To be honest I was quite taken aback by the battery working.

 

I am pretty sure that the range might not be too much farther than my commuting distance (10 miles) but I am heavy (18 stone) and carry full panniers and use highest assist a lot of the time, and whoever owned the bike before re set the speed limit probably to around 20 mph so the bike is working hard and I am averaging around 19 and a half miles an hour.

 

I can charge it back to full at work.

 

It is an old fashioned bike and the battery level indicator is made up of bars on the display and these fall to only one bar showing on the steeper hills at the end of my route but recover once the load reduces, so how far the bike might go before it completely ran out I don't really know.

 

I will keep using it the way I am until it cannot do what I need it to do. 1000 miles plus so far and counting!

 

If I get to the stage where I need to buy it a new battery I guess I will not be able to call it my £100 ebike any more!!!

Edited June 20, 20205 yr by georgehenry

A saw could de-commission the gate if wooden.

 

It is wooden and I must confess that very thought may have entered my head.

 

But that would be sinking to their level, and my pannier off technique gets me through it with only a little delay.

 

Thinking about the sudden proliferation of no cycling signs, find another route signs, this is private land signs etc, that now start with one nailed to the North Downs sign about half a mile away at the start of the section, and of course the new gate, there is probably a committee at work, with maybe only one or two people driving their campaign along.

 

Also during lock down I stayed at home, so was not riding to work, and not using this section, but there was probably a huge increase in both walkers and cyclists using the route past the development to add fuel to their hatred.

 

It might all calm down now, all be it with another gate to contend with, now that the frequency of passing walkers and cyclists has reduced.

 

One thing that used to amuse me before this latest escalation was that although I almost never saw an actual resident, I did occasionally coincide with the contract gardeners, one of whom in any other circumstance would I hope have been a kindly Italian man of about my own late middle age, at first glimpse of me and my, Hello, nice day, how are you, would become almost apoplectic with agitation, repeating in a charming accented English, NO CYCLING< NO CYCLING, to which I would smile and reply, buy, lovely day! He had obviously become indoctrinated by "The Committee".

Cheap bikes are great fun, I'm doing something similar with a €100 (approx £90) Dutch city bike that's been unused for years.

I've found the 24v battery is getting slightly better every time I charge it so it gets charged one day then connected to 2x12v car lights the next day to flatten it. It seems to be re-balancing the cells but its not a quick project. Glad you're enjoy yours too.

Same as you, I was resisting spending anything on it but I recently decided to fix the faults - now waiting for a delivery of parts that cost more than the bike !

Cheap bikes are great fun, I'm doing something similar with a €100 (approx £90) Dutch city bike that's been unused for years.

I've found the 24v battery is getting slightly better every time I charge it so it gets charged one day then connected to 2x12v car lights the next day to flatten it. It seems to be re-balancing the cells but its not a quick project. Glad you're enjoy yours too.

Same as you, I was resisting spending anything on it but I recently decided to fix the faults - now waiting for a delivery of parts that cost more than the bike !

 

Once more to be honest I think I was just very lucky with this bike.

 

It is the same model as the first electric bike I bought that I still have and use, and I really bought this bike to provide spar parts for that bike.

 

I am not big on doing my own bike maintenance but have found with electric bikes that there is sometimes no alternative but to do the work yourself.

 

So I have done all the mechanical work on this bike so far, but that has really only amounted to re attaching wires and parts taken off it but included in what I bought, and the replacement of spokes in the rear wheel when they break.

 

Luckily for me when I had put it all back together there were no electrical faults and it worked straight away.

 

The breaking of spokes is now getting more and more infrequent so I hope I am getting closer to that stopping, but I still keep an eye on it.

I do not really ride my bikes to save fuel costs, but more for the exercise, environmental impact and enjoyment, but 1000 miles driven in my 40mpg petrol car would have cost around £900 in fuel alone.

