R Benny Waered

Really enjoying the bike - really good integration of the motor even if the front fork is a bit low rent for a £2500 bike. On the flat though my cadence is too high and I generally live on the tiny rear cog. For me it's all too low geared - I did the steepest slope around (Castell Coch) and I'm in 3d. I'm confused by the options and implications of putting a larger front chainring on though - so many choices. Its 38 teeth currently and maybe a 42 would be far better suited to this torquey bike? Anyone done it and kept it safe with a new resized chainguard etc? I can do it without pulling the crank out right? Thanks

I have one of these and had to set the gears all up from scratch despite it being built by the bike shop - it was quite a sh** first ride! There are some good videos on you tube on how to do this - its slow and fiddly first time so take your time and see how all the controls interact. Make sure the 'maintenance mode' pin that locks out the derailleur in its longest lowest mode isn't pushed in.

Actually - just found these at half the cost and OE made so bound to fit. https://www.wheelbase.co.uk/product/accessories/mudguards/cube-acid-mudguard-set-mtb-75-with-stays/

Did you need an extra part to connect the stays to the front shock? These: https://www.rutlandcycling.com/accessories/mudguards/sks-direct-straight-fork-mount_374546

They are good for 29" x 2.6" tyres and seem to do a good job of protecting the battery upfront and the crank mech at rear from splashes - ugly as they are! I might buy a set (so very expensive in UK...) but do I need the little adapters that screw into the lugs on the front shock mounting I wonder? http://i.imgur.com/USjZZC7l.jpg https://www.tredz.co.uk/.SKS-Bluemels-27-5-29-75mm-U-Stay-Extra-Long-Mudguard-Set_230697.htm Anything cheaper with a nicer design/colour but still a good wraparound would be welcome - I'm done Googling for 2 hours :-)

Wow that is still a lot higher than I imagined so thanks for the research. Causation is easy to speculate on, but as you say it's all bad news all round at the end of the day. And my bell was in overdrive yesterday on shared paths...

That wasn't OP? I'm in Cardiff and there is a plethora of new roadsigns stating 20mph in urban areas. Many of them are perfectly valid on residential roads and busy shopping areas and are a good thing. I believe it is a nationwide Welsh policy. As usual traffic adheres to them where they are reasonable and purposeful - maybe less so on through A roads that are wide with good visibility. Personally I'd welcome being able to do this lower limit rather than hunting around 15.5mph which in my opinion and experience is NOT the natural cruising speed on the flat - even more so for a Roadie. Just popped to the town centre on the Taff Trail and even 15.5 would have been grossly irresponsible on a shared path that got so busy in places. I take the point on kinetic energy but in over half a decade (inc London cycle commuting) I have never seen a pike/ped accident so its a v low risk in my experience.

Not sure recommending people buy ICE motorbikes is the best solution to allowing ebikes to do an easily safe and doable 20mph in 20 zones? Just keeping up in traffic as the playing field has been levelled down would be a safety plus. 15mph isn't really the average speed on a flat in my experience. It's set a little too low imho which can be frustrating for us 50yr old athletes late for work!

Sanctimonious supercilious pompousness isn't very Christmassy towards victims of crime! I have an Abus Granit D lock for casual 'pop into 1 shop' quick use and if i'm doing a job on site for a while and it has onsite out of sight bike parking i take my HUGE heavy motorbike chain and lock with me first day and leave it there. Its about 8kg! In future, as I just got my E, I would remove the £600 battery too. My son lost his £500 3 day old bike in broad daylight as he made the silly victim error of using a quality chain lock. He now knows they are peanut butter to thieves and that cops and council who scream CYCLE at everyone as they close streets left right and centre here do not address this MEGA issue either. Of all the places in town to NOT have CCTV is where the bike rack was... Genuinely a massive disincentive to cycle for many.

Just got my first e-bike and it is blindingly clear that a 20mph limit is required. Most residential areas in Wales are now 20mph so to be able to do that allows you to match traffic. Also most peoples cruising speed is a little higher on the flat. I find my 25kg e-bike is happy at 18mph and this matches my normal cadence too and the gearing. I am forever hunting around that 15mph mark with motor abruptly cutting in and out.

Thanks VFR - much appreciated. A minefield so I bought a Cube e-MTB

Bump... Maybe I'm asking too much - if so apologies...

Been looking at converting one of my bikes for months now but never feel confident to order any kit - so many gotchas between brake levers to disk clearance and I don’t know if I have a freewheel 9 speed cassette or not or if the bottom crank measurements spec are width or diameter or if the calliper will hit a rear hub! Feel quite useless (despite being able to build a mega PC and swap a head gasket on a car)! Any help appreciated I really want to convert my heavy semi-downhill Mongoose Teocali full sus MTB and the power assistance will help combat the drag of its comfy MTB tyres. Its mainly for the occasional 6 mile (one way) commute on a bike path (20mph max) and popping to shops a few miles away to get bread/screws! I want to quicken the journeys and make them easier so I don’t use the car as am not half as fit and strong and resilient as I was 25 years ago crossing continents on bikes! I’m also 18 stone and tall and my Scott Sub 10 hybrid bike has my neck craning up too much due to low handlebars and high saddle for me long legs – the MTB riding posture is much comfier. Old age guys! As said it’s a heavy bike and so am I and I want it to always pull uphill to maintain pace. I also want to contribute effort so 500w sounds right unless a 250w crank motor or geared rear hub motor will do – or can be home tweaked to improve performance? Not keen on a front motor and torque steer/slip. Rear drive cars always work better – keep the front for steering! £600 budget inc any tools to remove cranks etc. So, would a crank motor work given the fact that the swinging arm moves – I like the fact that you can use gears (will they graunch though as you have to pedal gently to change gear)? Or is a rear hub simpler – but I don’t know if it will work with the disk brake (cable operated) and if my 9 speed cassette is freewheel or not? I thought the freewheel was in the hub not the bunch of gears that slide on and off the hub splines? Battery would need to go under the tube that leads to thed crank. No mounting points. Enough from me – any advice welcomed as I just don’t see this really happening and I’d love to use the car less. Cheers

How did you get on - its these absolute 'gotchas' that are preventing me from pushing the button :-(