Cheaper China e-bikes 'kick in teeth' for UK firms
- Thread starter StuartsProjects
- Start date
A quote from the above news item;
"British based e-bike companies expressed concerns about the impact of a potential "flood" of cheap Chinese e-bikes entering the UK. "
No doubt the imports will only be allowed in if they meet the highest quality standards and comply with all regulations {including the batteries}.
"British based e-bike companies expressed concerns about the impact of a potential "flood" of cheap Chinese e-bikes entering the UK. "
No doubt the imports will only be allowed in if they meet the highest quality standards and comply with all regulations {including the batteries}.
Maybe. But who's checking and against what criteria?
Yeaterday whilst out in Lampeter, I saw an older chap on a 20" wheel fat tyred bike (with shopping on the rack) making no attempt at all at pedalling. He didn't look like the kind of bloke who would knowingly break the law and I suspect he'd been sold it as 'street legal'.
This is probably how all these bikes will be sold. Who is going to check, prior to import, if they are street legal or not. And if they're not, do they have the power to prevent import on those grounds?
There are no plans to increase boarder controls. Is this the death knell for UK ebike businesses who actually care about thier customers?
let’s hope not.
All the best, David
let’s hope not.
All the best, David
I assume that was tongue in cheek?
It raises a question from me though.
What regulations cover e-bike (and similar scale) batteries and their associated chargers? Do they sensibly distinguish between safe or unsafe ones? Of course they can't draw a perfect dividing line.
Does it matter, even if there are regulations ?
There would be close to zero chance of a willingness to enforce them, thats just the UK way.
And if something goes wrong with a bike from China what are your chances of getting it fixed, a refund, or even returning it ?
Most bikes (all bike? Beside Brompton) are imported anyway... if the UK Government would implement a safety approval (like TÜV) for anything that is driven on a public Road than it would be ok but that never will happened thanks to Brexit... the stuff which comes via Ali Amazon EBay is uncontrollable anyway (and without VAT) even that is uncontrolled and when people look for the cheapest ebike Charger and want to spend not more than a tenner on it than is a firework not avoidable... the only way is only the crushing from illegal bikes and scooters... people might learn one day and would not buy such stuff/junk
> "We have seen large scale operations to tackle the likes of fake clothing and we are pushing for the same dedicated operation to be rolled out to tackle problematic electrical goods which pose a risk to life." <
The recent WMG report lists a lot of regulations and 6 years have gone by since ESF made their sensible call for action to enforce them. Similarly there are laws in place but until the police take bike theft seriously commuters are incentivised to buy as cheaply as possible, battery and all.
Suppose the UK insisted on a proper BMS, i.e. we deem portable lithium-ion (NMC) cell-packs/batteries above 100Wh to be too hazardous for the consumer market unless protected by a full-function BMS. I can't think of any legitimate user who'd be inconvenienced other than an amateur restorer of vintage ebikes, and where there's full BMS protection overcharging isn't an issue.
The recent WMG report lists a lot of regulations and 6 years have gone by since ESF made their sensible call for action to enforce them. Similarly there are laws in place but until the police take bike theft seriously commuters are incentivised to buy as cheaply as possible, battery and all.
Suppose the UK insisted on a proper BMS, i.e. we deem portable lithium-ion (NMC) cell-packs/batteries above 100Wh to be too hazardous for the consumer market unless protected by a full-function BMS. I can't think of any legitimate user who'd be inconvenienced other than an amateur restorer of vintage ebikes, and where there's full BMS protection overcharging isn't an issue.
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Surely this lack of tariffs on imported ebikes benefits all importers and resellers of Chinese ebikes based in the UK. So UK businesses will be able to offer their ebikes at reduced prices. This will make them much more competitive with ebikes from mainland Europe and many of the ebikes from Europe are just from assembly plants. Even if the ebike features a German designed mid-drive motor the ebike itself and its components are pretty much all from the far east, China mainly. Such imports will still need to be fully certified.
This is news, I'd no idea we had Ebike manufacturing here in the UK.
Given the Conservatives have just about driven the UK economy to its knees,I'm voting for not pissing the 2nd biggest economy in the world off, considering they're the source of much of our products.