 

I was being lazy and used a fuel cost calculator from the internet without questioning the result. A thousand miles in my 40 mpg petrol car would cost only about 10% of this figure. I worked it out on a good old fashioned calculator to be about £120. Much more like it. Still a saving.

Edited June 21, 20205 yr by georgehenry

A saving is a saving GH however small, for the last 8 years since I retired form the building industry and took up a local job within 2 miles of home I have ridden the bike to work on all work days. My car is 14 years old and only sees about 700 miles p.a added to the Odo.

Last week I changed my home dual fuel for a £204 p.a. saving.

Interesting that you have changed your home dual fuel, I was thinking of having a look at mine thinking that the collapse in oil prices might be leading to some good deals, but I have 2x£30 end the deal early payments to consider, however I did this once before and despite having to pay to change still made a significant saving.

 

I actually have two cars on the road at the moment but one of those is for my children to learn on and drive, though covid is delaying driving tests at the moment.

 

I ride to work like you (20 mile minimum round trip) using my car on only a handful of occasions leading to significantly reduced fuel costs and low annual mileages.

Edited June 21, 20205 yr by georgehenry

Although digressing from your main thread title and it is your thread I will add more.

My old deal had no exit fees so decided to act (so as to reduce any out lay)

having just reduced my hours and working days , next will be the internet provider.

 

My new duel fuel has the £30 exit fee for each fuel but check your suppliers T&C's as often if you are within the last 4 - 6 weeks of the deal then no fees are applicable as the switch can take 3 or 4 weeks to happen. Next year if I find a better deal I will use the 6 week release clause in the T & C's.

You can sign up to Bill Buddy or similar and they automatically transfer you to the best deal annually or register with Uswitch and they will tell you what the best deals are if you input all your bill details.

 

Each year I change car & house insurance as well for better deals.

Shopping is another area we make quite a saving just buying essentials from LIdl over the bigger names, the quality is still there just the range isn't. A £20 shop at Lidl can be £6 -£10 more elsewhere per shop.

Although digressing from your main thread title and it is your thread I will add more.

My old deal had no exit fees so decided to act (so as to reduce any out lay)

having just reduced my hours and working days , next will be the internet provider.

 

My new duel fuel has the £30 exit fee for each fuel but check your suppliers T&C's as often if you are within the last 4 - 6 weeks of the deal then no fees are applicable as the switch can take 3 or 4 weeks to happen. Next year if I find a better deal I will use the 6 week release clause in the T & C's.

The industry rules are that if you are within the last 49 days of a contract that you can switch without penalty which applies to all suppliers.

£100 ebike comes to the rescue yet again

 

Poor old Haibike is not having a good run of luck.

 

I planned to ride to my three shifts last week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the 23,24,25th of June, that should have all been on the Haibike cross country.

 

However on Tuesday I must have picked up a tiny slow puncture in my rear tyre close to getting to work that only became apparent at the end of my shift.

 

I had recently replaced the back wheel on the Haibike and found that my old tyre levers really struggled to get the tyre over the rim. I think it is a tubeless style rim with a sort of inner lip that seems to very effectively hold the tyre in place. So well in fact that I really struggled with my old tyre levers. The tyre is very effectively puncture proof having covered over 6,250 miles with no punctures, but that may have led to me being a tadge complacent.

 

Fortunately I could catch a train back home, and consider mending it later.

 

However with one shift still to do, there is no need to take the car in my household now as I have my supper sub £100 second hand bike charged and ready to go.

 

So Thursday, the hottest day of the year so far, was a very relaxing ride to work and back on the road on my £100 Oxygen.

 

Even at home relaxed at a time of my own choosing getting that tyre over the rim of that new wheel was really hard. I actually had to very carefully resort to a flat headed screw driver for the first, get it over the rim bit.

 

I have ordered some new tyre levers that should hopefully be up to the job of my new rear wheel rims tenacious grip on the tyre, designed for the job and much kinder than a flat headed screw driver! We shall see.

