Philip Copley

Great answer Jon, thank you for taking the time to reply, I'm going to have a look at the schwalbes for sure, i like the idea of puncture free biking and the grip looks great for touring/gravel etc. Have fun on your e-bike, best, Phil.

Hi folks, I have a Cube Reaction Hybrid Pro, does anyone on here swap out to summer tyres? If so, any recommendations? I currently have aggressive continentals(2.4") on there, great for winter, wanted to maintain a fairly sturdy sidewall etc as getting tyres on/off is a major undertaking and best avoided. My plastic tyre levers trying to get the conti's off just bend. Was curious if I could get more efficient tyres, good for gravel/trails, nothing too technical or gnarly whilst maintaining the robustness to avoid punctures. Thanks in advance, Phil.

Which Raleigh Motus? The Trekking 6 has 70nm torque, I'd go with whichever has the highest nm of torque to tow and by extension, then a bigger battery to cope with that

The sad thing is that it will take an accident usually to get anything done, for example, if you see a SLOW sign on the road before a blind summit, someone will have crossed the lanes on the summit and either died or had a bad accident there for them to spend money on the SLOW sign, it'll take the same on crossroads and lights will appear when someone dies trying to cross with the new "suggestions".

Library louts bringing people to book...

Yeah, I've got to say, until a bit of time has passed, I wouldn't be wanting to try to turn right on a roundabout in the left hand lane whilst signalling I'm doing so expecting cars going straight ahead to be "courteous" and wait for me to enter/exit "their" lane. I've got to say though, pedestrians do the craziest things, luckily a lot of my riding is in the countryside, but when cycling in urban areas, I cycle slower as I was going down a local hill at the speed limit of 30mph and some lady walked out in front of me, I didn't have time to brake to come to a stop but swerved to duck behind her, she saw me at the last second and jumped back, if she'd kept going I'd have more leeway but had to swerve back out again at her jumping back towards the kerb. I had lights on and a high-vis biking jacket, this would probably if it had turned into an accident had the fault layed at my door, but there's no accounting for what people do when they're not concentrating whilst crossing roads... Going at speed isn't always the advantage you might think, give yourself more time to get places, my mate knocked over a child whilst cycling to work in London, no serious damage done, but couldn't cope with the guilt and hasn't commuted on a bike since.

I do cycle through winter, typically not in sub zero due to ice but if it's above zero yes certainly. I find main roads usually well gritted/clear, side roads are what people live on make of them. We don't get/I've not experienced many days in England of sub zero(I'm sure people in Scotland will have!) Good gloves/waterproofs/coat/trousers/warm socks/winter mtb boots/beanie to go under helmet so I don't get brain freeze going downhill/mud guards etc, you need to be prepared but when you have an e-bike, you certainly feel more capable of tackling journeys. Make sure you get decent be seen rear light, I wasn't sure if it's a reflector on the Gran Camino picture, get a decent to see light for the front(usually rated in lumens, I think I got a half decent "to see" light with rechargeable battery for around £50(circa 1000 lumens)) so if your cycling home in the dark you can see potholes etc. A lot of companies sell be seen lights but they don't do much to light the way for you. You'll be more comfortable too if you can see clearly. But also I love rides in crisp, clear autumnal/winter weather, especially out in the peak district and provided you're sensible then you'll be fine. Like they say, winter miles = summer smiles...

I live in Sheffield and the Gran Camino looks really well spec'd for the money and they're selling the model with the 17ah battery for just £60 more than the 15ah. This translates as a 612wh battery vs the crossfuse's 400wh giving you potentially 50% more range/juice to use on hills. I use a mid-drive cube with 85nm of torque. The Crossfuse has 40nm of torque, the Raleigh Motus has 50nm of torque, I don't use it very often in turbo mode as I find I need it less and less, I'm usually in tour/eco to negate the weight of the bike. I'm not sure how many nm of torque the Gran Camino gives you, maybe Woosh can chip in here, but it says it will carry people happily up to 25 stone. I'd really go for the 17ah battery version as the hills in Sheffield will really eat the juice. A friend of mine does a 25 mile ride in London with 700ft of climb, I do an 8 mile ride in Sheffield on my lunch and I do 1000ft of climb. If you're wanting to head out into the peak district at weekends etc, then definitely get the bigger battery option. When I head out into the peaks, the metric seems to be I climb about 100ft for every mile I ride, so a 30 mile ride typically involves around 3000ft of climb, a 400wh battery at full assist on a ride coming into winter, mountainous tour on good ashphalt, moderately windy, wouldn't probably complete that, your mileage will vary depending on the assistance you use. See the Bosch range calculator here - https://www.bosch-ebike.com/en/service/range-assistant , that is a handy tool. Plus if you want to do some gravel then the Gran Camino seems to be set up for it, awesome if you get a bike rack that will take the weight and head out to tissington/peak trails. Good luck with your search.

