nitrambo

It may well have been doing over 15mph with the power still on (its easy enough to do to 40+mph downhill on a normal non-electric bike), but if the motor was not contributing to the speed in excess of 15mph then it is not illegal. It is sad that in these days on often intrusive and authoritarian behaviour by the State (in ignorance of the detail of the law) that this sort of incident may become more common... Its enough to make you want to emigrate.. but where do you go to escape it?

I wouldnt regard Acera as particularly high end Shimano kit (like the XTR/XT ranges for example). You could probably upgrade a Gents Special 2 to similar kit levels as the new Alien/Synergie bike for less than £50 (even allowing for throwing the old bits away). This means that you are paying approx. £350. for the joy of having an EN15194 certificate... IMHO thats a very expensive piece of paper.

Am I correct in thinking the price has increased by a massive amount over the Gents Special 2. (not far off double ?)

Or this BMSBATTERY - The Art Of LiFePO4 then select Hub Motor category

FYI: The Bafang QSWXK motor (which will take a 6 bolt disk brake) is also slightly lighter (approx 500g) than the QSWXB2 motor.

The Alien 36V 250W kit uses the Bafang QSWXB2 motor if I am correct. It might be worth asking Alien if they could substitute the 36V 250W Bafang QSWXK motor which does take a disk brake... alternatively you could get the Alien kit as it comes and substitute the QSWXK motor with disk brake yourself (they can be sourced fairly easily from Europe and/or China for around £80 - £110).

Folding tyres for shipment is normal... it cuts down postage costs. Over the last 10 years I have never had tyres delivered that were not folded. I have never had any that didnt fit Ok after hanging them un-folded for a day or so.

The Singletrack forum is very keen on dealextreme P7 LED torches at the moment in terms of performance and value for money. There are also a number of drop-in LED replacements available from same source.