Giant Twist - top of the range - RARE for sale

[mercman696]

Top of the Range Giant Twist for sale. Mens Large frame - suspension forks - front dynamo hub - 4 speed twist change - puncture resistant tyres - see the pictures for more details. Comes with all the manual and charge - low mileage- around 500 in 3 years. The highest spec machine that Giant made - shimano, nexus, all the best components. A real collectors classic £900. East Grinstead, West Sussex or ME195SH near maidstone collection. Will deliver within 50 miles for £30.
See it on flickr.com
giant ebikes (3) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
giant ebikes (4) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
giant ebikes (5) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

It comes with very high marks from the most well respected magazines - A to B. Have a look what they say about it on http://www.atob.org.uk/Electric_Buyers'_Guide.html#Giant

 

[darrellt]

£900?

Maybe im reading this wrong but are you asking £900 for 3 year old Giant Twist that cost £900 when it was new?, If so ive never owned a bike in my life with no depreciation!

 

[mercman696]

the range started at £900

You are reading it wrong - the Giant Lafree range began at £900. They had 2 lower spec models with a more basic spec and at the very top end was this one large frame model with all the bells and whistles. I recall the price was £1395.
Thats £500 depreciation.

Let me know if you want clarification.

 

[flecc]

Sorry mercman696, but that isn't the top of the range bike, which never had the 4 speed Nexus. The top of the range at nowhere near the price you mention was the Lafree Comfort ST, initially with the SRAM 5 speed but later with the SRAM 7 speed hub. Your model is the Comfort GTS/LDS in it's earlier guise with the Nexus 4 before Shimano discontinued that hub, Giant then replacing it with the SRAM 5 speed hub in the later version of the Comfort GTS/LDS.
The price of your model was £1099. The top of the range ST model was £1149.

Since at three years old the battery will be virtually spent, it's effectively a bike without battery needing a new one at £250. You are selling it at £51 more than it would be without battery when new.

The full Lafree and Twist history is here on my site.
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[mercman696]

Giant Twist price revised

Thanks for the work that you do in the Forum Flecc - my Giant definitely does have the nexus hub.

My asking price is based on the well respected editorial advice in the A to B magazine who suggest that it was a good buy at less than £900. Check out http://www.atob.org.uk/Electric_Buyers'_Guide.html#Giant for what they say.

What's your view? I am open to offers.

Thanks

 

[flecc]

Yes, I knew it was the Nexus at a glance on the photos. To be frank my view on a fair price will probably shock you. At three years old the battery must be discounted from it, and the bike is perhaps worth half new price nett of battery at that age, that's £425, to which the new owner would have to add £250 for a new battery making £675 to get back to new range of about 18 to 20 miles.

I wouldn't take any notice of the prediction of price premiums now, things move on. Since then other bikes have caught up and compete effectively with the Lafree Twist series. In addition, there are models now from Biketech and Falstrad using the same Panasonic unit in it's latest more powerful guise.

I have a Twist in top condition fitted with the brand new and unused SRAM 5 speed hub used in the top models, Marathon Plus tyres, and a battery recently recelled with new larger cells adding 23% to the range. If selling it, with it there would be a complete new spare replacement Panasonic unit, sprockets, the lot, and the whole would go for £500 maximum.

One note by the way. That A to B material you used is copyright, and it's an offence to use it without permission, which I know David Henshaw would never give for this purpose. For your own sake it would be best if you deleted it from your advert, just giving a link to it on the A to B website which is permissible.
.

 

[aaannndddyyy]

Hi, I have seen the Giant Lafree go for very high prices on ebay you could try there for this sort of money.
In my opinion A to B magazine review of the Giant Lafree has inflated the second hand prices, I have been looking at buying one of these bikes for a month or so I have found six for sale (not that rare) its described as a thoroughbred, highly-strung, No kidding The Panasonic charger supplied for the Lafree Twist series has been notoriously unreliable, A 24v 6.5 amp 156wh Battery under powered instead of the 36v 10+amp 360wh of todays market , Not made anymore so replacment parts are getting harder to find and more expensive, peddle sencer only.
Dont get me wrong I like the Lafree and still intend to get one but not at the prices people are asking on the reviews based of one mag.
Bikes owned, Wisper 905e,
Heinzmann kit mtb,
and from 16.00 houres today ? (ebike back of friends mothers shed).

 

[flecc]

Dealers who had one or two left in stock were quite sensible aaannndddyyy . I've heard of some people being able to buy new ones after the discontinuation at discounts of £50 to £100, but they all seem to have dried up in the UK now. There's still some left in places on the Continent and plenty in the USA, not much good to us here of course.
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[ITSPETEINIT]

The BEST

After we've (the Forum) talked up this bike, surely the price is "what the market will bear".

If someone wants one (where else can you get such a specification?) you have to pay the price.

Pity I'm encumbered with two Sprints now.
Peter

 

[flecc]

If someone wants one (where else can you get such a specification?) you have to pay the price.

Peter

Vita Electric are the agents for the Biketech Flyer with similar excellent spec and using the same Panasonic unit. I understand their range starts at £1400, new with full warranty of course.

Running the Twist website as I do, and hearing of many owners troubles in consequence, I have a different view these days on the value of that complex specification. Hub motors do have an enviable reliability record due to their simplicity, numerous examples online of very high mileages and still running perfectly at ten years old make them a better option now in my view.

I think five or six of the Giant owners in the forum have Twist series bikes, two of them have hit serious problems recently, one needing a complete new unit at £450, one a full unit stripdown and a third had a lesser problem. Three out of five/six is not a good average, and I'm getting plenty of independent contact from my site with similar problems. A to B magazine are also experiencing similar contacts.

Mine is the view from someone who only rode a Twist for three and a half years before switching to hub motors, so hardly biased against them originally. Experience has begun to change my mind on their value now.
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