Toecutter

The new Woosh bikes look pretty good. More colourful & pleasing to the eye rather than all black frames. Toecutter.

I call mine 'The pavement pounder' It goes where my motorbikes cannot like down the paved high street & of course pavements, i rather like riding the big wide pavements swooping up & down the dropped kerbs then onto a bit of grass, over the zebra crossing through the lights across the rough ground down the grassy bank straight into Lidl's car park by the front doors, can't do that on my M/bikes. And of course no parking fees whatsoever.

Incredible that the original posters bike was stolen from INSIDE the house, is nowhere sacred? No lock or chain is much good, thieves have18v power tools now, they don't need to grind through a lock or chain they use a Re-bar cutter. I do chain my bike up & i use an audible alarm & a tracking gadget I also remove the battery & take it with me, hoping a bike without a battery isn't so tempting to a thief. Toecutter.

Hi. Joydens wood nr Wilmington? Part of my stomping ground as a young teenager as well as the glory bumps on Dartford Heath if they're still there. Toecutter.

Hello Whilst browsing Amazon i spotted a few Haibikes for sale but the price/s seem incredibly low: Sduro Hardseven SL £467 Xduro Fullseven RC £839 Seems cheap, is it legit or a con, am i missing something? On another note: I've had my Woosh Sirocco 2 now for a month & i love it. I had reservations about electric bikes - Are they reliable? Would the battery slowly drain down reducing performance or leaving oneself stranded? No, i think they've cracked the electric bike & things are only going to get better. I now want a better bike, nothing wrong with the Woosh but i want to upgrade & i fancy a bike from the Haibike range, i like the look of them, the styling & the general overall appearance & finish is impressive & i really like the idea of a crank driven motor that can be boosted for off-road use. Looks like there's lots of back-up & spares available & i like Bosch & Yamaha products, most of 'em anyway. Since i got the leccy bike a bit of a revolution has started amongst friends & there's been a lot of interest in my bike, i've let a few test ride the baby & a neighbour joined me for a ride out on his bike - A pushbike fitted with an 80cc two-stroke engine bought from fleabay. It works quite well & took him an afternoon to fit but it leaves a trail of blue smoke & isn't as practical as my leccy bike & most likely costs more to run in petrol & 2-T oil & the cheap £80 engine won't last too long either, its quite good fun though. I've been here, there & everywhere on the Woosh & it's taken some punishment believe me but nothing has broken, it's a tough bike for sure. I like riding off-road paths & trails & head off in any direction i fancy, through the woods, round the lakes, round the edges of fields, i'm liking it a lot & now use the 2nd level of assistance & occasional use of the throttle. Not bad eh, my self help training program is coming along nicely, i did 22 miles in one day & 96 in one week. Since ownership i've discovered you can go almost anywhere on a bike just like a pedestrian & i thought a motorcycle meant freedom to roam, a bike is even better. I'm like a kid again tearing around the woods through puddles & slush & its so easy to clean afterwards It's been nippy outside lately, so i wear some of my motorcycle gear whilst out on the Pedelec, thermal underlayer, biking gloves, neck tube, decent socks & my ankle length summer use biking boots & a bobble hat minus the bobble. It all works very well & i can keep warm, my hands are the first thing to get cold, shame we can't have heated grips on our leccy bikes, of course we can't so i was thinking of some battery powered heated gloves. I don't like it too cold, as a general rule i think motorcycling below 8 degrees C becomes uncomfy especially on longer journeys but i'll ride the leccy bike whatever the weather. I'm looking forward to Spring when things warm up a bit & i can stay out longer without getting frostbite:eek: Toecutter.

Interesting -Thanks for the input. I note you slightly modified your stand to suit & i shall do the same. I shall create my own form of indexing by drilling & tapping a hole through the the clamp & tube then fitting a threaded bolt with a knurled knob through both clamp/tube. Easy to loosen/tighten & no movement. I'll do it tomorrow, meanwhile here she is lofted. I'll get the hang of getting pics & text in the right order one day. Toecutter.

