Looking to buy an ebike that can do roughly 4000 miles a year on mostly tarmac roads with 20% in hllly areas and hopefully last me for 4 years.

Am prepared to spend up to £1500.

Is there such a bike?

You're views appreciated.

Yes. You can build one.

I agree with AKW.

You need to look after your bike. There is no reason why a kit could not run for 16,000 miles in 4 years with possibly a ballbearing change. By then, progress in batteries and controllers would justify an upgrade.

All bikes would need servicing during that sort of mileage. Brakes, chain, gears and tyres will all need some sort of attantion. Also, you should count on one replcement battery.

 

Ebikes are changing all the time. The chances are, there'll be better ones after two years, which might tempt you away from what you have. I'd, therefore, only plan for 2 years. As a rough guide £1500 for your bike, £100 for service items and £400 residual value = £1200 divided by 8000 miles = 15p per mile. That cost per mile goes up if you don't do the 8000 miles.

I assume that I (dealer) will have to service bike. My main point is are there any brands/makes of bikes that are solidly reliable and have longevity.

Maybe I'm better off getting a cheaper bike ie woosh Rio or wisper 705se no disrespect and replace it with another similar price bike every 3 years? That works out with maintenance to about £400 cost per year

Hi Carl, I would hope one of our bikes would last you longer than three years. The only thing I would suggest is you have it regularly serviced. Once a year should be OK but you may want to consider 6 monthly in the second and subsequent years. We have 8 and 9 year old bikes still going strong.

 

All the best, David

If you're after the cheapest cost per mile, then you have to get the cheapest bike. The biggest cost is the depreciation. The breakdown/maintenance costs are insignificant by comparison.

 

For a cheap bike, a new motor is about £100, a battery is about £200. When you buy a thousand pound bike, you lose £300 as soon as you wheel it out of the shop. If you buy a £2000 one, you lose about £600, which is the cost of a whole cheap ebike from Ebay.

 

You don't need to spend a lot of money to have a reliable ebike either. I bought a bike for £5, which I saw in a skip, fitted £400 worth of electrical kit and parts, knocked up 1000 miles in a month without doing a single item of maintenance, including cleaning. This was in January on salty winter roads. I then sold it for about what I paid for it, so cost was zero.

I just bought a new, expensive bike. The frame is guaranteed for 7 years but I calculated costs on the basis of 5 years of use, it comes to 0.09 € / km or 76 € / month based on 2,000 km / year. I do about 3000 km in reality but now that I have 2 bikes I think I will probably do 1/3 - 2/3 distance on each.

 

My first two home builds cost about 1000 € each but I did not skimp on quality of components, you can build one for much less. You can build a bike on a brand new Decathlon host for about 850 € (that includes new tyres, pedals and mudguards).

I've owned a Woosh Big Bear for 16 months so far, and it has been extremely reliable despite heavy usage. Woosh are a good company with high quality bikes, and I don't see why one of their bikes wouldn't last you four years. I think you could consider the Big Bear as an option for yourself. It has a very powerful high-torque motor and controller that will be able to tackle the steep hills you mention.

 

Another option is to get a BPM kit from BMSBattery. You could either get a 350w or a 500w one. Note that the legal limit is 250w, so there is an element of risk involved with using a setup that is labelled with an overpowered motor, although the risk would seem small to me as long as you're cycling carefully and at a sensible speed. If you want to stay legal, the Q100 kit from BMSBattery is an option. It has less power and torque than a BPM kit however, and would probably struggle on the 20% hills you mention. Another option would be a crank drive kit, although crank drives come with their fair share of disadvantages and are less convenient than hub drives, in my opinion.

Edited September 18, 20178 yr by John_S

I can only echo much of what has been said.

Nearly any decent ebike will last as long as you don't neglect maintenance there is little to go wrong, whether it be Wipser, Woosh, Juicy, Volt or any other make you can mention. Much like any pedal bike tyres, brakes, cables, chain and bearings etc are all the normal items that may need servicing at some stage along with maybe a bottom bracket. All items are usually fairly standard off the shelf items. Obviously you have to be a bit careful and be aware of a hub motor wire other wise the general leccy parts are of a Chinese origin and readily available and not hard to replace, hub motors may need one or two bearings changed if running gets a bit rough or noisy, though usually good for the first 2k miles or so, other wise its just a case of not ignoring maintenance if some thing sounds or acts out of the normal.

Thought needs to given to where you keep/lock the bike up and consideration given to aid protection against the elements when not being ridden, battery removal is a good idea.

Must support Woosh.

