25 electric bike reviews since july 2010

[kitchenman]

I wonder how many people have bought new EBIKES since I bought mine in July 2010? If its more than 25 it would be really useful if they were to add a review. I know someone who has just bought one and I will be ensuring that he adds his review. I feel its my duty.

 

[tillson]

I wonder how useful an early review of a bike is. The initial experience of owning an Ebike can be quite a revelation and this may distort the owners focus away from some of the weaker points. I think there may be a temptation to promote the wonderful new bike as the best thing ever.

I tend to pay more attention to the reviews written after the bike has been used for 12 to 18 months +.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I've been updating my review every 1000 miles, so you get the whole history of everything that went right and wrong.
There's now two places to do a review: The ireviews tab at the top of the page, where I did my last one, and the forum reviews, where I did my previous. Can I make a suggestion that the forum reviews are pensioned off and we only use ireviews, or is there a reason to use both?

 

[rsscott]

I've been updating my review every 1000 miles, so you get the whole history of everything that went right and wrong.
There's now two places to do a review: The ireviews tab at the top of the page, where I did my last one, and the forum reviews, where I did my previous. Can I make a suggestion that the forum reviews are pensioned off and we only use ireviews, or is there a reason to use both?

The iReviews tab will be the place for all reviews soon. I am just testing and setting up the review templates before making them live. All existing reviews will be migrated into this section.

At the moment, reviews are pretty much free text with a few headings such as strengths/weaknesses.

The iReviews templates will be question based trying to draw more detailed responses than just "my bike is brill!"

If you think of a question you would like to see on a review please add to this thread.

I'll add a couple of screenshots from a demo system to give you all an idea of what is possible with it.

 

[Mussels]

I wonder how useful an early review of a bike is. The initial experience of owning an Ebike can be quite a revelation and this may distort the owners focus away from some of the weaker points. I think there may be a temptation to promote the wonderful new bike as the best thing ever.

I tend to pay more attention to the reviews written after the bike has been used for 12 to 18 months +.

That's why I'm waiting, then I can give a review of what it's like to live with for a while. I'll probably do it when the new review templates are out.

 

[kitchenman]

on a review please add to this thread.

Bike: e.g Cannodale CX700
Acquired: e.g. July 2010
Review Date: e.g. May 2011
Review Text: e.g. Really pleased with this bike. Does exactly what I was told it would do.
Weight: e.g. 16.6kg
Company: e.g. Cytronex
Cost: e.g. £1750
Score: e.g. 10 out of 10
Milage Reqd: e.g. 15 miles
Milage to date: e.g. 3834 miles
Issues to date: e.g. Battery failed mysteriously and was replaced
Route: e.g. Moderate Hills
Motor: e.g. 36V 180 W Brushless
Motor Man.: e.g. Tongxin
Motor Noise: e.g. Almost Silent
Battery Type: e.g. Bottle
Battery Man.: Cytronex
Battery Details: e.g. 26V 4Ah NIHM
Seller URL: e.g. Cytronex Electric Bikes - Electric Bicycles with Hidden Power Assistance
Image URL: e.g. Cytronex Electric Bikes - Cannondale Quick CX 700 Electric Bicycle

Thats all I have so far!

 

[kitchenman]

I wonder how useful an early review of a bike is. The initial experience of owning an Ebike can be quite a revelation and this may distort the owners focus away from some of the weaker points. I think there may be a temptation to promote the wonderful new bike as the best thing ever.

I tend to pay more attention to the reviews written after the bike has been used for 12 to 18 months +.

Yes. But the early review will enable members and browsers to see what bikes are being acquired. Perhaps the new review template can have 2 fields. An "out of the box" review and a "period review"? Or a "period Review" with a tick box that informs the reader that its an "out of the box review" ..

 

[Mussels]

Yes. But the early review will enable members and browsers to see what bikes are being acquired. Perhaps the new review template can have 2 fields. An "out of the box" review and a "period review"? Or a "period Review" with a tick box that informs the reader that its an "out of the box review" ..

The problem with the out of the box review is that most people are very pleased no matter what they have bought, great for selling the idea of ebikes but little use to someone choosing which to buy. There is a general problem with ebike reviews that the testers have no experience of other bikes to compare against but after a few hundred or thousand miles they can give an idea of how it lasts and what the support is like.

 

[overlander]

I agree, it not until you have put a few thousand miles on a bike you really start to get a good idea about the bike. I could see no problem with my Trek at first but now there are things getting on my nerves that i was blind to at the beginning. I was really unfit at the beginning so the Trek was a revelation but now i am fitter the 15mph limit is really getting to me. I can easily travel at 24-30 mph on my normal bike down slight hills on my way home and can now keep up 8-10 mph on the hills, so basically when i overcome the fatigue factor when i get fitter the normal bike will be faster.

 

[barrycoll]

the out-of the-box review has a lot of relevance to new buyers, as it brings them up to speed with what the dealer/seller is like, and how the whole experience worked out...

the down side to this of course, is that once the sale has been made, interest from the dealer could evaporate rapidly........... but from my point of view, first point of contact is a good marker of what future performance will be like....

having bought a Nano conversion for my wifes Brompton, after a real round-the-house chase up of when it would be ready, and virtually no replies, it was a bit foolish of me to expect any different treatment when I 'tried' to buy a conversion for my MTB.........no response to either emails or phone calls, so I gave up...

so I contacted Bob at Juice E bikes, and got a reply in what seemed like no time.....excellent response, and excellent follow up, and as his daughter lives just up the road, he even came past to pick up the bike to do the job for me, all the way from Buxton to N. London..........and he is also a charming bloke which helps the transaction, and builds confidence in the Juicy Brand

as the kit is a new product I cant yet comment on its performance, but wqe are off to a flying start

cheers folks...................Barry C

 

[kitchenman]

The problem with the out of the box review is that most people are very pleased no matter what they have bought, great for selling the idea of ebikes but little use to someone choosing which to buy. There is a general problem with ebike reviews that the testers have no experience of other bikes to compare against but after a few hundred or thousand miles they can give an idea of how it lasts and what the support is like.

I agree! .. but as long as its clearly an "out of the box" review then I dont see any problem. Perhaps it should be a seperate sub forum or whatever... rsscott may have some ideas how to flag those posts that are "out of the box" and others. And maybe we should specify where the other reviews should go. i.e have 100 mile reviews, 1000s mile review, 2000s mile review, etc ... I'm nearly on 4000 miles now so I would put my review in the 4000 mile review forum. ...

 

[kitchenman]

I agree, it not until you have put a few thousand miles on a bike you really start to get a good idea about the bike. I could see no problem with my Trek at first but now there are things getting on my nerves that i was blind to at the beginning. I was really unfit at the beginning so the Trek was a revelation but now i am fitter the 15mph limit is really getting to me. I can easily travel at 24-30 mph on my normal bike down slight hills on my way home and can now keep up 8-10 mph on the hills, so basically when i overcome the fatigue factor when i get fitter the normal bike will be faster.

I also agree, Please see my reply to .. mussels.