Calling all ebike owners

[Alan103]

So far my approach to finding information about the bikes I want to know about has met with limited success and I have decided to ask everyone to tell me about the bikes they own and their experiences good or bad.

So if everyone would be kind enough to post here a brief description of their bike, make and model, weight, cost and experience (with the machine and of course the seller) that would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[Nealh]

My bikes have kits added to them so probably won't appeal to you, they bare all diy jobs.
1 . 26kg up to 27mph Norco Indie Hybrid BBS 01 waiting for conversion with
Big Bear BPM kit.
2. 18kg up to 24mph, 44.5 mph down hill. MTRAX 5.0 Carbon Oxydrive MTB.
3. Cube Ams waiting for conversion with BBS01 from Norco.

 

[Alan103]

My bikes have kits added to them so probably won't appeal to you, they bare all diy jobs.
1 . 26kg up to 27mph Norco Indie Hybrid BBS 01 waiting for conversion with
Big Bear BPM kit.
2. 18kg up to 24mph, 44.5 mph down hill. MTRAX 5.0 Carbon Oxydrive MTB.
3. Cube Ams waiting for conversion with BBS01 from Norco.

Thanks for your input. I was considering buying a cube hybrid conversion, but would obviously come with limited warranty and even less after sales service. What's your opinion on Cube bikes?

 

[nichodia]

My bike is a freego regency obtained through the halfords cycle to work scheme from ebikes direct..cost £999, weight about 23kg, step through frame, 3f levels of power assist and a throttle (only used it once) seven gears, rear motor, 36v 10amp battery Use it for daily commute of 12 miles there and back, charge it every three days, use it on medium power assist with the odd blip of high for the hills, can't fault it. When it first needed charging I found the charger would not work, ebikes sent me out a new charger which arrived within two days, when I could not get the battery to switch on (my fault as I had not pushed it down into the connector properly) they talked me through it on the phone, great company, great bike..does what it says on the tin!

 

[Nealh]

The Cube range are German so should be robust with good components.
My AMS has XT gearing and hubs with Hayes 9 HDB's the rear shock is neatly designed up against the underside of the crossbar so allows plenty of triangle space for placement of a battery. Overall the AMS is far better looking bike than the Bnashee X I have, then again the AMS does cost over 3x the price of the Banshee.

Regarding warranty and service these don't bother me to much as I am a fiddler and quite adept at repairing items. How ever buying locally if you want them specifically is best as bikes are bulky so need repackaging to be sent back by courier. A bike that has modular electric components on the other hand is easier to repair, replace or upgrade.

 

[D8ve]

Salisbury, heavy,hard work limited range. Returned to vendor.
BH light fast with no power, great range and hill climbing with power.
Secondhand both.
Kalhoff secondhand fixed with motor from Bh. Similar performance but less sporty.

From my experience secondhand with Panasonic crank drive gives good range and reliability.
But what You need could be quite different?
What do you want to do, where and what shape are you in?

 

[Twangman]

Volt Metro a 20" wheel folder, weighs 19kg. Great for hills and can easly be derestricted. Had it 3 years and use it almost every day. It has 7 gears and a thumb throttle. Solidly built the only downside in my opinion is while the front brake is disk the back is caliper.
Comes with 2 years warranty. Also found Volt themselves to give a good level of service if you have any issues.

 

[chr4]

It woud be great if there was a section where owners could write reviews and
give star ratings like on Amazon or ukcampsite (tent reviews section). Having several reviews for the product on the same page is more user friendly than using a search function like here and star ratings (even if sometimes needed to be taken with a grain of salt) would help to quickly filter out poor quality items.
Sorry Alan, I don't mean to hijack your post but there are lots of visitors who have similar questions (me included) and it could be fairly easy to resolve.

 

[Blew it]

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums/electric-bike-reviews.17/

 

[Alan103]

It woud be great if there was a section where owners could write reviews and
give star ratings like on Amazon or ukcampsite (tent reviews section). Having several reviews for the product on the same page is more user friendly than using a search function like here and star ratings (even if sometimes needed to be taken with a grain of salt) would help to quickly filter out poor quality items.
Sorry Alan, I don't mean to hijack your post but there are lots of visitors who have similar questions (me included) and it could be fairly easy to resolve.

Hi there chr4, I do know exactly what you mean, the reviews on here are a bit limited and nowhere near definitive and I also like your suggestion of the Amazon style ratings/reviews.

 

[SteveRuss]

Kalkhoff Pro Connect Alfine 8G. Bought used for £1100.

The Bad?

The chain came off and bent the steel rear sprocket (!!). Cost me around £60 for new parts and labour. The Alfine 8G gear hub needs regular adjustment otherwise the transmission jumps around a bit. The front forks seem too stiff for a road bike. I suspect they would be better suited off road but this isn't an off road style bike. The chain guard is cheap and plasticky and is held in place by pulling if backwards and then retaining it with a hard to access nut. It's come off around three times now although recently it's been well behaved. The bike couldn't be called "a looker". Battery showed signs of failure after 30 full cycles but it was replaced by 50 Cycles under warranty and without fuss after a few days.

The Good?

The bike feels extremely solid/tough. The Alfine gears are so easy to use and have converted me back to hub gearing. Smooth gear changing and gear selection whilst stopped is a bonus. The Impulse 2.0 motor seems very strong but with the torque sensor it's actually very controllable. I wasn't initially impressed with the idea of hydraulic rims brakes but they seem more than capable of stopping the heavy bike (and rider to some extent!) in an emergency. The built in dynamo powered lights are a bonus and are backed up with a bit of capacitance to keep them on for a few minutes after you stop moving. The 17ah 36v battery is impressive and allows me to ride for hours without draining it to an unusable level.

If someone stole it, i'd buy another one for sure. Maybe not this exact model but almost certainly a Kalkhoff

 

[Alan103]

Kalkhoff Pro Connect Alfine 8G. Bought used for £1100.

The Bad?

The chain came off and bent the steel rear sprocket (!!). Cost me around £60 for new parts and labour. The Alfine 8G gear hub needs regular adjustment otherwise the transmission jumps around a bit. The front forks seem too stiff for a road bike. I suspect they would be better suited off road but this isn't an off road style bike. The chain guard is cheap and plasticky and is held in place by pulling if backwards and then retaining it with a hard to access nut. It's come off around three times now although recently it's been well behaved. The bike couldn't be called "a looker". Battery showed signs of failure after 30 full cycles but it was replaced by 50 Cycles under warranty and without fuss after a few days.

The Good?

The bike feels extremely solid/tough. The Alfine gears are so easy to use and have converted me back to hub gearing. Smooth gear changing and gear selection whilst stopped is a bonus. The Impulse 2.0 motor seems very strong but with the torque sensor it's actually very controllable. I wasn't initially impressed with the idea of hydraulic rims brakes but they seem more than capable of stopping the heavy bike (and rider to some extent!) in an emergency. The built in dynamo powered lights are a bonus and are backed up with a bit of capacitance to keep them on for a few minutes after you stop moving. The 17ah 36v battery is impressive and allows me to ride for hours without draining it to an unusable level.

If someone stole it, i'd buy another one for sure. Maybe not this exact model but almost certainly a Kalkhoff

An honest review can be more informative than someone just rattling on about how their bike shines better than all others and I thank you for that, very helpful.