Jowo

£200. Buyer collects from Glasgow. Woosh Gale electric folding bike with 6 Shimano gears (thumb shift operation) and front suspension. The current Gale model on the Woosh sells for £699. Ideal for riders from 5'2 to 6 ft and maximum rider's weight of 110kgs. After I bought it second-hand, the local bike shop serviced it and completely overhauled it. I have only used it occasionally because only a minor amount of my shift work took place before public transport was available. The previous owner also said they were a light user of the bike. Bike was always stored in a shed when not in use. The components that were replaced upon purchase include - New Schwalbe marathon puncture proof tyres (buyer can also have the old tyres/inner as spares) - New tyre inner tubes - New chain and chain guard - New front pads - New derailleur guard fitted - New freewheel Comes with battery (life left is unknown, never had an issue with the power and future replacement battery is factored into the price), charger and spare battery key. There is a downloadable bike manual published online. Minor defects: The front light is defective (but like many, I prefer to more powerful torch style lights which can be removed after I have parked to prevent theft), there is some minor rust on the chrome. I have never used the folding function which is very stiff and will need some WD40 and a bit of welly to fold the first time). Feel free to ask any questions or pop by to take it for a spin. NO POSTAGE - couldn't get a bike box big enough

Right, that's me nearly back on the road. Thanks all. The local bike shop unjammed my brake lever and fitted a guard over the motor cable for a tenner, my bruises are fading and I will start using it against once the current icy snap is over - the local station platform has been gritted so if that's not a sign to stay off the road, I don't know what is. The bike mechanic enjoyed zipping about on it and has his eye on some mega mountain e-bike. Just found out the company has opened up the new Bike to Work Scheme but I'm ineligible as I haven't completed my probation so that's it for this year. Will probably get a small personal loan to upgrade to a lighter electric Mezzo or Dahon within the next 12 months so I can take it into the office and onto trains more easily.

Thanks again. I fiddled with the cables and plugs that you suggested and it seems to have returned back to life when my lengthy attempts a few nights ago had no results. I will give it a proper test in a few days as I'm still too sore to ride it. A few further questions - does the front brake have any influence on the power or just the back wheel brake where the motor is? The front brake handle was damaged in the fall (when you press it in, it won't depress automatically). The front brake now sticks a bit. - it is possible to buy a motor cable protector and easy enough for a novice to fit? - do you have a recommended website for accurate weather or tips on how to avoid or deal with ice? Before my tumbles at around 6.30 in the morning, I managed to set off oblivious to the conditions despite a scan of a weather website. I came a cropper on lesser a used pedestrian path and a recently tarmac'd new road that's never had any traffic on it towards the end of my journey. I'm now a bit nervous about cycling to work as there wasn't any traffic near me at the time of my falls but if there were, I might have got squashed by a car.

The LED panel does light up. I will look into those options. It did fall on the side of the motor wire which had no protection,other than my pannier above.

The good news is my local bike shop did a good job of giving it a service and replacing the spokes, chain and mudguard. I had a week of zipping to work with ease - even though I elected to peddle far more than I predicted, my arthritic knees didn't grumble. I got to work in 30 mins instead of an hour by public transport. It didn't struggle up the hills to any great degree. The bad news is that I crashed on ice today outside my office and now the bike doesn't work - no response with the throttle. I don't know if it was specifically the crash as I forgot to test it as I just limped into work, or because I left it in the rain for a few hours rather than using the bike shed. I've tried pulling out and pushing in the 3 pin plug a few times as I've knocked it out before and that's usually fixed it, to no avail. I'm leaving it in the warm tonight and have towelled off the battery and the connections to it. Any pointers on solutions would be appreciated. thanks

I am, however, now boggling at the folded size of it, now that I have just discovered how hard it is to buy any kind of bike transport bag for it. 85cm (L) x 70cm (H) x 55cm (D) Any ideas for cheap bike bags to protect a car boot or to smuggle it onto train carriages for companies that ban powered bikes onboard? Folded up, it comes up to my hips, is twice as wide as me and twice as deep. It's much bigger than my Old Granny tartan shopping trolley (and I bought the large size one, equivalent to a medium to large suitcase...) thanks

Some local bike shops round my way, fortunately.

