My employer's cycle to work scheme opened again today for the next month, and I'm toying with the idea of an electric bike. Only issue is that we are limited to being able to buy from Halfords.

 

Given that the limit is £1000, which of the Halfords offerings would you recommmend?

 

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/electric-bikes

 

My commute is 5 miles each way, and comprises a lot of flat with a couple of relatively steep hills. I am an unfit but not hugely overweight 40 something.

No one got any opinions?

No one got any opinions?

Not a great deal of difference spec wise with that selection. They will all manage a 10 mile round trip on a full charge.

 

I would personally opt for one with 26" wheels, not a step through and not the smaller wheeled folding type.

 

In the price range you suggest, that only leaves the EBCO UCR-10 and Raleigh Velo XC.

 

You need to go and have a touchy feely and if possible, a ride on any potential purchase.

Edited April 16, 201510 yr by Fordulike

It's more important to buy a bike that suits you than to pick one of those. How heavy are you and what do you expect to do with it? Why do you want an electric bike?

EBCOs are decent bikes.

 

The one I tried had a bit of quality about it, the motor had some poke and the power delivery was surprisingly smooth.

 

I see the crossbar one is £1,099, but you should still be able to get it on the scheme one way or another.

The reason for Halfords is that this is the only option offered by the work scheme. I'd much rather go with an independent bike shop, but tax-free salary sacrifice is a great deal.

 

I'm 11 stone or so, and I'm intending to use it to commute to work. I want an electric bike because I'd like to arrive at work in a state that isn't wrecked, and yet still get some exercise on the way. As I get better at cycling I can reduce the power assist and/or get to work faster.

 

Why do people recommend crossbar rather than step through? I'll pop over to Halfords and see what they've got that I can look at.

 

Thanks to all that have replied thus far.

The Halfords cycle to work scheme in my area uses an independent ebike shop to supply ebikes for employees on the plan.

 

Why do people recommend crossbar rather than step through?.

 

Not a recommendation, but there remains a strong culture in this country that men ride crossbars and women ride step throughs.

 

Things are more relaxed in Germany and Holland, where either gender rides either type of bike.

 

If you prefer a step through, have one.

 

They are much easier to get on and off, which you might appreciate if there's a lot of stopping and starting on your commute.

Most of my route seems to be cycle route, so in theory there should be minimal stopping and starting. I prefer the look of a crossbar, which is probably ingrained gender bias rather than anything else, but is a thing. At the mo the Ebco UCR-10 is looking favourite.

The motors in the Halfords bikes are not particularly strong. Without knowing your weight and the steepness of the hills, it's not possible to give exact advice, but warning sirens are sounding.

I noticed on 2 bikes similarly spec'd the huge differential in claimed distance with those 8.8/ 9 ah batteries, 1 claimed 25miles and the other 50 a bit far fetched if you ask me.

I noticed on 2 bikes similarly spec'd the huge differential in claimed distance with those 8.8/ 9 ah batteries, 1 claimed 25miles and the other 50 a bit far fetched if you ask me.

I have a torque system, mid drive BH 700 City. It has an 8ah battery and was rated as having a 60 mile range. At 15 stone, 10 and the terrain I travel that was never going to happen. However, I can squeeze between 35 to 40 miles with a fair amount of rider input. Depending on the bikes system, a 8.8 to 9ah bike should easily attain 25 to 30 miles of range. Anymore is totally up to and depending on rider input in my opinion.

As long as I can get 10 or so miles a day out of it, then there's no problem for my use. I can easily charge it each night as it will be kept in the garage which has power.

 

The hills I'm intending to use it for aren't exactly steep, nor long, just a bit hard work for a tired unfit type like myself.

My employer's cycle to work scheme opened again today for the next month, and I'm toying with the idea of an electric bike. Only issue is that we are limited to being able to buy from Halfords.

 

Given that the limit is £1000, which of the Halfords offerings would you recommmend?

 

http://www.halfords.com/cycling/bikes/electric-bikes

 

My commute is 5 miles each way, and comprises a lot of flat with a couple of relatively steep hills. I am an unfit but not hugely overweight 40 something.

 

 

There is a number that you can ring on the halfords cycle to work website (you need to sign up and log in to this) Ring it and they will give you the name of their supplier for ebikes..I have recently been through this process, They advised me on the suitability of different bikes for my build (heavy) height (tall) and journey requirements..I ended up with the freego regency which I absolutely love and is perfect for me...the bike was delivered within 3 days and off I went!

The other thing to note is if you take £1000 on the scheme and only spend £800..they still take the £1000, so make sure you spend any surplus on accessories or you will end up paying the full £1000, this is also true if you buy a normal bike from the halfords stores..(several of my workmates got stung by this).

I think the only possible logical explanation for the crossbar trend in the UK is that blokes like playing Russian roulette with their family jewels. That said it could be my crossbar is simply much too high. My bike was an expensive gift and I feel bad about not using it. sorry off topic I know.

