Andy Grayland

I would just like to say a huge THANK YOU for all the emails of support for Tour De Presteigne I have received in the last few days especially those who offered to help with various events. I am currently away on business and struggling with remote email access. I will answer individual emails on my return, as soon as time permits. With regards to the final list of exhibitors the majority of confirmed participants are on the Tour de Presteigne - The World's Premier Electric Bike Rally website. A couple have yet to confirm and I understand that this is down to if they receive bikes in time. I look forward to meeting you at the event. Andy

Eddieo. The point is that 1000s of people have visited the event and have a good time. The event has never claimed to be anything else. It also promotes electric bikes to the general public. Little Englanders are people who sit on the sidelines criticising and trying to stop other people having fun. You are doping a great job of this. Why would you sit there making negative comments about a very successful event about which you know nothing? I do not know what your motivation is? You put out lots of negative comments about TDP last year to. You should be ashamed of yourself! If you can do better then organise your own show. Show us how it should be done. If you wont organise something better you should keep your “negative swiping” to yourself. Note to other readers. There will be a huge range of bikes there including Bosch and Stork.

Tour De Presteigne I am one of the organisers of Tour De Presteigne and also a director of OnBike so would like to explain the actual position with regards to Tour De Presteigne. First of all I should say that we have been organising the event for five years. Pete started the event well before OnBike was formed. In fact we set up Onbike as a result of TDP. People kept asking us “what is the best bike for me “because of our extensive knowledge of the electric bike market gained from running TDP and also telling us their complaints/problems with existing suppliers. We have always promoted the exhibition and events to be open to all even our competition. This is especially difficult as we do not have the manpower to run the event and demonstrate bikes ourselves. OnBike does not have the manpower and resources of some of the larger companies. So effectively we put on an event where our competition sell bikes whilst we organise rides, talks, races, kids bikes, bands, street performers, electric cars, driving lessons, food............. for guests. Secondly TDP takes an awful lot of organising. There are only 3 main volunteer organisers all of which have full time jobs. It takes months to organise. I personally have been up past 2am every day this week answering emails and sorting out paperwork for the event. I estimate that last year I spent over 6 working weeks helping organise the event and I am sure I do less work than the other organisers. What people don’t realise is the entire background organisation. For example road closers, insurance, invoicing, planning routes, poster, press releases, stewards, parking. When the event takes place I spend a good proportion of my time resolving “petty politics” and problems with and between exhibitors. I could go on and on hear. So this year we had to either stop the event or down size it. It would be a shame to finish the event as so many people attend and enjoy it. It is the only events of its kind in the UK and every year we get many letters thanking us for our efforts. So we decided to reduce the exhibition to one day (with the Saturday being a 50 mile group ride as last year’s group ride was such a success). We also had to limit the number exhibitors which has been growing every year as has the job of administration. We decided rightly or wrongly to only invite the companies we regularly have contact with and/or work with on other events or promotions. Fortunately we do have a good group of companies that all work well together even though some are in competition with one another. It is nonsense to say we have excluded all our competition. For Example Ultra motor are exhibiting and taking part in the 50 mile ride and we do not sell their brand. For a full list please see Tour de Presteigne - The World's Premier Electric Bike Rally We have tried for several years to encourage some of the larger companies, which have much greater resources, than ourselves to organise a similar event in another part of the country. We have even offered to help but no one else has taken up the challenge as yet. In short I think that before people criticise the event they should try organising something similar themselves. It is always so easy to sit on the sidelines and criticise than to get involved. I wish them every success and offer my help. Tour De Presteigne still has the greatest choice of bikes shown at any event I know of in the UK. It certainly has the greatest number of events for visitors. We may not get everything right but we are certainly trying and doing the best we can. Thank you to the thousands that have attended in the past and enjoyed the event.