 

One other thing I have done recently is go back to ordinary non slimed tubes, as it appeared to me that it was the puncture resistant tyre that mainly prevented punctures and the slimed tubes just gundged up your valves and little else.

 

Perhaps a slimed tube would have sealed his very small hole though! Maybe I should reconsider and go back to a slimed tube combined with my puncture resistant tyre.

Edited June 28, 20205 yr by georgehenry

£100 ebike edges into profit

 

I have just finished six days of work from Friday the 10th of July finishing yesterday. These were early shifts, so no leisurely off road route to work on the Haibike, this was up early, quick shower, and get going on my £100 ebike with 10 miles to ride on the road.

 

This meant riding just as the day was dawning and with the early morning light was very pleasant with virtually no traffic.

 

You have to be organised to commute by bike, and I have everything ready downstairs and set my alarm for no later than 1 hour and 20 minutes before the start of my shift, to allow time to shower, pack the bike, and have about half an hour at work before the official start of my shift. This gives me time to access my locker, remove the seat post and battery and then carry panniers and battery to a separate room to plug in the battery to charge, have a quick wash and change into my work clothes. Of course making a cup of tea and a natter with work colleagues is also essential

 

I was lucky to spend my second day at home on call so did not ride that day.

 

Then four days of ebike commuting, 20 miles a day and added to the first days ride a 100 miles in total for the five days I had to go to work.

 

The total mileage of the bike has crept up to 1,630 from the 500 on it when I bought her, and I have ridden 1,130 of them myself. My petrol car does about 40mpg and the fuel to have driven instead would have cost about £135.

 

So my £100 ebike, £10 saddle and some spokes mean that my balance sheet is now in the black, just! From now on, it is just a profit machine! Saves about £120 in fuel in the car per 1000 miles ridden, assuming you spend nothing on her, yippee!!. If I were to put the money to one side it might just about be enough to buy a new battery, circa £200, when she needs one and other bits that wear out like tyres and brake pads with the smallest bit left over. Not really a business model to take to your bank manager. Though a potential 2,500 miles a year of convenient personal transport to work and back that is free of charge is not to be sniffed at.

 

But the fun and exercise, priceless.

 

Apart from the saddle that I have put on and the tyres and ergonomic grips that the previous owner put on the bike is how she was sold with original battery working surprisingly well.

 

Long may it continue.

 

She did break a spoke in the rear wheel on the penultimate commuting day that I quickly changed when I got home. Spokes breaking in the rear motor wheel are much less frequent but can still happen.

 

This one may have been caused by a couple of overladen trips two miles back from the supermarket that I had popped into on my way home from work.

Edited July 16, 20205 yr by georgehenry

You're making me jealous. I really used to look forward to my daily commutes..

 

Don't forget that there are other costs apart from petrol, like tyres,oil and filter, plus other random things. I calculated that my car's actual running costs were approximately 1.5 times the petrol cost.

As I near a time I could retire I know what you mean VFR. I will really miss my ebike ride to work and back when I retire.

 

I worked for years in a career that involved wearing smart suits and driving a company car, and mountain bike riding was strictly a leisure activity.

 

The credit crunch of 2008 led to my redundancy and then a completely new career that I really enjoy and wish I had known about sooner, and for which an ebike is ideally suited to allow me to ride to work and back carrying all I need.

Edited July 16, 20205 yr by georgehenry

Just finished 6 days of early turns at work.

 

These early duties are the ones where the £100 ebike gets me to work and back.

 

On two of the days I was designated to be on call at home and was lucky not to be called and stayed at home. These "at home duties" are a consequence of covid and the need to keep the number of people at the work place reduced to allow those at work to socially distance. But we all love them. Whats not to like about sitting at home being paid.

 

So in the end I rode to work and back four times and completed 80 miles. The mileage I have ridden according to the trip has now risen to 1,280 miles and the total miles the bike has covered is now 1,780.

 

The bike has to work harder on the journey to work with three quite demanding hills. I ride mostly in the highest pedal assist level and the bike cruises at around 19 to 20 mph, give or take a mile an hour or two, and averages around 19.5mph for the 10 mile journey.

