First time buyer

[Gizabif]

Good evening I was hoping to get some advice on here, I've had a regular bike for some time and I'm looking to upgrade to an electric bike for my commute to work.

I'm not looking for anything too fancy (my commute is approx 3.5 miles) just something to get to and from work, the ones I've been seeing online for around the £500 mark seem to be okay but as I know nothing about electric bikes I was wondering if someone had any pointers for me.

Thanks so much!

 

[cyclebuddy]

You could probably add a kit to your existing bike, but if that's beyond your ability and/or you'd prefer a separate factory made e-bike, you need to consider what parts/service/support may be available - especially at the lower end of the price spectrum. Many of the cheaper bikes available on-line have limited - and in some cases - absolutely no support, so you need to consider who would fix it if it goes wrong.

Recent good bargain buys discussed here were from Argos... if you give links to what you've seen, I'm sure we can tell you the good/bad points, and if it's worth considering or best avoided.

Also knowing your height, weight, terrain (road/trail/hills), and general fitness helps suggestions too.

 

[saneagle]

Good evening I was hoping to get some advice on here, I've had a regular bike for some time and I'm looking to upgrade to an electric bike for my commute to work.

I'm not looking for anything too fancy (my commute is approx 3.5 miles) just something to get to and from work, the ones I've been seeing online for around the £500 mark seem to be okay but as I know nothing about electric bikes I was wondering if someone had any pointers for me.

Thanks so much!

If that's what you want it for, a cheap electric bike will be fine. Look at the Eleglide M1 or M2. Note that there are different versions with different sized batteries, and some have desirable hydraulic brakes. Try and get one with at least 12Ah battery and hydraulic brakes. If money is tight, you can get a smaller battery, but when you get the bike, you might well want to use it for longer journeys, in which case the bigger one will be useful. I'm assuming that your weight is 100kg or less.

 

[Nealh]

3.5 miles is nothing for a cheap bike as will be running local errands to/from local shops , what one needs to consider is if longer rides might occur on a regular basis.
Components are basic but like anything they are upgradable .
EAPC's from a little under £300 to £600 are all ok and work , it all depends on the use and looking after them.
Typically leaving one out in the rain for hours on end is a no as it is with any EAPC, the more expensives ones just cost a lot more to repair.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

This one would allow you to do much longer rides if you get addicted to pedelecing ! As well as doing your commute easily

ELEGLIDE M2 Electric Mountain Bike 27.5"/29"

Take your off-road adventures to new heights with the ELEGLIDE M2 Electric Mountain Bike. Choose between 27.5" or 29" wheels for tailored performance on rough terrains: powerful motor, long-lasting battery, and rugged build. Elevate your mountain biking experience. Shop now!

www.electricscooterslondon.com

This is a bit cheaper , but lower range, less powerful and no hydraulic brakes

ELEGLIDE M1 27.5″ Electric Mountain Bike

Experience the thrill of mountain biking with the ELEGLIDE M1 27.5" Electric Mountain Bike. Its lightweight aluminium frame, powerful 250W motor, and extended-range battery ensure top performance on any terrain. Enjoy free shipping in the UK and EU. Test rides are available!

www.electricscooterslondon.com

 

[Gizabif]

Thanks for all your advice!
In terms of adding my height and weight I'm roughly 5"8 and weight is between 80 and 90kg the terrain will be 90% roads

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Another possibility

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+ New battery

Wisper 375Wh Rack Battery

Replacement Lithium-Ion rack-mounted battery for Wisper E-Bikes.

winstanleysbikes.co.uk

 

[Az.]

Why choose mediocre option when he can go straight to pedelec Nirvana?

This is a rare opportunity when somebody is asking for advice before buying. Buy once, buy well and be happy.

I would say find a good donor on Facebook (if you don't have one already). 250W rear hub motor, at least 500W KT controller and a good battery at least 15Ah. Overkill for short commute, but you can have it for under £600 and there will be a potential for longer journeys just for fun later.

 

[Gizabif]

Why choose mediocre option when he can go straight to pedelec Nirvana?

This is a rare opportunity when somebody is asking for advice before buying. Buy once, buy well and be happy.

I would say find a good donor on Facebook (if you don't have one already). 250W rear hub motor, at least 500W KT controller and a good battery at least 15Ah. Overkill for short commute, but you can have it for under £600 and there will be a potential for longer journeys just for fun later.

I don't have Facebook myself but my partner does, but I'm lost at what you mean by a good donor? I'd obviously be very interested in buying well and being happy with the purchase for the long run

 

[Az.]