Hello I certainly will. I've had a good clearout & purge at my HQ over the last couple of days & mothballed my m/cycles for the winter, it's now hoovered out & ready for the stand & bike. I'll post some pics of the stand in action. It'll handle the Woosh easily with or without battery, with the stands legs splayed open it's going nowhere & won't topple over, you could even fix it to the floor but i won't. This stand is much better than the one i saw in Halfords, if this stand cost 40 quid i wonder what you get for 140+ as seen on the internet? I'm looking forward to playing with it all, nothing like pottering about in a warm HQ, kettle on with the dulcet tones of radio 2 in the background & getting wound-up listening to the Jeremy Vine show. I think my 7 speed Shimano gearbox needs a bit of adjustment as the gears sometimes chatter so i shall work on that using the manual & the knowledge gleaned from my youth when i had a 5 gear racer from halfords back in good 'ol 76 - What a summer that was if your old enough to remember. I think i might invest in some decent inner brake cables as i reckon the standard ones may be a bit stretchy or past their best & i want them to glide nice 'n silky. Yup, getting this ebike has brought back a lot of memories. I enjoyed cycling & exploring everywhere & anywhere on my bike as a young Toecutter. A pushbike was a necessity to get about & have fun with your mates, you needed one, it was a tool. The orchards & open spaces of Kent beckoned you, we'd go fruit picking in the summer holidays riding to different farms on our bikes going from our homes more or less as the crow flies riding the edges of fields passing our bikes over the odd fence & riding a few country roads. We went everywhere as kids on our bikes which we mostly customised with Cowhorn handlebars, short mudguards & a half-decent seat, it was also the done thing to have only the rear brake fitted & tweeked so you could perform super-long rear wheel skids, my bike had a Sturmey Archer 3 speed hub which was much better than a single sprocket & a 3 speed rear wheel was a much sought after upgrade so were centre pull brakes but a well maintained side pull brake with decent brake blocks worked pretty good. I remember getting an odometer for Xmas one year i was ecstatic as i loved gizmos to do with my treasured bike. It was a mechanical counter with a cog that went round tripped by a thingy attached to a spoke i can't remember how you calibrated it & it was probably next to useless on the accuracy front. Now look at what you can get for peanuts that works & is as accurate as your setting-up. Marvellous! The lights for bikes these days are incredible - a far cry from the silver 'Pifco' or 'EverReady' ones. The batteries wouldn't last 5 minutes & you tried not to switch them if you could help it. I used to squeeze every last watt or volt out of them by leaving them on the top of the fire to warm them up before going out. You could fit a Dynamo powered set of lights but they'd go out when the wheel stopped moving - How crap is that? lol Yes, thanks to LED's & better battery technology those dimly lit foggy evenings are a thing of the past. Lets start a campaign to bring back the good old sturdy 'rod pull brakes' Remember them? Usually fitted to old fashioned bikes of the era & Postmens bikes had them. I had a 'fixed wheel' bike once, the pedals always went round so they would often dig in or catch something as you were going along. I grew up near Dartford on the Fleet Estate which was a new estate about a mile from the now Bluewater shopping centre which used to be two giant chalk quarry's with the remains of the quarry plant scattered about & crystal clear rivers & lakes that were icy cold that nothing could live in as the water was very alkaline due to the chalk. They were also building the first Dartford tunnel & the beginnings of the M25 & there were huge earthworks everywhere right on my doorstep, it was a great playground for us & our bikes. Au revoir but not goodbye. Toecutter.

Hi Tom:) I've no idea how the 'dislike' came about, sorry about that, i've inadvertently hit the wrong icon or something as you do. Toecutter.

Hi All Excuse the pics up top & text down below something went wrong. It arrived today via Amazon & cost £40 incl. P&P & i think its a bargain, it's well made, sturdy & i like the huge footprint which will keep everything steady. It's a 'Utlrasport Bicycle Assembly Stand' according to the box & i like it, excellent value for money. I'm liking this cycling more & more, parts & spares are cheap unlike the world of motorcycles. I'll have the Woosh on it tomorrow for some gentle servicing & i think i'll have a go at truing the wheel, i did a basic course on wheel building many years ago so i could build m/cycle wheels, replace spokes etc so i'm hoping that truing cycle wheels will be a breeze as there is no offset. Charged the bike battery up today after 18 miles & according to my plug in energy meter it cost 2p to charge - Not bad at all eh, i think you'd probably wear out more than 2p's worth of shoe leather to walk 18 miles. Toecutter.

Hi All:) Guess who was in the doghouse Xmas day? I've been plugging my bike charger into a socket in the garage where the bike lives but i forgot to remove the plug & plug the freezer back in Come Xmas day morning 'er indoors went out to to the freezer to get the Xmas goodies & they were all fooked, prawns, crabmeat, salmon, filo pastry, ice cream, tiramasu - the lot all defrosted & no where to get more supplies:eek: She was not best pleased:) Toecutter.

