Have I missed anything?

[JohnCade]

It looks like a standard Dutch style motor which are not very powerful. The battery is not very big either and won’t get all that far in the real world using high power. The two mentioned above have the most powerful hub motors and will get you up almost any hill. If you search for reviews there are plenty here for the BB and many here have the Ezee too.

Crossed with the above.

 

[Nealh]

The size of the geared hub motors. The Ezee motor on the Ezee Sprint and the BPM motor on the Big Bear LS are about 50% bigger, heavier and more powerful than the average geared hub motors.
Trust me on this, these bikes climb almost any hill in the UK.

Coupled together with a nice 20amp controller to make use of that power.

 

[Lancslass]

the Diamond Pro has the smaller 8-Fun motor and smaller capacity battery compared to the Big Bear LS. Other than that, it's a good bike.

So smaller motor means less grunt up the hills i'm guessing, and therefore not as suitable?

 

[Lancslass]

So smaller motor means less grunt up the hills i'm guessing, and therefore not as suitable?

Sorry - I hadn't read the other replies before asking that!

 

[Kudoscycles]

Lancslass.
Unfortunately I think you may be asking for too many 'must haves' and really are going to compromise on some features.
No legal crank drive or hub drive pedelec will go up a 12% hill without some rider input,you will need minimum 500 watt to achieve that, and you realise that is illegal as a bicycle.
The best legal hillclimbers are the BPM hub motored bikes such as the Woosh Big Bear,the Kudos Tornado,Sonata,Arriba and Rapide,the Oxygen bikes and KTM Panasonic hub bikes. I am told that the latest Kalkhoff crank drives are good up hills.
Throttles.....some of the Kudos bikes have take-off throttles ,working up to 4 mph,full speed throttles (up to 15 mph) will be illegal on bikes bought after 1 January 2016,unless type approved but as yet I cannot see how these e-bikes can be type approved. But do not be under the impression that with a legal e-bike you can twist and go up hills,without rider input,that is just not possible.
The Kudos Eiger is crank drive with a TCM motor,the motor is built at Tianjin university,I named it TCM whilst waiting for the ash cloud to go and sitting in Shanghai airport,this motor is not as powerful as the BPM hub,others use the same motor.
You started your post wanting Dutch style bikes but these tend to use the old SWX motor,Holland is flat so hill climbing is not a priority,these motors are not that powerful.
Hydraulic brakes require less effort to retard downhill.
OK,you need to look for 26" wheeled bikes,I assume step through,with a throttle,BPM motored,hydraulic brakes,probably a 46cm seat post....my Kudos Sonata would do most of your needs,but it has only a set off throttle,but you will still need some rider power input up steep hills....maybe others can recommend alternatives.
KudosDave

 

[shemozzle999]

Myself and hubby are looking for a Dutch style step through and a straight handlebar crossbar respectively.
We live at the bottom of a 3 mile hill in Lancashire which has 1in 8 or 12% steep bits in new money.
Use will be leisure only. I have a very dodgy chronic back and hubby is 63 years old with similar problems.
I have done a lot of reading up, using this forum in particular ( for which, thanks).
Our 'must haves' are mid crank drive motor and the frame styles already mentioned. Cost of 1k or less. A throttle. 26" wheels as neither of us are big.
Our desireables are for me, battery pack over back wheel in a rack and for hubby, battery on the frame. 15ah battery if possible.
In fact the two bikes that we want are a Woosh Santana CD and a Woosh Sport CD or a Kudos Eiger. The problem is that we are a 500 mile round trip away from Woosh and we don't want to buy blind. We want to buy before 1st January to comply with the new throttle legislation - I do voluntary work as part of the Judiciary and can't mess with the law!
Are there any other bikes that I have missed, and that we can look at nearer home?
Any other ideas?

Over budget, no throttle but looks a bargain:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KTM-HYBRID-EBIKE-MACINA-ALFINE-8-TOP-OF-THE-RANGE-EX-DISPLAY-ELECTRIC-BIKE-/231752568681?hash=item35f5878f69:g:2coAAOSwsFpWRy0w

Old review here:

https://www.electricbike.com/eshopper/

 

[Kudoscycles]

I wouldn't worry much about the throttle situation. You may have to put up with no throttle for a couple of months until the manufacturers get their bikes legally type approved.

Trex....to be honest I haven't investigated yet to get type approval on these e-bikes but the initial reaction from SVA is that type approval mechanism will not be immediately available,do you know otherwise?
KudosDave

 

[Kudoscycles]

So smaller motor means less grunt up the hills i'm guessing, and therefore not as suitable?

It's not just the larger diameter of the BPM motor that makes it the better hill climber,this motor also has higher torque at lower road speed allowing you to access that power. The SWX motor starts to give max torque at about 8 mph whereas the BPM starts to give max torque at 4 mph....that makes a big difference on steep hills at low speed.
KudosDave

 

[Kudoscycles]

Coupled together with a nice 20amp controller to make use of that power.

Nealh....you naughty boy....you know that adding a 20 amp controller would make it illegal as a bicycle.
KudosDave

 

[EddiePJ]

Over budget, no throttle but looks a bargain:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KTM-HYBRID-EBIKE-MACINA-ALFINE-8-TOP-OF-THE-RANGE-EX-DISPLAY-ELECTRIC-BIKE-/231752568681?hash=item35f5878f69:g:2coAAOSwsFpWRy0w

Look at the weight though.

