I have finally received my cycle2work voucher and after months of research I still haven't decided whether to get an ebike or a new non assist bike and an conversion kit.

 

I have a top budget of £1500. My main use will be a 30 minute commute to work and back 2/3 times per week. Ideally I would also like to use for leisure rides on weekends. I'm not totally unfit, 6ft, 15 stone.

 

My question is if you were me and had my budget. What would you go for? If ebike, which one would you buy today? If non assist and kit, which ones?

 

Really keen to see if I've missed any good options in my research and also just to see what everyone else would go for if they had one choice today!

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?gran-camino

 

Or cheaper option

https://m.geekbuying.com/item/Eleglide-M2-Electric-Moped-Bike-36V-15AH-250W-521735.html?Currency=GBP&source=googleads&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CjwKCAjwjOunBhB4EiwA94JWsCI78c3t0DwUrncAPrMTqHj8ldf6JAnesnlO28s5uVacTwcikiSVphoCk98QAvD_BwE

 

Or a lighter weight, road orientated option

 

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?faro

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?gran-camino

 

Or cheaper option

https://m.geekbuying.com/item/Eleglide-M2-Electric-Moped-Bike-36V-15AH-250W-521735.html?Currency=GBP&source=googleads&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CjwKCAjwjOunBhB4EiwA94JWsCI78c3t0DwUrncAPrMTqHj8ldf6JAnesnlO28s5uVacTwcikiSVphoCk98QAvD_BwE

 

Or a lighter weight, road orientated option

 

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?faro

Thanks Peter, do you own/use one of these yourself? Would recommend?

Really keen to see if I've missed any good options in my research and also just to see what everyone else would go for if they had one choice today!

Woosh are well respected on this forum, and are also trade members. My personal experience has been of a converted very conventional (old) lightweight touring bike using a much modified (to mainly achieve desired weight distribution) early (Mk 1) Swytch kit with cadence sensing. More recently I bought a Decathlon 500E bike in the January sales (just <£1000 at that time) with torque sensing, disc brakes and front suspension which toured successfully this summer around Norfolk. I love both my bikes - the new one is much better suited for off-road paths. Peter

Woosh are well respected on this forum, and are also trade members. My personal experience has been of a converted very conventional (old) lightweight touring bike using a much modified (to mainly achieve desired weight distribution) early (Mk 1) Swytch kit with cadence sensing. More recently I bought a Decathlon 500E bike in the January sales (just <£1000 at that time) with torque sensing, disc brakes and front suspension which toured successfully this summer around Norfolk. I love both my bikes - the new one is much better suited for off-road paths. Peter

Thank you Peter. Yes I'm aware of woosh and have been in contact with them. They are definitely on my list of options for both ebikes and kits depending on what I ultimately choose.

I'm not sure if my cycle2work voucher will be eligible with decathlon but I will check it out as the 500e looks a good spec for the price and by the looks of it it fits my oreference of range over power as well. I'm happy to pedal but would like to be able to go for long trips without running out of at least minimal assist.

Thanks Peter, do you own/use one of these yourself? Would recommend?

Not owned one, have bought a kit from Woosh, v good customer service. If I could only have 1 ebike that would probably be the one I would choose

Edited September 8, 20232 yr by Peter.Bridge

I don't see the point of buying a new push bike then adding a kit as one loses any warranty issue with the bike. For £1500 one might as well buy an EAPC and have the warranty lock stock and barrel.

Edited September 8, 20232 yr by Nealh

With your budget, I'd convert an old bike... but unfortunately not many kit sellers I've ever seen accept CTW vouchers. £1500 would get you a bloody good conversion.

My question is if you were me and had my budget. What would you go for? If ebike, which one would you buy today? If non assist and kit, which ones?

Let's say you split your budget halfway. 50% for the bike and 50% for the kit.

Which pushbike would you buy with £750 budget?

 

My question is if you were me and had my budget. What would you go for? If ebike, which one would you buy today? If non assist and kit, which ones?

 

 

I vote for bike and a kit. Which one depends on what you need it for and on bikes you like.

Let's say you split your budget halfway. 50% for the bike and 50% for the kit.

Which pushbike would you buy with £750 budget?

The ones currently on my list of potentials if I go the kit route are boardman HYB 8.6, Specialized Sirrus x 2.0 could maybe push to a 3.0 and a cannondale quick 4.

With your budget, I'd convert an old bike... but unfortunately not many kit sellers I've ever seen accept CTW vouchers. £1500 would get you a bloody good conversion.

Don't have an old bike and it would mean spending money on buying one and upgrading the parts and I'd then once I'd bought the kit I'd still have plenty left on the voucher that I couldn't spend lol

I don't see the point of buying a new push bike then adding a kit as one loses any warrnty issue with the bike. For £1500 one might as well buy an EAPC and have the warranty lock stock and barrel.

