BLACKPANTHER

SOLD! Subject to collection.

SOLD! Subject to collection.

Would it be too cheeky to ask you to scan and post the leaflet? I could use some new over shoes, but I doubt they'd sell obscure stuff like that?

Legal bikes will not become more powerful. In fact regulations will be enforced more tightly and future bikes will be less powerful. Ranges should increase by a large margin though......but at a cost. I wouldn't worry about waiting for the next big thing though. You always pay through the nose for 'the next big thing'! If you want an 'off-road' step thru, why not buy a step thru and convert it with one of the off-road kits?

A cheeky chappy has just offered me £500.00. I know I said make me an offer but........ Still, worth a try. Let the negotiations commence! Cheers! Once again, I think ebikes are a really good idea for many people, and if my knee was worse, I'd stick with it. I've found though, that the more I ride, the better it's got! I'm going to try and keep it up for long as I can. Hopefully, that'll be for another 15-20 years or so! There's a great sense of satisfaction riding 10 miles to work steadily without breaking sweat, then riding home fast for a workout and arriving covered in sweat! Likewise though, if I was in a worse condition physically, I'd get the same sense of satisfaction from riding an ebike and getting some assistance. Comparably, you're still putting in the same effort, and it's so much better than resorting to the car.

I bought the Aurora as a bit of a treat for myself this Christmas. I actually received it in early January, so the bike is less then 3 months old! The intention was to cycle to work every day of the year, using my non-electric Dawse town bike most of the time, and the Aurora when my knee played up. My knee however, has just about fixed itself (hopefully for good!) so I don't use the Aurora enough to justify keeping it. I've also gotten the motorbike back on the road. For these reasons, the Aurora has done less then 400 miles, and the battery has only been charged around 25-30 times. And so, as I need the space (and money for a road bike) the Aurora is up for sale. I thought I'd try on here first before putting it up on ebay. Upgrades and extras. Front brake and rotor upgraded to an Avid BB7 brake with 185mm disk. (Standard front brake was pretty poor for the weight of the bike.) The Avids have seen less than 30 miles since fitting. I fitted a non-suspension seat post to drastically lower seat height. (See pics). I'm 5 ft 8 in, and can now comfortably get both feet on the ground with this post and the Auroras supplied suspension seat. If the suspension seat was swapped for a standard one, I reckon anyone over 5ft 4 in could ride it. The original suspension seat post will be included. Front and rear Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. Front is 1.75 in wide, the rear is a 2.00 inch wide. I also fitted an extra plastic tube above the handlebars to tidy up the power mode controller. It comes with the standard cavernous double panniers. For anyone not familiar with the Alien Aurora, it is not a 'road legal' bike, but due to the fact that the motor is physically the same size as a 250w legal motor, it doesn't look illegal. Top speed (with the wider tyres) is a little above 20mph on throttle only, but where this bike really shines is in pedal assist mode. There's no need to ever take it out of top gear! Here is a link to the Aurora at Aliens site. http://www.alienbikes.co.uk/page7.htm The only significant scratch I can see on the bike is on the crossbar, which I have shown in the pics below. It was damaged on delivery, due to the pedals (I think) being loose inside the box. The new price is £999.00. If I put it on ebay, I'd be hoping to get around £700.00, but if there's someone thinking of buying an Aurora, make me an offer and you could bag yourself a bargain! I need to sell it as I have my eye on a rather nice £500.00 Viking road bike. Viewing/test ride available any evening/weekend. I sort of regret buying the Aurora. Not because it's a bad bike in any way, in fact it's the only ebike I would buy again if I needed one.....but as I can pedal to work and back reasonably easily, there's no point in owning it. Maybe in 10 years or so, I'll be buying another because I've really gotten in to cycling and I'd hate to think that I'd ever have to give it up. Hopefully, by the time I need one, the ebikes will be hydrogen powered, 20 mph, 300 mile range machines! Thanks to everyone on here for their informed advice on various matters. This is the friendliest Forum on t'internet. Can I still visit when I'm ebike-less? http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll258/carlpanther/aviddisc.jpg http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll258/carlpanther/auroraschwalbe.jpg http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll258/carlpanther/auroradamage.jpg