 

The display shows that the original battery sags on the hills reducing to just one bar showing on the hill near to the end of the journey, but never cuts out and then recovers as you crest the hill.

 

We will see how I fair in the £100 ebikes second Winter.

 

My other old Oxygen is now being used by my son to get him to his first job, a round trip of 6.2 miles according to google maps.

FA Cup. £100 ebike wins by a head

 

Another infamous underdog win. Wimbledon v Liverpool in 1988.

 

Last night I finished five days of late shifts. The Haibike was off the road (again!) needing a new rear mech. I had hoped it would arrive but on the eve of my first shift on Wednesday it had not been delivered.

 

Late shifts are where I can enjoy my cross country route, rather than riding on the road, if the Haibike is available to ride!

 

However, having my £100 Oxygen now means I can carry on riding to work if the Haibike is, ahem unavailable. Which it has been rather more than I would like.

 

I now basically use my £100 Oxygen for early shifts, or indeed now winter is here any shift where I am riding in darkness, and The Haibike for any shift where I can ride in the light to enjoy a great cross country route.

 

It was a shock in my last block of shifts when I had to take my car to work for one day when the Throttle broke on The Oxygen and the rear mech had just failed on The Haibike.

 

However unlike The Haibike the plucky Oxygen managed to complete the remaining 40 miles and two days of commuting duties when I disconnected the throttle and rode just using the pedal assist.

 

https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/old-oxygen-emate-throttle.39604/#post-587367

 

So Wednesday, the first of my five late shifts arrived and before I set off to work on The Oxygen the door bell rang and the rear mech for the Haibike had arrived. Hurrah.

 

It was no hardship riding the £100 Oxygen to my first late shift as it is a delight to ride on the road for my 20 mile round trip commute.

 

1-0 to the Oxygen and 20 miles ridden.

 

Well with the hope of at least some winter sunshine to enjoy my off road route and enough time to do so the new rear mech was fitted as well as a new KMC chain that I found on my garage shelf, that I had bought two of for £18 delivered.

 

So for my second shift I enjoyed my cross country route on The Haibike. I took some pictures on that trip.

Field of dreams!

Inspiration for Genesis "Lamia of the Lake" perhaps

Another Autumnal view on the route

Beautiful Crooksbury Common

North Downs Way near journeys end

 

1-1 Oxygen and Haibike are neck and neck, although 24 miles ridden on The Haibike, so The Haibike edges 4 miles ahead.

 

I ride The Haibike the next day as well, so 2-1 to The Haibike and the Haibike has now completed 48 miles, 28 miles more than The Oxygen.

 

It dawns on me that my start time the next day means it will get dark during my cross country ride and I take the Oxygen. 2-2, but the Haibike has still been ridden 8 miles further.

 

One more shift. Could the Oxygen win in extra time.

 

Well my last shift on Sunday starts even later, so The Oxygen secures a 3-2 victory and completes 60 miles, 12 miles further than the Haibike.

 

So between the two bikes I rode 108 miles, having loads of fun and leaving my car on the driveway. Everyone's a winner baby!

 

As befits a workhorse underdog hack, no pictures of The £100 Ebike.

 

My 2015 Haibike is way ahead on mileage covered having completed 12,746 miles on returning home in the small hours of Saturday Morning.

 

Though my £100 second hand Oxygen is now just shy of completing 1500 miles, of which I have ridden 1000. I had to replace the broken throttle but no other parts so far, other than a saddle which is personal preference, and a few spokes.

 

Mentioning spokes, whispering so the bike can't hear, I have had no rear spoke breaks now for quite some time.

Edited November 16, 20205 yr by georgehenry

That’s a great story, thanks for sharing.

But,I can buy a brand new electric bike for £300.

Methinks you're trolling

Don't feed the Troll

 

Heavy Lifting

 

My shift pattern meanders between periods of early shifts and periods of late shifts.