Tour De Presteigne programme Saturday 8th May 1pm - 7pm Display of Electric Bikes A chance to try out bikes from: E-motion, eZee, Monark, Powabyke, Gocycle, Wisper, UrbanMover, Heinzmann, Ultra Motor, Gepida, Kalkhoff, Cytronex, Velospeed and loads more... plus a display of vintage bicycles. Stalls Local Environmental Projects: Household Energy Services Transition Presteigne Energy Group Kington KLEEN & Knighton TVEG with information on Sustrans, Car & Lift Share Schemes Powys & Herefordshire Cycling Routes Wind and Sun sustainable energy supplying free battery charging for competitors THE BATTERY VEHICLE SOCIETY Windmills by Bob Rowberry Saturday 4pm The ELECTRIC Treasure Hunt £10 to enter all electric bike events Collect maps at site office & assemble outside OnBike for a 15 mile competition around the Borders picturesque lanes, picking up clues at various spots. The Winner is the first rider back to the Workhouse, who has solved all the clues & actually found the amazing trophy hidden in the countryside. Feel free to stop for tea along the way! Saturday Evening from 8pm... Music, Food and Drink The Workhouse Cafe, Bar & BBQ Entertainment includes: The Great Electric Bike Quiz with Ian Marchant, musical comedy & jazz with Your Dad & Inspector Gadjo. £6 entrance ticket Food also available at The Hat Shop, Emily’s Tea Room, The Radnorshire Arms, Victoria Fish Bar & Chinese Take-away Sunday 9th May 10am - 5pm Display of Electric Bikes See Saturday for details The Leominster Downhill Vintage Racer Ride 11pm Starting at the site a gentle amble for cyclists around some of the flatter bits of the local area and then back to Presteigne for refuelling. For more details phone Gus 07989 250256 The ELECTRIC Hill Climb 11.30pm Assemble 11.15am outside OnBike. A chance for the bikes to pit themselves against one of Presteigne’s steepest hills. The Tour de Presteigne Parade 3 - 3.45pm A parade of historic bicycles followed by The World’s Premier Fancy Dress Bike Rally around the closed streets of Presteigne with commentary by Ian Marchant & an entertaining range of esoteric machines. Numbers required but not helmets, just outrageous outfits, hats & bikes! Parade only: Entry £5 Prize Giving 4pm Trophies and Champagne Treasure Hunt Champion Hill Climb Winner Best Costume & Best Bike in the Parade Monday 10th May 9am Ride to the coast A challenge ride from England (the bridge over the River Lugg) across Wales to the Irish Sea. The cost will be around £20 to cover return transport of bikes and riders. The ride will be 65 miles across the most desolate and beautiful hills in Wales. Please confirm your entry before 3pm Sunday. Depart from St Andrews Church, Broad Street Talks and other activities The Workhouse Gallery SATURDAY 1.30pm - 2.30pm including question time Andrew Capel Chair of Llanidloes and District Car Club How to set up a local car share club 3pm - 4pm Alison & Pete Williams from the Talybont-on-Usk Energy Project talk about their year long Community electric bike trials SUNDAY 11.30 -12.30 Jamie Onslow How to run your diesel car on vegetable oil 10am, 11am, 12noon & 2pm, 4pm, 5pm Better driving lessons for 2 people per session: learn how to drive more economically with Robert Saunders, qualified driving instructor Book in advance 01588 630683 pick up drop off point on site Financed by Household Energy Service All clients must have their paper driving licence and photo card, plus spectacles if required and suitable driving shoes.

Is the Red LED on the control box on? If not try disconnecting the ignition switch and use a multimeter to see if the ignition switch is working. If not remove the rubber sleeve on the back of the ignition barrel and check the soldering. Sometimes the wires come off the switch when the wiring is moved around. If the LED on the controller is on is it flashing and how many time? The other common fault is the contact on the bottom of the battery need cleaning or “pinching” together. The restrict link is works like this If the motor is a 200rpm motor then the controller is factory set to derestrict so if you join the wires it goes slower. If the motor is a 250rpm motor then restricted gives 15mph and derestricted about 18.5. So the link is set to restricted. The Torq has been made with both types of motor in the past, as has the Forza, Cadence and Sprint. I think I am correct in saying that if the wire going into the motor is black then it is a 250rpm (or even a 300rpm)motor. If the wire is grey it is a 200rpm motor. If you wanted to derestrict a bike with a 200rpm motor you just need to change the motor or motor wheel. Andy OnBike

