Pedelecs member, Mike Killay, describes how his Tonaro gave him a new lease of life:
“They say that age does not come alone. In my case, as I reached my late sixties, I was already a widower and ready to settle down into a more sedentary form of life. But, I still loved to be active! I sail a small dinghy, play the guitar in pubs run a campervan and generally get about a bit.
Unfortunately, a gathering stiffness of the joints meant that I could only walk about half a mile at best. Even standing for more than five minutes has my hips and knees on fire.
I had been aware of electric bikes for some time, but the permitted types were badly underpowered and of little use. Then the European standard of a 250 watt motor became accepted as legal and a whole new opportunity became available.
I had toyed with the idea of a small moped, even a vintage one like the NSU Quickly that I once had. But not only was there the problem of tax, insurance and MOT, but I would not be able to ride it on bike paths or shared pavements. So, I looked at the market to see just what was available.
I discovered that some European made bikes were totally unsuited to my needs. They are not allowed to have throttles and worse still, only parsimoniously dole out electrical assistance according to the amount of effort you put into the pedals. Confronted with a steep hill, at the best ratio of 2 to 1, you must pedal at 125 watts in order to draw the full 250 watts from the motor. If you slacken off at all, so will the motor.
Not yet being ready for a pavement scooter, I searched for an e-bike that would always deliver full power regardless of my pedalling efforts.
I felt that the Chinese were streets ahead of Europe and had e-bikes that drove the crank through the gears and joy of joy, had throttles! Belatedly, the Germans tried to catch them up but were hampered by the ridiculous European legislation about throttles.
I chose a Tonaro Enduro as my bike. It has a drive through the gears and a throttle. I have now had it for 2 years and am still delighted with it. Now, I ride most places that I used to walk with growing difficulty. Anything from popping to the post, around the corner to my daughter’s or to the village duck pond to feed the ducks. As a widower, it would very easy and comfortable to vegetate at home, but my bike gets me out.
Every year I go to Ypres for the armistice commemoration. Although flat, distances between the points of interest are large and the e-bike comes in to its own here. I have seen things in the past two years that I never noticed before.
When using the campervan, I can get my Enduro inside the campervan, but using the car is a different matter, so I intend to buy a folder so that when going to town, I can ‘Park and Pedal’ from the outskirts rather than search for a parking spot and pay through the nose.”
Our thanks to to Mike for sharing his story after seeing our forum post. Has your electric bike changed your life or working life (do you commute by e-bike?) in some way? Please get in touch.