Hello. Today i took a 12 mile trip down to Kent bikes based in Maidstone, Kent to have a look at a few bikes & chat to the owner. I must say i thought it would be a huge warehouse full of bikes in racks but it's not, it's a small shop where you place your order & then the bike arrives a few days later but i wasn't disappointed as the owner seems a nice chap & was happy to chat bikes at some length which was nice. I sat on the Haibike in the picture below & had a good look at it i can now see why these premium leccy bikes command big money, i still think they're a bit overpriced but hey-ho you gets what you paid for, this bike is the Mercedes of the bike world & it shows. No time for a test ride today but i'll be back to try out one or two, i've got a 29 inch inside leg, 30 inch waist & weigh 11.5 stone wet, i'd be like a jockey on a racehorse. Yup i need a smaller framed bike. I do like the Haibikes, they look superbly built & look aesthetically beautiful & are a work of art, so light & precise looking & oozes build quality with a low frame making it easy to climb aboard - I want one & will probably sell one of my m/cycles to pay for it. I loved the control panel all the info you'll ever need is there at the press of a button, i also liked the really tough looking gold standard locks that were on display the only way you'll get through them is with a power tool. I've been looking at utube & doing a bit of research wondering whether to go for a Yamaha or Bosch motor - i'm still undecided it's six of one & half dozen of the other but i'm leaning toward the Yamaha. New 2017 stock is arriving in January & the chap has got my email & number & will get in touch as soon as they arrive around the 17th Toecutter.

Hi Andy. Not quite with you Andy - What pic do you want me to post? Not the Isle of Skye album surely lol Toecutter.

Yes good service & good character, it pays because when i buy a leccy bike for Tracey ( wife) next spring i'll buy from one of the companies from this forum, I'm all for supporting local business. Toecutter.

Hi i've had another day tinkering with the bike, front & rear brakes are now both working as they should & i've sorted out the tight front wheel again i did have a plan to gild her with some after market plastic mudguards but the rear one won't fit without fouling the smooth battery removal operation so i'll have to look for a more suitable rear mudguard - i'm halfway there i've also fitted a rather nifty rear rack bag for carrying bits 'n pieces. Now my front light won't site due to the front mudguard so i need to re-think things. I went over the bike checking fixings & then gave her a lube-up & now she glides effortlessly which can only be a good thing, less power robbing friction, tyres pumped up to a whopping 60 psi & the seat angle adjusted by 1-2 notches has made a difference to riding position & is more comfy. I've also discovered that Kent ebikes is close by so tomorrow i'm going down there to drool over some of the hardware & browse the accessories section to see if there's anything else my bike may need. I think i might replace all the inner cables for something less elastic & see if it improves anything. She's booked in for a service at Halfords on the 28th but i'm wondering if i should bother as i've fixed the niggly problems from the previous owner, if i can repair & service my motorbikes i'm fairly confident i can sort out my cycle & if i come up against a problem i shall ask on here. I can't wait until next year & our two week trip up to the Isle of Skye to see the in-laws. They live next to a campsite in Glenbrittle 8 miles down a single track after you come off the main road. The in-laws are quite fit & love cycling & every time we go there we go for a few bike rides & i'm constantly left behind wheezing on one lung & my 20 a day habit doesn't help - Not any more, i can't wait to see the father-in-laws face when i get the leccy bike out of the van i shan't tell him its electric at first & with a bit of luck he won't notice & if he asks i shall tell him the battery box is a tool box I'm seriously thinking for the first time in my life giving up the fags & it's down to this little bike & the pleasure it's bringing me & if i stopped smoking i could afford a tasty crank drive super bike, it all makes sense so an appointment will be booked after Xmas at the Doc's for assistance in giving up the snout. Somehow stopping for a fag break whilst cycling makes me feel uncomfortable, it's a bit contradictory isn't it? Does anybody charge their bike battery from their vehicle & if so whats the method please? Do i need to do charge the bike battery with a 12 - 240v inverter with the bikes charger plugged in or is there a better way? Another thing: Does anybody get their wheels balanced? Mine are well out of balance & i can't help thinking the reflectors attached to the spokes don't help things, i'm tempted to remove them. Toecutter.

Sure does but what an impressive looking machine, it's got to ride like a dream for that kind of money. I also think i'd be worried about where i parked it & wouldn't relax whilst leaving it unaccompanied, i don't think i'd ever leave it unattended & i wouldn't like to see it get dirty never mind scratched or dinged. Thats the trouble when you have something nice & expensive - you tend to worry about it too much. I'm already getting paranoid about leaving the Sirocco chained up at Halfords or elsewhere round town a security guard has already advised me to 'don't leave that their mate it'll be gone' I'd keep the Haibike in the lounge & sit there & admire it getting out of my armchair now & again to touch it's controls & turn it on My bike is going well i managed 11.8 miles today doing a fair bit of pedalling - i'm getting into this cycle riding & am tempted to SORN my Vv until spring or summer & save a few quid on tax/insurance. I'm still watching the vids :cool: Toecutter.