Yep definitely a factor in my thinking. The thing that puts me off EAPC is warranties are short and once they run out you have a very expensive peice of tech that isn't cheap or easy to fix especially when batteries/motors are 'built in'. Conversions are less of issue in this regard and if I decide down the road that I no longer need/want assist then I still have a good bike once I remove the kit. I can really make a strong argument either way though hence the indecision.

Yep definitely a factor in my thinking. The thing that puts me off EAPC is warranties are short and once they run out you have a very expensive peice of tech that isn't cheap or easy to fix especially when batteries/motors are 'built in'. Conversions are less of issue in this regard and if I decide down the road that I no longer need/want assist then I still have a good bike once I remove the kit. I can really make a strong argument either way though hence the indecision.

 

Haven't you just made a strong argument for a conversion? Then the question becomes "Which conversion?"

Haven't you just made a strong argument for a conversion? Then the question becomes "Which conversion?"

Yes bit I think there are pros and cons on both sides tbh. If I go down the conversion route then I struggle with which donor bike is best. Not a huge range of hybrids under £800 with good specs. Which would you choose if you were buying one today?

Yes bit I think there are pros and cons on both sides tbh. If I go down the conversion route then I struggle with which donor bike is best. Not a huge range of hybrids under £800 with good specs. Which would you choose if you were buying one today?

 

If I were in your shoes, I'd be looking on ebay, Gumtree, Cash Converters/Generators, Faceache Marketplace etc. for a good quality used bike appropriate to my height, weight, use, and conversion kit - the value of good quality bikes seem to depreciate quite quickly. You can always upgrade parts.

Edited September 8, 20232 yr by guerney

If I were in your shoes, I'd be looking on ebay, Gumtree, Cash Converters/Generators, Faceache Marketplace etc. for a good quality used bike appropriate to my height, weight, use, and conversion kit - the value of good quality bikes seem to depreciate quite quickly. You can always upgrade parts.

I can't though as those places don't take cycke2work vouchers. And I can't change the value of my voucher now so if I spend say 750 on a conversion kit then I still have 750 on the voucher that has to be spent so I might as well spend it on a new push bike for the conversion. I did look at old bikes a while back before either applied for the voucher and I found it very difficult to find ones in decent condition that had disk brakes in my area.

Nice bikes you chose, but if I were you I would be looking at bikes around £1k. Depends how much money you want to allocate on kit.

I can't though as those places don't take cycke2work vouchers. And I can't change the value of my voucher now so if I spend say 750 on a conversion kit then I still have 750 on the voucher that has to be spent so I might as well spend it on a new push bike for the conversion. I did look at old bikes a while back before either applied for the voucher and I found it very difficult to find ones in decent condition that had disk brakes in my area.

So I guess my the purpose of my post is if you think I should go down the conversion route, if you had 75

Nice bikes you chose, but if I were you I would be looking at bikes around £1k. Depends how much money you want to allocate on kit.

Which bikes at 1k are better?

Don't have an old bike and it would mean spending money on buying one and upgrading the parts and I'd then once I'd bought the kit I'd still have plenty left on the voucher that I couldn't spend lol

 

It's a shame nobody seems to be selling and accepting CTW vouchers for professionally pre-converted bikes (AFAIK), for those wise people who value long term repairability at home as well as performance, reliability etc.

It's a shame nobody seems to be selling and accepting CTW vouchers for professionally pre-converted bikes (AFAIK), for those wise people who value long term repairability at home as well as performance, reliability etc.

we can and do often accept CTW vouchers to convert your bike with guarantee it but usually the customer has already got a decent donor bike.

we can and do often accept CTW vouchers to convert your bike with guarantee it but usually the customer has already got a decent donor bike.

 

Why don't you sell them a decent donor bike aswell? You could charge extra for upgrading various components to suit their max budget.

Edited September 8, 20232 yr by guerney

It would be about £120 cheaper to build the whole ebike compared to bike + kit + fitting labour. To make your scheme worthwhile, I would need to buy bankrupt stock bikes, I would then run out of space to keep them. The best use of space is crank drive kits then hub kits then bikes.

Edited September 8, 20232 yr by Woosh

It would be about £120 cheaper to build the whole ebike compared to bike + kit + fitting labour. To make your scheme worthwhile, I would need to buy bankrupt stock bikes, I would then run out of space to keep them. The best use of space is crank drive kits then hub kits then bikes.

 

Looking at the Woosh storefront, I'm wondering if you can get planning permission for a roof raise and an extra floor. Someone I know did that to rented premises, plus a basement extension, and the landlord immediately increased the rent to suit the increased floorspace. The resulting row got quite awkward, because both the tenant and landord are my customers.

 

https://goo.gl/maps/Cg3uk3SsLnQVvkuK7

Edited September 8, 20232 yr by guerney