Hello all, thanks for the forum!

[Artstu]

You do know smoking and stopping up all night are bad for you.

 

[git-r]

You do know smoking and stopping up all night are bad for you.

lol!

I'll quit one of these days

Do enjoy a nice packet of optimax super though...

 

[git-r]

There's an electric bike shop in Dartford (a bit of a distance for you) who have a range of brands available to try - might be well worth a visit.

Visited this place today and what a nice bunch of people they are

Tried two different versions of ebike:

A 1k batribike with a throttle on the left and a 3k+ full suspension Haibike.

Only a very short test so nothing really conclusive but can't say I was that taken with either. Although I did like the throttle that the Batribike had and the quality of the Haibike was excellent. The hydraulic brakes felt so much better than on my road bike. It was much lighter than I was expecting too.

They had lots of other models on display but unfortunately no Kalkhoff's which I would like to see.

I spoke to someone from 50 cycles about Kalkhoff's who was very helpful but didn't get time to make it to their shop. Will try and get there tue

 

[Woosh]

May I suggest the Woosh Krieger?
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?krieger
We are in Southend.

 

[Kudoscycles]

Git-r.....if you are going to visit Kalkhoff near Richmond it is not far to our London showrooms at Hampton Wick. But they are normally closed on Tuesday,maybe you can make a special appointment or make it another day....the contact at LEBC is Tom Saunders ,tel 07841 412199.
At 50 cycles you can view the Kalkhoff range,lovely bikes generally considered the Mercedes of the e-bike world. At LEBC you can view KTM,Raleigh and Kudos. KTM is generally considered the BMW of the e-bike world,Raleigh have the Motus and the Kudos Rapide with the powerful BPM motor,might suit,the Rapide is due to come onto special at £1295.00 and we have ex demo bike,which is almost new at £1033.00Anything above 10Ah will do your range,provided you put in average rider power and no climbing mountains.
LEBC have a lovely test track in Bushy Park,all traffic free,about 4km,part of Hampton Court Park,it's a lovely place to ride a bike-Sigma Sport is next door,a wonderful bike shop.
Hope that helps.
KudosDave

 

[git-r]

Woosh - thanks and yes I've seen your bikes and the krieger looks good. My only concern is whether the battery would do my 25 mile combined hilly commute mainly on the throttle?

Is the throttle a half twist system?

Also, for off road use, is there a way to derestrict your bikes and in doing so would there be any implications for the warranty?


Kudos - thanks - will definitely come and take a look

 

[Woosh]

yes. The battery on the Krieger is 36V 15AH, 540WH. Under ideal conditions and riding at uder the legal 15mph on pedal assist, you would put in roughly 4WH per mile through pedalling and the motor 8WH per mile. On throttle alone, under ideal conditions, you would get about 45 miles. The range will be less with headwinds and hills. The throttle is on the left grip, half width, half twist. We do not support off-roading and cannot guarantee the bike if you derestrict it.

 

[git-r]

Thanks for this

It sounds good and the price is half that of the kalkhoff.

It'd be sharing the commute with my road bike but potentially could be doing 125 miles a week. My current road bike has been faultless over the last year but it was expensive. My previous road bike cost about half but kept on breaking and was hugely inconvenient and expensive in taxi fares as a result.

My point being; I really don't want any problems, would rather spend more and have something reliable - not saying your bikes wouldn't be reliable but could you give me any assurances that there has been some durability testing with the Kreiger over the sort of mileage I'd be looking to travel?
(Please don't take that the wrong way - it's just I've been burnt like this before and really don't want to make the same mistake again)

Having read some of the reports here about Kalkhoffs I have my concerns about their reliability too, but the dealer isn't that far. Also, I've read the speed limiter allows for 17mph of assistance - this is a huge draw for me.

Thanks again

yes. The battery on the Krieger is 36V 15AH, 540WH. Under ideal conditions and riding at uder the legal 15mph on pedal assist, you would put in roughly 4WH per mile through pedalling and the motor 8WH per mile. On throttle alone, under ideal conditions, you would get about 45 miles. The range will be less with headwinds and hills. The throttle is on the left grip, half width, half twist. We do not support off-roading and cannot guarantee the bike if you derestrict it.

 

[Woosh]

Kalkhoffs used to be bullet proof. We have been trying very hard to bring out sensible solutions for the commuter, however, a lot of quality parts are only available in Taiwan, not China, so our hands are tied. Even now, I don't think the Krieger can compete with Kalkhoffs on build quality. Bikes like the Krieger and the Big Bear are designed and built with the commuters in mind. We equip them for all weather riding and reduced maintenance right from the start. A fair number of members have bought these two for their daily commutes in the last three years and their sales are still going strong. The Big Bear has the highest customer satisfaction, the Krieger is not far behind. I hope you'll buy one of ours but I do understand if you don't.

 

[git-r]

Great response - thank you.

Do you have any results you could share of development/testing other than the customers you mention?

 

[JohnCade]

Woosh - thanks and yes I've seen your bikes and the krieger looks good. My only concern is whether the battery would do my 25 mile combined hilly commute mainly on the throttle?

Is the throttle a half twist system?

