Hello all, I've been looking at at ebikes on the net and I've kinda (!) got it down to three but which one would you choose? It would be only for leisure. If it went off road it would only (at worst) be on rough grassland.

Anyway the three are,

Vanwoof x3, Wau and Cowboy.

I know there are pro's and cons but....which one would you personally choose?

TIA.

It's weird how it's always the same ones in these threads.

 

My advice is to forget all those and buy an established brand. If you can't fix things like that yourself, you have to buy from a local shop, otherwise you can buy Chinese bikes mail order, but not bikes with Bosch, Shimano, Yamaha, etc systems.

I've 3 different inexpensive ebikes. Two of them were bought, used from members here. They all do 15.5 mph, and they're all good fun. For what you plan to do, you should maybe consider picking a used one up from this forum, if there's anything suitable for sale.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LefTc662Vis

 

Vanwoof x3,

 

I'd stay away from that one. Apparently its a bit of a dog ....

It's weird how it's always the same ones in these threads.

 

My advice is to forget all those and buy an established brand. If you can't fix things like that yourself, you have to buy from a local shop, otherwise you can buy Chinese bikes mail order, but not bikes with Bosch, Shimano, Yamaha, etc systems.

And oddly enough, it is nearly almost always a first time poster.

Guess it's a cheap form of advertising (in their mind) just that we are the wrong audience.

I'd stay away from that one. Apparently its a bit of a dog ....

 

I Googled Vanwoof and got this:

 

https://vanwoof.com/

I Googled Vanwoof and got this:

 

https://vanwoof.com/

 

 

The dog portraits look a bit ruff

They look Wuff

These look RUFF, hehe! :-)

From €2499

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XiclTUxm3U

And oddly enough, it is nearly almost always a first time poster.

Guess it's a cheap form of advertising (in their mind) just that we are the wrong audience.

What a strange reply. First off this was my second post so get your facts right. What (in your mind) am I advertising? Do you think I'm advertising three different manufacturers?

'We' are the wrong audience!! Who are we, a little club all of your own eh. I ask a question and you find you are unable to answer so you turn to sarcasm.

I'll leave it to others to give advice (and thanks for that) and you to your own importance.

What a strange reply. First off this was my second post so get your facts right. What (in your mind) am I advertising? Do you think I'm advertising three different manufacturers?

'We' are the wrong audience!! Who are we, a little club all of your own eh. I ask a question and you find you are unable to answer so you turn to sarcasm.

I'll leave it to others to give advice (and thanks for that) and you to your own importance.

 

 

I wouldn't take it personally - they're used to seeing a lot of advertisers here.

What a strange reply. First off this was my second post so get your facts right. What (in your mind) am I advertising? Do you think I'm advertising three different manufacturers?

'We' are the wrong audience!! Who are we, a little club all of your own eh. I ask a question and you find you are unable to answer so you turn to sarcasm.

I'll leave it to others to give advice (and thanks for that) and you to your own importance.

It's only strange if you don't know the history. Recently we have had a load of newly joined members with a thread more or less identical to yours mentioning the same bikes, which are all pretty unusual, not the sort of thing you'd find in your local ebike shop. I would be interested to know how you came across those bikes and what made you think that they might be suitable.

But that is the point, I know nothing of the history of this site and I don't like the insinuation that was made. All I wanted was some advice but it seems like you have to jump through hoops on this site.

I've since been on another site and although I still haven't made up my mind on which bike to buy, I was given some good pointers.

You say your 'interested' in why those bikes and their suitability?

I ask myself...why? But just to satisfy your curiosity I will explain.

I already have a cheaper Chinese bike. I bought it so it would fold and fit into the back of the car. It does the job ok but I decided I would like something more, shall we say, robust. Something one could feel is better made and as I had the folding one I would go for a 'normal' bike. Maybe that's just me but there it is.

You also want to know how I came across those bikes. A simple search for good ebikes was suffice. There were lots of them and I whittled the choices down to those three (I won't mention their names again). I couldn't/cant make up my mind so I had the brilliant idea of coming onto a site and asking the advice of like minded individuals. Not such a brilliant idea as it turned out!

which one would you personally choose?

 

 

Well.. you asked: I hate all of them! Every one is an example of style over substance: daft machines with puny batteries and inflated claims of range. I think you should find a well designed high quality bicycle, which works great as a bicycle, which you enjoy riding... then slap an "Open" Chinese ebike kit all over it. It's best for long term repairability and customisation. You did ask.

But that is the point, I know nothing of the history of this site and I don't like the insinuation that was made. All I wanted was some advice but it seems like you have to jump through hoops on this site.

I've since been on another site and although I still haven't made up my mind on which bike to buy, I was given some good pointers.

You say your 'interested' in why those bikes and their suitability?

I ask myself...why? But just to satisfy your curiosity I will explain.