I think the only possible logical explanation for the crossbar trend in the UK is that blokes like playing Russian roulette with their family jewels. That said it could be my crossbar is simply much too high. My bike was an expensive gift and I feel bad about not using it. sorry off topic I know.

 

Bikes with crossbars were alway lighter and stiffer than step throughs. I think they still are but less so with modern manufacturing. It’s the saddle which you have to clear though when you swing your leg over not the crossbar.

 

You should be able to stand astride the crossbar with a couple of inches clearance minimum. That’s the old horizontal Xbars. But most have sloping ones now so that’s hardly an issue.

I think that the best ebike I've had ... and I've owned 7...I'm very impulsive ..... was the Woosh Sirocco CD.

....a used one of these was recently available on ebay for £650

....pretty confident it could be bought for £600.

It is claimed to have only done 22miles...take this with a pinch of salt

It didn't sell and is now being advertised in Woosh's second hand dept.

....well worth some consideration esp. if you're anywhere near Leicester.

A new member here,.and I came across this topic through a search.

 

I am a new purchaser of the Ebco UCR10, and I have been riding it over the past week, I am also 11 stone, but reasonably fit for pedalling, after using an exercise bike set at a reasonable resistance level. On the first full charge of the battery, I got 30 miles out of it, this was using the motor pedal assist quite a lot, over varying terrain. It pulls up hills very well, and several friends that have tried it have been impressed, including one experienced road bike rider. There are only 7 gears, but they seem enough for most situations when commuting or leisure riding. It doesn't have a stand alone throttle, just pedal assist, but I found that fine. If I was struggling with a gradient, I just pressed the 'on' button and the power kicked in and helped me easily up the hill, then when at the top, press and hold the 'on' button again to turn off the power. It's a bit like having an electronic gearbox for hills. The display is very basic, with the same 4 led's utilised for the charge level, and the power assist level, so that when the power level is adjusted, the lights switch from battery level to power assist level for a couple of seconds, then return to battery level. There is no cycle computer built in, so I got a cheap one from Decathlon which works well, but I did have to utilise 4 layers of a bit of old inner tube as a spacer, to get the sensor nearer to the spoke magnet

 

Yesterday, I did a 17 mile trip, on mostly level tracks, but with a few steep gradients, just using the power for the steep bits, (probably about 2 miles of power assisted riding), and there was also another 7 miles to add to the mileage from the previous day (after I last charged the battery), so 24 miles in total, the level was still showing between 50% and 75% of charge when I got back home, but I had been purposely pedalling as much as possible.

 

The 8.8ah batteries on these are expensive, about half the cost of the bike, but I think they use quality Samsung cells, so if you get one, make sure that you look after the battery according to the instructions. The bike seems very well constructed, and weighs 21.4kg without the battery, with the battery weighing 2.6kg, so 24kg in total, the tyres are puncture resistant, and the cabling is very neat. There is no suspension, so the ride can seem a but bumpy over uneven ground, but the comfy seat helps a bit there,

 

For my purposes, mainly leisure riding, I really like the bike, especially knowing that if I go a bit too far, like yesterday, I have the power button handy to assist my tired legs when I come across a hill on the way home.

Edited April 19, 201510 yr by Gavin Lawrence

Hello and well done Gavin for putting up your review and thoughts as it helps out others who may be considering this bike or ones with similar lecky specs.

Hello and well done Gavin for putting up your review and thoughts as it helps out others who may be considering this bike or ones with similar lecky specs.

 

Agreed with Nealh, a great review from Gavin.

 

To the OP, don't be put off buy a step-through. Its all a matter of preference. The only thing I would say is to ask your workplace if they would consider using a different bike shop (ie you name the one you want). Its probably only for ease of paperwork/admin that they stick to Halfords. (boo hiss to that).

 

I dithered for ages before I bought my bike and in the end I tried out various types of bikes and found out the comfiest ride for me was the not the bike I thought I wanted.

Thanks for the review comments, the other reviews I found seemed contradictory, so I thought I would try and clear things up a bit.

Thanks for the review, Gavin, that's really useful.

 

I followed Nichodia's advice and rang the Halfords scheme, and apparently they use ebikes direct to fulfill all their ebike orders, so I can order anything from their website... quite a big difference! I'm still likely to have to buy without a test ride as Bodiam is a bit of a trek from here, but at least I have a wider range to choose from and can go on reviews.

 

It does mean that I now have a ton more research to do to figure out what bike to buy!

We have sold alot of electric bike including through the Halfords Cycle Scheme. They are good quality bikes and very welll built when compared to others at the price point. We have someone who uses their bikes for commuting 16 miles each way and they are very pleased with it.

Having spoken to the supplier they have recommended a Freego Hawk xbar, a Roodog Tourer or a Battribike Granite as being appropriate for my needs. Anyone got any thoughts about any of these?