 

Late shifts allow me to use my Haibike for a daylight ride cross country to work, but early shifts are the domain now of my £100, circa 2011 second hand Oxygen Emate.

 

At the moment I am in quite a long pattern of early shifts with 20 days in total, 12 days of work and 8 days off.

 

So with 12 return rides to work there are potentially 240 miles to be ridden.

 

I am at the halfway point with all going well and 120 miles under the £100 ebikes wheels. The total mileage for the bike now is 2,095 miles and I have ridden 1,595 miles.

 

The front brake pads are now at the limit of their adjustment at the wheel and I am using up the adjustment at the brake lever before putting a new set of pads in but the old ones should last the remaining 120 miles and will be the original pads, so have lasted over 2215 miles by the time I change them.

 

I bought 3 sets of Clarks organic pads of amazon for £10.56 including delivery.

 

Yesterday could have been a bit of a disaster as I could not charge my battery back up at work. The charger I am using came with a 2 pin plug and I bought an adapter. Somehow the adapter had come adrift and when I got the charger out at work to charge the battery there was no adapter.

 

Nothing I could do at that point. Just work my shift and hope I could get home. It was not a good day for it to happen as it had been a cold ride to work.

 

I set off for home rather optimistically selecting maximum power assist and made it over the first hill, before shooting down the other side and running on the level along the valley floor before another big hill.

 

About half way up this second hill I felt the battery falter and backed off the assist. This was worrying as I still had about 7 miles to ride. After this I balanced the assist level with the amount of power I was drawing shown on my display to try and keep the power drawn from the battery at a level it could cope with, but speed as high as possible, selecting lower assist levels so as not to draw more than about 250.

 

Obviously I worked harder but the assist did not fail and as I rode into the outskirts of my town I knew I had made it and the average speed was still just under 18.

 

I did not want to go straight home as I had to buy a few things for a meal later. Anyway I got home having worked physically harder myself but still with the assist working as long as I did not try to draw too much from the battery.

 

So now I know I can get home without charging the battery at work after 13 miles of maximum assist and 8 miles of useful but lower assist. ( an extra mile for shopping) So the range is about 20 miles.

 

I know that is not much range, but it is enough and the bike completes the journey quickly and carries a heavy rider and two panniers of stuff.

 

It is a good job I can charge my battery at work as it is much more fun to ride with the gay abandon of maximum assist.

 

Just another 120 miles to ride. Not a hardship, I really enjoy it and feel the benefit from the exercise.

 

I am seriously considering buying a trickle charger for my car as I ride my bikes so much that it just sits on the driveway and the last time I put fuel in the car was August and there is still half a tank left!

 

Plug adapter was at home!

Edited November 28, 20205 yr by georgehenry

GH for trickle charging my car which isn't used much I use a solar panel approx 9 x6 which sits on the dash and pugs into the lighter. Cost me about £15 a few years ago and about a week later the seller refunded the cost to me saying I had been selected as one of the pay back customers they had selected.

 

Ideal for keeping the SLA topped up and only needs daylight and not full sun, no trailing leads from the house/garage.

Hi Nealh,

 

I have a old optimate trickle charger that I use on a number of old motorcycles I own and a sorned car on my driveway, as well as occasionally a car that is on the road that I bought for my children to learn in and now is insured for my son and I after he recently passed his test but also does not get used much because he uses my original 2011 Oxygen to commute a 6 mile round trip to his first job.

 

Basically I swap which vehicle is attached to the trickle charger about from time to time.

 

My own car is much newer than the other vehicles and has a stop start system and from what I understand will need a special conditioning charger, and it is for this car that I am considering buying a conditioning charger that is designed for stop start car systems. Whether I really need a special charger or not I don't really know, but in the scheme of things it is not a lot of money and the batteries for stop start cars are bigger and more expensive to replace, so probably worth keeping in good shape.

Well I wimped out and took the car today. The forecast was terrible and my start time was very early and I was cumulatively tired after 3 very early starts.

