E-bike article in today's Guardian

[Barnowl]

Bit off thread (I forgot what it was) but definately not cheating and good exercise - but I do 8 miles a day and my thinking went along these lines. If the bike is 4 times more efficient than walking that's the equivalent of 2 miles of walking. The electric assist must reduce this a bit further(?) so I'm only getting the equivalent of say about a mile and half of walking. Good because it's fairly constant daily exercise (and does get the heart rate up nicely) but not really dramatic stuff. Obviously much longer regular distances are going to knock the inches off.

 

[pete500]

I didn't want to knock London - I've lived here all my life and have something of a love/hate relationship with the place. Not sure if I could live anywhere else...

Having said that, cycling in London seems to be different from other European cities - more of a lifestyle choice; some people really seem to identify themselves as cyclists. Perhaps they see themselves as battling against a city which, lets face it, is still a bloody awful place to ride a bike. Elsewhere its just a way to get around.

@ Barnowl - I've definitely gained a few pounds since switching from a normal bike. I'd switch back but I can't face the hassle of dealing with sorting out clothes, showering at work, etc etc.

 

[flecc]

Having said that, cycling in London seems to be different from other European cities - more of a lifestyle choice; some people really seem to identify themselves as cyclists. Perhaps they see themselves as battling against a city which, lets face it, is still a bloody awful place to ride a bike. Elsewhere its just a way to get around.

Indeed, London is far from being cycling friendly, though it's probably better to express it as being travel unfriendly since it's just as difficult a travelling place for everyone else from car drivers to pedestrians. It's shortfalls are currently highlighted by our admission that we can't make the adequate provision for the Olympics officials and competitors that other olympic cities always have done.

It's difficult to see how London's internal travel position can be appreciably better in future, short of putting a huge fleet of bulldozers to work.
.

 

[pete500]

It's difficult to see how London's internal travel position can be appreciably better in future, short of putting a huge fleet of bulldozers to work.
.

Get rid of all the traffic lights - that should stop people behaving like zombies. Do you know I was nearly run over the other day by someone who was having a shave? A shave!

 

[simonbarnett]

Get rid of all the traffic lights - that should stop people behaving like zombies. Do you know I was nearly run over the other day by someone who was having a shave? A shave!

As someone who alternately drives, cycles and occasionally tubes it in London, it's true it's just not a travel friendly city. When driving it's just the jams and tubing its the rush hour crams. But it's a myth that for cycling it's really aggressive, the bigger problems in the centre are the condition of the roads and too many red lights needing the exercise of discretion.

But there's nowhere I know in the UK that comes close if you want a big city and variety of jobs, people, entertainment etc....When you're bored of London, you're bored of life.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

hmm - nice bit of viral marketing by the Grauniad as well?

Wisper works 905se city electric bike - www.GuardianEcostore.co.uk

to be fair I've seen Wispers in the eco-store before this article (even last year) however there seems to be little mention of who the actual distributor is..

Hi Alex

They took on Wisper over a year ago as a distributor, to date we have not had a single bike order.

However it is great marketing and I am delighted they are involved, I think most people buying electric bikes now realise the importance of buying through a local service center rather than a web site.

All the best David

 

[Bigbee]

Hi Alex

They took on Wisper over a year ago as a distributor, to date we have not had a single bike order.


Maybe this doesnt help them? £145 cheaper.


Wisper Works 905SE City - Wisper Works 905SE City - eBikes Direct

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Ebikes Direct

Hi Bigbee

Great to see you are taking such a keen interest in Wisper!

We do not encourage Internet selling as we believe that local service is paramount to the whole electric bike experience, we also do not encourage discounting if it means the dealer does not have the profits to give an effective after sales service.

From our web site;

We believe bicycles whether electric or pedal power should be sold and serviced by professional local bicycle retailers.

Customers wanting to purchase a bicycle are far better serviced through a local shop, a shop that is easily reached by bike with staff that can assist in recommending the perfect model for the customers needs.

Modern bicycles and especially electric bikes need to be serviced regularly to keep them at tip top performance. The only way this service can be effectively offered is by a company local to the rider with staff who understand the bikes.

It is for the above reasons we do not sell directly to the rider.

Depending on circumstances we take on two types of Wisper retailer;

A Full Service Wisper Centre and a Wisper retailer as the names suggest the two would offer differing levels of service.

To become a Full Service Wisper Centre retailers should be able and willing to offer the following;

A free 300 mile SAFETY service with spoke check and adjustment where needed.*

The ability to resolve all warranty issues on premises with free labour on all repairs under warranty in the first year.**

At least one of each Wisper bike on premises ready for demonstration and road testing.

Full preparation service to enable customers to ride their new Wisper bike away from the premises.