Given the Conservatives have just about driven the UK economy to its knees,I'm voting for not pissing the 2nd biggest economy in the world off, considering they're the source of much of our products.
Strangely the largest ebike manufacturer in the world is NOT Chinese....
www.leebike.com
Batteries most likely, parts as well... electric Motor (at least for Powertools etc is Bosch leading... electronic (Bosch in Cars Mercedes, BMW, VW Audi Porsche etc all is made by Bosch.... ebike Active Line Mid Motor is (for my opinion) as well leading...
Riese and Müller nobody knows ... (under this name/ Badges is another story) but anyway...
Chinese stuff is only so popular because it’s cheap and that is what people want...
Look at the Riese and Müller offer on electric bikes! - these are Car prises! £2-3-4-6-7-8.000.- crazy ... https://www.r-m.de/en-gb/bikes/
2025 Top 10 Electric Bike Manufacturers in the World | Leebike Electric Bike
We have completed the survey, so you do not need to search the Internet for the top 10 electric bike manufacturers in the world 2024.
www.leebike.com
Batteries most likely, parts as well... electric Motor (at least for Powertools etc is Bosch leading... electronic (Bosch in Cars Mercedes, BMW, VW Audi Porsche etc all is made by Bosch.... ebike Active Line Mid Motor is (for my opinion) as well leading...
Riese and Müller nobody knows ... (under this name/ Badges is another story) but anyway...
Chinese stuff is only so popular because it’s cheap and that is what people want...
Look at the Riese and Müller offer on electric bikes! - these are Car prises! £2-3-4-6-7-8.000.- crazy ... https://www.r-m.de/en-gb/bikes/
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Riese and Muller make fantastic bikes, IMO the best - in their class - in the world. We like them so much we have just taken on a dealership in our Sevenoaks Bikes retail shop. I am very surprised to read they are the biggest in the world though. I wonder what the criteria was, certainly not the number of bikes built.
Bikes from China can be and often are amazing, high quality and can be expensive. We are considering the distributorship for a Chinese built bike in carbon with DJI motor Fox suspension etc etc. The top of the range will retail for c £8,000.00. There is nothing wrong with good well built Chinese bikes. The costs for building a bike in China are very similar, if not higher, than building the same bike in Europe.
The big problem that’s been created by our ill informed leaders will be short lived. Chinese bike manufacturers are sitting on HUGE quantities of unsold stock, stock they currently cannot move into Europe, and the US is becoming more difficult daily. They will dump as much of this stock into the UK as they possibly can. There will of course be a benefit for those that want to buy a cheap Ebike until the stock is depleted. There is already far too much stock in the UK with big brands dumping like crazy to get cash back into their businesses, one huge brand has dropped prices recently from £2499 to £999. Raleigh lost £30,000,000 in their last financials. Both brands use Bosch motors! A huge influx of old cheap Chinese stock will decimate the business in the UK.
It’s not a bad thing for the consumer short and even medium term, but long term the industry will take a long time to recover.
When the powers that be finally get their act together and decide what a folding bike is, the ADT remaining on folding bikes could be a great boost. I’m hugely grateful to Brompton for their efforts in this area.
All the best, David
Bikes from China can be and often are amazing, high quality and can be expensive. We are considering the distributorship for a Chinese built bike in carbon with DJI motor Fox suspension etc etc. The top of the range will retail for c £8,000.00. There is nothing wrong with good well built Chinese bikes. The costs for building a bike in China are very similar, if not higher, than building the same bike in Europe.
The big problem that’s been created by our ill informed leaders will be short lived. Chinese bike manufacturers are sitting on HUGE quantities of unsold stock, stock they currently cannot move into Europe, and the US is becoming more difficult daily. They will dump as much of this stock into the UK as they possibly can. There will of course be a benefit for those that want to buy a cheap Ebike until the stock is depleted. There is already far too much stock in the UK with big brands dumping like crazy to get cash back into their businesses, one huge brand has dropped prices recently from £2499 to £999. Raleigh lost £30,000,000 in their last financials. Both brands use Bosch motors! A huge influx of old cheap Chinese stock will decimate the business in the UK.