 

I love my job but shift work can take its toil.

 

I would have been riding home in torrential rain, so I think I made the right decision.

 

A bit of a change sitting on my heated driving seat in my car listening to radio three and using my adaptive cruise control. Most people would think I was mad leaving this car almost all the time unused on my driveway.

 

I have three days off now before my last two early shifts. I have so far ridden the £100 ebike 180 miles since the start of my early shift pattern began 15 days ago.

 

If I ride to my last two early shifts I will have ridden 220 miles in this 20 day cycle.

 

I know I keep waffling on about it, but this bike is a really fantastic road commuting bike.

 

On the way home yesterday I overtook a roadie, saying hello as I passed, and getting a friendly hello in reply, not far before a steep downhill and then flat to slightly falling gradient where a roadie has an advantage and can go quicker than me.

 

Before the decent I had pulled out about 75 metres, but he was quickly up behind me slip streaming me. I was travelling at around 21/22 mph.

 

He could, I think have easily overtaken me, but chose not to and kept behind me until we reached the next uphill section into a village and he quickly fell back and may have turned off as I did not see him after this.

 

All good fun.

Edited December 3, 20205 yr by georgehenry

Well today is the end of my 20 day cycle of early shifts and I rode to them all except one which I took the car due to the forecast of very heavy rain.

 

So the final total was 220 miles over the 20 day period.

 

The £100 ebike is a truly excellent commuter bike.

 

I have two days off before a series of late shifts where I plan to use The crank drive Haibike and ride cross country to work and back home on the road.

Just finished 5 days of late shifts. I rode my crank drive Haibike to three of them completing 72 miles on it. It performed very well, and the off road route is spectacular, if tough!

 

On one day I took the car due to the deluges of rain we are getting at the moment.

 

And last night I took the fantastic £100 ebike due to a late start time to my shift meaning riding in the dark there and back.

 

It rode beautifully as I have come to expect. whizzing along at around 20mph.

 

So my £100 2018 purchase, looks almost new, has cost pennies to buy and run, works as well as any electric bike I have ridden and better than most, and has now completed 2,019 miles.

 

I bought and put a saddle on that suits me, but the riding position and ergonomic grips and marathon plus tyres that came with it make it a very comfortable, durable and fast commuter bike.

 

Also sharing the commuting duties between Haibike and the £100 Oxygen works very well.

 

I use the crank drive Yamaha Haibike where it excels off road and the £100 Oxygen Ebike where it excels on the road.

 

Happy days.

 

I am quite close to retiring from work and will really miss my electric bike commute if not the antisocial hours I have to be at work sometimes.

 

I could retire as soon as April 21, but if I did would miss out on a big just under 10% pay increase, part of multi year deal, and to get the benefit of that in my pension would need to work until the end of the following tax year in April 22.

 

But that is a year of my life that I won't get back, even doing a job I like doing.

 

There are rumored to be some nasty tax hikes that could effect me in the March 21 budget to pay for Covid, so maybe getting out while the going is good might be the sensible thing to do rather than waiting to take advantage of the pay rise.

 

Decisions, decisions.

 

I am grateful to be in a secure well paid key worker job when many people are suffering financial Armageddon.

That was the only downside to my retirement. I missed my commute to work and back, which kept me fit and gave me the chance to experiment with a lot of different types of bikes.

 

Think about your retirement money. A lot of analysts are predicting rapid inflation in the near future, which would wipe out any cash savings or anything else that isn't index-linked.

I have just worked three early shifts after 12 days off. Two return trips on the £100 ebike and 40 miles ridden. I took the car to the middle one of my three shifts as it was a very early start time.

 

With low temperatures and knowing that I do not have a lot of range in hand, I was a little nervous that the battery would last the distance, living in my unheated brick garage, but it did today with high assist used for the majority of the 10 mile journey.

 

As I ride the £100 Ebike to my early shifts it also gets ridden at generally the coldest point of the day, around four in the morning.

