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Forks and efficient bikes Sorry i personally think you are splitting hairs an ordinary person coming to on to this site wants to know if decent!suspension forks make for a better bike,in my case 100% yes whether this will be so in 6 months time i will have to wait and see.On the subject of hub motors against geared bikes from memory i am pretty certain that it was someone else ,you had not posted much that week,the person stating we had gotten to a stage were hub motors were the way to go as they are now more efficiant,it was sometime around the discussions on the Nano motor,but i will now try, and find the discussion in the postings.

watts up meter Just to clarify what i mean-here goes the Watts Up meter cost me £48 new off EBay not a lot when your paying nearly £1200 pounds for a bike.Inever said it could measure how much was left in the battery as you went along.Also i find lithium batts go from green to flat with very little warning with the supplied bike volt meter.With the Watts UP you run a battery through the meter, record the reading you get in amps or watts for future reference,as you go out on your bikes next run you note the amps or watts being consumed as you go along,it gives you a total as you ride along, deducting what you have used from your recorded reading, you know how much is left in your battery as near as dam it.It is also very useful to use it to see if your battery is losing capacity.Flecc i was not having a snipe at you ,i cannot see how anyone as obviously intelligent as you are can be so blind to the benefits of these meters,may be you do not cycle long distances, or could you be getting inflexible to new ideas as you get older.

I have been reading the threads on this forum for quite a while now and every now and then feel the need to have a go at what i consider is misleading information put out by some members.First if i was new to electric bikes i would assume by Fleccs information that suspension forks were a loadlof rubbish and a waste of time. Admittedly the forks on my Sprint are not up to much,but last month i purchased a focus city bike from Wiggle to which i have fitted my own motor kit with suspension forks.The ride transformation was amazing compared to my Torque and Sprint the comfort and handling superb.My point is Fleccs gives a lot of valuable advice but some of them are personnel views which should be taken with a pinch of salt.Second point a few weeks ago it was stated<not by Flecc as far as i know> that hub motors are more efficient than gear drives Please inform me has some great event taken place that i have missed what new and ground breaking product are we talking about.Until a few months ago the Giant range of bikes could not be beaten, climbing just about any hill because it drives through the bikes gears and that is on a 24v batt.I can only assume you were talking o f the new Forte and Forza with there uprated 250 watt motors ,and have a wider powerband, but nothing is free and must consume more juice ,plus a hub motor going up a steep hill cannot possibly stay within it's comfort zone ,and therefore must start to consume amps ,while a geared drive will not be as efficient through its drive but it will always be in the motors powerband if driven correctly.

Hi after having a go at poor old Scott with his flu germ yesterday<he did manage to wriggle out of the questions pretty well>i thought i would tell you how i regularly get between 35and 39 miles on my day trips out<can you do better>on the torque with one batt.First off my bike is fitted with a Watts Up Meter which measures amps being used or you have consumed<or watts> an absolutely brilliant bit of kit despite what Flec says about meters, so much so i would not take a bike with a lithium battery out without one and cycle any distance. Second i am not in a time trial, and go at a leisurely pace cycling on the flat without motor assistance,there is a part on the torques throttle just before your motor makes that horrible strained sound ,if you do not open your throttle past the strained sound your motor will draw between half an amp and 4 amps,of course i open the throttle for inclines.I regularly cycle the Wirral Penininsula it is reasonably flat, and admit this method would not work in a hilly area or if you were in a hurry cycling to work,but in the end the distance you can travel is determined by how you manage your battery power and the amount of work you are prepared to put in.The meter tells you when to lay off the power and cycle more so your batt will get you home. This method does not seem to work if your bike is derestricted ,i can only assume i subconsciously open the throttle more.

Opinion 50/cycles Nice to hear an opinion on bats from the horses mouth as it were,it is the first time i have heard you voice an opinion on bats ,i take it you were taking of lithium as iknow m/hydride will last the distance having done 2500 miles on my present one and although down on capacity is still going strong ,is it your opinion that i should get the same sort out millage out of the lithium batt if treated correctley,or would you admit after all the hype these batts were maybe a step backwards.<,I'll be very surprised if you answer this>.

i hear what you are saying about having to factor in extendended warranties by law in the u s a but NCYE WHEELS seem to manage it and for a price of £1077 pounds ,but i appreciate you may have to pay a state tax on top of that. that aside everyone seems to to have dodged the issue of our lousy six month warranty and i have my doubts whether this ,would stand up in consumer law ,i refer to goods being fit for purpose they were made.

Sorry about the generalization about prices ,my Sprint was only£925 but considering i can go to Halfords and buy a complete mountain bike for under£100 i still fail to see how it costs even £300 to add a cross bar on a bike when done by a small addaptable Chinese company.On a more serious note i would have more faith in your lithium batts if you had faith in them ,we get a lousy 6month warranty the yanks get 12monthes maybe they are not the pushovers we are, Sparta amongst others are offering a 2yr warranty.

I was not critizing 50 cycles for making a profit , and i have found you a very good firm to deal with,what i fail to understand is the price hike from£900 to£1500 from the Sprint to the Forte just by adding a crossbar to a Chinese frame and some switchgear, it does not add up.

Just a quick reply on the Sprints, mine have m/hydride batts and seem to suite the sprints fine although its not the case with the Torque which seems to like the extra voltage supplied by the lithium battery, and feels a bit flat when used with m/hydride <needs Flecc's battery mod>.

just like to make a point on the finnish of the torque and Chinese bikes in general it seems you can have any colour as long as it is black or clear laquer.laquer on aluminium frames was a novelty when they came out,not now . When you start charging up to £1500 pounds Matt black is not good enough,and what about the name stickers stuck on as an afterthought,we are after all buying Chinese made bikes,made in the cheapest place possible with a few European parts thrown in,the hike in price from the Sprint wold seem to be an effort to increase profit margins, because they did not think they would sell many at that price.don't forget also the improved performance of the fort &forza must be paid for,you do not get something for nothing.

hi i own 2 sprints and a torque ,the sprints are great ,the torque i got carried away with what i would call marketing sh-peal when it came out concerning its speed and new lithium batts .I have none of the problems described,would i buy another one NO why £250 for a rubbish battery that only lasts 12 months,a battery which cuts off power when put under pressure,50 cycles need to reduce there lithium prices by about fifty per cent to make them viable or reintroduce m/hydride batts ,it seems only some electric bikes have difficulty in obtaining batts, is it a marketing ploy.1300m/hydride would be a step forward,until then my torque will be left to rot or get sold.

whisper batt hi does anyone know if spare batteries are available for the whisper and the cost-thanks

hi considering the high cost of replacement batteries and sometimes the short life,is it not time that 50 cycles had more faith in there products, not just this supplier but others as well and offer a better guaratee.Ezee in the States give a 12 month guarantee on batteries we get 6, Sparta and others now offer a 2 yr guarantee on there batteries.