I bought the Aurora as a bit of a treat for myself this Christmas. I actually received it in early January, so the bike is less then 3 months old! The intention was to cycle to work every day of the year, using my non-electric Dawse town bike most of the time, and the Aurora when my knee played up. My knee however, has just about fixed itself (hopefully for good!) so I don't use the Aurora enough to justify keeping it. I've also gotten the motorbike back on the road. For these reasons, the Aurora has done less then 400 miles, and the battery has only been charged around 25-30 times. And so, as I need the space (and money for a road bike) the Aurora is up for sale. I thought I'd try on here first before putting it up on ebay. Upgrades and extras. Front brake and rotor upgraded to an Avid BB7 brake with 185mm disk. (Standard front brake was pretty poor for the weight of the bike.) The Avids have seen less than 30 miles since fitting. I fitted a non-suspension seat post to drastically lower seat height. (See pics). I'm 5 ft 8 in, and can now comfortably get both feet on the ground with this post and the Auroras supplied suspension seat. If the suspension seat was swapped for a standard one, I reckon anyone over 5ft 4 in could ride it. The original suspension seat post will be included. Front and rear Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. Front is 1.75 in wide, the rear is a 2.00 inch wide. I also fitted an extra plastic tube above the handlebars to tidy up the power mode controller. It comes with the standard cavernous double panniers. For anyone not familiar with the Alien Aurora, it is not a 'road legal' bike, but due to the fact that the motor is physically the same size as a 250w legal motor, it doesn't look illegal. Top speed (with the wider tyres) is a little above 20mph on throttle only, but where this bike really shines is in pedal assist mode. There's no need to ever take it out of top gear! Here is a link to the Aurora at Aliens site. http://www.alienbikes.co.uk/page7.htm The only significant scratch I can see on the bike is on the crossbar, which I have shown in the pics below. It was damaged on delivery, due to the pedals (I think) being loose inside the box. The new price is £999.00. If I put it on ebay, I'd be hoping to get around £700.00, but if there's someone thinking of buying an Aurora, make me an offer and you could bag yourself a bargain! I need to sell it as I have my eye on a rather nice £500.00 Viking road bike. Viewing/test ride available any evening/weekend. I sort of regret buying the Aurora. Not because it's a bad bike in any way, in fact it's the only ebike I would buy again if I needed one.....but as I can pedal to work and back reasonably easily, there's no point in owning it. Maybe in 10 years or so, I'll be buying another because I've really gotten in to cycling and I'd hate to think that I'd ever have to give it up. Hopefully, by the time I need one, the ebikes will be hydrogen powered, 20 mph, 300 mile range machines! Thanks to everyone on here for their informed advice on various matters. This is the friendliest Forum on t'internet. Can I still visit when I'm ebike-less? http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll258/carlpanther/aviddisc.jpg http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll258/carlpanther/auroraschwalbe.jpg http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll258/carlpanther/auroradamage.jpg

A couple of times whilst riding the Aurora, I've heard/felt a click-thud noise from the front wheel. It doesn't happen all the time, and is not in time with the wheel rotation. The sound it makes is like when the tyre picks up a stone and throws it into the mudguard. Annoyingly it does it for a few seconds then stops and is o.k for miles and miles. This morning though, the click-thud noise returned, louder than before, and lasted the last 5 miles of my commute. Setting off back from work though, all was silent again! None of the spokes seem to be loose, and there doesn't seen to be any play in the wheel. I guess I'll take the tyre off this weekend and thoroughly check the spokes. I'll also check the bearings. Any other ideas?

I think the bigger difference is due to width rather than tread pattern. I recently took the knobblies off the missus' mountain bike and replaced then with the standard road tyres that came with the Aurora. After the 1st ride she said she couldn't believe how much faster and easier it was to ride. I you want more speed, go thinner.

