Tim

Gah! Where's the 'edit' button gone?!

electric bike review in the States have just published this excellent video review of the 2015 Sahel Compact

I'm wrote the Eight Winning Habits of the Electric Bike Rider on our blog recently on why electric bike riders are among the best-behaved road users. Are there any more reasons electric bike riders are good to have around on the nation's roads? Anything that we do wrong? PS Jobs at 50cycles: we're looking for help in our showrooms

Hello, we sometimes have a peek to see what's going on! Jim Brock - I can't see any recent enquiry from you - where/how did you send it? Aaah, via Facebook... that's why we didn't reply immediately, via www.50cycles.com is always best

http://zohopublic.com/zohocampaigns/mailheader2014_zc_v14_8972000007328938.jpg Electric Bikes |Bicycles |Accessories |Interest Free Finance |Blog |Contact Us http://zohopublic.com/zohocampaigns/606000001180216_zc_v3_fridaybanner6_zc_v2_8972000007328938.jpg 'Black Friday' - at its worst it means televised carnage in supermarket aisles. At its best it's all about saving a fair bit of money on something you've had your heart set on for a while. So we're taking the more civilised route by offering 10% off online orders of these three key models from now until midnight on Monday. The code to use when ordering online is blackfriday. http://zohopublic.com/zohocampaigns/ergo_xxl250_zc_v3_8972000007328938.jpg 10% off all Kalkhoff Impulse Ergo £2595 or £2335 with 10% off this weekend Easily one of the most sophisticated electric bikes every manufactured. It combines Kalkhoff's powerful Impulse 2.0 motor a 17Ah battery pack and NuVinci Harmony automatic gears with heart-monitoring technology and extra-comfortable ergonomic saddle and handgrips. Code: blackfriday http://zohopublic.com/zohocampaigns/tasman_17ah250_zc_v3_8972000007328938.jpg 10% off Tasman Impulse 8 17Ah £2095 or £1885 with 10% off this weekend The Tasman City has been one of our most popular bikes in 2014. It returns in 2015 with the largest 17Ah battery pack and fully equipped with comfortable saddle, suspension, lock and a gorgeous black and bronze paintjob. Offer applies to 50cm Medium & 55cm Large gents bike as well as the 55cm Large step-thru. Code: blackfriday http://zohopublic.com/zohocampaigns/pro_connect8g250_zc_v3_8972000007328938.jpg 10% off Pro Connect Alfine 8 £2095 or £1885 with 10% off this weekend Kalkhoff's sportier electric bike is a couple of kilos lighter than the Agattu, Ergo and Tasman. This model comes with the high-end Alfine 8-speed hub, a gleaming dark blue paintjob and the largest 17Ah battery giving it enormous range. Owners love its power & responsive ride quality. Only a few left with 50cm and 55cm Gents frames. Code: blackfriday Our Black Friday / Cyber Weekend offer ends at midnight on Monday 1st December. Offers cannot be used in combination with Cycle Scheme vouchers. However, these bikes are eligible for interest-free finance up to 18 months. Price includes VAT and UK mainland delivery. The promotional code blackfriday only applies to 2015 Kalkhoff Impulse Ergo (all frame options), Kalkhoff Tasman Impulse 8 with 17Ah battery (50cm and 55cm Gents plus 55cm Step-thru) and Pro Connect Impulse Alfine 8G 50cm and 55cm Gents frame. Don't forget to check our Clearance Page featuring ebikes from £899 as well as our 2015 Launch Offers Coming next time... Stunning new artwork in our Bristol showroom... more 2015 models coming into stock... Christmas ordering dates & opening times... That's all for now, thank you for reading. The 50cycles Team

Hi John, it is lighter, a couple of kilos less than the Agattu at about 22kg including battery

We're able to offer some launch prices on the first 2015 bikes to come into stock, starting with the Groove F7 before the weekend and now also on what will be one of the breakthrough bikes this year, the Kalkhoff Pro Connect Impulse 9. This is the first Impulse 2.0 electric bike from Kalkhoff we've been able to offer at a price as low as £1595. It comes with the 36V 11Ah battery pack and 9-speed derailleur gears. There's no skimping on the Impulse 2.0 spec - you still get the Shift Assist, new, quieter gearbox and best-in-class torque from its 250W motor. It's finished in what Kalkhoff call Magicblack Matt with red highlights, having something in common looks-wise with the Focus range. Shimano hydraulic disc brakes too. It clearly blasts anything else in this price range out of the water. It's available now in 46cm, 50cm, and 55cm crossbar and also 46cm and 50cm trapezoid frame in the same colour as the crossbar shown below. We've only low single figures in each size at the moment, more will follow though. http://www.50cycles.com/assets/images/12/1409302073_khe15_pro_con_imp_9_v1_28_he-hpr.jpg

There are some bikes in showrooms but the price is for new, boxed stock.

