Electric Bike for light touring - and Halfords

[marnet]

I'm a fit 72 year old - ride 5000 miles a year - looking for an e-bike to add it my "stable" - for day and light (I.e. credit card) touring. It seems very hard to find anything which fits my needs - bikes are either racers (often Carbon, lovely but I have a non electric one), urban (flat handlebar commuting) or out and out ATBs (big and ugly if powerful). The two which come closest are the Canyon Endurance ON which doesn't seem to like mudguards and doesn't take racks or the Boardman ADV8.9E which does. I like the Boardman and I like the Fazua system which meets my fitness profile (as old age descends) at the moment - but dealing with Halfords is pushing string up-hill - the bike is never in stock and trying to get sense out of them is a tedious not to say hopeless procedure. Any suggestions, help or helpful comments would be most welcome. Many thanks Martyn

 

[Edward Elizabeth]

I've no personal experience of the bikes themselves so can't comment on thwt score.

As for Hellfrauds, if you do an online check you can see what stores have stock and which ones do not. Much easier than phoning or visiting and speaking with a minimum wage spode who isn't paid enough to care.

 

[richtea99]

Hello Martyn, there are a lot of Fazua-based lightweight bikes, not just Boardman, but be prepared to pay another £1k over Boardman prices. Have a search here: https://fazua.com/en/ebikes/?page=1

Also consider ebikemotion-based bikes like Orbea, Ribble & Lapierre.

We have an Orbea ebikemotion and a Boardman Fazua (the hybrid one), and both work well. They ride like a tourer rather than a racer at 14-15Kg, but they're still fine to ride with no assistance.

Both come with mudguard & pannier fittings. (I'm not sure if the ADV has pannier fittings)

I have a slight preference for Fazua in terms of design and quality, but I'd happily ride either. Orbea 2021 models are pretty tidy with hidden cabling and subtle in-built lights.

Normal weights are 14-16Kg depending on fittings, etc. But then again, you have a motor so weight isn't the ultimate thing to chase.

Range goes from maybe 80-100 miles if you only use the motor uphill, and down to 30 miles if you use it everywhere. It will depend on your route, obvs.

 

[Old Fart At Play]

Hiya...
Touring is my preference, and I bought a Trek Allant+ 8. Brilliant bike and lovely for touring. Comes with mudguards and rearv rack which accommodates Ortlieb panniers perfectly. Front fork is rigid, and it will take front panniers - I use a Tubus Tara lowrider rack. You may not *need* front panniers for credit catd touring, but I think they distribute the weight very nicely. I prefer having my grab and go stuff in a front pannier rather than a handlebar bag, but you may not.

Oh yes, and some people have said that the rack on the Allant is a bit weird sas it sits lower than the mudguard so you can't put a rack pack on. First, I love the rack; second, you can fir a rack pack no problem, you just put something on the rack rails first to raise the base. I use a kryptonte lock to do that but a couple of bits of wood would work!

I thought the wide tyres would be weird after my steel tourer, but I love them - comfortable, great on rough surfaces.

The 625 battery means a good range - 80 miles is no problem if you use eco mode.

Anyway, good luck finding a bike that suits.

Cheers, John

 

[jimriley]

I fitted a kit MD motor to my hybrid. Love it. Can you not fit a kit to one you already have, or get one s/h.

 

[Moss]

Bosch mid motor get the best reviews; I bought my wife a Carrera Cross-Fuse .

 

[Trickyh]

Halfords is a lot like KwikFit - Avoid like the plague, unless they happen to have in stock exactly what you are looking for at a decent price. You might get lucky and find a decent Boardman trained tech, but they are few and far between .. I cant believe they are still trading TBH.

From an ex Halfords (many, many years ago) employee

 

[marnet]

I've no personal experience of the bikes themselves so can't comment on thwt score.

As for Hellfrauds, if you do an online check you can see what stores have stock and which ones do not. Much easier than phoning or visiting and speaking with a minimum wage spode who isn't paid enough to care.

Thanks - actually, it's worse than you suggest if they don't have them in stock locally as they simply say "non in your area" try another postcode!

 

[marnet]

Hello Martyn, there are a lot of Fazua-based lightweight bikes, not just Boardman, but be prepared to pay another £1k over Boardman prices. Have a search here: https://fazua.com/en/ebikes/?page=1

Also consider ebikemotion-based bikes like Orbea, Ribble & Lapierre.

We have an Orbea ebikemotion and a Boardman Fazua (the hybrid one), and both work well. They ride like a tourer rather than a racer at 14-15Kg, but they're still fine to ride with no assistance.

Both come with mudguard & pannier fittings. (I'm not sure if the ADV has pannier fittings)

I have a slight preference for Fazua in terms of design and quality, but I'd happily ride either. Orbea 2021 models are pretty tidy with hidden cabling and subtle in-built lights.

Normal weights are 14-16Kg depending on fittings, etc. But then again, you have a motor so weight isn't the ultimate thing to chase.

Range goes from maybe 80-100 miles if you only use the motor uphill, and down to 30 miles if you use it everywhere. It will depend on your route, obvs.

Many thanks for the advice - I will follow it up, Much appreciated.

 

[marnet]

Halfords is a lot like KwikFit - Avoid like the plague, unless they happen to have in stock exactly what you are looking for at a decent price. You might get lucky and find a decent Boardman trained tech, but they are few and far between .. I cant believe they are still trading TBH.