My Gale has suffered terrible abuse because it was cheap and I put it through all sorts of dreadful demands.

In 5 years I have replaced 5 spokes (all my fault for riding off with the lock chain still fastened around the rear wheel), and recently bought a new battery because the old one is showing signs of age although it still has a good 12 miles throttle only in it.

Memo: don't lend bike to mike killay...

Memo: don't lend bike to mike killay...

 

At least he would ride it like he stole it.

4,000 hard miles on my Sparta and counting, just a set of brake pads, and the battery is still doing or saying about 40 miles per charge.

 

The saddle is knackered though, too many days left out in the wet. Have a Brooks arriving next week, 70 quid! But should last forever.

 

It was £2,500 to buy but so far it's cost about 15 quid for the brakes, some pounds on good oil and cloths, a train ticket to London to sort out a defective connector.

 

I had the fear about reliability but it's nothing to worry about, £1500 is probably entry level to get a decent one. The marathon plus tyres were an option for mine, £100 or something including fitting, ouch, but never had a I puncture and they still have plenty of tread left, amazing!

 

I look after it, clean it once in a while, pump the tyres up, oil it regularly, but she's been epic.

 

It's showing the miles, scrapes and wotnot, but to ride it's as good as ever.

 

Not bad for 4,000 miles.

 

Bike miles are hard miles, when I had motorbikes you were lucky to get 10K out of a 2 stroke before the engine was playing up.

Don't leave your Brooks out in the rain, that will ruin it in no time.

Don't leave your Brooks out in the rain, that will ruin it in no time.

... Sounds like a refrain from" McArthur park"

I bought a Brookes saddle three years ago after my mate bought a very old bike with one on. His saddle was really comfortable. It moulded its shape to your bum because the leather was supple and the springs just right. Mine, on the other hand was like sitting on a block of wood, so I thought I'd wasted £80; however, after about 5000 miles, it's improved a lot. The leather is gradually softening. Now it's pretty comfortable and worth the investment. It's a shame the Brookes can't make them like that in the first place.

 

I've left it in the rain a few times. Water soaks into it immediately, so you get a wet bum, but I'm wondering if it shortens the running-in time

I bought a Brookes saddle three years ago after my mate bought a very old bike with one on. His saddle was really comfortable. It moulded its shape to your bum because the leather was supple and the springs just right. Mine, on the other hand was like sitting on a block of wood, so I thought I'd wasted £80; however, after about 5000 miles, it's improved a lot. The leather is gradually softening. Now it's pretty comfortable and worth the investment. It's a shame the Brookes can't make them like that in the first place.

 

I've left it in the rain a few times. Water soaks into it immediately, so you get a wet bum, but I'm wondering if it shortens the running-in time

 

A bit of Mars oil rubbed sparingly into the underside of the saddle will start to soften it nicely and make it easier on the bum. A smear of the same rubbed on the top helps to stop it absorbing rain.

Took me about 1k miles to fully break in my Brooks B17. I used the Brooks Proofhide on the underside of the saddle, rubbed a small amount in every couple of months. This Brooks is on my non powered hybrid so doesn't get the same miles as my ebike commuter, would of broken it in within 3 months if it had been (had the Brooks before I had the ebike)

 

As for the original post, my Crossfire-e just clocked up 3800 miles in 14 months, hilly commuting in all weathers. Just replaced a rear tyre and brake pads a couple of months ago (cost for both about £30), and replaced the worn out stock pedals with some DMR V6's (£15), other than that, just keeping the chain clean and lubed. Battery still giving me the same full range as it did from new

A Brooks Aged saddle was fitted to the Charger.

 

Supposedly 'comfortable from day one', although I think it has broken in a little after 2,000+ miles.

 

I get on with it OK, but I suspect a similar size and shaped plastic saddle would be just as comfortable, and a lot less to buy.

 

The leather on the Brooks looks premium, but there are a few sharp edges on the metalwork, which itself is basic.

 

I'd expect a better-finished product for £90.

 

Brooks are famously long lasting, so I suppose there's some value there.

 

http://www.brooksengland.com/en_uk/b17-aged-1.html

Yep, the Brooks Swift Titanium saddle on my none ebike, is showing very little signs of age, having been using it since 2004.

 

If I was in the market for a new saddle today, I would opt for one of the Gilles Berthoud models, very similar to the Brooks, but arguably much better finished.

Due to an ordering muck up I never did receive my Brooks so I cancelled that and I got an £8 saddle from Wilco as the original had almost fallen apart, makes you wonder, really, it's comfortable enough and seems to shrug off rain.