I already have a cheaper Chinese bike. I bought it so it would fold and fit into the back of the car. It does the job ok but I decided I would like something more, shall we say, robust. Something one could feel is better made and as I had the folding one I would go for a 'normal' bike. Maybe that's just me but there it is.

You also want to know how I came across those bikes. A simple search for good ebikes was suffice. There were lots of them and I whittled the choices down to those three (I won't mention their names again). I couldn't/cant make up my mind so I had the brilliant idea of coming onto a site and asking the advice of like minded individuals. Not such a brilliant idea as it turned out!

You have to understand how internet searches work. Clever people know how to manipulate the algorithms to bring their stuff to the top of the searches. There's a whole paid structure behind it. Some companies put more money into marketing than they do into the development of the bike or their customer service. Recently, there was and still is a large marketing campaign for a bike, then we found that you can buy a virtually identical bike under a different brand with identical frame, wheels, etc for less than half the price.

 

If you look at genuine reviews of the Vanmoof, you will see lots of problems and bad customer services. Companies with big marketing campaigns are also known to make lots of fake reviews, which are easy to spot after a bit of practice.

 

In summary, forget about niche bikes with gizmos and gadgets attached. Instead, get a well known established brand, like Wisper, Juicy, where you,all always get support and spare parts. If you like fixing things yourself, get a cheap Chinese bike that uses standard parts.

What a strange reply. First off this was my second post so get your facts right. What (in your mind) am I advertising? Do you think I'm advertising three different manufacturers?

'We' are the wrong audience!! Who are we, a little club all of your own eh. I ask a question and you find you are unable to answer so you turn to sarcasm.

I'll leave it to others to give advice (and thanks for that) and you to your own importance.

OK, so perhaps I was a bit over suspicious, but from time to time we get plagued by the same troll in differing guises, also we do get newly joined persons asking about obscure bikes and then never hear from them again.

So, ask yourself, what do you want from a bike?

Ebikes are heavy and benefit from at least front suspension if not full suspension.

Batteries need to be easily re-celled and of common shape and size. Too many people in the past bought over styled bikes with all sorts of shaped batteries, only to find that the manufacturer goes bust two or three years later leaving them with no hope of replacing their battery. (read the thread a little while ago of Gtech changing their battery shape and ceasing to supply replacements for the first type of battery)

Bosch lock you in electronically to their products and replacements only available from them are expensive.

It might sound cool to "Control your bike with your phone" but what this means is that the manufacturer has saved money by not offering a dedicated control pad and relies on you having a working smart phone. To have one technology entirely dependant upon another is not sound practice.

Any modern manufacturer who makes inflated mileage claims as they all used to is suspect. High mileage can only be obtained by a parsimonious use of electricity, which of course means that you get less assistance. (Or they are lying)

There are a number of sensible bike shops advertising on this forum, just compare their web sites with the over inflated verbiage of some of these 'Ground breaking' bikes.

You will soon spot the difference between a seller offering good sensible advice and the aspirational sellers who talk more about life style than mechanics.

As for the bikes that you mention? No thanks.

Your right, I did ask , and thanks for your honest input. It gives me something to think about.

 

vfr400, thanks, I do though, know how internet searches work. That said, I do take your point. Although I had taken my choices down to the three I mentioned, a longer, deeper look into things would have been more beneficial. I suppose part of that deeper search was coming here to ask advice? Not sure I know what you mean about clever people though. Also the main thing that did concern me about the Vanmoof was the poor (abysmal) reports concerning their customer service. I did look at Wisper bikes but I cant remember why they didn't make my top three. Thanks, I'll look again.

 

mike killay, no problem. I suppose I'd get sick of trolls if I had to put up with them. Your point about the shape of the batteries is a good one and brought to mind the shape of the Wau. Good tip on Bosch too.

So for me the three makes I mentioned, which were in the order I fancied them, have now been blown out of the water.

Lots to think about there, so thanks all.

Well.. you asked: I hate all of them! Every one is an example of style over substance: daft machines with puny batteries and inflated claims of range. I think you should find a well designed high quality bicycle, which works great as a bicycle, which you enjoy riding... then slap an "Open" Chinese ebike kit all over it. It's best for long term repairability and customisation. You did ask.

 

Seconded. I've had this oxydrive kit bike for a few years now and it's taken some hammer, but it's still going strong. There's a close up pic of it at the end of the video.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxTmKgPKTlU

your right, I did ask , and thanks for your honest input. It gives me something to think about.

 

vfr400, thanks, I do though, know how internet searches work. That said, I do take your point. Although I had taken my choices down to the three I mentioned, a longer, deeper look into things would have been more beneficial. I suppose part of that deeper search was coming here to ask advice? Not sure I know what you mean about clever people though. Also the main thing that did concern me about the Vanmoof was the poor (abysmal) reports concerning their customer service. I did look at Wisper bikes but I cant remember why they didn't make my top three. Thanks, I'll look again.

