allen-uk

NO LONGER FOR SALE... Wisper went today to a nice guy who came when he said he would, tried the bike, paid up, and went, making the whole process quick and easy. Allen.

Coming to an end now, my friends. If I don't get a sensible offer by Saturday pm, then the local PDSA shop will be the winners! This is a WISPER, a good-quality Wisper, with TWO batteries (the second one cost me about £500!) Offer me somewhere near the £300 I want, and it's all yours. Till Saturday, then, March 5th. Allen.

Well, let's put a figure on it then. I would LIKE £300, but make a near-ish offer and I'll probably say "Yes." Either reply on here, or to keep it private, click on the envelope above right, start a new conversation with me as a participant (allen-uk) - gord, why is it so darned complicated? - and send me a Private Message that way. allen-uk

Wisper 905se City S, 36V 14Ah 2010 model, plus spare battery, also 36V 14Ah. All supplied by PowaRider of Woking. Very good condition, not much use (maybe a thousand miles), well maintained. All usual equipment, front disc brake, rear shoes. Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, slimed tubes. Off-road button. Basic Cateye computer (and spare). Rear pannier rack, mudguards, handlebar replaced by one with a bigger internal bore (to accommodate bar-end mirrors, etc). One charger, keys for both batteries. Faults: had 3 broken spokes in rear wheel (one at a time!), fixed by local bike shop for £15 a spoke. It had an electrical fault about a year ago, and the bike went in to PowaRider Cheltenham who checked out the electrics and found the handlebar controller was faulty, so replaced that. Both batteries hold charge - the spare was only bought as a back up. Unused since February 2015, stored in dry garage (I switched to a more powerful 'off-road' model). Bike is in North London (NW9), collection preferred, but if you wish I can contact the man-and-van who took it to Cheltenham and back last year - he just puts it in the back of his van and drives there, so no packing/unpacking. It cost me about £50 each way. See photographs: http://tinyurl.com/jnf5k3x If you want to ride a Wisper but don’t want to pay the £1600-£1800 for a new model, this is a better way of doing it. It’s a good ‘honest’ bike, in good condition, and the extra battery gives it a greater range than usual. Price? Make me a sensible offer, and it's yours. (If I get 'silly' offers, I'll put it back in the garage!) Allen - send me a PM.

Thanks Eddie, that is a sound idea - and if it gets knicked it's only £2.50! A

Only tenuously electric, I'm afraid... I want a small digital clock (to tell the time, just) which I can mount on my handlebars. No, not a computer - and for some unknown reason my fancy controller screen shows all sorts of things, but not the time. Plenty of clocks, but I'd prefer a numerical display, and most have figures and hands. The only one that comes close is the Oxford mini-clock, but the reviews on Amazon are dire! Anyone got any ideas? Ta.

Yes, you have a point of course. When I first started ebiking a few years ago I tried the 'usual' market-leaders in mirrors like Mirrcycle, and the elegant Busch and Muller long-stem version. Some broke with rough-ish handling (that's life in London's hurly-burly), some didn't - but they all, bar none, vibrated! I had a look at the Halcyon mirror, and must say that as well as its much larger (and thus better) image, it WAS the weight that appealed to me. And lo and behold, mounted on the end of first my Wisper's bars, and more recently on my Dave-designed one-off, vibrate it does NOT. Steady as a rock. And to repeat what I believe to be an essential safety point: using such a mirror, big as it is, means that when you DO need an instant glance behind, it is there, ready - on smaller mirrors there MUST be a split-second wasted in locating the mirror's image in your field of view. Might be wrong, of course; perhaps it's just justification for my odd buying choices, but I'm no judge! Al ps sorry, oldtom, to further upset your digestion.

83 now. Mainly to provoke oldtom... A

Yes, they (the bigger motor-bike-type) mirrors do "fold" right back - I have a narrow hallway, too. And as for the aesthetics, sure, Mirrcycle and the like look more elegant, but I don't think they'll ever make our girt lumpy ebikes look anything like their refined non-electric cousins. Horses (in this case cart-horses) for courses. I suppose I'd rather be safe than pretty (fat chance [ed.]). A

Again, fair comment. Price has always been secondary to me, (I bought a Wisper, for example!), second that is to quality and in this case safety. But the principle stands. You haven't got to buy (cheap or dear) a cycle mirror because it's LIGHT in weight - there are loads of heaviier, bigger, motorbike mirrors on the market for £20-ish, the weight of which will not affect your ebike one iota - don't dismiss them, as you might find they do the job better - to repeat, you get a bigger, flatter image of what is behind you, which you can see with the merest glance towards your mirror. I'm trying to broaden your choices, not lay down the law! Al.

Fair comment Tom. I find the VERY much bigger, 'flatter' image worth paying for. And they will survive very hard knocks. A

Most of the recommended mirrors in this thread are specifically designed for NON-electric bikes, where the weight of every item matters. It doesn't matter on an e-bike! I use this mirror. http://classicpartsltd.com/820-halcyon-bar-end-mirror.html Huge image, v.little vibration, a real safety feature. Too heavy (a few ounces) for the lycra brigade. Just check your handlebars will take the 7/8th fitting - most will. Al.

I've had occasion to move a couple of ebikes recently, up and down the country, and was lucky enough to find a van courier who only wants £35 per trip (although I give him a bit more). So far 100% reliable. Emails or phones when he's collecting, and when he's delivering, and always on time. I won't put his full details on here in case there's a house rule about advertising, but if any members want his details, just send me a personal message and I'll be happy to pass them on to you. Bike-boxes, where you've got to strip your bike down, never appealed, particularly with electric bikes where wires etc. become a problem, but sticking the bike in one piece in the back of a van, fitted my bill. A.

Having taught English, perhaps I can arbitrate. The imperial system, based largely on body parts (how big's yours?), can be well described as arbitrary. The metric system, which tried to impose a scientific basis for measurement, is certainly more consistent - at least it's based on tens. Me? Like most old people, I use both, as it suits me. A

John: I did look on my sidewalls, but fading light (fading eyesight) made it difficult, so I took my figures from various sources on the interweb. Your 85 sounds more realistic, as when my track-pump gauge reads 80 the tyre is rock hard. Yes, point taken d8veh about not having gauges till the last few years, and I quite agree that most things are over-measured these days - but the notion that tyres should be softer in the front than the rear struck me as a probably useful idea. A