I don't have Facebook myself but my partner does, but I'm lost at what you mean by a good donor? I'd obviously be very interested in buying well and being happy with the purchase for the long run

By good donor I mean a bike which would meat your needs and have good components. It can be a mountain bike, hybrid, road etc. I guess a hybrid bike for you would be a good choice. Good components like hydraulic disc brakes, air forks etc.

You don't need Facebook account to buy really. Can be fake or use partners to browse. Ebay is good too, but Facebook better imo.

I have four e-bikes. Love my last conversion. I wish I knew what to choose when I started. You don't have to convert few bikes, you can use our experience and go straight to the point.

There is a good chance you will love it and want to cycle further than few miles.

 

[Gizabif]

By good donor I mean a bike which would meat your needs and have good components. It can be a mountain bike, hybrid, road etc. I guess a hybrid bike for you would be a good choice. Good components like hydraulic disc brakes, air forks etc.

You don't need Facebook account to buy really. Can be fake or use partners to browse. Ebay is good too, but Facebook better imo.

I have four e-bikes. Love my last conversion. I wish I knew what to choose when I started. You don't have to convert few bikes, you can use our experience and go straight to the point.

There is a good chance you will love it and want to cycle further than few miles.

I appreciate the advice, I'll definitely be doing more research into this. A couple of people have recommended bikes from Amazon saying they're surprisingly good and on the cheaper side too. But I definitely need to understand more about these things before I attempt to get one.

 

[Az.]

I appreciate the advice, I'll definitely be doing more research into this. A couple of people have recommended bikes from Amazon saying they're surprisingly good and on the cheaper side too. But I definitely need to understand more about these things before I attempt to get one.

This not a bad advice, but... Eleglide are OKish bikes. My question still stands. Why to settle with mediocre choice when you can aim for excellence?
Eleglide is an easy fix. You click buy now and you get a bike. Easy and simple. What I offer is much more difficult. You would have to acquire individual components and convert bike yourself or pay somebody to do it, but end result would be much better. Your choice.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

This not a bad advice, but... Eleglide are OKish bikes. My question still stands. Why to settle with mediocre choice when you can aim for excellence?
Eleglide is an easy fix. You click buy now and you get a bike. Easy and simple. What I offer is much more difficult. You would have to acquire individual components and convert bike yourself or pay somebody to do it, but end result would be much better. Your choice.

Yes, if you wanted to buy a good condition second hand bike (as a donor bike) and fit (or get fitted) a conversion kit, you could end up with something amazing and be able to maintain it yourself for years

Eg, this Rockhopper expert

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Add a 36v 26" wheel xf08c rear kit (with KT controller)

MXUS Electric Bike Conversion Kit Wheel Hub Motor 36V 48V 1000W 500W 250W 26 28 700C Rear Front Drive Engine eBike Kit XF07 XF08 XF08C XF15F XF15R

MXUS Electric Bike Conversion Kit Wheel Hub Motor 36V 48V 1000W 500W 250W 26 28 700C Rear Front Drive Engine eBike Kit XF07 XF08 XF08C XF15F XF15R

www.pswpower.com

Add a 36v battery

 

[Gizabif]

So I've been doing a little reading this morning and one thing I'm noticing everybody talking about is Watts and torque. But the opinions are so very mixed, some people say 250W is more than enough but others are saying it's an absolute waste of time.
Some are even staying that Watts don't matter anywhere near as much as torque does, but then they start arguing over what's legal and what isn't and from what I seem to be reading over 250watt seems to be diving into the potentially illegal area.

I am looking for one that stays within that legal limit I'm not looking for something I can speed around on and potentially get into bother.

Can anyone clear this up for me? My commute has a couple of inclines but I wouldn't say they're particularly steep, if riding a regular bike you might shift a gear getting up but nothing strenuous.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

So I've been doing a little reading this morning and one thing I'm noticing everybody talking about is Watts and torque. But the opinions are so very mixed, some people say 250W is more than enough but others are saying it's an absolute waste of time.
Some are even staying that Watts don't matter anywhere near as much as torque does, but then they start arguing over what's legal and what isn't and from what I seem to be reading over 250watt seems to be diving into the potentially illegal area.

I am looking for one that stays within that legal limit I'm not looking for something I can speed around on and potentially get into bother.

Can anyone clear this up for me? My commute has a couple of inclines but I wouldn't say they're particularly steep, if riding a regular bike you might shift a gear getting up but nothing strenuous.