 

mike killay, no problem. I suppose I'd get sick of trolls if I had to put up with them. Your point about the shape of the batteries is a good one and brought to mind the shape of the Wau. Good tip on Bosch too.

So for me the three makes I mentioned, which were in the order I fancied them, have now been blown out of the water.

Lots to think about there, so thanks all.

Look at it this way. I've ben on this forum for ten years answering about 10 questions a week that go like this: " my bebike has stopped working. What do I do". For all the common chinese bikes, you can test them, figure out what's wrong, get spare parts and repair them. This worked great ten years ago, but now there are so many different niche bikes with weird and locked systems. All we can do is shrug our shoulders and tell them to take it back to where they bought it. Unfortunately in the greater number of cases, they come back with, "That's not possible" for whatever reason, or the supplier says that they don't stock puts for that moddel anymore.

 

The funniest ones, I've seen mainly elsewhere rather than on this forum are, "I've used the electronic lock on my Vanmoof using the phone app, now it won't unlock and my bike is stuck in the town centre".

 

All electric bikes will need attention to the motor and battery sooner or later. All I say is to think about what you're going to do when that time comes.

Seconded. I've had this oxydrive kit bike for a few years now and it's taken some hammer, but it's still going strong. There's a close up pic of it at the end of the video.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxTmKgPKTlU

Is good to see you back. Where have you been?

Is your Cyclotricity Carrera still going?

I recently saw an ad for an unbeliebable cheap smartwatch / step counter etc. An internet search for 'xyz review' spat out hundreds of them.. All copied and pasted infomercials, same words, different websites.. In some cases quite sensible websites which just happen to allow parasitic additions. I did eventually dig out some actual forum reviews.. As suspected, cheap chinese tat, rebadged, if it was ever delivered at all. The advertising agencies should be first against the wall..

It's only strange if you don't know the history. Recently we have had a load of newly joined members with a thread more or less identical to yours mentioning the same bikes, which are all pretty unusual, not the sort of thing you'd find in your local ebike shop.

 

 

 

I wonder why the site admin doesn't simply disable access to mutiple identities using the same IP address? Of course, that won't always work because of VPNs.

 

 

Clever people know how to manipulate the algorithms to bring their stuff to the top of the searches.

 

 

 

Google (about 95% use Google) for instance uses dozens of factors in their "Secret" sauce indexing system - but despite their obscuring with great prejudice, which factors those are now... the old methods still work decades later, beause it all functions (ranking of all of their websites) in fundamentally the same way: It's like working out clockwork, without being able to open the clock.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization

Vanmoof will crop up as it‘s in a lot of the consumer electronics magazines such as T3, Stuff etc. I doubt they’ve been ridden or reviewed by the magazine staff as it’ll probably be a cut and paste from another source or advertorial.

Vanmoof will crop up as it‘s in a lot of the consumer electronics magazines such as T3, Stuff etc. I doubt they’ve been ridden or reviewed by the magazine staff as it’ll probably be a cut and paste from another source or advertorial.

That's a good point. You often see the same corporate press release stuff in all the reviews.

 

Even the good review sites only ever review the bike as it stands in front of them. None talk about cost of running , other to say that it costs 5p to charge, and none talk about servicing and replacement parts, which for many owners turn out to be more inmportant than what the bike is supposed to do.

That's a good point. You often see the same corporate press release stuff in all the reviews.

 

Even the good review sites only ever review the bike as it stands in front of them. None talk about cost of running , other to say that it costs 5p to charge, and none talk about servicing and replacement parts, which for many owners turn out to be more inmportant than what the bike is supposed to do.

 

 

 

Magazine reviewers of any product rarely try them! It saves the manufacturer costs if all they do is pay a fee for a paid review: printers, laptops, ebikes.... even when they feature convincing looking photos. I've been well diddled by many a magazine review.

"I've used the electronic lock on my Vanmoof using the phone app, now it won't unlock and my bike is stuck in the town centre".

 

 

Anything electronic like an ebike which requires an app to function is to be avoided lol! I bought a security cam last year, it wouldn't work unless I updated the firmware. Once it downloaded it's firmware to itself through it's app running on my phone, it promptly informed me that "This firmware cannot be used", and stopped working with the app - it's now a paperweight. There's no way to remove the new firmware to make it work, and it won't allow a previous version to work , after communication with the app. I tried many methods every so often for weeks to revive it... it's bricked, but I got a refund... good old ebay. The prospect of something similar happening with a ££££ ebike... companies do tend to set up backend information systems when a device is launched but then abandon that infrastructure when that becomes financially unsustainable, or they'll suddenly charge when they suggested it would always be free.