With David Miall's wish to see the cycle to work scheme limit raised to £2k do members think it is possible to produce a 'decent' e bike for the existing limit of £1k?
Dave
Kudoscycles
Dave
Kudoscycles
Do members think it is possible to produce a decent e bike for £1k
- Thread starter Kudoscycles
- Start date
I think alot of shops participating in the schemes should do what Cytronex do - the base bike gets paid for by the scheme and you buy the battery seperately as an accessory.
You could certainly do a decent bike minus the battery for £1k.
You could certainly do a decent bike minus the battery for £1k.
Yes, including lithium battery.
There are a few on the market which can be called decent, though some will criticise the lower end of range components. That's simply a question of sales volume, the small market meaning low margins are not commensurate with an e-bike seller lasting long term so component spec has to suffer a little.
If the sales volume increased we could easily have mid-range components on a sub £1000 e-bike.
There are a few on the market which can be called decent, though some will criticise the lower end of range components. That's simply a question of sales volume, the small market meaning low margins are not commensurate with an e-bike seller lasting long term so component spec has to suffer a little.
If the sales volume increased we could easily have mid-range components on a sub £1000 e-bike.
Yes, you already do, the Kudos Tourer, although it's getting very close to the £1,000 threshold.
I wouldn't describe my own "King" as satisfying all the criteria many buyers would have, and I've had to buy a number of items to make it suitable for the milage I do, i.e. better saddle, mudguards, pedals, which push it above £1,000
I wouldn't describe my own "King" as satisfying all the criteria many buyers would have, and I've had to buy a number of items to make it suitable for the milage I do, i.e. better saddle, mudguards, pedals, which push it above £1,000
Yes, the Fast4ward bikes are all with Panasonic celled batteries, Tektro brakes, Removable LCD display and Shimano derailleurs. All priced at £999!
'Decent' is very subjective and if we're not careful we will delve into the realms of bike snobery. A few years ago I used to do quite abit of road biking where sadly a lot of people think that unless you pay silly money for a bike it must be rubbish. Personally, I think there are a good number of decent ebikes available that are more than capable for less than a 1,000.
C
Cyclezee
Guest
Hmmm, I stand by what I posted earlier, the above are competent but decent no, sporting Zoom forks, headset and unnamed rims then no, however, they are good and good value as well..but the DIY option posted above is way better than any of the commercial offerings and come in at the same price 
The £1000 limit used to buy most top quality ebikes,or at least come close to the price.now it only covers lower end ebikes,even good non ebikes are out of the scheme price range.
I agree with Jasono. The word 'decent' is very subjective. Someone who wants a £399 folding bike to nip down the ride to the shops once a day for his newspaper will probably find a lot of models out there which are very decent. 'Decent' to him means convenience, value for money and does its job. Someone else may have a budget restriction - eg 'My limit is £700'. A bike that gets them from A to B in reasonable comfort and with reasonable reliability for this sum will be, to them, a 'decent' bike.
If branded components are a minimum requirement for making a bike 'decent', then its unlikley you can get much below the £1K tag. For very expensive components this will of course edge up to £2K - but purchasers in this category would not consider anything less to be decent.
I have two stories to relate. Late last year we were invited to a meeting with our local council with the aim of supplying a number of e bikes for rent to companies in the area. Our recommended model was the Sundowner - low maintenance, front wheel motor, Shimano Nexus gears etc. 'Shimano?' said a Dutch dealer who was also there. 'But they're cheap'. Clearly, ours, to him, was not a 'decent' bike, and his proposed Swiss model, at £2500, clearly was. The Council is still deciding.
A good customer of ours brought in a Ferrari bike last week for repair (damaged cables).Not an E bike, although it did have an electronic gear box and front fork with cable damage and missing connectors. It was indeed a very fine looking bike, weighed around 15 Kgs, with leather accessories and had cost its owner £5000.
To the purchaser, this had been a very decent bike. To us, trying in vain to get technical information from Ferrari (the Ferrari shop in London come up with no technical helplines or websites) with regard to pin-outs etc, it wasn't!
If branded components are a minimum requirement for making a bike 'decent', then its unlikley you can get much below the £1K tag. For very expensive components this will of course edge up to £2K - but purchasers in this category would not consider anything less to be decent.
I have two stories to relate. Late last year we were invited to a meeting with our local council with the aim of supplying a number of e bikes for rent to companies in the area. Our recommended model was the Sundowner - low maintenance, front wheel motor, Shimano Nexus gears etc. 'Shimano?' said a Dutch dealer who was also there. 'But they're cheap'. Clearly, ours, to him, was not a 'decent' bike, and his proposed Swiss model, at £2500, clearly was. The Council is still deciding.
A good customer of ours brought in a Ferrari bike last week for repair (damaged cables).Not an E bike, although it did have an electronic gear box and front fork with cable damage and missing connectors. It was indeed a very fine looking bike, weighed around 15 Kgs, with leather accessories and had cost its owner £5000.
To the purchaser, this had been a very decent bike. To us, trying in vain to get technical information from Ferrari (the Ferrari shop in London come up with no technical helplines or websites) with regard to pin-outs etc, it wasn't!
If we take decent to mean meeting an acceptable standard then the Rock bike linked to earlier is way better in spec than any of the ready built e-bikes listed above, all it needs is a kit...will weigh 20Kg or under and be within £1k. Not only that it looks good as well and not something from the '50s...
I'd like to say it can be done but I don't think it's possible on a bike that is well used, cheaper components (not necessarily branded) will soon prove to be a pain.
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