Buying my first pedelac advice please

[carol mc]

Hi

Looking for a sit up and beg,(comfort is a must) needs to be good for hills as I live in the Trough of Bowland . I want to use it to bike into Lancaster for the weekly shop but also truly Fancy doing some European trips on it. I know I will have to try a few but what do you think of the Volt Burlington. Is it a good place to start.

 

[Fordulike]

Hi

Looking for a sit up and beg,(comfort is a must) needs to be good for hills as I live in the Trough of Bowland . I want to use it to bike into Lancaster for the weekly shop but also truly Fancy doing some European trips on it. I know I will have to try a few but what do you think of the Volt Burlington. Is it a good place to start.

Welcome to the forum Carol

Nice looking bike, but a bit expensive for what it is. The motor is pretty much the same one used on a lot of the generic shopping bikes. So is the battery!

Do you fancy any of the step throughs on this website?

http://www.kudoscycles.com/index.php

They are well known on this forum as a company who supply great bikes at realistic prices, with good customer service and solid warranty to boot.

BTW, I don't work for them, although a free bike wouldn't go amiss for the plug lol

 

[trex]

you've got serious hills there! I don't think a small SWX motor is going to cut it unless you are a serious athlete. Something like this £795 is more appropriate:
http://www.cyclezee.com/ezee-sprint-primo.html

 

[flecc]

.
Or this Woosh Big Bear which, like that eZee model, has an especially powerful motor ideal for helping on those hills.
.

 

[RobF]

Trough of Bowland is a beastly locality for hills, so as has been said, you will need one of the more powerful bikes.

You will also be sucking the battery, so get a big one.

The Big Bear has 15ah, should do the job.

The Ezee bike comes with a choice, so you will need to up spec to 15ah or 20ah.

It's a fair bit of weight to stash on the bike.

On balance (ho-ho), I would prefer the behind the seat post battery of the Ezee.

Particularly true if you intend to load the pannier with shopping.

If all this works out and you are shopping weekly, a trailer would be a good idea.

 

[JamesW]

What? trex posted and it was flecc that recommended the Big Bear after trex? You ill trex?

Being serious now... I regularly load up my rear rack with 10-20kg of stuff and have a frog battery hanging off the seatpost above the rack. this makes the bike handle not very nicely as the load increases (as the weight is all over the rear wheel especially going up hill and makes the front hub drive struggle to grip).
Would agree with trex and RobF about the Ezee battery position as if you can move the battery forward on the bike, this should move the centre of gravity forward and make it more stable with shopping on the rear.

You want a decent sized battery, and for doing loads of shopping, probably want to have the battery ideally on a bottle mount if you can to help with the handlin if you put the shopping on a rear rack. Alternatively if you poke your shopping in a trailer, then battery position shouldn't affect handling as much, but you will still want a decent motor for those hills (especially with that shopping)

 

[flecc]

What? trex posted and it was flecc that recommended the Big Bear after trex? You ill trex?

I most often recommend the eZee but Trex got there first, so I swapped roles!
.

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi Carol,

Welcome to forum regarding the eZee bike that has been recommended by others in this thread.

You might be interested to read what another lady member who bought an eZee bike had to say in this thread http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/best-under-£1000-bikes-for-14-mile-roundtrip-hilly-mon-fri-commute.19966/#post-250254
It is post number 15 and her bike was supplied with the lowest capacity 11Ah battery.

 

[carol mc]

Thank you so so much for all your helpful advice re battery size,location and especially price. For my hills it seems that i need at least a 15ah battery,preferably positioned forward. I can manage the hills on my hybrid but slowly slowly, but just want to get up with a little less sweat.
Can I ask a millage question. The burlington advertises a distance of 80 miles (probably on the flat with a tail wind using a 16ah battery) for my dream of touring abroad on a little flatter terrain than the trough of Bowland, how does the eZee and big bear compare for long distance cycles?
Finally the dealer for the volt burlington is fairly local to me(garstang). What is the aftercare like for the ezee and big bear should anything go wrong?

 

[trex]

Like RobF, I particularly like the placement of the battery on the Ezee Sprint Primo because it gives a balanced weight distribution and slightly lengthens the wheelbase, helps with stability. The Big Bear battery placement on the rear rack has only one advantage which is stealth. When you park your bike in a public place, it's difficult to hide the Ezee battery. With battery on the rear rack, you can put a set of paniers over the rack, hiding the battery and protect it against rain water.
Power consumption is roughly same per mile for all these bikes, they use the same type of motors (geared). For aftersale service, the Ezee bikes have the best reputation for robustness here, on this forum. All the advertisers here have good track record for support, dare I say better than your average dealer. One last thing is selling your bike second hand when you want an upgrade. Ezee bikes are so good that you may find 5 or 6 year old Ezees on ebay! Second hand Woosh bikes also enjoy big popularity, always get snapped up within a few days if you ever see one.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Take any range statement with a pinch of salt. Steep hills empty the battery very quickly. You multipy the volts times the battery capacity to get watt-hours, so a 36v 10ah battery has 36 x 10 = 360 wh. You can reckon on about 20wh per mile where steep hills are involved, which would give a range of about 18 miles for that one.

 

[D8ve]

Carol
If your serious about travel and comfort.
A Recumbent eats the hours in real comfort. Electrifiy it and you get a real distance capability.

 

[RobF]

The Volt looks over-priced for what is.

If you want to spend a couple of grand, and get something for your money, have a look at this Kalkhoff.

A proper German roadster, handsome rather than pretty, quality parts in all areas, and a whopping 17ah battery.

Just a small point, but note the carrier, it's dead level as it should be, unlike the Volt which is slapped on at an angle.

Power consumption will be no more or less than any of the other bikes, but 17ah could give you 70 miles in good conditions, with you doing a fair bit of pedalling.

http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/comfort/tasman_classic_impulse_8_black.html

 

[Croxden]

My thoughts are to have disc brakes where there are steep hills. Rim brakes wear away the rims then new wheels are required, dam dangerous when they fail.

 

[D8ve]

And disk breaks when it's wet.
Not to mention adjustment and pad life

 

[JamesW]

And disk breaks when it's wet.
Not to mention adjustment and pad life

Disc brakes break when wet?
I think I'll stick to rim brakes in that case myself!

 

[D8ve]

Disc brakes break when wet?
I think I'll stick to rim brakes in that case myself!

Ba dish

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Disc brakes break when wet?
I think I'll stick to rim brakes in that case myself!

I think you'll find disc brakes better in the wet.

 

[RobF]

I think you'll find disc brakes better in the wet.

Particularly before brakefast.

 

[carol mc]

Hi all
Again thank you for all your advice. Dh8veh your battery calculation was very helpful.
What I am struggling with as i don't understand bike specifications is the comments on value for money.Can I ask the forum to explain simply in untechy terms which of the next 3 bike you feel give value for money on specs. I know that I need to trial before buying.
Freego .regency 16ah £1299
Volt . Burlington 16an £1509
Ezee sprint £1395 not sure what battery
Thank you
The 1509 is my absolute top price range

Many thanks