 

[Nealh]

Nealh....you naughty boy....you know that adding a 20 amp controller would make it illegal as a bicycle.
KudosDave

It's good to be naughty some times , any way rules are there to broken .

 

[shemozzle999]

Look at the weight though.

But more hill climbing power with 24" wheels

 

[Alan Quay]

But more hill climbing power with 24" wheels

How do you figure that?

 

[Yamdude]

That is well lardy at 31 kilos..... Jeeze, i'd hate to run out of battery power on that !

 

[anotherkiwi]

Old review here:

https://www.electricbike.com/eshopper/

From which I quote:

"One possible reason for this is that the United States has a 750-watt limit which makes systems like this decidedly unexciting. With a 250-watt boost you have only a small advantage over a bicycle, and cannot compete with a car. "

We need to get the yank journalists on a 250W bike in European conditions: "Exciting"? What about "cheap, practical and longer range than 750W". i.e. more useful in daily use while respecting the law which limits top speed to 25 kph.
"Small advantage over a bicycle" - ask the lycras if they enjoy being passed on hills buy women and men over 60.
"Cannot compete with a car" WTF? It is bicycle, it is competing with other bicycles! It is easier/cheaper to park/run/insure/whatever than a car

 

[Lancslass]

Thanks for all your replies guys. I am getting the larger hub motor idea now but am still perplexed about the throttle requirement. What's coming through is that test rides are vital for us. It's going to involve a lot of travelling around because few, if any of the main suppliers are around here in Lancashire which means I'm probably going to miss the 1st January throttle deadline. I contacted one of the electric bike agents up here , u2cycle, and they are very low on bikes in preparation for the new legislation so I seem to be butting up against dead ends all the time!

 

[JohnCade]

Thanks for all your replies guys. I am getting the larger hub motor idea now but am still perplexed about the throttle requirement. What's coming through is that test rides are vital for us. It's going to involve a lot of travelling around because few, if any of the main suppliers are around here in Lancashire which means I'm probably going to miss the 1st January throttle deadline. I contacted one of the electric bike agents up here , u2cycle, and they are very low on bikes in preparation for the new legislation so I seem to be butting up against dead ends all the time!

If it was me I would buy a Big Bear from Woosh and try it. As long you are very careful with it and only go a very short distance in the dry, and it can be sent back in the same condition it arrived in you will get your money back if you don’t like it. I believe trex wrote that they will give you all your money back less a fairly small amount if it has been used and can only be sold again as such.

By the time you have traveled everywhere the cost will mount up and a test ride will only tell you so much anyway. Woosh has sold a lot of BBs to members here and almost all the buyers are people like you, and they mostly love them.

 

[Nealh]

Thanks for all your replies guys. I am getting the larger hub motor idea now but am still perplexed about the throttle requirement. What's coming through is that test rides are vital for us. It's going to involve a lot of travelling around because few, if any of the main suppliers are around here in Lancashire which means I'm probably going to miss the 1st January throttle deadline. I contacted one of the electric bike agents up here , u2cycle, and they are very low on bikes in preparation for the new legislation so I seem to be butting up against dead ends all the time!

As long a you order the bike before the cut off date you will be allowed one to work up to 15.5mph after that it will 6mph any current stock sold after that will have the throttle removed or unplugged to comply. The Big Bear is quite impressive if a little heavy I tried one 18mths ago at Redbridge and it does climb and pull well and handles very nicely.

 

[Kudoscycles]

LancsLass.....how tall are you and your husband?
You are starting to realise that e-bikes are not widely available for testing.
I think my Kudos Sonata is the ideal bike for both of you and it is a very high quality bike,the BPM motor is in the right place (in the rear) and not heavy at 23kgs...we make an offer to send a bike out to test ride,if you dont like it you pay for the return carriage of £27.00. But we must be sure it is the right size for you.
Dont worry about the throttle,you will soon realise that a small rotation of the pedals produces instant power,the set off throttle is useful starting on a hill.
You will not find a better hillclimber that is legal.
It is priced at £1162.50 plus vat,delivery free.
Please check my website for full specification.
KudosDave

 

[ajh2001]

Lancslass I share your pain!!! (Pos quite literally sometimes as I have a dodgy back too!!!) Recently I was in a similar situation, once I'd decided against building my own which was an initial preference.

We are not far from ebikes direct so took a trip down there, to discover that the bike I'd narrowed it down to was too noisy, though fairly powerful and the others I tried didn't suit either. Luckily we're not too far from Southend either so we offloaded the kids and took a trip there after reading many positive comments and recommendations on here! Trying the different bikes definitely helped the decision making process.

I tried the Big bear ls and the Santana CD and was very impressed with both - way more powerful (on the flat) than any I'd tried before. It has been a difficult decision as both would definitely work for me. In the end the only things that swung it towards the Santana CD were that without the battery the bike felt more balanced back to front, for use with our bike rack, and the frame size. The Santana CD is an 18" whereas the Big Bear is 20" and felt oversized for me. I am 5'6", my usual bike is a 19" frame so I didn't expect to notice too much difference with these two bikes but I was definitely more comfortable on the slightly smaller frame of the Santana CD.

So roll on the 20th November, as the Santana CD isn't expected to be in stock until then and I'm champing at the bit to get riding again!

I hope you manage to decide soon too!