Commuter bike for a heavy guy with short legs.

ShortFatBloke

Just Joined
May 27, 2019
1
0
Hi, I am in my early 50s and have not really cycled for quite a number of years now. I am looking to buy an e-bike mainly for my commute to work this is about 4 miles each way, mostly flat with a couple of fairly steep hills. Some days I would need to add an extra 6 miles or so onto my total journey. I am 105kg/16.5 stone and 5'8" tall with a short 29" inside leg. Some health issues mean that I would prefer a step through bike and sometimes I will have trouble doing much in the way of peddling so would like something that is able to give as much assistance as possible. A throttle would be good on these occasions.

As I will need to carry a backpack, a rear carrier would be an advantage. I will be using Cycle2work scheme and have a maximum budget of around £1200.

Looking around, a number of the Woosh bikes look like they might be suitable - Crusa, Bigbear-ls, Santana3. The chain drive Santana-2018 looked interesting as I thought the gears might help the motor get me up hill, but I think I am over the weight limit a little bit. I have to admit not knowing much about bikes and am having trouble trying to work out why the Crusa is so much cheaper than the others.

I like the idea of the Nexus gear hubs as I never really did get the hang of derailleur gears. However, these do not seem to be very common. I have seem some on the Kudos website, but I am not sure if these fit my other requirements.

Can you give any recommendations, either from this list or elsewhere?

Thanks in advance.

Andrew
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
20,332
16,856
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
big bear LS or Santana 3, both will do well.

I like the idea of the Nexus gear hub
You don't need to change gear with those bikes. Select a gear that suits your speed and cadence, the motor is so willing that it takes out the need to change gear. If you need extra boost because the road suddenly gets steep, just push the throttle.