Jonathan Pallant

I'm up to 6,600 miles now. The battery is still fine. It's summer, so the Nexus hub seems to be behaving itself (or maybe it's because I put a drop in the cable). It had a new chain at 6,000 miles because the old one was a bit stretched. Only one puncture since swapping to Schwalbe Marathons - much better than the Kenda tyres it came with. This bike seems to be holding up remarkably well to the abuse I give it.

I'm now up to 4,000 miles in 10 months. I've added a sub-£5 LED headlamp from BangGood.com, as recommended on this forum, which has transformed my visibility riding at night. I can't recommend them highly enough, although I do recommend a dedicated cut-off switch to avoid dazzling on-coming traffic (leaving just the factory fitted lights illuminated). The only failure I've had since writing the report above is that my second chain case broke. Luckily, I was able to piece together a complete one from the two partial ones I had. It's my fault really - I caught the rear axle cover on the wheel of my other bike when bringing it in to the conservatory. Because it continues to function well, I'd be inclined to raise my original review to an 8/10.

Seasoned with what? That's the question.

I've done 2,500 miles with rigid forks, crappy rim brakes and a front motor and I'm quite happy, so they'll probably sell at least a few.

I've been riding my Kudous Tourer on my 28 mile round-trip commute most week days for the last six months. Here are my thoughts. Reviewer: Jonathan Pallant Purchased From: e Bikes Direct Purchase Price: £999 (through cyclescheme.co.uk) Time Owned: Six months Local Terrain: Flat ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Strengths: By and large this bike just works. I charge it at night and I charge it on my desk at work. I jump on it, crank it up to maximum boost, ride it for 14 miles at around the legal limit, then get off again, twice a day. If I'm tired, I put next to no effort in and if I'm feeling fit, I lift it above the speed limiter. The saddle took some getting used to but I've have no real aches or pains (apart from my hands - I'll come on to that). My commute is largely flat, but there is a slight hill at the home end, and there are some short, but severe, inclines as the cycle path drops down to water level and then back up to embankment level. These pose no problem. The ability to change gear while stationary is amazingly useful. I do it at every set of lights I come to, while my fellow riders clack-clack-clack away on approach, or curse their choice of gear when the lights go green. The kickstand is very sturdy, as is the frame. The lights are powered from the battery and I've used them to ride in otherwise pitch-black countryside miles from any street lights. The speedo is easy to read and has a backlight you can turn on. I like the speedo in rotating mode, where it cycles between odometer, trip, stopwatch and max speed. If I forget to charge the bike it will complete both legs of the journey without trouble, but it will not complete a third. I fell off the bike in the rain (and later passed out underneath it while walking it back) and the only damage was that I bent the key in the frame lock. The key and the lock still work though. I can drop the wheels off in a few minutes, despite the necessary complications caused by the Nexus hub and particularly the roller brake, while the front motor just unplugs. The bike then fits in my car upside down quite nicely. I've added bar ends for comfort, which was easy to do. The included double-pannier straps down, rather than clipping on, but I tend to leave it on the bike all the time anyway as it carries my tool kit. As a bonus, it hides the battery quite nicely. You'll read below that a few items have needed replacing, but nothing on this bike is particularly difficult to replace, nor particularly expensive. The vendor has been most accommodating and sent replacement parts when required. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Weaknesses: I've had two tube failures so far and I'm inclined to put these down to rim tape failure rather than a puncture from something on the road. This is easy to rectify. I've also had a tyre wear through to the rope, but that was my fault for not replacing it after it deformed (probably due to a pot hole). The Kenda tyres don't offer a lot of lateral grip in driving wind and rain, so I've swapped the duff tyre for a Schwalbe Marathon. The brake lever cut-out switch failed (leaving the motor in-operable), but it was easy to first disable (by pulling a connector) and then later replace (if you splice the wires - I didn't fancy unpicking the loom and feeding the new cable through). The first two batteries didn't work, but the third is a champ. The chain case broke off, but the bike has had some abuse over kerbs and so on. The bike is heavy, but I'm able to man-handle it in and out of my conservatory up and down a step every day without trouble. At all other times the weight is irrelevant - I can easily outrun most other bikes at the lights, right up until I hit the ~15 mph limit. The Nexus hub was a bit fiddly to adjust, and it doesn't like being cold, but it's working very well at the moment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: This is a good starter bike made from simple, reliable, ingredients. The combination of Nexus hub, encased chain and front motor is perfect for commuting. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall Rating (out of 10) : 7/10

I ride my e-bike to work every day and I get slaughtered on the time sheets by MAMILs. I should add though, it's pretty flat...