Nope, I don't see one, I've seen the new Canyon ebike which looks "nice" for around £2800 but it's 500wh, they also do an option to tag a 500wh frame battery on, but cost just goes up. I've got the 2020 version of the Reaction Hybrid Pro 500wh frame battery, not sure how many miles I've done, no problems as such, just maintenance, new chain, brake pads etc. I've added mud huggers front and rear to stop the worst of the spray/loam and I've upgraded the fork as my local dealer had an offer on air forks. Makes it a lot lighter on the front, but being a "proper" mtb fork lost my handlebar lockout. My next upgrade will be rotors/mounts. But the nice thing is you can do upgrades as you like. Best, Phil.

Video of ride, finally finished uploading, be warned, quite raw, long vid, time stamped now to make navigation easier -

Nope, on two, I have a spare from my previous bike, a cube acid hybrid one. I'll be proud when I can do it on one. Just working my way towards getting fitter. But enjoying going out and going further than I would do normally.

I managed to get out yesterday afternoon for a tour de Peak District, Sheffield - Ladybower - Thornhill - Edale - Up Mam Tor - Sparrowpit - Peak Forest - Foolow - Eyam - Grindleford - Ringinglow Roundhouse - Home. 50 miles and just under 5000ft of climb. phew!!!

Perhaps look at Ribble, but the cost is a little wowser, for me anyways... but you can customise and add flat bars I believe. Ribble super light e bike Although it shows pictures with flatbars, they aren't available currently.... Best, Phil.

I concocted a ride around the Peak District that meets 7 reservoirs on the route, just under 40 miles, with around 4000ft of climb it took me around 4 hours on my Cube Reaction Hybrid Pro. I start off on the A57 which is the main road from Sheffield to Manchester and pass Rivelin Reservoir, continue on to Ladybower reservoir which looked at a low level. I passed around the back of Win Hill to link to Lockerbrook Farm and dropped down to Derwent and Howden reservoirs. As I left the Ladybower Reservoir behind, after a cheeky 99 ice cream, I took the exit next to the Yorkshire Bridge Inn and climbed up towards Stannage Pole and then dropped down the hill to be able to see the Redmires reservoirs, The upper, middle and lower Redmires reservoirs and then back home. I tried filming it on my GoPro but forgot to empty the memory card from the last ride So you can see half of the ride here on youtube if you wish.

Unfortunately it's really hard to tell due to it not being entirely scientific. I can't really tell much of a difference, I used to get around 30-35 miles on turbo depending on climb/distance etc. Sorry Marcus. I was just trying to give some real world indicators to how it behaves. Cheers, Phil.

Just remembered, it dropped the emtb mode so it's now back to Turbo, Sport, Tour and Eco.

Hi, not sure if anyone's bothered, I took my bike in for some new brake pads and they updated my system to the latest firmware to give the motor a little more torque, I tested my 500 watt bosch frame battery on a gen 4 cube reaction hybrid pro. Rode in turbo mode all the way, maybe about 30% off road. I weigh around 18 stone. Got 32 miles out of it with 2897ft of climb. Just in case anyone is considering doing the firmware update. Cheers, Phil.

Hi Woosh, do you do a 17ah battery too, or have them in stock? Cheers, Phil.

Hi John, he says he could hear his own motor as well as mine when riding close together, regards, Phil.

I don't get high pitched jangling noises, i was on the CX4, I couldn't hear the motor on the AL3 he was riding!

Went out for a ride at the weekend with my lad and I couldn't hear the motor on the AL3 at all as I was cycling. But like you say could hear the gen 4 all the way like a very quiet electric milk float

I have a CX(V4) on a Cube Reaction Hybrid Pro 500 2020 and it makes more noise than my older AL3, but I wouldn't say it's really loud. But then I wouldn't say i hit 90rpm. But I love the fact that it totally disengages after 15.5mph. There was still a little resistance over 15.5mph on the AL3. Regards, Phil.

Hi mods, please remove from sale, cheers, Phil. NO LONGER FOR SALE, apologies as i can't edit the first post ...

BUMP and lowered to £999 with the 400wh battery, or, £1299 with an additional 500wh battery. That would be 900wh in total. Easily carried in a rucksack as I do when I have time. Regards, Phil.

Yes, the 2020 version of the Cube acid hybrid one bike uses the performance motor @ £1899. My mistake, sorry. It's not an upgrade to the ALP, just a better motor??? As above. Link to a LBS that sells them. JE James - https://www.jejamescycles.com/cube-acid-hybrid-one-500-electric-bike-2020.html regards, Phil.