MikeW

Anyone know if this is coming to the UK? The Shadow ebike the first wireless electric bicycle ebike. Made in Canada Looks "interesting" and I'm sure wireless brakes are perfectly safe...

My daily commute is 8.5 miles each way. I can do the round trip on a single, full charge, with a little left in the tank by the time I get home. Because the charger weighs next to nothing I tend to take it with me and charge the battery in the office most days and repeat the process at home overnight. Whenever I charge it, I leave it to charge fully. What is the consensus on best practice to prolong the effective life of the battery? Let it run down before charging, charge it at every opportunity, or doesn't it matter? Any other tips? Thanks Mike

Agree with many of the comments here. My commute on the Aurora is 8.5 miles each way. It will do both ways back comfortably on a single charge even in high power mode (using a mixture of throttle and pedal-assist) so would probably be OK for you in terms of range, but 20 mph on the flat is all you should expect (my mean speed over multiple trips, 450 accumulated miles, is 18.2 mph).

If you have to go out on a bike and don't normally wear a helmet, make sure you do. Hit an invisible patch of black ice last year and my Brompton promptly rotated 90 degrees and I whacked my head on the road. It did at least 'knock some sense into me' as my father used to say...

I've done a couple of hundred miles on mine now (bought largely following Old Timer's recommendation). I'm very happy with it. It does my 17 mile round-trip commute without straining itself and I don't find it particularly noisy compared to other e-bikes I've tried (but, yes, the squeak is there). I laugh now in the face of hills and overtaking MAMILs on the up slopes is particularly entertaining. However, I don't get much over 20mph on the flat in high power on the throttle. I was happy with that, but reading this thread makes me think I should be getting a bit more. I suppose it is possible that the computer's calibration is off, but is there another likely answer?

You may be right, but the barriers to bikes being an accepted and viable means of personal utility transport (ie, as a genuine, routine alternative to cars, etc, rather than just for enthusiasts) in the Netherlands and some other mainland EU countries are far, far lower than in the UK. Some of that is down to the geographic features of the country, but it is also about the authorities treating bikes as being on a par with other methods of transport and road infrastructure and town planning being aligned with that attitude. In the UK, we don't, and a lot more is needed to make cycling routinely viable for more people. This isn't easy and it will take years, even with considered effort. To me, e-bikes are one way to broaden the utility transport user base. And with that, maybe we get another step toward movement on more cycle-friendly road infrastructure, etc. I feel the law should change to allow greater flexibility, to get more bums on saddles, rather than go the other way and likely rule out what were potential users.

Getting back to the original topic - the discussion of illegal bikes on the forum as opposed to the issues surrounding their use - I think it's a good thing. Laws are there (or should be) to balance the protection of society against the freedom of the individual. But laws change as society's needs change and other factors, sometimes technology-based, come into play. The laws governing motor vehicles are a lot different today from when we had men walking in front them waving little flags. The only way the people can get laws updated over time to better match the needs of the day is to discuss their pros and cons in an open forum, reach conclusions and, where necessary, lobby the lawmakers. That discussion also provides a mechanism for those who think the current law should be strictly followed to convey that opinion to those who do not. It also allows anyone to criticise someone who boasts behaviour that would be widely recognised as irresponsible, so demonstrating that the forum members are not just a bunch of anarchists who need to be controlled. Personally, being new to e-bikes and having test ridden several recently, I think the UK law as it stands errs too much on the side of protection and does not give the individual enough freedom. When it falls in line with EU law and pedalling becomes mandatory it will be even worse. I'm not arguing that we should all be allowed to hurtle around at 30mph untested and uninsured, but the current limits provide so little benefit to many would-be casual riders and commuters, especially given the typically higher cost of an e-bike, that they do nothing to encourage people to use their cars a little less and get a little bit more exercise (both in the interests of the society the law is designed to protect - surely?). Yes, if you have a trick knee or a heart condition then a bit of electric assistance can make the difference between cycling and not, but for a lot of healthy, but not necessarily fit, individuals, I believe the bikes that stick rigidly to the (forthcoming) law will be largely unattractive. The natural outcome of that is a) e-bikes will become more expensive as volumes drop, b) some current manufacturers will go out of business, c) more people will be forced to go for illegal bikes. So I say discuss it. I don't expect the law to change in the other direction, but we shouldn't be afraid to say we don't agree with it (if we don't) and pretend that we are all sticking to it (if we are not).