This is a problem that has been reported twice before and we have also seen it twice at OnBike and twice on my own bike. At this time we do not have a definitive answer. Here is where we are at with the problem. It seems to be mostly with older chargers and new batteries both 10 Ah and 14 Ah. We have have seen the same problem twice with another manufacturer that use the same battery and charger. It seems to only happen for the first few charges. This could be because people do not run the batteries until "cut off" after the first few cycles. Though I often run my batteries right down on long rides and have not had the problem again. We have not had the fault reported again since last summer which made me think it had "fixed itself". We did try to simulate the problem in the workshop whilst monitoring the current and voltage. So far we have not been able to get one to go wrong on the bench. As you can see it is not easy to track down. I agree this is very irritating. At this time I believe it is very rare. I suggest that you always switch the charger off and on again before using the battery as we have also had a few reports of "false green lights" Beeches. I have sent you a battery care email but it does not mention this problem as we were not aware of it at the time of writting. Andy OnBike

Hi Notty All you need to do is replace the current 200rpm motor wheel with a 250rpm motor wheel. This will give assistance to about 16mph. We also have users using the 300rpm 20” getting assistance to 20mph. Though these motors are very heavy on the battery though! The motor wheels cost £250 and include a Marathon big apple tire on the 20” or Marathon plus on the 26” and 28”. You need to check if the Chopper has a junction box on the front forks as the new motors come with a short lead. Older Ezee bikes approx 3 years + come without a junction box so the wiring needs terminated which is an easy job but only if you have the correct tools! The 250 rpm wheels were in stock last week but we may have sold out as I have not been in for a couple of days. If you want current availability please drop me a mail info@onbike.co.uk Best Regards Andrew Grayland OnBike

Please note that the current Forza can be derestricted. There were a few models in the last couple of years that could not be derestricted on the controller but even these can still be derestricted by changing the motor wheel. The current Forza has Marathon plus tires as standard. We do not recommend derestricting with the 10Ah battery as the current draw can be quite high. For those wanting a deresricted model we would recommend the 14Ah battery or even better parallel battery wiring giving 24 or 38Ah. This will greatly add to the battery life. Andy OnBike

Sorry I forgot to say who I am Regards Andy OnBike Director OnBike Electric Bikes - The UK's Electric Bicycle Specialist

Choices and batteries Hi Martin If you still have the Forza I would have to say your best and cheapest option would be a new battery. The new batteries have a greater capacity (14Ah as opposed to the older 10Ah). There is also the option of “parallel wiring” the bikes which can give up to 28Ah! Parallel wiring also gives the bike more power on the hills as the battery voltage does not drop as much. It also extends the battery life. There are very few bikes as powerful as the Forza. The Panasonic system is great up steep hills but is nowhere near as fast as the Forza on moderate hills. This suits some people but not others. My advice as always is to come and try both systems and decide for yourself. On another note. We supply many different brands of electric bike including Ezee, Wisper, Emotion, Powabyke, Monark etc. So I have no bias for any particular system and I have to say that I don’t think the Panasonic batteries have a much longer life than the other brands we represent. I personally have 2 Panasonic batteries just over 2 years old, they have both done good work but after 2 years they are down to 6 LEDs capacity and are measuring under half capacity. The same is true for my colleague. I have been contacted by other Panasonic users who are finding exactly the same. I do always measure at a similar temperature before anyone asks! In short from my experience the "modern good Quality” batteries are lasting a similar length of time if used in a similar manner.

