Sime

I live in Nijmegen in the Netherlands and I'll give my opinion of the ebike situation here which you on the other side of the North sea seem so interested in. Frank's estimate of 5% ebike sounds about right. It depends on when and where you ride. On the weekend there are a lot of retired people, often couples with matching bikes(!) touring around for recreation. They don't seem to spare any expense either, often going for the high-end brands and models. These are people who have probably had a bike all their life. I'm seeing more younger people on ebikes too. Typically parents who use their bike for taking the little one to the day care, doing the shopping and going to work. When your routine is based around the bike you can cover quite a few km's in a day. Some extra help and speed can help a lot, especially if you bike is loaded with shopping, kids etc. Hills are not a primary concern, although wind might be. Giant, Gazelle and Batavus are very well established brands here. I don't think most people got to great lengths to research a bike purchase on the internet. Most would just go to their trusted bicycle specialist (not a chain store) and see what they had and recommended (i.e. the main brands). Many of the brands which you guys in the UK talk about are nowhere to be seen in regular shop windows. I've only once seem something that was a Kalkhoff-style battery-behind-the-seat style bike, and a handful of chain driven designs with most being front or rear hub motors. Hub motor in the front is standard now. Any questions? My Giant Express needs to go in for scheduled maintenance soon. I'll ask my dealer how his sales are going when I do. When the Giant Express came in he sold about 3 of them in 2 weeks. :-)

Things will likely vary depending on what kind of facilities your country has for bikes and more importantly what kind of car/bike culture you have. I live in the Netherlands with probably the best conditions for cycling in the world, e.g. bike lanes, bike culture etc. From where I am I now think that a max of 25 km/h is probably about right. Firstly there are serious practical limitations to going much faster than 25 km/h. The bike infrastructure, especially in cities, isn't designed for high speeds like 30-35km/h, and most of the other people you share the lane with are much slower which means you have to overtake them all the time. Even still, the idea of everyone on ebikes in 5 years time doing 35 km/h all the time is likely to have a big impact on road safety. Practically every kid uses a bike to get around. If you want to go fast you can get a scooter. Personally I find scooters to be one of the more annoying and dangerous types of traffic around. cheers, Simon

I've got it in my hot little hands now. I'll post a review in a few weeks once I've done some Ks on it.

I just test drove the Express. It's an awful lot lighter than what I've been pushing around town and to work for the last 4-5 years I can say that much. It's a 7 speed and the gears go plenty high enough for me to take it way past 25km/h when I'm feeling energetic. (Not having any big hills means that I don't need lots of gears.) It is also the only sport style ebike that is generally available and dealer supported where I am. It also looks like it matches quite well what I want it to do and over what kind of terrain, and for the right price. Perhaps in a years time the market situation will be different and there will be more choice, but I don't feel like waiting that long and right now it looks like I'm going to buy it...

Thanks again for the detailed answer. I'm not too interested in having a bike that I can run with assistance beyond the legal limit. I was more concerned with finding something which would act like a normal nonpowered bike once the threshold has been pasted (freewheel, high gears etc). The Cytronex certainly looks like an impressive piece of kit. A cross between the Batmobile and the F-117 Stealth Fighter. That really is "cheating". Although I would have to make it practical, thus bringing the weight up etc. Speaking of practical, the lack of local dealers for these good bikes make things difficult if you want to try one out. It is even more tricky since I would want to take advantage of a Dutch Cycle2work style scheme (fietsplan) to buy it. Tomorrow is meant to be good weather. I'll take some time to do a survey of the shops. We've got almost as many bike shops as supermarkets over here, although they are mainly dominated by Giant, Gazelle, Sparta, Multicycle and Batavus.

Thanks for the info and links flecc. I got my hands on, and read the A to B article. I'm looking for an ebike to put an end to headwinds on a my daily 20 km roundtrip and relatively flat commute. There is a reason why the Dutch build so many windmills(!). I'm 33 years young and interested in something aimed at basically going fast and not stopping me going beyond 25 km/h under my own power. The sporty slant of the Express appeals to me. From what I understand this rules out any crank driven ebike (eg Panasonic systems) since their legal top speed is done by limiting how high the highest gear is. This rules out A to B's favourite, the Agattu. So, more hybrid/commuter and less city bike is what I'm after. Are there many other options? Just another general comment about ebikes. I'm quite (pleasantly) surprised at how varied the different needs and scenarios which people here have for their ebikes. Most of the ebike market until now have been aimed at older people who want to get around town with some help. How many people here are fairly young and want something fun and fast which takes away most of the cons of cycling? (wind and hills) cheers, Simon

Hello all, The Giant Twist Express RS2 has recently reached the shops over here in the Netherlands a couple weeks ago. Has anyone tried it out and can give an opinion? I'm new to e-biking and am seriously thinking of buying my first. The Express looks like the most promising (and it is at my preferred bike dealer). There is not much information about the Express except what is up on the Giant website ( Giant Bicycles / Bikes / ). From what I've read here Giant have a rather hit and miss record with e-bikes, but mostly miss. The current 2009 range of Giant Twist bikes has received some positive reviews in the Dutch media. The newspaper De Telegraaf recommended the Union Switch (~1800 euro) and the Giant Twist Comfort CS (~2000 euro) as being good value for money. The Consumentenbond (consumer association?) did a test and recommended the Giant Twist Comfort Lite as their best buy. None of the tests had an Express available BTW. The batteries are lithium and the motor can freewheel. My local dealer says that he has sold 3 of them in the last couple weeks. Has Giant produced a solid range of e-bikes? cheers, Simon