Also, for off road use, is there a way to derestrict your bikes and in doing so would there be any implications for the warranty?


Kudos - thanks - will definitely come and take a look

But Kalkhoffs don’t have throttles. Which makes the comparison a bit odd. Unless you get hold of an old stock bike none will have full speed throttles is a few weeks. Not even sure about the old stock bike having one either.

 

[git-r]

Thanks John, yes I'd noticed that with a newer one I'd have to be peddling. From the little that I've learnt it would appear that I could adjust settings with the impulse system to accommodate my wishes to do as little as possible. I've also read that the motor is more like 1000w and with the 17amp/hour battery it'd be the longest laster..

Ideally my requirements would be the kalkhoff battery and motor, the woosh price and the ease of altering of a wing.. And of course the reliability of a standard Japanese car.

If that makes any sense?

But Kalkhoffs don’t have throttles. Which makes the comparison a bit odd. Unless you get hold of an old stock bike none will have full speed throttles is a few weeks. Not even sure about the old stock bike having one either.

 

[RobF]

Thanks John, yes I'd noticed that with a newer one I'd have to be peddling. From the little that I've learnt it would appear that I could adjust settings with the impulse system to accommodate my wishes to do as little as possible. I've also read that the motor is more like 1000w and with the 17amp/hour battery it'd be the longest laster..

Ideally my requirements would be the kalkhoff battery and motor, the woosh price and the ease of altering of a wing.. And of course the reliability of a standard Japanese car.

If that makes any sense?

Your are over thinking this.

Your experience with the road bikes will be mirrored by ebikes.

The more expensive one is likely to be more reliable.

But it's still a crystal ball job.

As a commuter, reliability is most important.

Kalkhoffs do seem a bit more hit and miss than they used to be.

If I were you, I would buy a quality Bosch powered bike and just get on and use it.

Lots of makes to choose from, KTM are keenly priced, as are Cube.

 

[Woosh]

Great response - thank you.

Do you have any results you could share of development/testing other than the customers you mention?

What would you like to know? the most fragile component on an e-bike is the battery, followed by rolling components (pedals, cranks, bottom bracket, derailleur) and spokes. I am pleased to say that our customers are very satisfied with the level of service that we provide.

 

[JohnCade]

Your are over thinking this.

Your experience with the road bikes will be mirrored by ebikes.

The more expensive one is likely to be more reliable.

But it's still a crystal ball job.

As a commuter, reliability is most important.

Kalkhoffs do seem a bit more hit and miss than they used to be.

If I were you, I would buy a quality Bosch powered bike and just get on and use it.

Lots of makes to choose from, KTM are keenly priced, as are Cube.

All bikes have some problems, and Bosch has had motor and battery problems over the past year or so too. There is a thread about faults with a Haibike just up from here. Electrical and frame problems.

Kalkhoff had a batch of bad batteries a year or so ago, which they seem to be over, and the Impulse 11 - now superseded I think - had internal issues with some owners. Probably caused by the power war between manufactures and it having almost twice the power of the Impulse 1 and the older Bosch. But a few people posting with problems out of many more using their bikes without them doesn’t mean a brand is unreliable.

Actually Yamaha motors seem to be the most reliable if we just use the reported faults on this forum. But that isn’t a very good way of judging the number of faults say, per hundred users out in the real world.

 

[trex]

...
But that isn’t a very good way of judging the number of faults say, per hundred users out in the real world.

or per 10,000 miles. This is the kind of mileage where writing off the old bike is not painful.

 

[git-r]

Thanks Rob - kind of you to comment.

I do over think things but I very much come from this school. I work hard for my money and can't afford to waste any!

Good point about having my experience mirrored from road bike to ebikes which I've taken on board

Agreed about reliability - the last time my old road bike broke it was just over a year old. Without going into detail, the shop I bought it from were fantastic and gave me a full refund (thankfully only a couple of miles away). The bike had cost £600 - the exact same amount that I'd been told by numerous experts and cycling friends that should get me a decent bike. It had probably covered less than 3k miles in just over a year.

Sounds great to have had the use of a bike free for a year but it frequently let me down and the cost of taxis' and time were completely unacceptable. Maintenance/repairs were also expensive.

My next bike at a cost of £1050 (retail £1300) has had no mechanical problems whatsoever in the same time and approximate mileage.

It's possible that because I'm big and heavy, and possibly slightly fitter than the average person I'm hard on bikes, but, worry there's a complete lack of testing in the bike/ebike world for the heavier rider. The Woosh website is really impressive in this respect and weight is SO important when fitting something to another something that moves. I'm not sure how may manufacturer's take this into account.

Too trendy with the lycra brigade to be anything over 70kg's - probably part of the reason bike manufacturers don't bother with fatties like me.. !

Thanks all for the comments, really helpful and will reply to the other posts later..

Cheers All

Your are over thinking this.

Your experience with the road bikes will be mirrored by ebikes.

The more expensive one is likely to be more reliable.

But it's still a crystal ball job.

As a commuter, reliability is most important.

Kalkhoffs do seem a bit more hit and miss than they used to be.

If I were you, I would buy a quality Bosch powered bike and just get on and use it.

Lots of makes to choose from, KTM are keenly priced, as are Cube.