Pre delivery inspection on each Wisper bike that leaves the premises.

A high level of knowledge about the features, advantages and benefits of a Wisper bike.

Ability to offer full servicing on Wisper bikes.

* The safety service includes checking and tightening nuts, bolts, spokes and fixings where necessary but does not include the replacement of consumables such as brake pads, tyres etc.

**Free labour only applies to Wisper bikes supplied by the Wisper Full Service Centre from where a customer has purchased the bike. e.g. If a bike is purchased from ABC Bikes in London only ABC Bikes in London would offer free labour for warranty issues in the first year.

A Wisper Retailer will be able and willing to offer the following;

High level of knowledge about the features, advantages and benefits of a Wisper bike.

At least one Wisper Bike from each of the three ranges 900, 800 and 700 for demo purposes.

The ability to offer advice on servicing a Wisper bike.

So to conclude Wisper bikes can be bought at a lower price on the Web, if customers do not want the full local support of a Wisper Full Service Center

Like in all walks of life you get what you pay for.

Best regards David

 

[Bigbee]

Hi Bigbee

Great to see you are taking such a keen interest in Wisper!

Not really,Ive just read loads of threads on here who state they have bought from an e-tailer miles away from them because of the price and have disregard in general for the back up.

I just made a point of why maybe the Guardian peeps arent selling any,any way they cant give the back up or service any way either I guess.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Keen interest

Sorry Bigbee, I must be getting paranoid in my old age!

I guessed you were connected to Kalkhoff.

All the best David

 

[uk_steve]

I have used e bikes direct twice

once when they was in tun wells i got a cheap cheerful e bike for £300 ish

then my salisbury e bike when they moved to nr bodiam castle east sussex

i know they are keen on there prices and do good deals and even spoke to them again on a Infineum Extreme during the week but quickly recomended for me the best bike is the Wisper range


i know i would of got the bike cheaper if i used e bikes direct because they have done me good deals in the past



but to be honest i do like the sound of having a back up service of a bike shop and one is on a main route where i would go more often


so for the sake of trying to save a couple of quid


the bike shop wins deffo when you spending £1000+ for a bike also i could clearly see the shop owner knew his stuff


me being a business man can see there is a need for good e-bike e trikes Shopfront stockest in the Folkestone/Dover area which i hope comes soon from someone in the trade (back up of a shop is a must IMO)

i may look into it further with a few friends because i buy propertys anyway for a living,
so may/can offer cheap rents to make the shop work while its getting established in these econimic times

i feel that as the years go on,e bikes e trikes, trendyier disabled e scooters even e quads if the power keeps greener then petrol and diesel power

anyway down the line are going to be big for able young and old also for the dislabled young and old market i am sure




sorry this was off topic

also i have done no market research on the above so could be totally wrong but i will check in the nr future to satisfy my curiousity

 

[Bigbee]

Sorry Bigbee, I must be getting paranoid in my old age!

I guessed you were connected to Kalkhoff.

All the best David

I wish! Ha!

I wouldnt make any of the comments that I do as it would be foolish and unproffessional.!

 

[monster]

i bought from e-bikes direct about 4 years ago.

the bike was good and for a very cheap price. i got the impression when i phoned them that they were a stack-em-high, sell-em-low kind of business. cheap prices but they would never return your phone calls, they were way too busy for that stuff.

 

[Alex728]

There is also the issue of those of us who have no local dealer of e-bikes - and by local in cycling terms I mean within 5-10 miles i.e somewhere you could ride a machine requiring service too..

So I got my Wisper 905SE from e-bikes direct and I was happy with the pre-sales service, responses to my queries for tracking number and courier details and the promised delivery time was adhered to.

However no manuals were sent (not a great disaster as I had already downloaded them from Wisper's website) - there seems to be some ambiguity over who is responsible for these as threads on here from David imply its the dealers reponsibility to send them.

When I emailed for a PDF copy of my sales invoice as proof of purchase I had to chase this request, it was a lot more difficult to get through on the phone and and the young lad who answered sounded stressed and overloaded and mentioned something about "the post office" (!) being the "reason" for the delay without being too specific.

Given it was the same time as a postal strike I can forgive this to an extent and as their computer couldn't do PDF invoices (my suggestion to save their company time and money) I did get a paper proof of purchase a few days later - but it just shows how lean many companies are especially when dealing with contingencies (which can even include "good news" such as a favourable review in the Press! - even Smile/the Co-Op Bank got caught out this way around 2002, ironically due to a glowing review in the Guardian )

To be fair on e-bikes direct there are plenty of places selling at full price who don't even bother to pick up the phone or have limited business hours which are to put it bluntly a bit backward in todays 24/7 society...