first electric bike

[Croxden]

Divide the cost by the miles done and it seems much cheaper. Mine is less than 4.7 pence per mile now and getting cheaper each day. Make a case, show how it will be cost effective in the long run to have the dearer bike. To late to do what I did, keeping her in ignorance.

 

[denwyn]

Buy the bike.
sell the wife.

Tempting...

 

[denwyn]

Divide the cost by the miles done and it seems much cheaper. Mine is less than 4.7 pence per mile now and getting cheaper each day. Make a case, show how it will be cost effective in the long run to have the dearer bike. To late to do what I did, keeping her in ignorance.

Far to late for that, never mind something will turn up

 

[SarahJane]

Buy the wife a bike as well?

 

[Spencer Ivy]

Can you not use cycle scheme from government to access funding if you're riding to work? Tax free bikes for work through the Government's Green Transport Initiative - Cyclescheme, provider of Cycle to Work schemes for UK employers - Cyclescheme SPENCERIVY are members and I might be able to offer you a discount on a bike...email me at peter@spencerivy.com

 

[mountainsport]

Can you not use cycle scheme from government to access funding if you're riding to work? Tax free bikes for work through the Government's Green Transport Initiative - Cyclescheme, provider of Cycle to Work schemes for UK employers - Cyclescheme SPENCERIVY are members and I might be able to offer you a discount on a bike...email me at peter@spencerivy.com

Nothing tried, nothing done.

MS.

 

[Cyclezee]

Bit of a spanner in the works, I'm afraid her indoors went ape when she found out I was planning to spend almost £1900 on a e-bike tomorrow, it looks like I'm back down to the £1000 limit again. Thanks for all the advice guys,I think I may leave it for a bit now, a decent used one may come up on EBay, one day. I've not been put off going electric though.

Are you a man or a mouse Denwyn? Asking permission only gives someone the opportunity to deny it.

Just buy what you want, get a fake receipt and tell your beloved how much you saved, my wife does this all the time, to make me think she is careful with money.

Good luck,

Squeak Squeak

P.S. don't forget the flowers

 

[denwyn]

Nothing tried, nothing done.

MS.

I looked into this, but a I am 65 I was told I was not able to use it even though I still work as school caretaker for local authority. Thanks for the advice anyway.

 

[mountainsport]

I looked into this, but a I am 65 I was told I was not able to use it even though I still work as school caretaker for local authority. Thanks for the advice anyway.

Sorry about that, sometimes you just can't win. Be spiteful and go out there and buy a gas guzzler drag car then eventually you might be heard.

MS.

 

[Spencer Ivy]

I looked into this, but a I am 65 I was told I was not able to use it even though I still work as school caretaker for local authority. Thanks for the advice anyway.

I must ask who told you that?! Seems a little ageist to say the least. Let me check my contacts on that...highly unsatisfactory if the government are being quite so rigid, just looking at standard retirement age....is it 60 for a lady?

 

[denwyn]

I must ask who told you that?! Seems a little ageist to say the least. Let me check my contacts on that...highly unsatisfactory if the government are being quite so rigid, just looking at standard retirement age....is it 60 for a lady?

Actually i was told by two local dealers, one said I would not get accepted as being 65 I was past retirement age,even though I still work in same job and don't plan to retire till I'm 67. Other more or less the same ,but he wasn't so keen at all on the scheme, and at the time I was only looking at bikes up to £1000, he more or less implied it wasn't worth it, I have a feeling he was trying to put me off. I've more or less deceided to come down to a max of £1000 now, or should I say her indoors does not want me spending more ; l So I'm looking at EBay, Woosh or Kudos as the only bikes in my price range. This forum has really been so helpful.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Hi Denwyn,

Good luck in finding the perfect bike, there are lots out there and vary massively.

The price of a bike is very much controlled by the value of components. If you compare a non electric £199 special at Halfords to the Boardman in the same store, you will find they will both have roughly the same list of components and will move forward when the pedals turn, however one is simply better and will last for longer than the other.

You can start to understand the difference by simply test riding the bikes, after a few weeks of use the differences will really start to become noticeable.