Many new nodels on there way! Oh Yes. Emotion do have some really nice bikes coming very soon. We haven’t posted anything yet as they are not yet available we prefer to wait until we can supply before announcing to much. However there are some very special and ground breaking models coming. We hope to do a launch at Tour de Presteigne! The Sport Carbon Ultralight is the top of the range. There are also some very light more “budget conscious” models coming to. As well as regeneration, LCD computer, choice of internal or Derailleur, Panasonic or hub motor ..... oops said to much already. Andy OnBike

Hi Reg We have several customers with a similar condition. We sell lots of different bikes and I have to say that the Ezee chopper would by far be the best bike to try. Having 20" wheels and a 14Ah battery it is the best hill climber I know of by a long way. The bike is only assisted to 13 MPH but that can be a small price to pay for the amount of assistance you get. You would be very welcome to come and try all of your options at OnBike. We also have Panasonic based and Wisper bikes to try. Good luck in you search Andy OnBike

Oh yes I forgot. There certainly will be the fancy dress ride through the streets.

No indeed not. The event was started by Pete who wanted to show the world that electric bikes had "come of age" and that they could be used as a practicle form of transport. It has been strange how the racing side has always been talked about so much more than the other events such. In fact if you look at last year less than 5% of the visitors even went to watch the racing. From the emails we get the most enjoyed events were the country ride,the ghost ride and the exhibiton. So really the event is about people comming and trying new bikes,joining in events,having a beer and chat together. I think the best test of a bike will be the Monday "over the hill" ride. Andy

Tour De Presteigne is now confirmed as 8-9 May. The website will be updated in the next few weeks. There is no racing this year instead there will be a "treasure hunt" type competition. Hopefully there will be lots of new bikes to see For those that wish to see "what their bike can do" There will also be a long distance ride from England to the Welsh coast on Monday 10 May. About 65 miles with lots of great hills. If you are interested in taking part please email me on andy@tourdepresteigne.co.uk . Please note that all bikes used in all the events must be road legal. Andy

My vote Being as distributors are allowed to vote I thought I would add my vote here. We distribute Emotion (Panasonic based ), Ezee (hub based ), Wisper (hub based ) Monark ( Panasonic based ) and have sold Tongxin motors with various batteries ( similar to the kit used on the Cytronex). I have done over 500 miles on each of these systems in the last 2 years. In reality you cannot judge the 3 different systems side by side. We are in a privileged position to see what system customers choose and we also get a lot of feedback after purchasers have ridden the bikes for a while. The split between Panasonic and direct drive preference is roughly 50-50. We also helped an organisation called Tal-Y-Bont energy conduct a trial of electric bikes. They lent people an electric bike (either direct drive or/and Panasonic) for 1 to 4 days then surveyed them to see what they thought of electric bikes and compare the two systems. In all 61 people completed the post-trial survey. The interesting thing here is that most of these were people had not tried electric bikes before. The result............. about 50-50 preference between Panasonic and direct drive. See http://www.prospectory.co.uk/HTMLobj-750/eBikeTrialReport.pdf for more details. So how do I decide where to cast my vote? The thing I like best about my job is when we can help someone that loves cycling but now needs assistance due to some infirmity or advancing years. We have had many customers in this situation. The bike that helps them most..........The Ezee Chopper. So many customers buy them then phone up a few weeks later to say how much they love them and how grateful they are. We have even had a “thank you” card from a customer that loved hers so much. It has 20” wheels, has a top assisted speed of 12mph has a small frame and goes up steep hills better than any other bike I have ever tried. So my vote is..... Ezee Chopper . The people’s bike. Kit vote is easy... Ezee kit.

Hi Bob You are not far from our Kidderminster shop. We have a large range of bikes on demo including Wispers, Emotion(Panasonic based) and Ezee bikes. We are happy for people to come and give the various systems a good try out. We have lots of hills around us including a 1 in 6 under a mile away (Conal it's a shame we did not point you towards the hills when you came, as the hills are just off the industrial estate). We also lend people an old bike for a couple of days if they wish to try a particular route. If you need to do 40 miles on a single charge you need to be very careful which bike you choose. Please do not believe the distances manufacturers quote for their bikes, as in my experience they are sometimes VERY VERY optimistic. Andy