Yes the legislation says a 250w rated motor and the motor must not assist over 25 km/h (15.5mph)

It's a good decision to stay within the legal limits. Nearly all the advice on here will be for bikes or kits that meet those regulations (or someone will reply that the suggestion is not legal !) A 250w rated motor can be very powerful. The legal limit applies to the motor rated power, in practice just about all e-bikes can generate substantially more power than that, perfectly legally and safely, it is the manufacturers nominal motor rating (stamped on the motor) that counts legally.

The most important thing is the maximum current that the controller allows. For a powerful legal ebike or kit this is usually 15-18 amps. This will be more than enough to assist you up quite steep hills for you weight

 

[sjpt]

Just to expand a tiny bit on Peter.Bridge's excellent comments above. The rating is 'rated continuous'. As he says it's the controller that determines the actual power input to the motor at any time (as long as the battery is capable of delivering). That will be at least 750w and will still be OK for many nominal 250w motors. A typical motor will run at 80% efficiency, though for a hub motor this will drop considerably at low speeds, may well be down to 50% at 8mph.

 

[Az.]

Add a 36v battery

View attachment 60343

You fell in a trap.


...you are forgiven as you were clearly half asleep.

It is not a good battery. One must be very careful when buying from PSW (or other Chinese shops). They have different mentality and they present goods differently. It takes some time to get used to their methods. You and me would probably describe each battery individually or group them by quality of cells etc. PSW puts batteries in one basket based on... shape
The battery you chose has Chinese cells. Actually only 13Ah have Chinese cells. All other batteries have Samsung cells. We want him to buy battery with Samsung cells (or LG - in different listings).

Accidentally I have 36V 13Ah battery from PSW (just different base). It is total crap. It is dangerous and poor design.

 

[Az.]

Can anyone clear this up for me?

Long story short - you can have very powerful and still legal bike.

...and you can have all the torque you need. Excellent bike, not mediocre.

 

[saneagle]

So I've been doing a little reading this morning and one thing I'm noticing everybody talking about is Watts and torque. But the opinions are so very mixed, some people say 250W is more than enough but others are saying it's an absolute waste of time.
Some are even staying that Watts don't matter anywhere near as much as torque does, but then they start arguing over what's legal and what isn't and from what I seem to be reading over 250watt seems to be diving into the potentially illegal area.

I am looking for one that stays within that legal limit I'm not looking for something I can speed around on and potentially get into bother.

Can anyone clear this up for me? My commute has a couple of inclines but I wouldn't say they're particularly steep, if riding a regular bike you might shift a gear getting up but nothing strenuous.

To be legal, the motor needs to be marked as rated at 250w by the manufacturer. If it has that marking, it's legal. There is no law about how much power it can make, nor how much power you can push it to.

It's output power that determines how well a motor drags you up hills. The more power you have, the faster you go up the hill. Torque determines how steep a hill you can go up.

Your average cheapo hub-motor motor bike runs at 36v and 15A, which is about 600w from the battery and about 420w at the back wheel. That's OK for a 75kg rider to get up pretty steep hills. Heavier riders need proportionally more power. Running the same motor at 48v and 15A or 36v and 20A is enough for most riders to get up most steep hills. 48v is always better because of the lower current. Just about all hub-motors can handle that power increase comfortably and many can go higher.

The 250w mentioned in listing is just for legal compliance. It has no relation to how much power the motor produces or can handle. Any statement from the manufacturer about torque is meaningless unless they state the current and voltage at which the torque was measured. Crank motors make a different torque in each gear. You can get 1000nm if you gear down enough.

 

[AndyBike]

I have four e-bikes. Love my last conversion. I wish I knew what to choose when I started. You don't have to convert few bikes, you can use our experience and go straight to the point.

Might want to let him know what bikes youve converted as a way of narrowing down what you've found best, and that has bosses for attaching batteries etc to.

@operavps
You could also look to helfrauds(halfords) as they do refurbs at below your budget,as well as fully guaranteed bikes at about your budget

https://www.halfords.com/bikes/electric-bikes/?srule=price_increase_rule

 

[Az.]

Might want to let him know what bikes youve converted as a way of narrowing down what you've found best, and that has bosses for attaching batteries etc to.

To tell the truth I was planning to point OP to Seneagle and Nealh camp and to use their experience. Bike should be tailored for individual person and it seems OP prefers to ride on roads.
For me off road is priority.