From an ex Halfords (many, many years ago) employee

I have only ever dealt with them with a car (once) and it was as you suggest. Bit sad that Boardman bikes which seem quite decent only come through them. Thanks for your help. Appreciated

 

[marnet]

Bosch mid motor get the best reviews; I bought my wife a Carrera Cross-Fuse .

Many thanks for the advice - I will follow it up, Much appreciated.

 

[marnet]

Hiya...
Touring is my preference, and I bought a Trek Allant+ 8. Brilliant bike and lovely for touring. Comes with mudguards and rearv rack which accommodates Ortlieb panniers perfectly. Front fork is rigid, and it will take front panniers - I use a Tubus Tara lowrider rack. You may not *need* front panniers for credit catd touring, but I think they distribute the weight very nicely. I prefer having my grab and go stuff in a front pannier rather than a handlebar bag, but you may not.

Oh yes, and some people have said that the rack on the Allant is a bit weird sas it sits lower than the mudguard so you can't put a rack pack on. First, I love the rack; second, you can fir a rack pack no problem, you just put something on the rack rails first to raise the base. I use a kryptonte lock to do that but a couple of bits of wood would work!

I thought the wide tyres would be weird after my steel tourer, but I love them - comfortable, great on rough surfaces.

The 625 battery means a good range - 80 miles is no problem if you use eco mode.

Anyway, good luck finding a bike that suits.

Cheers, John

Thanks for the good advice. I'll follow it up. In addition I've actually got a steel tourer which pretty much matches your description of what one should look like so the alternative is to retro-fi a kit which is another possibility. Again thanks. Appreciated.

 

[marnet]

I fitted a kit MD motor to my hybrid. Love it. Can you not fit a kit to one you already have, or get one s/h.

Many thanks for the advice - I will follow it up. Much appreciated. Out of interest and if you have a moment, what do you think of the Cytronex system? We have a tandem with one fitted (we live near the shop).

 

[Michael Price]

I presume you have looked around local bike shops

They may well have more for you to have a go on - and the after sales service will be far better

Personally I have a Raleigh Motus - centre Bosch motor as mentioned above - but seems far better than teh Carrera - or so it felt to me when I tried them

Also - lots of people seem to like WHoosh - surprised one on their people haven;t popped up here yet

I would suggest trying out everything you can get a test ride on - then decide

 

[Nealh]

Bosch mid motor get the best reviews; I bought my wife a Carrera Cross-Fuse .

By whom and where ?
There are many of us on here who won't touch them with a barge pole.

 

[Michael Price]

Bosch or Carrera

As far as I can tell Bosch are by far the best available (maybe) - until they are not. Seem to go wrong very seldom but if they do they are pretty much impossible to repair except by Bosch - who jusrt want you to replace the motor or battery - which is expensive

Carrera - tried them out when I got my current ebike - didn't like them and I don;t want to have the same ebike as the kids riding round like nutters (in some cases)

 

[Nealh]

According to our resident member Andy over in Germany the Eric's on Pedelec.de slate them terribly for reliability and CS.

 

[Laser Man]

Whyte and Kinesis have rather nice Fazua powered bikes.
The Kinesis even has rack fixings on the front forks for serious touring.

Like the OP I was taken by the Boardman, but got the Whyte Hoxton for only a little more dosh in a closing down sale. Very pleased with it, although I did have to get a handlebar raiser to make it comfortable. The Whyte mudguards spoil the "sporty" look, but fit and work well. Just about any rear rack will do. It comes with tubeless-ready tyres : another + over the Boardman.

 

[sjpt]

I think most Bosch powered bikes aren't relevant to OP; just a different kind of system for a different kind of use. Fazua looks much more relevant as OP says. (We have a Bosch Motus and are very happy; just hoping we don't encounter the downside at some point in the future.)

When it comes to problems and ease/cost of fixing I suspect that the Fazua will probably be just as bad as the Bosch. I don't have any strong evidence for that; the Fazua hasn't been around long enough for evidence to build up. Just a feeling that kind of propriety system might well have issues.

Comparing Carrera and Bosch is a bit irrelevant, some Carreras (Crossfuse) use Bosch and some don't.

As mentioned above, a lightweight Woosh (or other) conversion of an appropriate donor bike might give most of the benefit of a Fazua without the (potential) downsides; and at a good saving if the relatively cheap Boardmans aren't available.

 

[Benjahmin]

Hi Marnet,
The bike in my avatar is a Carrera Crossfire. I put an Ezee front hub on it (probably too big and torquey for you) about 5 years ago. It has given me almost trouble free service for some 9k miles now.
I have had a small issue with a brake connector, wired round it. The pas disc rotated on the bb shaft and had to be permanantly fixed to the smallest ring. And an intermittant cut out problem that proved to be a connector at the bottom of the saddle down tube, again wired round. That's all in 5 years.
The point is I was able to sus out, find and repair all these niggles as I had built the bike myself and, therefore, had a working knowledge of the system. Mostly taken care of during normal maintenance.
If you buy a proprietry system it will be very neat, slick and finished, but if anything goes wrong you're likely stuck on your own with the only option to return it to the dealer/supplier. This, anecdotally, can and does take weeks as the dealers seem not to be allowed/capable of doing anything more than putting a diagnostic computer on it. This will have cost them pounds and says little more useful than, 'return motor/battery to manufacturer'.
This is all gleaned from posts we get on the forum. Of course we only hear about the fails and there are probably loads who sail on trouble free.
For me, I would always go the route of a kit in the great tradition of garden shed engineering. This way you know your machine intimately.