove more reliable than the derailer type so would suit my wife better. This pretty much sorted one bike out.
As I mentioned earlier batteries have come a long way and output, charging cycles even size as well as technology as made impressive improvements over recent years. At the end of the day owners are really only interested in one thing - range. How far can I go on a single charge of the battery. It gives the manufacturers a real headache as there are too many variables - rider weight, riding style (fast or slow), type of terrain (how many hills) which power setting do you use etc. The likes of Giant don't give a range for these reasons. My rule of thumb answer having read comments on here and elsewhere is to half the claimed range and you won't be far off.
Next I had to decide on the make of motor – there are again many different manufacturers – mainly split into Chinese, European (Bosch Impulse), Japanese (Yamaha or Panasonic). Bosch complicate things even more by producing three types of crank drive – Active, Performance or Speed. I decided in my case that I preferred either Bosch or Yamaha as they appeared more integrated than many of the Chinese models. Now I'm really starting to narrow down the choice. I preferred the Bosch set up as it looked more professionally integrated however the torque on the Bosch Active appeared a little low on power. I therefore eliminated all Bosch Active line motors. The Bosch Performance and Yamaha motors have very similar output but again not straight forward. The Bosch has more flexibility, is fitted by over 50 manufacturers and can be updated by the dealer and has a better LCD display. On the downside it is considerably more expensive. Yamaha is less flexible, the display looks more flimsy, can't be updated and only fitted by one or two manufacturers in Europe but is cheaper.
Eventually I ended up with three or four bikes that suited, so that left me with the task of deciding which one and where I ran into most trouble with my fellow bikers on here. I was surprised to discover how limited bike warranties are in comparison with say a motor car warranty. Also it seems that Bike dealers look after their own customers very well but still could charge labour on any warranty work. Non customers would certainly have trouble with any warranty work and would have to take their place behind customers. It was not clear on whether or not they would get a warranty service. This played a large part of my deliberations as it was clear that any problems would have to be paid for one way or another.
Now the sensible thing to do would be to test ride each one to make sure all your deliberations were valid and you feel comfortable riding it. Now for me that wasn't too practical as all the ones I had shortlisted were either not in stock or located some 100+ miles away. I tried all the ones I thought would be close in ride and style and that would have to do for now.
In the end I decided on the Haibike Trekking RC with Yamaha motor as it was significantly less expensive than the Bosch Performance offerings yet had all the “extras” such as lights, mudguards and a stand that I wanted. The Yamaha on paper has the most torque and several owners commented that the zero cadence came in instantly.
Next was where to buy them. Again I came under the hammer from fellow Pedelec members who shunned the likes of eBay or purchasing from European dealers in favour of "paying full price or close to full price" from local dealers and secure good customer service, so got to thinking that maybe they are right and I would have to up my price budget again.
Then I thought hang on a minute....
- On these dealer admissions I may have to pay labour on any possible repair work.
- I don't live near to any of these dealers anyway so any work would incur significant travelling costs
- In general buying from Germany is considerably cheaper than UK as bikes are the same price numerically however with the current £ v € exchange of around €1.40 - there is a significant difference off the bat. Then I discovered that German retailers are open to "negotiation" and discounts of up to 20% can be had.
How are we working out some weeks after our purchase. Well good and bad. First the bad. The Haibike was packed and sent from Germany however between the carriers (one German and one UK) the package was damaged so badly that the carriers held it at the UK warehouse for "investigation" and finally sent back to Germany. This could have happened had I purchased from a UK dealer so I can't blame the dealer if the carrier drops the package. It is now scheduled to be delivered in early July. See below for part 2
The Giant on the other hand is an absolute cracker. The quality is superb and it shows. The Nexus gears are great, so easy to change whether peddling or not. Without doubt we made the right choice regarding pedalec or hand throttle. Its just great - the more you pedal the more assistance you get. We haven't needed to use the "turbo mode" as the assistance given on "normal mode" is just fine – even eco mode is fine on the flat. It is a fairly heavy machine at close to 25kgs but we haven't had to carry it yet. The battery is proving extremely good. Given that we reckon it is about 5 years old so far it is holding its charge well. The control unit displays 5 LED's to show full to empty, we can travel 16 miles before one LED goes out so on that basis I reckon we should get at least 30 miles between charges. The panniers are proving very useful for holding wet weather gear (and a substantial padlock and chain) The stand is very solid and holds the bike well. Very pleased so far. Mudguards and lights are a bonus even though they are not linked into the main battery.
Pros:
- Very good quality
- We expected to have to replace the battery within the first 6 months however the battery is behaving very good.
- Nexus gears are far superior as far as my wife is concerned (and me too)
- Panniers a real bonus
- Good saddle
- Very easy to ride without power (a bonus as we don't know how good the battery is)
- We have changed the peddles as the Giant ones were prone to slipping on ordinary shoes
- At almost 25kgs it is heavy to lift on and off the bike rack.
