Just a line about a new elec bike i have seen , a Synergy Minstrel ,with a 36 volt , lithium 10 amp hr battery at a price of £499 at synergiebikes.com

More Chinese imports with hub-motors. When is someone going to produce something which is actually designed for the conditions in the UK?

Their Levanto and Ghibli folders are interesting too imho. They have a 36v 9Ah NiMH stealthed inside the back wheel, with front hub drive. That makes for a low centre of gravity, but I'm not sure what it means for charging. They may be a little underpowered too. Anyone know anything else about these?

 

Q

Their Levanto and Ghibli folders are interesting too imho. They have a 36v 9Ah NiMH stealthed inside the back wheel, with front hub drive. That makes for a low centre of gravity, but I'm not sure what it means for charging. They may be a little underpowered too. Anyone know anything else about these?

 

Q

 

Incorporating the battery into the rear wheel is a strange idea, it's useless for those wanting to use a spare battery. Imagine having to change the wheel just to use a different battery!

Found a user group over at:

 

Synergie User Group at Yahoo - For Owners of electric bicycles

 

Looking at their main site (which annoyingly is based entirely on flash) it appears they only sell through eBay.

Incorporating the battery into the rear wheel is a strange idea, it's useless for those wanting to use a spare battery. Imagine having to change the wheel just to use a different battery!

 

At least, when WaveCrest used the idea in the TidalForce they put the battery in the front wheel.....

At least, when WaveCrest used the idea in the TidalForce they put the battery in the front wheel.....

 

Interestingly, Matra over in France have bought the TidalForce technology. (Matra have produced a bike with the BionX kit attached)

More Chinese imports with hub-motors. When is someone going to produce something which is actually designed for the conditions in the UK?

 

I'm with Miles on this. Also, as I hinted at earlier today in a remark about the instability of developing product markets, most of these names will disappear as quickly as they've appeared.

 

We've got such a choice of these cheap, fairly low powered hub motor bikes now that buyers are already confused as to which to buy as the threads in here show only too clearly.

I agree, there are a lot of 'budget' models that are popping up all over the place. Many of them seem to have evolved from earlier models. In fact, with my previous Cyclone electric I can easily spot the family resemblence in many of these newer imports hitting our shores.

 

The danger is the manufacturers are changing the specs on these bikes almost on a daily basis which makes supporting them a nightmare. 'Companies' pop up selling a container of them only to disappear into the night shortly after.

 

Maybe we need an 'Electric Bike Watch' where potential customers can determine a bit more about the seller's history before parting with their cash. A to B have an excellent guide on their site but they tend to lump all the imports into one category.

hi the main reason for posting this new bike was the price,maybe there is now a hope o f lithium batteries being reduced in price,also the press on there lastability is not very encouraging .

I think the best safeguard is this forum that you've set up Russ. There's no shortage of those of us who are prepared to warn and where necessary criticise, as this thread shows very well.

 

The more the knowledge of this forum's presence, the safer customers will be. In this context, Powacycle have quickly asserted their presence in a reassuring way.

 

I've just ordered an NiMh battery from them online on Sunday, and it was delivered today, Tuesday. Since it cost £99 against the £250 for a virtually identical but lower capacity 24 volt NiMh from Giant, I'm pleased with all aspects of the service, product capability, price, delivery speed. Well done Powacycle!

Edited December 5, 200619 yr by flecc

hi the main reason for posting this new bike was the price,maybe there is now a hope o f lithium batteries being reduced in price,also the press on there lastability is not very encouraging .

 

Hi Stuart,

 

you are right in that the more manufacturers use lithium batteries in their bikes, the lower the price becomes which is great news for us. In terms of lastability, lithium batteries have been around for many years but their usage in electric bikes is still fairly new and as Flecc states in his battery articles, we just don't know yet how they will last. In another 2-3 years time when we all have this discussion again things should be a little clearer one way or the other

I didn't see Stuart's comment on battery price until after I'd posted the entry above. See that for proof of dramatically lower NiMh prices already. Maybe that will spread to Li-ion.

A bit more on Synergie:

 

"You are buying from a well-established company who have been trading for over eighteen years based in Central Scotland. Please feel free to contact us on 01383 428888 for assistance with any aspect of your SynergieTM electric bike and our engineers will be happy to help. "

 

I've never dealt with them personally but they appear to have been going on eBay for a while compared to some of the other electric bike traders on there.

 

Edit:

 

Interestingly I didn't spot that the bike with the battery in the rear wheel is a folder:

 

eBay.co.uk: SYNERGIE LEVANTO E-Bike Folding Electric Mountain Bike (item 250057027703 end time 13-Dec-06 17:15:23 GMT)

Interestingly I didn't spot that the bike with the battery in the rear wheel is a folder:

 

Hehe, even after quoting my post on the previous page.

 

Q