The Groove is a 2015 model so I suppose it's more of an introductory offer than a final stock clearance, but the price stands. The Agattu C11 has been reincarnated as the Agattu Premium 11 with Impulse 2.0, Gates belt drive, 11-speed Alfine,17ah battery pack and it's going to be available in the full range of sizes. There's also an 8-speed equivalent that revives the look of the 2007-vintage Agattu that marked Kalkhoff's return to the UK - black and silver with red highlights. We've pre-sold almost all of our first delivery.

Hello, Kalkhoff have a reputation for only offering bikes at the upper end of the price scale but there is one model which is built to their usual exacting standards but with a less expensive propulsion system that keeps the price down below £1000. It's the Kalkhoff Groove F7 which uses the second generation of the Groove motor and battery. It's much smoother, very quiet for a hub motor and comes kitted out with equipment that puts a lot of cheap imports selling for more in the shade. Decent lights, handgrips, mudguards, wheels and the tried-and-tested Shimano 7-speed Nexus hub. Here's what it looks like http://www.50cycles.com/assets/images/12/1409309150_groovef7.jpg And here's what an early owner in Bristol says about it Wunderbar! * * * * * by Anja from Bristol UK on 19 Oct 2014 I absolutely loved this bike from my first trial ride - it had just arrived in the store! Its systems feel totally intuitive to me (it it just because I'm German too?), it is extremely well balanced and the gears are wonderful. I love its particular trick of giving immediate strong assistance when starting up from standing on a slight hill...and the push assist, on steeper hills. I look forward to every single journey with it, come rain or shine, and even in darkness as the built-in lighting system is brilliant and actually lights up the road for you! I am so happy with this and am confident it will do me for a good many years! The Groove F7 is just one of a number of bikes in our new Clearance section. In there you'll also find our one remaining Agattu C11 at £1200, the Sahel Premium Harmony at £1495, Pro Connect B10 with Bosch Performance motor at £1600, a couple of Impulse Ergos with the NuVinci Harmony system and heart rate sensor tech and even a Kalkhoff Pedal Cycle with steel frame. Link below: 50cycles Electric Bikes Clearance Sale

Hello, you should also consider a bike from the FOCUS Thron and Jarifa range http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/offroad.html They all offer more powerful motors than the Bosch, much greater battery capacities and they picked up a couple of prestigious awards earlier this year. Here's the full-suspension Thron Premium Impulse with 17Ah battery we have in stock now, I ride one of these along the South Downs Way when I get the chance, it's unstoppable. http://www.50cycles.com/assets/images/12/6145110210.jpg We had a customer come into our Richmond store from Réunion in the Indian Ocean, he rode back through France before flying the final leg.

We have some of the 2015 bikes in stock now, the Pro Connect Impulse 2.0 9-speed, the 10-speed as well as Pro Connect Alfine 8G. The 9-speed is only £1795. Looks nice in matt black with red highlights and disk brakes http://www.50cycles.com/assets/images/12/1409302073_khe15_pro_con_imp_9_v1_28_he-hpr.jpg It's basically the replacement for the Pro Connect X24. We have a couple of these in Hampton Wick already. The 10-speed comes with the 612Wh battery, same as the Pro Connect Alfine 8, but the 8 has Magura rim brakes not the disks. http://www.50cycles.com/assets/images/12/1409302550_khe15_pro_con_imp_10_v1_28_he-hpr.jpg

The Kalkhoff Impulse 2.0 bikes - the Pro Connect Alfine 8G for example - have taken reliability to a new level. Kalkhoff ironed out a few creases in the original Impulse system by building it around a new German-made gearbox that makes it much quieter, more powerful and more durable. The Impulse 2.0 Shift Assist system is much easier on the drivetrain too - the motor is momentarily switched off during each gear change, which protects motor, chainwheel, chain, sprocket and hub. It's going to make for bikes with incredible longevity, and the Pro Connect and Agattu are already renowned for that, there are plenty on the road dating back to 2007-2008 season, sometimes they show up on our Used Electric Bikes listings. Then there's the battery which is good for 1,100 charge cycles before it's down to 60% capacity. That's years of useful life. Finally, the brakes. They're Magura HS11 hydraulic rim brakes. No cable stretch, pads last for ages, apply the fully to the rim rather than biting it at an angle. They're standard across the Kalkhoff Impulse range, except for the couple of models that pack Magura disc brakes. These bikes don't trouble our workshop much. Just back from a trip to Vienna - pleased to see Kalkhoff is a really popular brand over there, for both ebikes and pedal cycles. I had to make do with the Viennese equivalent of a Boris bike, but a great city to explore by bike all the same.

