Bikes in France
- Thread starter Osho
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I've been noticing it for years (the postier's pedelec), at least sicne five years ago if memory serves, I usually tell my OH that this is the easiest cameo for understanding the difference between the Anglo Saxon and Latin world (contrasting the generally happy go lucky postier with his unhappy brother grunting as he drags a cheap plastic wheeled cart up a hill in blighty)
D
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I spotted this one in Germany about 5 years ago. A bit of solid german engineering there, especially the stand:
Our Royal Mail had that Heinzmann powered bike under consideration when they invited our industry to tender for a postal e-bike design around three years or so ago. Our submissions were rather flimsy in comparison.I spotted this one in Germany about 5 years ago. A bit of solid german engineering there, especially the stand:
It all came to nothing though, since their project to buy some 16,000 e-bikes was dropped in favour of a more flexible range of delivery method options.
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Our local postie told us bikes were dropped by the post office foe health and safety reasons! The routes over a mile from the sorting office have small vans now.
Malcolm
The official reason was the changing nature of the mail carried. With the growth of online trading the Royal Mail were carrying ever increasing amounts of packages and junk mail, so for bulk and weight reasons small vans with flexible delivery arrangements were more suitable.
On my own estate for example a van calls at each section of the estate and it's two man crew deliver the sorted mail for that section either side of the parking point, then move on to the next section. Their productivity is many times what it would have been if they were riding a pair of e-bikes.
Not only that, the reduction of sorting offices to fewer more mechanised ones mean our sorting office is so far away the bikes would half empty their batteries and take an hour more getting here and the posties would be exhausted at the outset with some steep long hills in the route.
I don't see the sense of e-bikes for mail deliveries. Some 85% of the population live in towns and cities and going door to door along a street would mean pushing the bike. Then a commodious barrow can make sense. And when it comes to the huge number of blocks of flats the bike is no use and involves the risk of leaving mail exposed to theft in the street while a postie is going around the block delivering.
I think their mix of walking with a bag, pushing a barrow and vans sometimes double crewed depending on area makes sense.
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I went to the post office this morning and because they are redecorating the entrance is round the back. There are three of these bikes parked there and unused for a while, they were used in Ascain apparently (it is painted on the bike).
Big 8-FUN rear hub with a coaster brake, no apparent controls just turn it on and pedal looks like. At a glance I would say at least 35 kg without any mail in the bags. Front brake is a big SA hub brake. Zefal pump in the rack, Michelin tyres...
Big 8-FUN rear hub with a coaster brake, no apparent controls just turn it on and pedal looks like. At a glance I would say at least 35 kg without any mail in the bags. Front brake is a big SA hub brake. Zefal pump in the rack, Michelin tyres...
http://www.gitane.com/e-bike-gitane.html
Gitane (translation: gypsy woman) isn't only a cigarette brand! One of the traditional bike manufacturers. This one is pretty funky, I have only seen it in the showroom
http://www.gitane.com/signature-mixte-en-detail-1-86.html
Neomouve have jumped on the e-bike bandwagon at the beginning of the century, I like this Brose powered one:
http://neomouv.fr/velos/Nova-brose.asp
And you have Matra who are historically the pioneers I believe, Peugeot of course, Moustache high end chic, etc...
Gitane (translation: gypsy woman) isn't only a cigarette brand! One of the traditional bike manufacturers. This one is pretty funky, I have only seen it in the showroom
http://www.gitane.com/signature-mixte-en-detail-1-86.html
Neomouve have jumped on the e-bike bandwagon at the beginning of the century, I like this Brose powered one:
http://neomouv.fr/velos/Nova-brose.asp
And you have Matra who are historically the pioneers I believe, Peugeot of course, Moustache high end chic, etc...
I was in Benidorm for a month and saw hundreds of E-bikes, all different kinds, many with throttles.
I think many are owned by Dutch and Belgians, who live on the many camp sites.
Also rental for €60 per week, and the Chinese who are in their thousands are renting TAO bikes, which look very robust and strong.
I think many are owned by Dutch and Belgians, who live on the many camp sites.
Also rental for €60 per week, and the Chinese who are in their thousands are renting TAO bikes, which look very robust and strong.