Caph

For someone who hasn't passed their motorbike test and doesn't have a grandfathered moped license courtesy of their pre 2001 car licence, would they have to fit L plates to their speed pedelec? It sounds crazy but I'm guessing they would be required?

Hi. Do you have to wear a motorbike helmet? How did you get on with insurance? Lexham might be able to offer you something.

Fortunately, both these problems have been addressed on the TC Max. There has been no reports of the power cut out and I've never experienced it. Also the TC Max has Brembo brakes and they don't squeal in the wet. They're about to release a TS-X model with a more powerful motor. No details yet.

Hi, on the whole it's a great bike but I've found a couple of niggles. I'd be interested to know if you get the same? The throttle is twitchy which means if you try and hold it at a certain position and go over any sort of bump you get a bit of acceleration because your hand moves slightly, then a bit of slowing down because your hand moves back to where it was. It all happens so fast that you end up with a slightly jerky ride. It isn't as bad as it sounds because it is only a slight jerkiness and if you hold the throttle open you don't get it at all, which is why I ride a lot in setting 1 with the throttle fully open travelling at 30mph. The second is that when braking there is a slight judder almost like a slightly warped disc, but it actually comes from the motor. It's not too bad and you quickly get used to it. More of a slight annoyance really. Do you get that on the TC? Other than that, it really does seem to be a bit of a bargain for the money you pay. I'll put a full review up after I've had it a bit longer. I've only done 700 miles so far. It's a pity the UK government haven't handled the speed pedelec thing better. I really like the look of the Scoot moped cruiser which is being launched for public hire in LA at the minute. I was in Krakow recently and saw people cruising around the city centre on the CityCoco Harley style mopeds. They looked great fun, but having to pay out for insurance, MOT, registration, etc. in the UK really takes the fun out of them!

I've been getting a bit sick of near misses and lack of speed on the roads so I've been watching to see see how the new speed pedelecs turned out in terms of price and legislation but its all been a bit of a let down on both fronts in the UK. So, I bought myself a Super Soco TC Max which is actually cheaper than most speed pedelecs. It's been a revelation on the road. People give you way, way more respect and I can out accelerate all but the sportier cars (not motorbikes though!), with a top speed of about 50mph uphill into a headwind and about 60mph on the flat with a tailwind. I get about 55-65 miles on a single charge depending on the terrain. I didn't quite appreciate the hidden costs though - insurance, helmet, jacket, reinforced jeans, locks, CBT, etc. It soon adds up, but on the whole I'm glad with my decision. It's definitely not the same feeling as being on the bicycle and I can't use bike lanes round here, but it makes way more sense to me than a speed pedelec. It's still nice getting back and plugging it in to charge overnight knowing it's only costing a few pennies though.

I honestly did not know that but it would very much explain why most of those brands were in the Raleigh showroom which I struggled to understand at the time.

Not sure what you are saying here? Raleigh don't have the support capability of Woosh bikes? I really don't think you want to have said that! We all know that hub motors are more or less indestructible. Other than that, a hub motor drive bike is a normal bike. But then you already know that.

Give Suzhou Bafang a ring. Give one of the big lithium battery companies in Shenzhen a ring. Knock out a range of one or two standard MTB and/or sit up and beg front hub motor bikes at £500-£700 a pop. Nothing special, but then it doesn't have to be, you can buy a Decathlon bike for £200, a motor for £100 off ebay and a reliable battery for £200 right now which will pretty much match any £2k "complete" ebike currently on the market. If you want decent suspension, decent hydraulic disc brakes and a decent chainset you could plump for a £300 Decathlon MTB and you are then matching the £3K "complete" ebikes. They have the economies of scale, buying power, dealerships and distribution network to dominate the UK ebike industry in volume sales, and change ebikes in to a mass market UK product, but instead they are meowing like kittens in a corner. Am I wrong?

I might have known you'd know the answer Tony. I've been away for quite some time. Good to see you are still here. And nearly 35K posts!!!

It was a Raleigh Captus. I did have it in max mode which is how I ride my hub motorised bike. Basically you have to click down, down, down, down to stop it kicking in when you don't want it, then up, up, up, up when you're off and do want it kicking in. A real pain. Drag was definitely worse. A lot worse. I know because I had to stand and pedal to get the damned thing to make it up the hill. All I can say is I tried hub motor and loved it, I tried crank drive and was non-plussed. Maybe it is a marmite thing as others have said. Pity, because I was thinking about treating myself and I thought a go on a crank drive would convince me to splash out. I have to say, my partner was on the girls version of the bike and the first thing she said was "this isn't as good as your bike". She has only ridden my bike once! Enough said.

Forgot to say, it was also a pig to ride uphill with the power turned off. Absolutely no comparison to my bog standard Decathlon MTB with a front hub motor fitted, which is a breeze to ride uphill with the power off, although obviously in a lower gear. Is that normal?

I was chatting to someone at the Raleigh event last week and they said they'd had multiple spokes snap on their rear hub motor bike. I haven't had one break on any of my three front hub motor bikes in over 10 years. That got me thinking. Is spoke breakage more likely in a rear hub motor drive due to the additional weight being applied to the rear wheel? If I ever ask too much of my front hub motor it spins out which maybe prevents undue torque being applied to the spokes? Has anyone else had spokes snap in a hub motor and if so was it front or rear?