Reviewer: Mike W Purchased From: Alien Bikes Purchase Price: £999 (incl. delivery) Time Owned: 1 week Local Terrain: Moderate Hills ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Strengths: Range, (off-road!) speed, torque/hill climbing ability (in power-assist and throttle), launch, price, solid build, controls fall to hands nicely, sized for taller rider, comfy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Weaknesses: Weight, the law, gearing could be set higher. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary: Wanted a bike that enabled me to do the 17 mile round-trip, back-road commute between home and office without getting sweaty/tired every day (previously used Brompton + train most days). Country roads: bendy, hilly, but not mountainous, and very few cars. Bought this, never having seen/tried one in the flesh, largely on the strength of comments on this forum (and having tried a GoCycle, an Oxygen E-Mate and a Kalkhoff). One week in and it’s great. Using the pedal-assist more than I thought I would as it really goes up hill well in this mode and isn’t hard work. Will do it OK in throttle-only, but high-power mode + pedals is more satisfying, and faster. Going at what I considered a non-strenuous, typical pace, using a mixture of modes, revealed an average speed of 17.9 mph over the 8.5-mile trip with all its ups and downs, according to the cycle computer, which is 60% faster than I used to manage on a non-ebike, and a lot more pleasant. In high-power mode it will touch 20 mph on the flat, fully laden, in throttle only. Medium power is comparable to the strictly road-legal bikes I’ve tried. Low power seems largely pointless. It is very heavy and doesn’t coast well when you crest a hill, resulting in a tendency to engage the throttle on the downslope until the speed picks up (which is a guilty pleasure at this stage). The battery charger weighs next to nothing so I have been taking it in the panniers to the office. The panniers supplied, which hide a lot of the workings, are spacious. I removed the bottle holder as a) the bottle supplied didn’t fit it, and b) it was stopping me attaching a D-Lock bracket. I don’t find it too noisy (neither in the widely-reported battery rattle nor the whine of the motor). I’m 6’1” with 33” i/l and it fits, with neither the seat post nor the handlebars at close to their maximum height. My 6’6” all-legs friend does still find the frame a little small for him (though better than many others on the market), but that was without any adjustment to my riding position, and he still liked it. It is heavy, particularly at the back end. The upside is it feels very sturdy and is comfortable to ride, but, like me, it probably could benefit from shedding a few pounds. The only other downside I can see in the first week is that the gearing could be set higher - I can leave it in top gear pretty much all the time (the assist really kicks in when you set off). So, in summary, with the caveat that it’s still early in the relationship, I’m loving the alien. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall Rating (out of 10) : 8

FYI - I bought the Aurora. Took it for a short spin today. First impressions: very good. It's sturdy, well laid out and it's got some poke, but it weighs as much as two bikes and you definitely wouldn't want to run out of power part way through your commute... Review to follow once I've put it through its paces. Thanks to everyone for their advice. Mike

I tried the Oxygen at 50cycles. The shop was great - very helpful, knowledgeable and in a great location for test rides into Richmond Park. However, I found the E-mate underwhelming. It is a bit small for me (I tried one of 50cycles' Kalkhoffs for comparison and it was a much more comfortable ride), but the main disappointment was the lack of a feeling of power in both throttle-only and assisted mode. I don't think it is necessarily a fault of the bike, more that the 15mph limit is, well, very limiting. It might have been different if it could do that going up a gentle hill (Richmond Park is hardly mountainous) rather than the single-digit speeds it managed (used a GPS device as a speedo). For that reason, based on what I've heard, the Alien Aurora might get the vote.

Thanks for all your help - it was very useful. I'm off to Richmond to try the Oxygen, but it sounds like the Aurora might be worth a punt.

I thought they were pedal-assist only (correct?), which I have ruled out on my way to the shortlist...

I've been researching e-bikes for a couple of months now and need a bit of help arriving at a final decision having eliminated a lot of models/companies due to issues with build quality, aesthetics, reliability, range, weight, modes of operation, customer service, etc. I live in Hampshire and have an 18 mile rural round trip commute (all hedge-lined, largely empty back roads, some long inclines/hills, but not get-off-and-walk ones on a good day). I cycle it today only occasionally (for all the usual reasons/excuses), but it would become routine if I had an e-bike. I want one that works in throttle-only mode (as well as pedal-assist) and that can comfortably cope with the commute range/type every day. I'm fairly tall (6'1" / 33" inside leg), in my 40s and don't own any lycra. I'm also not a great one for "adjusting" - I want a bike that will make me happy out of the box without having to swap out components. On the bike I'll be carrying a laptop, some waterproof gear, a few papers and wallet, keys, etc, so will need panniers. My budget is flexible -- I was planning for £800 to £1,300-ish. Without getting into a legal/moral debate, I imagine that my normal route is unlikely to attract much official attention if I stray over 15mph occasionally and it would be nice to have something in reserve for the hills. I'm tempted by the Oxygen e-mate, but I've recently come across Alien Bikes on the web and the (cheaper, faster) Aurora sounds interesting (the Apollo does too, but is a more scary proposition). I am concerned that I won't be able to try an Alien before purchase and haven't seen enough reviews to give me the right degree of confidence to just order one. My fall-back choice is probably a Wisper 905, though this is even more expensive than the similar-looking Oxygen. I'd really appreciate any advice, particularly from owners of the above bikes who have insight into their suitability/reliability/actual performance, etc. Thanks in advance.