Well, here you go:
In 2021 I "realised" I was out of condition, so began researching then was offered a grant to help my employees get on bikes, I thought about this for a while then thought why not get on a bike myself! Then, the icing on the cake, I "discovered" electric bikes, now, while I would never have an electric car an electric bike was a completely different proposition, less effort right?
So began my research and I joined this forum almost exactly two years ago, the people here have been very helpful and I was looking for a manufacturer from whm I would purchase my first bike. My initial idea was to buy a kit and build my own, then, me being me I thought to build the bike from scratch (something I could do) then reality set in and as I am very busy I decided to buy the actual finished product.
I emailed a couple of manufacturers/importers and by far and away the best most attentive responses came from David over at Wisper. This guy knew his product and was prepared to give his time to an individual customer (the long term result has proved this was the right choice).
So I placed my order, as my posts show, the bike arrived and I charged the battery then off I went, really thoroughly enjoying my new means of transport, the road to realising my new fitness potential was beckoning.
What a deluded fool I was. I wasn't "out of shape" at all, my bloody heart was failing! After a summer of enjoying my bike, buying totally unnecessary "upgrades" and also investing in some proper kevlar riding gear the inevitable happened, going down my driveway one evening I pushed on the pedal at just the right (wrong) time, the motor kicked in and it spat me off, I landed just awkwardly enough to break three ribs.
I slowly wheeled the bike into it's home I had built for it and that is where it stayed for the last fourteen months or so. Then I had my first heart attack. swiftly followed by heart attacks two, three and four. Make no mistake about it, heart attacks are not for the faint hearted and stay as far away from those Defibrillators as you can, they bloody well hurt. REALLY hurt.
Anyhow, it has been a real challenge the last twelve months or so and I have met some really interesting and important (to me) people, one of whom is Ian of the Electric Cranks (featured elsewhere on this site) Eventually, navigating my way through the NHS I have been fitted with an ICD (Internal Cardiovascular Defibrillator ) I did mention to keep away from these things, right? So this sits just above my left breast with a service life of about fourteen years and I call it my third breast. It causes me no discomfort and is the very best battery operated device I have ever had, a guy I know who has one has likened it to cheating I refer to mine as my Turbocharger, the difference it has made to my life is unbelievable the device is not only a defibrillator but it also manages my heart and it does this in ways that are way beyond my understanding but are incredible, I am indebted to the folk at Medtronics.
So now I am feeling much, much better (life changing really) I decided to get my bike out again: cue really crappy weather in my future :-( Really though get the bike out and look at what fourteen or more months left to it's own devices looks like :-(
I took it over to Rick at Cycleworks:
https://www.facebook.com/thecycleworks.tech/?locale=en_GB
He is not a Wisper agent but he IS a very straight and competent bike person, he called me back after a week telling me: "it's ready". It really looked brand new, the same as the day it was delivered, Rick also remarked how well put together the bike was and how powerful, he sees a LOT of bikes so his opinion was important to me. I am so very pleased I chose this bike and now, at this time of the year I am planning my summer month trips and really looking forward to getting on my bike.
