Buying my first electric bike.

[Boystoys]

i have ridden bikes all my life but a bit puffed up the hills now. I have joined this forum to get some advice on what bike to buy.
I am about 12 stone,5'9" tall,just 60 years.
I have a nice KTM bike that I want to use as a normal bike.
I looked at KTM electric bikes but they seem to be priced at 2,000 pounds.
Not really sure if an electric bike is for me so I don't want to spend that much to experiment on an electric bike,can I get a nice e-bike for less than 700 pounds?

 

[JohnCade]

i have ridden bikes all my life but a bit puffed up the hills now. I have joined this forum to get some advice on what bike to buy.
I am about 12 stone,5'9" tall,just 60 years.
I have a nice KTM bike that I want to use as a normal bike.
I looked at KTM electric bikes but they seem to be priced at 2,000 pounds.
Not really sure if an electric bike is for me so I don't want to spend that much to experiment on an electric bike,can I get a nice e-bike for less than 700 pounds?

You can get an e bike for that but you probably won’t think it was nice if you’re used to a nice bike. How about putting a Woosh crank drive kit on your existing nice bike?

 

[Sylvester]

For less than £700 you could do what I did and convert your existing bike.

 

[Boystoys]

Thanks,but on the right day I love my KTM without a motor. Am intending to buy a complete electric bike.

 

[Nealh]

Welcome Boystoys,
There is a difference to hub and crank drive systems. Hub are easy even lazy way to power a bike as it tends to not matter which gear you are in and is kinder to the drive train,can be noisy in operation.
Crank drive needs a little more effort a well as being in the right gear so more necessity to change up or down, gear changing can occasionally be a bit rough and also cause wear to the drive train. Fairly quite in operation. That said it is best to try both systems first if you can.
Best price on BBSO1 crank drive at the mo are Eclipse bikes £559 with 13ah usb battery don't know about their back up /cust svs, Woosh are excellent with customers.
Hub kits can be had for about £500 with battery but need a little more skill/ knowhow to fit. Oxydrive kit 13ah cst is a goodun also try cyclezee for kits again help and back up from Oxy and C/ezee very good.

 

[JohnCade]

Thanks,but on the right day I love my KTM without a motor. Am intending to buy a complete electric bike.

The trouble is that as you are a keen cyclist with a nice bike you will want a nice e bike like your KTM. But you will be getting a cheap £150 bike plus a motor and battery for £700. To get good cycle parts too costs more than that.

 

[D8ve]

You can ride your bike without the battery with the bbs01 kit fitted.
Or just turn the power off until your puggled

 

[Boystoys]

Near to me are e-bikes direct they have a Green Edge CS2 at £649.99 or a Cyclotricity Revolver at £649.00. Any good?

 

[Nealh]

A new bike for £700 nye on impossible Woosh have decent Chinese bikes built to their spec from 725-900.
.E-Bikes direct see side panel Greenedge CS2 for 649 but componnents look very basic , Oxygen E-mate 11ah for 999 decent spec and little brother of E-mate 13ah at 1699 which is 2014 hill climb world champion. I'm sure others will suggest a few more.

 

[flecc]

Here's one at a bargain price for a very short while.

Woosh also have some from £599, and they are a respected company.

Kudos have some near to your price.

And eZee have some near to your price with surprisingly good quality.
.

 

[Nealh]

Coincidence in thinking there. Both similarly spec'd zoom suspension pretty basic brakes will be adequate. Best bet is to pay a visit and see.

 

[JohnCade]

If you’re nearby you can go and test ride them. I’m sure they will do what it says on the tin. You know what to look for in good bike, and e bikes are no different. They just have motors. Different kinds of motor though. Some crank drive, some hub drive. Some torque sensor that ride like normal bikes but give you a sense of having bionic legs, and some speed sensor where crank rotation acts as kind of on/off power switch plus a separate grip throttle.

I think the better European bikes start at around £1500 with Yamaha torque sensor crank drive motors and a bit more for Bosch and Kalkhoff Impulse. With the Euro crashing there may be some bargains.

 

[Nealh]

The Vita Uno from LEBC much better spec then the 2 offerings from E-Bikes, hard to look else where for the money with 8 fun hub motor.

 

[Boystoys]

Thanks,seems a lot of choice at this price. I'll check out the specs. Kudos are not far up in the smoke and Woosh are Southend.
Helpful guys,thanks

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The Vita Uno 26 from LEBC will take some beating at £599. Don't be put off by its low price. The only thing you might want to change would be the gearing. I haven't tried it, but bikes like that normally have a freewheel with 14T top gear. You need to change it to a DNP one with 11T top gear for more relaxed pedalling. That would cost about £30. The rest of the bike will be fine. It has all the standard trird and tested Chinese electrical stuff, which is easy to fix too in the unlikely event that something goes wrong, plus you can get a replacement battery from anywhere.