Hi everyone, I've been browsing this forum in recent days and it seems like there are a lot of friendly people with helpful information and experience to share so I thought perhaps people would have some useful perspectives on what sort of bike would suit my needs.
Background is I'm a gardener working in London and I do nearly all of my work by bike and when I very occasionally need a van I rent one for the day. I've occasionally considered getting a van but doing everything by bike is better for the planet, in London usually quicker, cheaper running costs, and also avoid endless issues with parking and LNTs.
I bring all my tools with me on a Burley Travoy trailer:
very manoeuvrable and can take a decent load and copes well with longer tools. I'm currently dragging it around with my 1970s Carlton Gran Tour which is in desperate need of some TLC. I had been thinking about spending a load of money on new wheels, deraileur, brakes, etc. and then had started to wonder about converting it (looking at a swytch kit).
Then I thought perhaps I'd be better off just getting an Ebike and the slowly doing up the Carlton as a relaxed project, on the cheap by buying used parts and keeping it unnelectrified (or perhaps converting it with a kit from Woosh after the rest of the bike is sorted out). As I use my bike for work almost every day it would be useful to have two for when something goes wrong with one
I started off looking at cross frame electric bikes, somewhat in a similar vein to my old Carlton tourer but slowly I've been drawn to the idea of a folder. It would be possible for me to store an extra folder in my flat (even though I understand they don't fold down that small) and when I'm working I wouldn't need to lock it to a lamp post outside my clients' houses as I doubt it is bulkier or heavier than a fully loaded trailer which I regularly carry through clients houses to their back garden. It also strikes me that although a folder doesn't look ideal for pulling a load at first glance, it seems to me that the smaller wheel size would in fact be better at accelerating when the traffic lights turn green and pulling a load up hills (my two main motivations for wanting to electrify). It would also have the added advantage of having a pannier rack low enough to have panniers that don't interfere with the trailer which would be very useful.
I'm not interested in going especially fast, I'm 5'10 and a little over 12 stone, a full trailer load (including trailer) would be about 32kg but most often more like 20kg or so, plus perhaps a few kg in the pannier. I would ideally want something with a pretty decent range (comfortably doing above 20 miles with a load and some hills), and torque sensor.
I was looking at a Wisper 806 with a larger battery and torque sensor but then I saw that Tern makes bikes that seem more specifically designed for moving cargo on a small electric bike.
Are there any other good options I've overlooked? Does a folder (or at least something with 20" wheels) make sense for my use case? Also, does anybody body have any advice about buying second hand. I've seen some whispers in what seem to be near mint condition on eBay for considerably less than they cost new. Presumably it might not be possible to transfer the warranty but if you're saving ~£800 it seems like that may well cover anything that might go wrong? And if nothing goes wrong you're laughing.
Anyway, this post is already turning into an essay so I'll just finish by saying I'd be very interested in anybodies take on what sort of bike I should go for.
Background is I'm a gardener working in London and I do nearly all of my work by bike and when I very occasionally need a van I rent one for the day. I've occasionally considered getting a van but doing everything by bike is better for the planet, in London usually quicker, cheaper running costs, and also avoid endless issues with parking and LNTs.
I bring all my tools with me on a Burley Travoy trailer:
very manoeuvrable and can take a decent load and copes well with longer tools. I'm currently dragging it around with my 1970s Carlton Gran Tour which is in desperate need of some TLC. I had been thinking about spending a load of money on new wheels, deraileur, brakes, etc. and then had started to wonder about converting it (looking at a swytch kit).
Then I thought perhaps I'd be better off just getting an Ebike and the slowly doing up the Carlton as a relaxed project, on the cheap by buying used parts and keeping it unnelectrified (or perhaps converting it with a kit from Woosh after the rest of the bike is sorted out). As I use my bike for work almost every day it would be useful to have two for when something goes wrong with one
I started off looking at cross frame electric bikes, somewhat in a similar vein to my old Carlton tourer but slowly I've been drawn to the idea of a folder. It would be possible for me to store an extra folder in my flat (even though I understand they don't fold down that small) and when I'm working I wouldn't need to lock it to a lamp post outside my clients' houses as I doubt it is bulkier or heavier than a fully loaded trailer which I regularly carry through clients houses to their back garden. It also strikes me that although a folder doesn't look ideal for pulling a load at first glance, it seems to me that the smaller wheel size would in fact be better at accelerating when the traffic lights turn green and pulling a load up hills (my two main motivations for wanting to electrify). It would also have the added advantage of having a pannier rack low enough to have panniers that don't interfere with the trailer which would be very useful.
I'm not interested in going especially fast, I'm 5'10 and a little over 12 stone, a full trailer load (including trailer) would be about 32kg but most often more like 20kg or so, plus perhaps a few kg in the pannier. I would ideally want something with a pretty decent range (comfortably doing above 20 miles with a load and some hills), and torque sensor.
I was looking at a Wisper 806 with a larger battery and torque sensor but then I saw that Tern makes bikes that seem more specifically designed for moving cargo on a small electric bike.
Are there any other good options I've overlooked? Does a folder (or at least something with 20" wheels) make sense for my use case? Also, does anybody body have any advice about buying second hand. I've seen some whispers in what seem to be near mint condition on eBay for considerably less than they cost new. Presumably it might not be possible to transfer the warranty but if you're saving ~£800 it seems like that may well cover anything that might go wrong? And if nothing goes wrong you're laughing.
Anyway, this post is already turning into an essay so I'll just finish by saying I'd be very interested in anybodies take on what sort of bike I should go for.