You have mail

Hi Nick Phil has been running two old batteries in parallel for some time and it seems to work well. He uses 2 schottky diodes to current balance the batteries and to stop one battery trying to charge the other. With the new batteries diodes are not needed as the BMS balances the batteries well. I am not sure if you need diodes on older batteries. It is a bit fiddly fitting the diodes and doing the parallel wiring unless you are used to doing this kind of work. I am hoping to do an application note about all this as soon as things “calm down” for the winter. The expert on all this is Nick AKA Tiberius perhaps he can shed some light on this? Are both of your batteries LiPoly? I know will not be able to combine a NiMh with a LiPoly without diodes. Using two batteries will add to their life as only half (or some proportion) of the current will be drawn from each battery. Andy

The warranty is 1 year. We have run out of the first batch and are expecting the next batch in 12 weeks. They come in either sliver or black. They can be charged with the standard LiPoly charger. We also have 4Amp chargers now to allow for quicker charging. They cost £525 which may change depending on exchange rate fluctuations and the Vat rate at the time. Regards Andy

Please do let us know how you get on with the batteries. Also please note that these 14Ah batteries do go into the amber LED MUCH sooner than the old Phylion batteries but they then run for a lot longer. I am assured that Ezee will not be changing manufacturer for the foreseeable future though we will be introducing a 37V8Ah LiFePO4 in addition soon. Please note Onbike do import the Ezee bikes and spares striaght from Ezee as opposed to being a dealer for Cyclepoint. Andy OnBike

We have been trying the new 14 Ah batteries for a couple of months now. We are very pleased with their performance so far. The new 14Ah battery is in the same case as the existing battery. The 14Ah weighs 3.8Kg so is lighter than the older 10Ah version which was 4.7Kg. The latest 10Ah version weighs 3.1Kg for you interest. The new 14Ah battery is actually 2*7Ah in parallel in the same case. We are getting about 1.5 times greater range than the old Phylion which makes some sense as the capacity to current ratio is better. The new 14Ah still goes to amber on steep hills quicker than the old Phylion type as the voltage drops more with large current draw. However the voltage does hold up better than the new 10Ah version that has been discussed previously in the forum. Obviously we do not yet know the life of these batteries as we have only had them a couple of months but we are very optimistic. The same manufacturer makes batteries for other E bikes that seem to have had good battery life, though you must take into account that the Ezee bikes are very powerful machines. Next year we will be introducing a version of the Ezee bike with 2 batteries. One in the same place as the existing battery and a 10Ah mounted in the rack. These will be parallel wired so the current draw from each battery will be halved. This option gives up to 24Ah capacity for people who really do need a long range. We also stock rack-mount battery bags for people who run 2 batteries in parallel at the moment. Andy OnBike

Suzie Perry is one very smart lady I spent 2 days with the crew of the Gadget show when they were filming this. We at OnBike took 2 bikes to the trial the Emotion Sport and the Ezee Forza. You should not under estimate the research that does go into a program like this. We had to submit all of the technical details of the bikes and then they phoned and quizzed me extensively about the bikes. I was amazed by Suzie and her knowledge of the bikes. She understood the difference between pedelec, throttle,direct drive and hub completely. The reason some people on the forum and AtoB are dismissive of her is that she did not come and give her reasons for her choice at the trials. This was purely because she was unwell and had to go home. She was very clear with me as to why she picked the Forza. She wanted a comfortable ride with suspension and wide tires to help with the many potholes in central London. Then she wanted the light and powerful bike for getting around the traffic. What amazed me was on the day of the London filming Suzie took myself and my colleague to lunch and questioned us on the watt-hours of various batteries and the efficiency of various drive systems. It would be a foolish man that under estimated Suzie Perry.

I agree that this is a tall order. I think the bike that will closest match what you are looking for is the Ezee Chopper. see OnBike Electric Bikes UK - The Electric Bicycle Specialist . It has amazing hill climbing ability but is limited to 12-13mph. It all depends on the weight of the rider. If you wire parallel batteries its hill climbing is even better. You would be welcome to come and try one out. Andy

Do you mind if I ask how many miles you have done with that chain Fecn?