It’s not a bad thing for the consumer short and even medium term, but long term the industry will take a long time to recover.
When the powers that be finally get their act together and decide what a folding bike is, the ADT remaining on folding bikes could be a great boost. I’m hugely grateful to Brompton for their efforts in this area.
All the best, David
We seem to see more Reise & Muller brand bikes in our classified section than any other brand. I wonder why that is?
That list of top ten manufacturers is just the figment of someone's imagination. Top ten for what - worst colours, weirdest designs, most over-prices, most unnecessarily heavy, nicest showroom, best dressed sales staff or what?
A table with no numbers and no links to evidence? Smells like ill researched nonsense to me!
I'd go with most over-priced myself. I've never seen one of their ebikes out and about but did see one in a showroom and it was incredibly expensive but there was no obvious reason why it was so expensive looking at the components fitted. At first I thought it would have some great components due to its pricing but it was a fairly cheap Suntour fork. Absolutely no way they are huge sellers surely, quite a niche brand I would guess even in Germany. Germany has 600,000 bicycle thefts a year and probably many more than that go unreported its a huge problem where as about 80,000 are stolen in the UK per year but again many thefts go unreported. I only mention that as looking at figures Germany is slowly reducing how much it spends on new bikes and ebikes which makes me think theft is a huge factor in that although the German economy is not great at the moment with some decline. Rental prices for housing are unbelievably high so a lot of Germans rely on very high wages which the economy is struggling to continue generating now. Lower cost ebikes from China even with high tariffs are getting higher sales in Germany and now the UK has stopped ebike tariffs from China for non-folding ebikes surely that is really going to make European ebikes struggle to sell over here because they will be even less competitive. Surely there will be a big decline in ebike sales from assembly plants in Europe and I suspect companies like Halfords will adapt quickly and stop using ebike assembly plants in Europe and instead buy fully built ebikes from Asia.
I am German. In Germany, everyone has insurance for their home (property or rental), which includes bikes as well. If your bike is stolen, you get a new one included the Abus D-Lock for £300...
Here in England, the bikes are “old school.” Bike companies (even Brompton) take a normal bike, put a front or rear wheel with a motor in it, add a carrier with a battery and controller, and voilà! You have an e-bike for £699 at Argos or Halfords, and everybody is happy. These bikes don’t even have disc brakes, which means you have to change the wheel after a few months because the brake has worn the rim down, making a new wheel necessary.
It’s all low quality and low price. The fact that Riese and Müller have crazy prices is another matter, but we Germans are crazy anyway to pay those prices. Everything is over-constructed (see house quality and longevity). E-bikes with Bosch motors, ABS, anti-theft, GPS, displays for £300, and batteries costing £500-700... which can be doubled for £1500 to get double the distance. If that is not crazy, I do not know what is.
That the wife gets the same bike as the husband to “cycle” around on the weekend is self-explanatory.
P.S.:
Crazy is relative, because at least we get “quality for our money.” Here in the UK, we/you spend £8-10 million a day for the next few years on hotel accommodation for “small boat people,” while the number of homeless individuals on the streets is rising.
The whole nation cries every year when the national football team again does not win anything internationally (or better yet, has never won anything internationally).
Here in England, the bikes are “old school.” Bike companies (even Brompton) take a normal bike, put a front or rear wheel with a motor in it, add a carrier with a battery and controller, and voilà! You have an e-bike for £699 at Argos or Halfords, and everybody is happy. These bikes don’t even have disc brakes, which means you have to change the wheel after a few months because the brake has worn the rim down, making a new wheel necessary.
It’s all low quality and low price. The fact that Riese and Müller have crazy prices is another matter, but we Germans are crazy anyway to pay those prices. Everything is over-constructed (see house quality and longevity). E-bikes with Bosch motors, ABS, anti-theft, GPS, displays for £300, and batteries costing £500-700... which can be doubled for £1500 to get double the distance. If that is not crazy, I do not know what is.
That the wife gets the same bike as the husband to “cycle” around on the weekend is self-explanatory.
