Commuter Bike for hills

[Lanky]

Hi All
My company is moving my office across town to an area with limited parking and limited public transport so I am considering getting an eBike.
The route I would need to take (about 5 miles) involves some, what I consider to be, fairly steep hills. I am male, coming up to 60 and not a regular cyclist at the moment. I have a 50 cycles branch locally so went for a test run on Kalkhoff Agattu Premium 8 (belt driven with 8 speed hub gears) having not been on an electric bike I was impressed but only able to test it on the flat.
So my questions are:
How good are these bikes at hill climbing do they require a lot of standing up effort?
Is there another make/model I should try as an alternative to the Agattu? I obviously need something reliable that is going to last me a while.
My company do the cycle to work scheme so I should be able to go up to the £2k - £2.5k price if necessary.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Cheers

 

[Kudoscycles]

As an alternative you may wish to try a hub drive bike,the BPM motor has low speed torque which aids hill climbing. 5 miles is a modest range,most e-bikes will cover that distance,even if you use max power a lot.
You don't need to spend £2.0k,there are many nice bikes with hill climbing grunt in the region of £1300 to £1600,the Oxygen or my own Kudos Rapide are examples.
You need to test ride at a dealer to see what suits.
KudosDave

 

[Lanky]

As an alternative you may wish to try a hub drive bike,the BPM motor has low speed torque which aids hill climbing. 5 miles is a modest range,most e-bikes will cover that distance,even if you use max power a lot.
You don't need to spend £2.0k,there are many nice bikes with hill climbing grunt in the region of £1300 to £1600,the Oxygen or my own Kudos Rapide are examples.
You need to test ride at a dealer to see what suits.
KudosDave

Thank you I'll check them out

 

[JohnCade]

Hi All
My company is moving my office across town to an area with limited parking and limited public transport so I am considering getting an eBike.
The route I would need to take (about 5 miles) involves some, what I consider to be, fairly steep hills. I am male, coming up to 60 and not a regular cyclist at the moment. I have a 50 cycles branch locally so went for a test run on Kalkhoff Agattu Premium 8 (belt driven with 8 speed hub gears) having not been on an electric bike I was impressed but only able to test it on the flat.
So my questions are:
How good are these bikes at hill climbing do they require a lot of standing up effort?
Is there another make/model I should try as an alternative to the Agattu? I obviously need something reliable that is going to last me a while.
My company do the cycle to work scheme so I should be able to go up to the £2k - £2.5k price if necessary.
Any suggestions would be welcome.
Cheers

No, they don’t take much effort. The latest Kalkhoff is a very powerful climber.

 

[RobF]

Seems to me there are too many reports of faults with the Impulse motor to make a Kalkhoff a wise buy at the moment.

Particularly as there are similar riding and more reliable systems from Bosch and Yamaha, not forgetting the less common Shimano Steps.

This year's Cubes look decent value.

Another brand to look at is KTM.

 

[JuicyBike]

You really don't need a crank drive for the hills. We've known this for years, but the marketing spend in support of crank drives has been overwhelming and difficult to contra-dict.
Do take a test ride on a variety of bikes and systems before you decide.
By the sound of it you are quite tall so you need to find some bikes, with a choice of crank or hub driven 700C wheels where you can test ride amongst some decent hills...
...and as luck would have it our electric bike Trade Centre has WisperTQ, Raleigh Motus and Captus and our own bikes available to try. How fortunate, if you happen to be handy for the Peak District.

 

[trex]

sorry to disagree with you Bob.
CD is superior on hills.
Saying otherwise is akin to saying that single gear is just as good on hill as a 10-speed gear system.

 

[RobF]

The OP has tried and liked a Kalkhoff.

The ride/power delivery of a hub bike will likely feel clonky in comparison.

 

[JuicyBike]

The ride/power delivery of a hub bike will likely feel clonky in comparison

Hi Rob
You should have a try when you get the chance of a torque sensor bike, combined with hub motor, like the new WisperTQ.
We've got our system in final development: it's definitely not clonky and proving extremely good in the hills. If you live near come for a try - I guarantee you'll be impressed.
These forums are all about opinions, and all are useful for guidance. The OP asked for suggestions of other makes and models to try and I've suggested they try a hub bike too. The latest are really quite remarkable, in my opinion.
You can see them at the London Bike Show next week.

 

[Artstu]

The ride/power delivery of a hub bike will likely feel clonky in comparison.

I'm looking forward to trying it after the show. Rest assured I will be putting it through its paces.

Hi Rob
We've got our system in final development: it's definitely not clonky and proving extremely good in the hills. If you live near come for a try - I guarantee you'll be impressed.

 

[Lanky]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will certainly be trying a few more before deciding. I am in Brighton so I think the Peak District is, unfortunately a bit too far to come

 

[JuicyBike]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will certainly be trying a few more before deciding. I am in Brighton so I think the Peak District is, unfortunately a bit too far to come

Then, Summit Bikes in Selsey might be the perfect place for you with lots of brands and styles for you to try.