Ah, yes, it's a Kudos Tourer. But not the one you sold the chap who lives around the corner from me. I bought mine first from eBikesDirect and he liked it so much he bought one himself. Yes I was wearing a helmet. It's now in the bin as it took a bit of a whack.

I've been managing about four days a week on the bike on average over the last two months - thanks to bad weather, illness, holidays, accidents, etc. This is what came up on the ride home. I've had one accident so far - bike went from under me sideways while crossing a road. The tyres really don't have a lot of grip in the wet. I got up, walked to the side of the road and then passed out in a heap on the ground! My battery issues are well documented on here, but battery #3 has been fine. I can do a 26 mile round trip without recharging in the middle, but I usually charge it at both ends anyway. The gauge shows full in the picture but I've done 11 miles into a head wind at that point. I've never seen more than two blobs out! The charging indicator is weirdly unstable once the battery is charged, but it doesn't seem to affect anything. The cut-off wire came out of one of the brake levers, but I got a new lever sent out next day (although the observant will notice I haven't bothered splicing it in yet...) The only downside to cycling is fighting your way through clouds of bugs along by the lakes. I quickly learnt to check I had my sunglasses with me! Maybe we'll get to 6k by the time it's a year old?

I seem to have damaged the left hand / rear brake lever on my Kudos Tourer. The mechanical lever and braking is fine, but the microswitch has failed closed-circuit, preventing the motor from running. I've unplugged it for now, and I've got a new one coming in the post but I wondered, is this common or are they normally fairly reliable?

I tried a Big Bear and another Woosh with crank drive (think it was a Sirocco CDL). I preferred the hub motor as it made changing gear much simpler and I haven't got the hills that might make the crank drive worth the bother. Nice bikes either way, and I was tempted, but Cyclescheme forced me elsewhere.

I'm 5'11" and around 80kg and I'm quite happy on my Kudos Tourer, although I prefer the adjustable handlebars on my old Claud Butler hybrid. It comes in under the £1000 credit limit and e-Bikes Direct shipped it direct to my door.

In the morning, yes. Bit of a head wind between Longstanton and Oakington.

Had a lovely ride in this morning. 13.7 miles in 58 minutes dead. Wonderful.

After much digging, I found out the Kudos Tourer (and possibly other models) is fitted with Bigstone C300 LCD. The user manual can now be found on my website here and here. It's been really bugging me having it stuck in km/h mode. Now I know what to to! Hopefully it's helpful to others too.

Opening the battery has been ruled out by the manufacturer. A third battery is on its way.

OK, so, an update. I received a new battery on Tuesday and this appears to be charging correctly (red light, battery voltage up to 42V). I set off this morning (Wednesday) and the bike cut out after a few miles. The symptoms are that the LCD screen goes blank and the motor stops working (the lights go out too, but I didn't know that this morning as I didn't have them on). I'm pretty sure the battery is still full at this point, so I stop, eject the battery pack and refit it. Pushing the power button re-activates the control unit and we're off again. Another few miles down the road, this whole process is repeated. The third time it died, I simply carried on cycling and 30 seconds later, turned the control unit back on. It fired up, and we're off. The fourth time it died, I was so near the office I didn't bother. I spoke to the supplier on the telephone and their technical guy rang me straight back. He agreed with me it sounded like a loose connection and invited me to lift the lid on the wiring compartment and check each of the push-fit connectors, one by one. Oh my goodness. What a mess! I checked all the connectors and despite the odd poorly crimped wire, the bullet connectors for the battery didn't seem too bad, so I put it all back. I lost count of how many times the bike died on the way home (well over a dozen), but it almost always correlated with going over a bump. Sadly, this would also take out my bike lights. I was lucky to have a friend cycle with me, so we'd carry on by the light from his bike while I bounced up and down on the saddle until the lights came back on. I then knew I could power the controller up and continue. Tonight, I took the liberty of re-soldering the power cable for the lights which was rather too loose for my liking. I also checked all the connectors properly and wrapped them in electrical tape to try and reduce any possible movement. I also slacked the nuts which held the wiring compartment and battery terminals to the base plate and re-aligned everything. The battery now fits much tighter and is no longer approaching the terminals at a slight angle. So, confident, I took the bike for a quick spin around the block and, so soon as I headed off the path and on to the grass, the bike died. Given the way the lights are wired straight off the battery without going through the control unit, my best guess is I'm getting a temporary loss of battery connectivity. It can only be a problem with the bullet connectors (which seem fine), the spade terminals and their receiving sockets, or something inside the battery itself. The temporary loss of power kills the lights until the connection is restored and puts the controller/display into the 'off' state. Sometimes I got over a bump and the lights just go out for a second (which is enough to reset the controller), sometimes they stay out for longer. My only other observations are a) there is a detectable weight moving around inside the battery back when you move it around and b) one of the spring sockets on the battery isn't quite as nipped up as the others. I'll ring the supplier again in the morning and see what else they can suggest. Third time lucky on the battery perhaps?

