Good electric bike models/retailers?

Energize

Energize

Energize

Caporegime
Joined
12 Mar 2004
Posts
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Location
England
Cycling is great, (in the summer at least) exercise, free travel, and a nice day out with lots of wildlife subjects for photography, however what is not so good is having to deal with enormous hills or gale force winds that pop up from time to time, so I'm looking into an electric bike to take the effort in those situations, no particular requirements really, other than something that's easy to maintain, not like those awful cheap bikes where just changing a tire is a huge chore. Does anyone have any experience with them here?
 
I also wonder how much harder one is to pedal in normal situations and then just kick the motor in for a hill?
I have a steep hill that buggers me up every morning before I get to work, if I didn't have that hill my commute would be much easier.
 
They have varying levels of assistance modes so even though they do tend to weigh a little more, if that has any impact you can use a low assistance mode to make up the difference.
 
Build your own:-

bbd3180d.jpg


It'll be cheaper, you can start with a better base bike and it will do exactly what you want and avoid the compromises.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/9442-new-build.html

If you want to be sure of being 100% legal though buy an off the shelf bike that's EN compliant. Take a look @:-

http://www.50cycles.com/
http://www.cyclezee.com/
http://www.kudoscycles.com/
http://www.oxygenbicycles.com/
http://www.justebikes.co.uk/

Take a look on pedelecs to see what's hot atm http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum - like this:-

1828-2335-haibike-xduro-fs-all-mountainfull_zpsd415660a.jpg
 
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Dimple said:
Great post Amigafan
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Thanks. I love my ebike.

I use it to commute 9 miles each way to work - normally 4 times a week but I regulary use it every day for a couple of weeks if the weather allow - I think last May I used it every workday. I couldn't do that on a normal bike, especially with the winds we get round here. Before the ebike I'd occasionally commute on my mountain bike with slicks but I'd bottle it at the merest sight of wind or rain - not anymore - pretty much commute in anything - and I get to work feeling as fresh as a daisy :-) I still peddle but it's like riding the entire way at a relaxed 10 mph but I get there much faster - 10 mins quicker than I can drive it in fact. I've lost 15kg since I started commuting on the ebike.

I also calculate that I've saved £1700 in petrol costs alone since building it 18 months ago.
 
I wonder how UK Traffic Laws would interpret this:


As, technically the 'bike' would not be powered as the 'power' is attached to you directly and in no way attached to the bike, you effectively 'power' a bicycle normally through the pedals but a bicycle is not classed as a 'Motor vehicle' as determined by UK Law. It would be more of a 'Powered Person' than a 'Powered Vehicle'.
 
I have been using a friends E WAYFARER ELECTRIC FOLDING BIKE for a while now which is a great little bike, i would have opted for the larger wheeled bike though if i had bought it as those little wheels make it very bumpy lol.

I have been mainly using it to commute short distances 2-3miles and have done some longer 10mile trips and never found it lacking in power and have yet to have it run out of power they say it will do 29miles which i don't doubt.

Makes it so effortless to go anywhere, with the electric assist its like being on fairly level ground i weigh 120kg and even with my weight it pulls up hills nicely with a bit of pedal assist.

My friend got it from here
http://www.proridermobility.com/catalogue.asp?cat=Electric Bikes&scat=Leisure

I do think as above if you can afford it do your own DIY as you can get a much better base bike and components but really i have had no problems with the store bought one.
 
what's the legality of them ?

i would love to ride one into work instead of driving or arriving all hot and bo'vered but most days of the week i would pass police

edit - screw that , if i do a DIY like amigafans and hide the batterys etc in a pannier bag the police would never even notice
 
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"andy" said:
what's the legality of them ?
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http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/electric-bikes-and-the-law-29969/

That looks great amigafan, how much does it cost to build your own compared to buying a pre built one and how difficult is it?
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Mine cost £500 to convert and it's as difficult or as easy as you want to make it. For example I built my motor into it's own wheel and I put together my own battery so you need to be comepetent to do that.

You can just buy an off the shelf kit though, for example:-

http://www.greenbikekit.com/index.php/36v-250w-gbk-100f-electric-bike-kit.html

And add your own battery:-

http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-8/lifepo4-lithium-phosphate-iron/Detail
 
"andy" said:
edit - screw that , if i do a DIY like amigafans and hide the batterys etc in a pannier bag the police would never even notice
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The police probably don't have the first clue about electric bikes anyway.

amigafan2003 said:
Mine cost £500 to convert and it'....php/36v-250w-gbk-100f-electric-bike-kit.html

And add your own battery:-

http://www.pingbattery.com/servlet/the-8/lifepo4-lithium-phosphate-iron/Detail
Click to expand...

$318 plus postage and a load of VAT seems very expensive for a 360 Wh battery given the price of 3000 Wh leisure batteries or 18650 cells.
 
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Energize said:
The police probably don't have the first clue about electric bikes anyway.



$318 plus postage and a load of VAT seems very expensive for a 360 Wh battery given the price of 3000 Wh leisure batteries or 18650 cells.
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Show me a cheaper battery that's as safe and as high quality as the Ping.

Re leisure batteries - if you want to haul around a lead acid battery then feel free - a 360wh lead acid battery weighs 11.5kg! Also, due to the peukert effect you'd be lucky to get half that wh from a lead acid battery on an ebike.
 
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Riding to work this morning I imagined a bit of assist when climbing my hill but I daren't have a new bike now after I've had a summer & winter bike in less than a year.
It is very tempting but I'll see how long I can last until I get too old and I do need assisting.
 
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