All the best

David

 

[Deleted member 4366]

If you'd said £89 Halfords bike with steel bits, cup and cone BB and headsets, I'd agree with you; but by the time you get up to £250, most of the parts are aluminium, so no rust, and they have cartridge BBs and headsets. The Boardman is a bit more highly strung with lighter weight components, so I don't think it's true that it'll last any longer.

I don't see anything on the Woosh that'll make it last any less than any other bike except maybe the rear derailleur and gears, which is easy to replace and doesn't cost very much. It wouldn't surprise me if a £3500 Bosch-motored bike with a rear derailleur wouldn't last any longer due to the lighter weight and higher power, and they'd be very expensive to replace.

Electric bikes are like hifis, You can pay not too much and get one that'll play all your favourite tunes, or you can get one for a lot more money, which probably sounds better, but it doesn't make the song any better.

For some people, it makes a difference. Some people have iPhones, Macbooks and designer clothes, others have Samsungs, Medion laptops and clothes from Asda. There's no justification one way or the other, it's just depends on the way you are.

If you want to be happy, never buy something you can't afford, and never borrow money to buy things.

 

[Cyclezee]

I've more or less deceided to come down to a max of £1000 now, or should I say her indoors does not want me spending more ; l So I'm looking at EBay, Woosh or Kudos as the only bikes in my price range. This forum has really been so helpful.

For goodness sake Denwyn, just buy her in doors something nice like a new iron or cook book and you get whatever your heart desires.........oh, one last thing don't let look at the pedelec forum

 

[Chainring]

If you want to be happy, never buy something you can't afford, and never borrow money to buy things.[/QUOTE]

Well said, and ignoring this philosophy is why we are financially up **** creek without a paddle. Once you have bought an economical bike Denwyn, you will be so busy riding it you will not worry about its 'Street Cred'.

 

[denwyn]

I'm going for a Woosh Sirocco CD, just a couple of questions re this bike. On the Woosh web site it states the bike is only for riders up to 15 stone and 5'8" in height. Over this they say buy a CDL version,this is slightly cheaper, with what looks like a gear less , different handlebar controls and bigger wheels with narrower tyres. What difference does this make to the bike?. I'm 16.5 stone,and 5'10 with 29.5 inside leg,would I really need the CDL. Recently I have tried out a Whisper 907 and Gepedia Reptila,loved them both,but there to expensive,I know a Woosh falls a long way short on these bikes,but I won't be doing huge mileages,and I'm sure it will do. Afraid I've overdosed on looking at to many bikes,the more I look at the more confused it gets.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'm 5' 10" and weigh 100kg, so about the same as you. I had the Sirocco CD for a couple of weeks, and I went out for a couple of long rides. I found that the size was OK. The CDL has 28 wheels with thinner tyres, so would be better for touring and commuting at higher speed, while as the CD has big chunky 26" tyres for riding on trails, canal paths and other rough surfaces, while still OK for normal roads (I hit 42mph on them downhill), so it's more about the type of riding you do. The CD has much lower gearing for better hill-climbing, although you could soon buy a cassette rear wheel quite cheaply to get a better range of gears on the CDL

 

[denwyn]

I'm 5' 10" and weigh 100kg, so about the same as you. I had the Sirocco CD for a couple of weeks, and I went out for a couple of long rides. I found that the size was OK. The CDL has 28 wheels with thinner tyres, so would be better for touring and commuting at higher speed, while as the CD has big chunky 26" tyres for riding on trails, canal paths and other rough surfaces, while still OK for normal roads (I hit 42mph on them downhill), so it's more about the type of riding you do. The CD has much lower gearing for better hill-climbing, although you could soon buy a cassette rear wheel quite cheaply to get a better range of gears on the CDL

Thanks...that's sorted it for me...its the Sirocco CD then..

 

[paido]

These bikes look like just what I'm after. One quick question; would it be practical to pull a trailer given the sirocco uses a crank drive? At what weight would you think pulling a trailer would become uncomfortable (perhaps nigh on impossible)? Obviously depends on the terrain but does anyone know of a chart or something that would give me an idea?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You can pull a trailer with a Sirocco CD. How much weight do you want to tow? Those single wheeled trailers that you can get on E bay are very good, and will clip sraight on, or do you want to tow the kids?