Well that was an unmitigated disaster. I got about half a mile down the road and the bike died. After a while I could turn it back on but anything above assistance level 3 and it died again. After a call to eBikesDirect we concluded that the battery is refusing to charge, from either charger (I bought a spare). That charge I did last night actually did nothing. A new battery is on its way from Kudos but they can't tell me when. Oh and I see Kudos have since knocked £100 off the price on their own website. *grump*

Well the bike arrived, complete with about nine miles of bubble wrap. I thought I'd make a few notes on things that surprised me ahead of my first proper run tomorrow. 1. The lights are wired in. There's a switch on the handlebars. 2. There is a frame lock on the rear wheel. 3. The pannier bag is actually rather nice. 4. The saddle is quite hard. I guess that's personal preference but I'll probably try and steal the one off my old bike. Both are made by Velo. 5. Nexus hub gears are awesome if, like me, you're terrible at remembering to change down before you stop. 6. There's a paint run on the front fork. Can't really argue for the money but it's a little disappointing. 7. Someone from Kudos UK should rewrite the manual as it is pretty awful. 8. The charge socket is under the battery handle. Took me ages to find it (see point 7). Edit to add: 9. It comes with two proper spanners and two hex keys of the appropriate sizes. Didn't fancy the rain today so we'll see how we get on tomorrow. Tagging along with a regular bicyclist ... to start with at least!

It turns out the bike comes with wired in lights and a red 'headlight' switch on the handlebars. I'll have to dig out a voltmeter and see if they get regulated input or battery voltage. They certainly don't work when the key is in the off position.

Nope, not me.

Another one in PE27 please.

While waiting for my bike to arrive I'm thinking about lights for riding down the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway. As it's seriously dark out there (miles from an artificial light source) I'm tempted to get on of those LED10 Cree U2 units from BangGood that dv8eh mentioned. Can they easily be wired in to the Tourer's wiring, ideally without voiding the warranty? If not, I'll rig something up with a pile of AA NiMH cells left over from last year's PiWars robot competition, but it's one more thing I have to remember to charge. As I understand it, the built lights also have their own batteries.

Trex. That's all true, except I'm going from taking a bus to cycling. I really hope I use less battery over time!!

I have no issue charging at work and at home so it only has to manage 14 miles. And the Kudos has an iron phosphate pack so it should be durable. I guess I'll just have to report back in about a year. Oh, I should also mention that I asked in Halfords about the EBCO but the chap said all of their remaining stock had been cannibalised for parts and he wasn't getting more in any time soon.

Hello. This forum has been really useful while researching which bike to buy - there's an opinion on here about just about every bike out there! So, I thought I'd better say hello. My criteria: I need to do 14 miles each way, pretty much every day for a year (it's very very flat) Crossbar bike with straight handlebars Lights, pannier, mudguards Nexus hub, preferably At least a 36V/10Ah battery Budget was £1200 on Cyclescheme (or £849 not) LCD controller I've got about 60 bikes on a spreadsheet here and after much (much) thought, I've plumped for a Kudos Tourer Nexus. The Woosh Big Bear was a close second but the Kudos works out about £180 cheaper, plus it has the Nexus hub. I did think hard about the 10Ah battery vs some of the bigger options available (like the 15Ah on the Big Bear). As an experiment, I did the commute for a week late last year with a free loan of a Smarta LX (I think it was an LX) from Travel 4 Work in Cambridge. That bike was pretty old but its 10Ah pack had plenty of charge for each leg, so I think it will be OK. Now I just have to wait for the voucher to sort itself out. For three weeks!