P.S.:
Crazy is relative, because at least we get “quality for our money.” Here in the UK, we/you spend £8-10 million a day for the next few years on hotel accommodation for “small boat people,” while the number of homeless individuals on the streets is rising.
The whole nation cries every year when the national football team again does not win anything internationally (or better yet, has never won anything internationally).
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{Quote start:} “Germany has 600,000 bicycle thefts a year and probably many more than that go unreported its a huge problem where as about 80,000 are stolen in the UK per year but again many thefts go unreported. I [sic]“ {Quote end}
Don’t know where the above quoted numbers came from, but the only numbers I found were from 2020 (incl source)
### Germany
In Germany, bike theft is a significant issue. According to the **German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA)**, there were approximately **300,000 reported bike thefts in 2020**. The recovery rate for stolen bicycles is relatively low, often cited around **10-15%**.
For more recent statistics, you can refer to the BKA's annual crime reports or their official website.
### United Kingdom
In the UK, the **Office for National Statistics (ONS)** reported that there were around **400,000 bicycle thefts in England and Wales in 2020**. The recovery rate for stolen bikes is also low, with estimates suggesting that only about **5-10%** of stolen bicycles are recovered.
For the most accurate and up-to-date statistics, you can check the ONS website or the British Transport Police's annual reports.
### Sources
1. **Bundeskriminalamt (BKA)** - [BKA Crime Statistics](https://www.bka.de)
2. **Office for National Statistics (ONS)** - [ONS Crime Statistics](https://www.ons.gov.uk)
Don’t know where the above quoted numbers came from, but the only numbers I found were from 2020 (incl source)
### Germany
In Germany, bike theft is a significant issue. According to the **German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA)**, there were approximately **300,000 reported bike thefts in 2020**. The recovery rate for stolen bicycles is relatively low, often cited around **10-15%**.
For more recent statistics, you can refer to the BKA's annual crime reports or their official website.
### United Kingdom
In the UK, the **Office for National Statistics (ONS)** reported that there were around **400,000 bicycle thefts in England and Wales in 2020**. The recovery rate for stolen bikes is also low, with estimates suggesting that only about **5-10%** of stolen bicycles are recovered.
For the most accurate and up-to-date statistics, you can check the ONS website or the British Transport Police's annual reports.
### Sources
1. **Bundeskriminalamt (BKA)** - [BKA Crime Statistics](https://www.bka.de)
2. **Office for National Statistics (ONS)** - [ONS Crime Statistics](https://www.ons.gov.uk)
Riese and Muller are a huge German bike builder, their bikes are incredibly well built, last for ever and hardly ever go wrong. We have recently sold one to a lady who now has two, she bought the first one 10 years ago from us when we had the UK distribution. They put their own sales guys in and paid us very handsomely to buy the agency back. They sold €350,000,000 worth of bikes in 2022 so although are no where near the biggest they do sell a substantial number of bikes.
View attachment IMG_2694.jpeg
All the best, David
View attachment IMG_2694.jpeg
All the best, David
Mid drive motors aren't quality, they are incredibly complex with a high failure rate and they put all their power through the drivetrain so that wears down very quickly compared to hub motors which extend the life of drivetrains because they work in parallel. Then you have the proprietary nature of many German ebikes which means failure of the battery, motor or frame can make them uneconomic to repair if any one part fails. One of the reasons hub motor ebikes are so cheap is their reliability and lack of warranty repairs. It's simpler technology and if the ebike fails repairing them is more economic as parts like the controller are separate.
There are loads of bikes with disc brakes in the UK some incredibly cheap, disc brakes are not an expensive option nowadays. The Brompton being an exception because caliper brakes work better and are more compact for such a tiny bike.
A Brose mid-drive motor below, lots of bearings, a belt, plastic/nylon cogs etc. A huge number of failure points. It's frankly rubbish technology that we never needed. Hub motors provide the most environmentally friendly option for road based ebikes.
The mid-drive market for ebikes in the world is absolutely tiny compared to hub motors, hub motors dominate with over 95% of worldwide sales and I totally accept that is related to price.
Overly complex unreliable premium products is not what the world needs.
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