 

At work it gets recharged in a well heated room so that the battery is both fully charged, warmed, and hopefully balanced before returning home to be recharged in my unheated garage.

 

The batteries of the £100 ebike and my other Oxygen emate got swapped over a month or two back when my son and I went on an adventurous ride together, me on my Haibike and him on my original Oxygen with the battery from the £100 Ebike in the pannier.

 

We needed to use the second battery from the £100 Ebike and I just put the other battery in the £100 Ebike when we got home as it was easier and I have never bothered to swap them back.

 

So the nearly 10 year old battery from the £100 Ebike now powers my son on a six mile journey to work and back. To be honest I don't think there is much difference in performance between the two batteries, I have just been too lazy to swap them back. The one I am now using in the £100 Ebike is a cheap sub £200 one that included a charger that I bought of Ebay and will be three years old in the Spring.

 

Now I am off again for six days over the New Year, returning to late shifts for which the Haibike will be used to make use of daylight to enjoy my cross country route to work and road ride home.

 

I need to replace a bashed pedal on the Haibike before then.

 

Although my bikes are working well, I have an ongoing left knee meniscus tear injury for which I am progressing very slowly through the NHS, understandably so with the Covid situation. and perhaps because of the knee injury my lower back muscles are now starting to go into spasm probably as a result of me favouring my right knee, and my back can be very painful and debilitating.

 

I have not yet had to take any time off work as the back problem has coincided with my off duty time where I have been able to free it up with a combination of exercises, massage, and muscle relaxing drugs, but I fear it is only a matter of time before these ailments coincides with a pattern of work that requires me to take sick leave.

 

Riding my bike seems to actually improve rather than exacerbate my knee injury as it strengthens the muscles of the knee in question without irritating the injury, perhaps because the exercise is non load bearing and my knee is never fully straightened.

 

Unfortunately at work I am sitting down for long stretches of time which just makes a lower back problem worse.

 

The £100 Ebike is now showing 2,257 miles, so I have now ridden it 1,757 miles.

 

I still have not replaced the brake pads at the front as I have not quite run out of adjustment at the handlebar, so these original brake pads have lasted very well. Using this bike mainly for commuting on the road I can ride literally miles at a time without needing to apply the brakes, which explains their longevity.

 

They are simple mechanical disc brakes, that work well, but just don't get applied that much using the bike for commuting as I do.

 

Good job as the width of the motor in the rear wheel fouls the adjuster so that once you have run out of adjustment at the handlebar you have to take the rear wheel out to get at the adjuster.

 

Not a great bit of design, but it might be churlish to complain at the money I paid for it!

 

My other Oxygen Emate of around the same time period has a smaller diameter rear motor that does allow adjustment of the rear brake. Much better.

 

So apart from about 20 spokes I bought for the rear wheel at 35p each, and some brake pads, yet to be fitted, a saddle of my preference, a new throttle, and a splash of chain oil, I have spent diddly squat on this bike in those very enjoyable 1,757 miles.

 

I acquired the £100 Ebike around September 2018, so I am now embarking on my third year of ownership.

 

The rear wheel seems to have now stabilised with no broken spokes for a long time. I did use about 18 spokes getting to this point though.

 

I only ride my Haibike when I can enjoy my off road route to work and the £100 Ebike when it is dark for my ride to work or when for whatever reason I have decided to ride on the road.

 

I have previously only recorded my total mileage for the year for my Haibike and this is done on the anniversary of its purchase around the 21st of March and it will be six years old in March 21.

 

It will be interesting to see which of these two bikes ends up doing the most miles. So far the Haibike has completed 974 miles this year and the £100 Ebike has completed 907, only 67 miles behind.

 

With shorter days in the winter the £100 Ebike has evry chance of catching The Haibike up or even overtaking it. The prediction of which bike will win this race is further complicated by the fact that the off road route to work is 4 miles longer than the road route.

Edited December 31, 20205 yr by georgehenry