My geography is fine. I blame the mistake on a hasty purchase made with a mobile phone... Thanks, patpatbut. Thanks all. Will tell everyone how I get on in a few weeks time, whether it copes with the terrain or whether I bought a beat up bike with a flat battery whose repairs exceed the cost of buying a new bike, such is the risk of buying unseen. Fingers crossed it will be a good first bike to fit my moderate budget. I can see how I get on for a few months when the the Bike to Work scheme might get resurrected. My next bike may well be a Mezzo for the lighter body. If I win the lottery, it will be a Brompton titanium with Heinzmann kit (the chauffeur will put it in the boot of the car and drive me to the countryside..).

1. It was me. 2. No, I didn't - that's an extra 100 miles to travel due to my stupidity...

With the Powerbyke, plus new battery, it seemed to come in cheaper than a current model 2nd hand Woosh, closer to my £400 budget, though I am thinking about increasing it as I'm selling off some stuff on ebay. I was inspired by that thread where someone planned to upgrade one of the Powerbyke shoppers (they bought it with totally flat batteries). However, I can barely change a plug so perhaps I ought to leave swapping out older batteries for new more powerful ones alone. That said, I can read a manual... I was surprised about the results with the Woosh predictor. I've cycled my work route and it didn't seem that onerous but that's subjective judgement for you. My commute:- One-way: 4.0 miles, return: 8 miles, outbound elevation: 36m, inbound elevation: 56m At 10mph: outbound consumption: 45WH, inbound consumption: 45WH, return trip: 91WH At 15mph: outbound consumption: 54WH, inbound consumption: 55WH, return trip: 109WH

Ah, the Mezzo sounds interesting, thanks. Lot of the nice design and functionality of the Brompton but without a tear-inducing price....

Example 2nd handbike http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Powabyke-Foldable-Electric-Bike-Perfect-Working-Order-No-Reserve-/141559890393?pt=UK_Bikes_GL&hash=item20f5a081d9

OK, so I could keep my eye on the secondhand bikes that get resold on the Woosh website that come with warranties so that might save £100 or so. But on the predictor wizard on the Woosh website, they recommended the Zephyr-CDN (rather than the Gale) due to the type of gradient/distance that I entered. With the greater cost of this bike and additional cost of a panner rack, this is even more financially challenging. The Zephyr has a 36Volts 8AH Lithium battery and motor rated at 250W. What do you think to my buying a Powerbyke Folder second hand for around £200-300 and then spending £200-250 on a replacement batttery of this type of power and capacity? Example https://bmsbattery.com/ebike-battery/114-36v10ah-lifepo4-battery-38120-battery-pack-with-carrier-headway-battery.html There is a thread on this forum where someone bought that model with flat batteries and was advised on how to replace/upgrade this model. http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/assistance-required-used-powabyke.13984/

In theory, I can convert my existing mountain bike into an e-bike by buying a rear or front wheel 48v 500/1000w kit off ebay for around £200, one of which claims a top speed of 45 km/h...(downhill, with the wind behind me, and a brand new battery...?). Is the reality that these are poor components that require frequent replacement as there are other kits for sale, twice that? Also, I came across adverts on ebay for motorized petrol driven bicycles, one claiming to be 50cc (which if its anything like scooter laws, will go up to 28MPH). Who knew?! Expect these are subject to the usual motorcycle/scooter laws, not pedal bikes.

Ah, that woosh looks just the ticket. I noticed the Viking Harrier looks similar (not aware of reputation or reviews compared to Woosh) but it has less capacity (24v).