Hi all

 

My wife is thinking about getting a Valencia - at Evans Cycles in Kendal (We live in Kendal, which is a fair distance from anywhere else, certainly any other big bike shops, and we're keen to buy local so we can easily take it back if it goes wrong. Evans only sell two electric bikes and we don't fancy the other one).

 

We're going to get a test ride, but we've heard on the web that the range is more limited than many bikes? We do have a lot of hills round here! Does anyone have any experience of the Valencia that they could share?

 

Also, we've heard that a replacement battery is v expensive (aren't they all?!) but we can of course check on this at the shop.

 

Many thanks in anticipation

 

Ian (and Clare)

Cant comment on the bike but I suggest you do a bit more hunting around on some of the e-bike manufacturers web sites to see what else is also available in lake district.

 

quick look already found dealers for batribike,Whisper and BH Emotion all in lake district or near by

 

Heres a obvious starting place http://www.electriccyclecentrepenrith.co.uk

Edited October 16, 201213 yr by GaRRy

Lovely bike, but has intelligent systems for battery, so you can only use a Bionx one which;ll cost about £800+

 

That price is a bit expensive too. Here it's £300 cheaper, and there were some going for £999 a while ago.

Welcome To The Bike Factory Chester. | Trek Valencia Gents Electric Bike

 

If you can afford it, an Emotion Neo is a good climber, or any of the Bosch bikes.

Trek valencia will zoom you about from peak to peak with all the noise of a flapping butterfly, the only sound to be heard is the belly wracks of the local bike shop owner figuring his margins for the coming year.

Thanks all very much for taking the trouble to reply;

 

GaRRy - I have done the research you suggest - certainly I can recommend the Penrith Electric Bike shop. Pete there spent ages with us a few weeks ago and was very helpful, letting us test out several bikes. However, as I say in my original post, we have decided that we would prefer, providing we can get a bike we like, to buy in Kendal itself. Penrith is 45mins up the M6.

 

de8veh - thanks for the link - I checked it out and the cheap price is only for a small frame. Evans have said they will price match the Valencia available at Wheelbase in Staveley - £1,400. In any event, we want to but locally if we can. Regarding battery replacement price, I have today spoken to Trek UK in Milton Keynes and was told a new battery would cost £350. They also offer refurbished batteries for around half that.

 

hech - lovely turn of phrase - are you saying that the bike is over priced - at £1,400 as above? We haven't had the all important test ride yet, but so far, comparing various specs, it seems reasonable? Can you give details if so?

 

Returning to the main point of my post though, I'd Very much appreciate comments from any one who has personal experience of the bike - how far on a charge?

 

Thanks again from this pedelec novice

 

Ian

Returning to the main point of my post though, I'd Very much appreciate comments from any one who has personal experience of the bike - how far on a charge?

 

 

Trouble this its a bit like asking how long is a piece of string.

 

loads of factors effect this figure.

 

weight/fitnes of rider.

level of assist used.

road conditions (hills,wind etc)

 

So one person figure could be completely diffrent to yours becuase he lives in norfolk is 70 kilos super fit and only uses the lowest level os assist.

 

More important is how far do you need it to assist for ?

 

Also what figures do Trek claim ? my experience is that most manufacturers claims are close to double the reality for me (but remember what I said above)

BionX batteries are more expensive than most, size for size. The BionX motor consumption is far more variable than most due to the big differences in the four power level modes, so it's difficult to indicate a meaningful range. On level 1 and 2 they are very economical, average on level 3, but level 4 is a very greedy mode which results in very poor range for the high power it gives for hills. So much depends on your territory and the amount of level 4 power usage.

Flecc that's really helpful - thank you!

 

I should have said, I do appreciate the difficulty in making comparisons - having regard to the factors you list in particular. In my lengthy googling, I have a seen one reference (just the one) to poor battery life on the Valencia, so I was looking for examples of real life experience. If I got a clear "don't touch it with a barge pole" then I would act accordingly!

 

The bike is primarily for my wife to commute to work on 3 times a week. A round trip of 8-9 miles, involving one fairly gentle hill. We do have aspirations though to do a bit of cycle touring in the Lakes and Yorkshire Dales, so the ability to do 20-30 miles on one charge would be a bonus. I understand that, tackling serious hills on full assist over this kind of distance would be impossible(?) for any production pedelec (except maybe the Kalkhoff Impulse? - which we have tried on the Agattu and been disappointed by - slow gear change and not as much fun as others).

 

Crikey it's tricky to judge!

 

Anyway, thanks again for your comments

 

Ian

The BionX system is excellent, but it has been blighted by the battery prices Normally they used to be supplied with the nominal 10 Ah in-frame battery, but since that costs over £1000 to replace, the Trek application uses smaller carrier mounted batteries to keep the bike price within bounds.

 

If it's used mainly on power level 2 with occasional use of level 3 and avoiding level 4 as much as possible, 30 miles may just be possible in moderate terrain, but 20 miles is more realistic. It's also prudent to bear in mind that battery capacity and range reduce with age, so may be down by as much as a third at two years old.

.

Edited October 17, 201213 yr by flecc

If I might trouble you with yet another query flecc - would you say that the real world battery performance we can reasonably expect from the Trek is significantly worse than that of other bikes?

 

Thanks again!

We've new software on the Agattu Impulse which is much livelier now. I would recommend the 11-speed version, that's the best of the bunch, especially in hilly areas. I took one up and down all the steep hills around Wimbledon and Richmond yesterday, did 20 miles in the freezing cold and the 11-speed gears made it a fast and lively 20 miles.

 

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