Kemman85

I guess this was a frustration with my Agattu - not having a leaflet explaining the workings of the lights. both front and rear lights have a stay-on feature but the front light also has a 3 position switch. With these light nights, i've not got round to figuring the lights out fully, it would have been good for some details to be included with the bike. The stay-on facility must include a form of energy storage, either a small rechargeable or one of those capacative cells.

Model: Kalkhoff Agattu step through frame Reviewer: Simon Purchased From: 50 cycles Purchase Price: £1250 Time Owned: 8 weeks Local Terrain: Flat / Moderate Hills Bike arrived in perfect order from 50 cycles. It's used daily, my wife uses it to her work a few miles away, I use it whenever I get a chance. After about 4 weeks we had a minor problem which turned out to be a stiff chain tensioner, causing the chain to slip, as soon as that was lubricated all was well again. fitted 18 tooth rear sprocket which just brings the bike alive, redistributing the gear range so much better. Range has been all we need, only occasionally going down to one light before charging. I've taken it out into the hills and indeed it does make going up easier, but for us middle aged types, it was still quite hard work going up the steepest, though it has to be said, I have never had to get off, whereas most of the hills I'd have been walking up for sure with a normal bike. The build quality of the bike is just brilliant, It just exudes quality. This is the first electric bike in our area, and friends and neighbours are all mightily impressed, and several are in process of considering buying for themselves. The Agattu is like viral marketing!! We are on the point of selling a car as we've virtually displaced its use. Now that is money saving. All local shopping is by bike now (bike bin pannier - wonderful). So all in all the Agattu is great i'd have to give it a 10/10, but as I've no experience of other electric bikes, consider this a subjective, rather than objective score.

Its a shame with all the electronics incorporated into modern electric bikes, the manufacturers couldn't provide us some security assistance through alarms, codes, immobilisers, electronically coded battery/bike/charger combinations such that the bike was useless without unlocking codes which could only be got from the manufacturer. Also gps tracker etc. Most of this technology is developed enough and could be incorporated quite easily into the bike's "firmware" without too much cost. I've considered adding to my lock security with a sticker on the battery saying, "this bike, if stolen, is useless without its specific battery charger." As an aside, are spare chargers easily available or would questions be asked?