I'd say look again. It sounds like you've made up your mind, but I'll chip in because I'm a 5'8" Aurora rider. As standard with the suspension seat post AND suspension seat, yes it's a really high riding position. I first tried swapping the seat for my MB seat, and this made it ridable, but still just a bit too high, so I swapped the seat post, and this makes a HUGE difference. I then put the suspension seat (very comfy) back on, and can get both feet flat on the floor. With a standard post and standard seat, I reckon anyone over 5'4" could ride it and get both feet down. Also, though illegal, the Aurora 'looks' legal as the motor is the same size as a 250w, and is hidden anyway by the rotor and panniers. The magic pie kit looks the size of a dustbin lid, and if you're caught doing 30 on the road........ Seeing as you sound fit, the other way to get a bike that averages 20mph on the flat is to get a town/road bike, and ride it every day for a few months, build up the leg muscles and you'll barely break sweat. I can do my 10 mile trip to work on my non electric town bike as quick as I do on the Aurora, as the Aurora is a complete bugger to pedal any faster than 20 mph, and if you hit a big bump flat out, it ain't pretty!

I think prospective new ebikers just like to have a read whilst deciding if an ebike is for them. I must admit, I 'hovered' for quite a while (3 or 4 months) before joining, as I wanted to gain a bit of intel so as not to ask a silly question. Don't be shy though, there's no such thing as a silly question, and there are loads of well informed technically minded super geniuses on here (me not included).:o Or is it genii?

Can't wait for parts 4,5&6 of your commute. I'm pretty lucky in that my 10 mile commute is all roads/cycle paths. Don't think I'd fancy those off road parts you have to cover in the dark. Nice camera btw.

Back in the day, I rode a Carlton Criterium. It could hit over 35 mph down hill. Scary stuff. Now though, I just want something that's a bit less effort for the odd fast ride, and for commuting in the summer. My hybrid Dawes is really comfortable for a work hack......I just yearn for that top end speed at times.

My bike tends to be loaded up with work gear/snap/waterproofs/tools etc when I use it, and I weigh 12&1/2 stone, so maybe you're a bit lighter? It's not that they're 'bad' brakes, just hard to set up so they run silently. The BB7s have 2 adjuster knobs to adjust, and always line up perfectly. Plus, like I said I had a threaded adjuster bolt so I suspect I'd have had to replace soon anyway. I also like the look of the bigger discs.......should I have gone even bigger? I'm pretty sure I'll be selling the Aurora soon. Not that it's a bad bike, it's just that I haven't been using it enough to justify keeping it. I'm looking at road bikes at the mo.

I'd have thought that with the weight, you'd soon wear down your rims if you were a high mileage Aurora rider, and I'm not sure if V-Brakes would stop the beast in the wet? For £47.95 (inc p&p) for the full disk brake set from chain reaction cycles Avid BB7 Mechanical Disc Brake 2011 | Buy Online | ChainReactionCycles.com I thought they were a complete bargain. I'm not sure why the 185s are so much cheaper than the 160s (160s are £63.99!), but what an excuse for an upgrade. For an extra 4 quid there's a 203mm set, but I'm not sure the cheapish forks could take it!

The standard brakes just don't have the stopping power for such a heavy bike. I tried to adjust them, but one of the adjuster screws was very stiff. When I took it out, it was apparent that it had been threaded when factory assembled! I've just been for a spin around the block and wasn't expecting much as it will take quite a few stops for them to bed in. Surprisingly though, they are already a marked improvement over the standards. When fully settled in, I'm sure the up-sized rotor will perform excellently. I'm leaving the back standard brake though, as it's quite capable of locking up already.

Today I finally got around to fitting the front 185mm avid BB7 disc brake that I bought over a month ago! I haven't been in a rush as I've not used the Aurora lately as my knee has not played up in ages, (I had an MRI scan on it a couple of weeks ago, appointment next month to see if I need an op on it.) I'm possibly the least experienced on this forum when it comes to bicycle maintenance, but what could go wrong? Take of the old 160mm rotor, tick. Fit the new 185mm rotor, tick, remove crappy standard brakes, tick, fit new BB7 brakes, tick. It's all going so well, and I'm feeling pretty smug. However, when setting up the brakes, they wouldn't release. I assumed it was the callipers, but after a bit of head scratching, and maybe the odd curse, I noticed that a wire on the cable was broken, which was stopping the brake lever from springing back when released. A trip to my local bike shop, and £1.80 later I'm back in business. I've never replaced a cable before, but WooHoo, fitted it no problem. Job done, smugness returns! Et Voila! http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll258/carlpanther/aviddisc.jpg I've not ridden it yet as it's piddling it down, so I'll try an get a test ride in tomorrow. In true 'freecycle' spirit, if anyone near Doncaster wants a barely used (300 miles) 160mm rotor for free, I have no use for it. I must admit though I'm thinking of selling the Aurora. I started cycling last March for fitness and I like to work up a bit of a sweat. Plus, I prefer the higher top speed of my trusty non electric town bike. I'm thinking of selling it and buying a road bike!!!

