In that colour scheme you have an inbuilt theft deterrent.
Are there any British manufacturers?
- Thread starter Peter Thornton
- Start date
Each to their own, I expect the nice thing about custom is you choose any color you like from the RAL palette or whatever the paint shop can do, how about a retro reflective finish with monkey lights around the rims and a Bluetooth speaker - mobile disco
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
Don't forget the Gocycle, which is an excellent electric bike. There are affordable versions of it now. It was a sort of all-British bike, but like everything, it's manufacture is now spread out over the world.
You may laugh .but true story....
My elder sister was given a black bike for the about 1 mile trip up to the secondary school , in the early 1960s when she started big school. . The bike was a hand me down from an aunt who was about 10 years older...
On the first day she arrived , parked the bike in the bike shed and went into classes, when she came out for going home, there was a sea of black bikes and she was bewildered as to which was hers, so rather than theft she took none and walked home, a panicked 13 year old.
When my father heard about this he marched her down to the local bike shop and bought her one of the first " Pink Witch" bikes... Made I think by triumph. .. pink frame, green mudguards, vanity mirrors . There are images on line..... She never mistook her bike for another...
It served her well for those years got passed on and as pieces got lost and replaced , it was eventually painted black, and then stolen!.
That’s right, American ebike journalist Court Rye recently visited Fully Charged and talked with Dan Parsons who had a hand in GoCycle, great video:
Kudos have been quiet on Pedelecs of late because we are involved in the making of limited slip differentials by our parent company.
We have all looked at making e-bikes in the U.K. but it’s just not viable. I buy Kudos e-bikes from a Chinese supplier who has his own tube extruding facility,the investment is millions,we just don’t have a big enough market to consider such a investment in the U.K. That Chinese supplier supplies frames to many of the Dutch and German well known assemblers.
My use of the word ‘assemblers’ is relevant,if we made e-bikes here we would only be assemblers of Chinese parts and honestly the Chinese are very cheap and very good at this work,the profit on a Chinese e-bike is only 50 dollars.
The EU are threatening anti-dumping duty on e-bikes from China,maybe 50% ADT,that may change the economics but I suspect that we will compromise ,doing just enough U.K. cost input to overcome the rules of origin,post Brexit Theresa May is considering TRA to replace ADT,so bikes won’t get any cheaper.
Kudos has stopped buying at this time,until the ADT is decided,but we have 500 plus bikes in stock,at good prices,we cannot replace those bikes if ADT is applied.
Difficult times to be an e-bike importer,it is unlikely any importer would be brave,perhaps stupid,to invest in a U.K. assembly operation at this time.
KudosDave,Kudoscycles
We have all looked at making e-bikes in the U.K. but it’s just not viable. I buy Kudos e-bikes from a Chinese supplier who has his own tube extruding facility,the investment is millions,we just don’t have a big enough market to consider such a investment in the U.K. That Chinese supplier supplies frames to many of the Dutch and German well known assemblers.
My use of the word ‘assemblers’ is relevant,if we made e-bikes here we would only be assemblers of Chinese parts and honestly the Chinese are very cheap and very good at this work,the profit on a Chinese e-bike is only 50 dollars.
The EU are threatening anti-dumping duty on e-bikes from China,maybe 50% ADT,that may change the economics but I suspect that we will compromise ,doing just enough U.K. cost input to overcome the rules of origin,post Brexit Theresa May is considering TRA to replace ADT,so bikes won’t get any cheaper.
Kudos has stopped buying at this time,until the ADT is decided,but we have 500 plus bikes in stock,at good prices,we cannot replace those bikes if ADT is applied.
Difficult times to be an e-bike importer,it is unlikely any importer would be brave,perhaps stupid,to invest in a U.K. assembly operation at this time.
KudosDave,Kudoscycles
I rode the Gocycle at our Redbridge event,it powered all the way up to 20 mph and had lots of power,lots of power,hehe!!!!
KudosDave
I like the description Rose use of themselves: "Quality bike assembly in Germany."
Investing in a ground-up plant to make aluminium frame ebikes in the UK cannot make any sense.
However, there are still quite a few steel frame builders who could easily make a dedicated ebike frame.
Equipping a frame building workshop from scratch wouldn't be expensive.
Components drawn from the usual suspects, assembly in-house, and you would have a unique ebike brand which could fairly be described as British.
Ah, David Henshaw writing in the August 2017 issue of A to B magazine had this to say about the Brompton Electric's battery:
"you can’t help noticing that the battery/control unit is made in Germany, as is the charger at first glance, but in tiny print on the corner of the label it says ‘made in PRC’."
Not British, but we'll soon have European alloy frames from Portugal, a low cost country:
Information link
.
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Deleted member 22539
Guest
I had a five in 2010
Lovely riding bike but it was always out of line and the welds were so random it was crazy
One side of the headstock was great the other side was bloody awful and other parts were the same
In the end it had to go because for price point and well made frames there’s a hell of a lot better quality around for less money
Shame really and very disappointing
Oh does it exceed the 15.5mph maximum legal limit, or did the motor cut out when it reached it?
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
The speed limit is programmable by a phone app along with the motor power characteristics. There are different levels of authorisation in that app, so if that's important for you, make sure that you agree the authorisation with the dealer before you agree to buy the bike. Some dealers give it out willingly, others are a bit more cautious.
At Redbridge, the Bicycle guys removed the speed limit and gave us maximum power for the last few laps. IIRC, top speed was something like 24mph. Power was substantial.
Their ebikes use imported, frames, components, motors and batteries, designed and assembled abroad not manufactured in the U.K. They might have some say in the selection of frames and components. It’s the same with most ebike brands.
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Deleted member 4366
Guest
There,s Powabyke too. A lot of their stuff is bespoke. You won't find it on regular Chinese bikes.
Didn't they start out in the 1990's with lead acid battery powered ebikes? Nice for owners they're still going as it helps with sourcing parts. I bought a 10 year old Pride mobility scooter for my Dad that needed some work and was pleased the manufacturer was still in business and able to supply a new wiring harness.
I liked the Powabyke Shopper E100, 24" wheels, low stand over height, and one of those Japanese kickstands that fold up behind the rear wheel, good town bike features. Is it a single speed? Needs an IGH to cope better with hills but I expect they wanted to keep to the budget price point.
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Deleted member 4366
Guest
Those old Powabykes are like tractors. They're dead easy to convert to lithium too.
They're still going, but their present bikes look more like Chinese catalogue ones rather than the more bespoke features from the past. I guess that they have to do that to compete now.
Yes, Powabyke started up in 1999, celebrated their tenth anniversary in here in 2009 and then promptly went into administration. They were rescued from that and have since concentrated on their X model which is generic Chinese now as d8veh says.
Initially though the X bike used their old brush front motor for a while until they sourced a suitable brushless one.
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