There were only a few puddles early on and they were taking up the best line, what could I do?! I turned into a pig farm later on by mistake, but was much more careful going through that bit. Very few cyclists when I was up there, late Saturday afternoon. Nor many walkers. Strange really, it was perfectly acceptable weather. Whereabouts is that bridge you found? Great photos.

I've updated our off-road page with the current and coming line-up http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/offroad.html Focus Jarifas are the hardtails, Focus Thron are the full suspension models. We import the Impulse 2.0 centre drive ones rather than the Xion variants. I've been putting a lot of miles under the tyres on a 250W Focus Thron premium up on the South Downs recently. It's completely changed what I think about what electric bikes can do. Here it is at Chanctonbury Ring on Saturday - I doubt anyone (especially anyone over 40) has completed the climb from Washington car park faster than I did that afternoon, it was ludicrously powerful. The Shoreham-by-Sea airshow was on so the final stretch of the ride was accompanied by a B25, Dakota, Spitfire, Lancaster, a Vulcan bomber and a Eurofighter Typhoon. Brilliant.http://www.50cycles.com/assets/site/images/IMG_20140830_191059.jpg The photo demonstrates the point of tucking the motor up inside the frame triangle, out of harm and dirt's way. I even had time to do a bit of geocaching while I was up there. There's a whole new hobby, e-geocaching.

You should try a Focus Thron Premium - won a couple of ExtraEnergy awards this year as the best all-terrain e-bike. Bigger battery capacity than the KTM, crank drive with 70Nm torque, full suspension. http://www.50cycles.com/assets/images/12/6145110210.jpg http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/all-terrain/thron_impulse_premium.html http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/all-terrain.html Takes some beating - I've been all over the South Downs on one of those. We've a couple of them in our Shoreham-by-Sea showroom at the moment.

We're all loaded and ready for tomorrow. We're bringing along the following: Kalkhoff Agattu 8G 17Ah Kalkhoff Pro Connect Alfine 17Ah Kalkhoff Tasman City 11Ah Kalkhoff Sahel Premium Harmony 15Ah and last but not least Focus Thron Premium 17Ah All of the above 250W EN15194 so don't get any ideas about roaring around at 28mph on an Endeavour. It'll be me and Charles Martin our Shoreham store manager (and his daughter) attending tomorrow. All gorgeous, obviously.

Hello, workshop@50cycles.com will work but also cc me at tim@50cycles.com The Groove is a model we supply and support now, best to contact us directly, the dealer should have advised that from the start, we're happy to help you. What frame type and size is your bike?

We went over to Switzerland to visit their factory and try these out this time last year, the ST2, and decided against bringing them in - they offer similar equipment levels, range and performance to Kalkhoffs but at twice and three times the price. They wouldn't have sat well in our line-up. The ergonomics were a bit odd too. Scott did succeed in doing 70kph on a slight downhill riding into Bern. We saw loads of ST1 in the streets over there, they're popular. Switzerland is a great country to ride an electric bike, no doubt about that.

We know many people in the Bristol area (which stretches from Cornwall to the Cotswolds and up into Wales judging by the enquiries we've had) have been holding out for local Kalkhoff electric bike test rides for years, so we're excited about welcoming you to our latest and greatest showroom. There are two events marking our opening: 50cycles Bristol Showroom Grand Opening When: Thursday 24th July from 9am Where: 50cycles Electric Bikes, 12-16 Bond Street, Bristol BS1 3LU What's happening: 9am Our doors officially open for the first time 12pm A range of discounted ex-display bikes go on sale, with prices starting from £500. There will be some real bargains to be had here, so come down early and see what we have on offer. 2pm Everything stops for tea and free scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam 3pm until closing time Try before you buy - free electric bike test rides begin. A range of 2014 models will be available to take for a spin. 6pm Closing time Grand Opening discount We're offering 5% (up to £215) off all new bikes ordered in store between 24th - 26th July Do I need an invitation? this email is your invitation but we'd be grateful if you could send a quick email to Jesse in our Bristol showroom if you plan to visit so we can get an idea of numbers and how many scones to order We'd also like to invite forum members to join us on Satuday's electric bike ride from Bristol to Bath along the railway path, part of which goes through the third-of-a-mile-long Staple Hill Tunnel. More on that on the separate events page.