It winds me up when they shoot past you when your 20 yards from a red light! Idiots!

As a rule, the longer a pad lasts, the more it's wearing out your rotor. The most important thing though, is how well the pad/rotor combo actually stops you, and if the set up feels right in all conditions. It's not so much of an issue on bicycles though as new rotors are cheap. Motorbike replacement discs are horrendously expensive though, so I tend to go for a softer compound rather than have to replace them!

Seriously, it goes together in next to no time. I've just timed myself, 15 seconds! That's from flat pack without the wheels fitted to being fully assembled.....another 5 seconds to hook it to your bike (assuming you leave the tow shaft on all the time) and you're away.

Flip a coin. If, after the 1st flip you find yourself saying "best of three" then you'll know that you wanted the loser of the first flip more!

The trailer I have folds flat in seconds, wheels are quick release, and it takes up very little room. You can replace the trailer pin with a padlock to stop it getting stolen. So the trailer's locked to the bike, lock the bike up when you go shopping....safe as houses. I know a lot of people take the p155 out of bike trailers.....I used to think the same, but they allow you to use your bike in situations when you'd normally have to resort to the car. For example, I bought a large bench grinder last week.....try bungee- ing THAT to your rack! I'd say that it's more suited to shortish journeys, shopping mainly. It's a bit loud and bouncy if you take it off road. If you're serious about touring/camping, it'd be worth paying a fair bit more and going for a single wheel speedy trailer.....the trailer I have would knock about 3 or 4 mph off your Auroras top speed when full. Empty, there's not really much difference.

I bought a pair of panniers from Halfords last year, £25 for the set. They're only just big enough for my work gear though. I have a titanic set of panniers that came with my Aurora, but the only ones Alien sell as 'extras' are the triple ones for £25 Electric Bicycles - Online Shop - Accessories (still massive though). My latest bargain purchase though was a trailer for £68 from ebay. NEW CARGO Bicycle Bike Trailer BLACK RED up to 100KG on eBay (end time 28-Feb-11 11:09:32 GMT) It has tubed tyres (quick release), takes a weeks shopping, folds flat in seconds, and rides really smoothly. Even fully loaded it's pretty easy on the push bike, and with the ebike it's almost effortless. I used to faff about with panniers/rack, but now I wouldn't be without the trailer.......have you thought about going down this route? Just think, with a trailer you could buy 6 BAGS OF POTATOES FOR THE PRICE OF 4!!!!!

The Aurora is only unsuitable with the standard set up of suspension seat post AND suspension seat. I tried a non-suspension seat post/non-suspension seat combo, and the Missus (5ft 6in) could easily get both feet on the floor. I'm 5 ft 9, and as the bike comes, I could only just get one tippie toe down....not very safe. I now run it with a non-suspension seat post and the suspension seat on and it's perfect.

I used to have the same problem with which end to put where. Then, whilst at Fulchester University, Professor McThoozle-Artichoke taught me this handy little rhyme to remind me . "Amp rhymes with lamp, when you spell, take the 'L'. 'L' is for lefty, this rhyme isn't hefty. Ohm rhymes with 'Rome', leave the 'R' at home. 'R' is for right, me is clever tonight." Unless it's a Monday, or thunder doth sound, In which case my friend, you must swap the ends round. Therefore, the amp (lamp) is nearly always to be going on the left. Thusly, the Ohm mainly goes on the right......unless it's a full moon. I can't remember the rhyme for full moon Amp/Ohm placing.