Well I got to try a £2K Bosch bike at the Raleigh event last week. I wasn't impressed. Power seemed on a par with my cheap front hub motor and top speed was slower. Didn't like the lack of a throttle, and having to mess around with the controls to stop it kicking in when I was riding slowly was a pain. The bike geometry also meant that my weight was way too far back in the bike which rendered the sub-par front suspension useless when we rode over the most rocky path in our area. Is this the normal state of affairs for a Bosch crank drive bike?

I bought my 8Ah lithium manganese battery (under 2kg!) direct from BMS Batteries back in 2013 for 140USD plus 90USD shipping. I average about 2000 miles a year mainly commuting. Battery still going strong three years later although max range on full throttle started out at 35 miles and is now down to under 30. Given my daily commute is only a 7 mile round trip it isn't really an issue for me. Average speed still over 15mph. If you buy direct from Ping or BMS and you will be sure you are getting a truly brand new battery which has been properly tested.

If anyone is interested you can try out a Raleigh eBike next weekend 6th and 7th May at a Sustrans talk about the Bennerley Viaduct followed by a short cycle ride from Raleigh headquarters to the viaduct on one of their bikes. All free apparently. http://news.raleigh.co.uk/bennerley-viaductride

I'm pretty sure these are lockable:- https://bmsbattery.com/81-ebike-bottle-battery

The metal. I don't have any photos but if I did they would look exactly like d8ve's photo for both of mine which went the same way.

Thanks for all the replies. Kirstin, I think you may have a problem with your kit. My 8Fun kit with 9Ah rack battery gives me over 30 miles with very little drop in speed and that's after a couple of years of use. I always use full throttle but pedal all the time too. Funny you should mention BMS, I've just ordered a battery from them. It almost sounds like the 8Fun is using an NiCoMn battery now, does anyone know if that is the case? That may be a deal breaker for me due to the substantial sag I've heard about with this battery. D8ve great info as usual, thanks. I'm reassured about the bb sensor with hollow crank now. I was just going to glue a reed switch and magnet to the brake levers, is it not as easy as that? My bseen lights used this setup for the brake light and it worked well. Is the Oxydrive SB QSWXK? Probably overkill for what I want although I am seriously considering a bottle battery. Looks very nice too. I wish you could buy the 8 fun kit without battery and couple it up with a Ping lifepo4 10ah. That would be ideal. Juicy, I didn't realise you did kits. Is it a QSWXK? Not too keen on the frog unfortunately. It will interfere with the rear rack and in my experience the frog mount only lasts about 12 months before it snaps. I got through 2 in almost exactly 2 years. Always cracked in the same place too. It would fit OK in panniers though. I'm impressed that a frog battery can now cram in 10Ah at 36V. Is it lifepo4 or is it still standard lico?

Seconded. My alien GS2 has completely straight handelbars and I start to suffer on anything over 10 miles. My MTB has slightly swept back handlebars and I can ride in comfort for over 70 miles on it. Massive difference.

I am absolutley mystified by this. Those batteries prevent you attaching panniers to the pannier rack. Surely you'd be better off just popping the batteries in your panniers? This looks like a solution lacking a problem??? Keeping the batteries in the panniers keeps them safe from bumps and jolts plus leaves you free to use the rest of the storage space in the panniers. Am I missing something here?

It takes me 30 seconds to remove my quick release wheels from my bike. That gives me full access to the pads which can sometimes require pliers to remove. Why would you want to remove the caliper? It would take me longer to locate the correct hex key than it would to remove the wheel. The caliper must be refitted with extreme care to ensure it is square on to the rotor which I always find is a twice or thrice times lucky affair. If at all possible, do NOT remove your caliper when changing your pads.

Thinking about ditching the Alien Ocean GS2 and swapping it for a mid-range MTB (or high end MTB in Ebike terms). As practical as it is for a commuter, the terrible ride experience has exhausted my patience, all the more so since my other bike is full suspension with RockShox forks and is a joy to ride. Is the 8FUN kit still the one to beat or has anything else appeared in the last couple of years since I last looked? I'm talking 36V, 8-10AH, reasonably quiet front wheel drive, good freewheel (i.e. non direct dirve), with at least 30 miles on full throttle with no discernable voltage sag for around £400 i.e. decent battery, decent controller, and decent motor. I'm not looking for anything special, just a decent all-rounder. I'm thinking about this as a donor with full length mudguards and rear rack. This bike is probably the best illustration of why you will never see anything like this quality ever offered on an ebike at a sane price. The sheer buying power of Decathlon dwarfs what an ebike manufacturer can ever achieve meaning the forks and brakes alone almost make up the full price of the bike. As an aside, I'm assuming that hollow crank is a minor workaround for the square tapered BB sensor? It's just magnets and a sensor at the end of the day right? Glueing them to the small chain ring would work just as well for the sensor?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG_P7nCU4C4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Cycling home the other night down a poorly lit narrow side street with wall to wall cars on both sides, I became vaguely aware of something out of place up ahead of me to my right. An oncoming car confirmed it when he drove into an open car door! I think the loud bang was only caused by his wing mirror catching the door. Could have been worse I suppose. As I cycled past the car, I saw the house door nearest to the car wide open, obviously he thought it would be OK to leave his car door open in to the middle of the road in the dark while he nipped back in for something!!! Just when I think I've seen it all...

Fleece balaclava and ski goggles giving zero skin exposure. Cheap but extremely effective. Thin fleece under my hi-vis jacket. Blazewear heated gloves (all 5 digits) with lithium batteries. BBB Hardwear shoe covers for when it's snowing. I'm good to about -20C.