Bristol Electric Bikes Showroom Our Bristol showroom officially opens on Thursday 24th July with a bike ride to Bath the following Saturday. We know many people in the Bristol area (which stretches from Cornwall to the Cotswolds and up into Wales judging by the enquiries we've had) have been holding out for local Kalkhoff electric bike test rides for years, so we're excited about welcoming you to our latest and greatest showroom. There are two events marking our opening: 50cycles Bristol Showroom Grand Opening When: Thursday 24th July from 9am Where: 50cycles Electric Bikes, 12-16 Bond Street, Bristol BS1 3LU What's happening: 9am Our doors officially open for the first time 12pm A range of discounted ex-display bikes go on sale, with prices starting from £500. There will be some real bargains to be had here, so come down early and see what we have on offer. 2pm Everything stops for tea and free scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam 3pm until closing time Try before you buy - free electric bike test rides begin. A range of 2014 models will be available to take for a spin. 6pm Closing time Grand Opening discount We're offering 5% (up to £215) off all new bikes ordered in store between 24th - 26th July Do I need an invitation? this email is your invitation but we'd be grateful if you could send a quick email to Jesse in our Bristol showroom if you plan to visit so we can get an idea of numbers. It's a big shop... but not that big!

Bristol to Bath Electric Bike Ride When: Saturday 26th July at 4pm Where: 50cycles Electric Bikes, 12-16 Bond Street, Bristol BS1 3LU What's happening: we'll be setting off on a ride along the Bristol & Bath Railway Path - electric bikes, pedal cycles, trikes, etc, etc, will all be welcome! A small number of bikes from our test fleet will be available on a first-come-first-served basis when registering. It's a 13-mile ride from end to end and it's likely we'll stop for refreshment in Bath before returning for more refreshments back at our store in Bristol. Here's the schedule for the day: 10am Doors open Opening Sale Any remaining bikes in our Discount Corner will be cleared and it'll be the last day of our 5% discount on new bikes. 12pm Bike Ride Registration begins 4pm Bike Ride Starts 8pm Bike ride arrives where it started and we crack open the Scrumpy to help renew our vigour after all that pedalling in the fresh air. Entertainment to be confirmed. If you have any questions or would like to pre-register for the ride, please contact Jesse, our Store Manager in Bristol, by email or come and see us on the day. Visit our Bristol Electric Bike Showroom page for a map of our location. Carol, one of our Kalkhoff e-bike owners in Bristol got in touch this week: "The bike is just wonderful! I am so in love with it. Buying it is the best thing I've done in years. I've done over 100 miles on it in the first week. It's so zippy, I just get around so quickly. It's such a treat, making light of the hills and longer distances. I do love ordinary cycling too, but sometimes you just want to get there quicker and easier. "I joined the ride from Bristol to Clevedon last weekend, to the Clevedon Bike Festival, 40 miles return. I was really astonished to find that this great distance only used about a third of the battery. This means that cycle touring is seriously possible with the Kalkoff. I will be heading off later in the summer with bivvy bag. I'm just deciding where... "I'm looking forward to the 50 Cycles shop opening. You have a good location just off the James Barton roundabout. It wasn't easy to find at first (you should market it as being "just across from the Bear Pit - follow the gaze of the Bear"). Everyone knows the Bear, but not everyone knows Bond Street. Jesse has been very helpful and I am going back for various adjustments soon. If you want me to write a recommendation for the bike, or the shop, or the company, let me know. Or if anyone in Bristol wants to talk with someone who's bought that bike, do put them in touch. Anyway, I love it! Thanks for the inspiration that day." This is our largest showroom yet and we're looking forward to welcoming current and future electric cyclists. Bristol has all the makings of a great e-bike city, let's make it so!

It's true - if we sold through dealers rather than our own showrooms (new one in Bristol opening very soon...), each Kalkhoff model would be £200-£300 more expensive, more in some cases. We're set to sell out of most 2014 Kalkhoffs long before Winter this year - certain sizes in the Agattu, Tasman, Focus Thron are long gone already.

Kalkhoff have come up with an electromechanical Shift Assist system that cuts motor power for a couple of hundred milliseconds during gear changes. This reduces wear on all parts - motor, chain, sprockets and internal gears - at the point of greatest opportunity for damage, during gear shifts. It also means power is engineered-away the rest of the time. Bosch only offer power reduction on the derailleur system. They simply turn down the power on hub-geared bikes. Impulse 2.0 doesn't need to do that. At the same time they've deployed a new gearbox which is better engineered than that on Impulse 1, so it's much quieter (than both Impulse 1 and Bosch), smoother and allows the whole system to operate at a higher power. More on the Impulse 2 electric bike system used by Kalkhoff and Focus here