Was just looking at electric bike reviews, stumbled across this site and thought I'd join in. My name is PestoftheWest and I live on the edge of the Derbyshire Peak District, within about quarter of a mile of the park's boundary. I'm a married guy with 2 teenage boys and a beautiful wife some years younger than me.(I know, I've been lucky, I had to try a few before finding this one though). So, I have to keep myself fit to be a good Dad and husband. Most things "outdoors" are me - although I'm not so keen on climbing even though we have some wonderful rocks and crags within 5 minutes drive of here.
My big thing is cycling. Always has been, always will be. From a young age my bicycle was the key to my freedom. IT used to frustrate the hell out of me when I was a kid and my mates were sat indoors on a rainy day watching some "Carry On" movie and didn't want to come out to play. I have never been fond of television, not then, not now. I'd prefer to be outside doing things. As a kid I'd be out on my bike on scrambling trails on the local tip or embarking on some 40 mile trip from home to Castleton and back. A bike ride to many of my mates was riding around the local estate or going down to the rec. I had one friend, like me, who wanted to venture further and from the age of about 11 years old me and my mate Barry were knocking up 40 mile return trips - often to Derbyshire beauty spots - like Castleton, Hope, Hathersage and the like. If you don't know this part of the world then, really, you should. It is stunningly beautiful and has the most fantastic range of landscapes and trails, whether it's to plod along a disused railway track with family and have tea and scones along the way, or whether your thing is something a bit more white-knuckle and off-road out on the peaks. Or maybe you are a road biker and want to try some of those long open stretches of quiet country road that you saw around Sheffield when the Tour De France came here 2 years ago? God's own county for sure!
Anyhow, I must restrain myself because I'm sounding like an advert for the Peak District Tourist Board...back to the cycling...
So, I've spent quite a lot of time living and working abroad in recent years. My last assignment was in Switzerland where I worked in both Basel and Zurich. One of the first things I did when in Basel was to buy myself a bike (from over the border in Germany because it's a damn sight cheaper!). I spent £1500 Euro on a commuting bike, known as a "Bergamont". Absolute top, top quality bike. I used that every day to get to work when in Basel. I still have the bike now, it's 2 years old but like new as I haven't ridden it for about a year since coming home - it's just not quite the right kind of bike for the hills around here - but it's a brilliant city/commuting bike. I've been thinking of selling it. It's one of several bikes that I own and to be honest, it's the best quality one of the lot. I have a full suspension Trek carbon mountain bike (that cost me over £2k when I bought it 10 years ago), a Specialized hybrid bike, an ancient Raleigh Road Ace road bike, a Kona mountain bike, a Whyte mountain bike, and kids bikes of course.
My time in Switzerland opened my eyes to e-bikes. They are very popular over there and my journey to and from work was often punctuated with someone burning me off at the lights on one of these. It was probably during a stay in Zurich that I first became interested in them. The lady I was staying with used an electric bike to cycle the 25 miles to work each day. Zurich is pretty hilly! but she said she loved her electric bike because
it meant she could get to work comfortably without needing to shower when she got there. It started me thinking...(not about her in the shower, although that did cross my mind, but about e-bikes you see?).
A few weeks ago, back home in the UK, I visited my local bike shop with a view to getting myself a decent road bike and trying to recapture some of that fitness from my youth. It was during that visit that my interest in e-bikes was furthered. When I told the guy in the shop that I wanted a road bike for fitness, he said he was a keen road biker too, but the best thing he'd done was to buy an electric bike. That got me thinking further and started to erode this common misconception that electric bikes were for old folks whose legs don't work properly!
He went on to explain how you can get various levels of assistance from the electric motor, so you are still getting a damn good work out - but you can go further and faster and see more! I liked the sound of that!
I decided to take a couple of e-bikes out for a ride, to test them out. As I can only ride one bike at a time I brought my eldest son along with me and we hired the 2 bikes for a whole day.
The first bike was the Haibike XDuro mountain bike. Top of the range job - sells at about £6k. The other bike, also a Haibike, was a fat bike, the Haibike Fat Six - about £3500. We swopped over during the day but both came to the same conclusion - the Fat Bike was amazing. (The XDuro, we both thought, was disappointing - it's a very heavy bike, you wouldn't want to be pedalling that if the battery had gone flat! But also, it was ergonomically a bit uncomfortable - a kind of weird cycling position). The Fat Six was like feeling you are on a big powerful motorcycle, but actually it's light enough to pedal it even without the motor switched on. It feels very stable and comfortable and the Bosch digital display screen is really clever. Long story cut short, we cycled 48 miles in the few hours that we were out. Had a lovely lunch at Hassop Cafe, near Bakewell, then returned the bikes to the shop, wishing we could keep the Fat Bike in particular.
The 2016 models will be better though as they are improving the lifespan of the battery apparently. Currently it's only good for about 3 hours. I've kind of got it in my head that I'll make a move for one of these in Feb, when the new models come into the shops or on-line. I might need to offload the Bergamont to make room for it though/justify having yet another bike to my wife!
Now, a final word if I may on the subject of Fat Bikes, because I saw a thread on here where one guy is asking if you think there will be a big demand for them in the UK - and most of you are saying "No" and passing this off as a "fad". I think you're wrong you know - very wrong in fact - and when I read the details of what some of you are saying it occurred to me that there's a lot of misconceptions out there about Fat Bikes - just like there still are about e-bikes in general. I'm a businessman, a marketer for want of a better description. One of the things I do for a living is to anticipate future market trends - I do it at quite a high level and work for some of the world's largest multinational companies - nothing to do with bikes I admit - but the principles are the same. Let me tell you what I think will happen in the bicycle market...
I think the current "stigma" that some attach to e-bikes will be gone in the next 5 years and e-bikes will be popular with all age groups, even for kids. (I also think prices will fall a lot too). The reason why I think this is because we are an increasingly "leisure oriented" society and as a society are becoming more health conscious. One of the things that puts people off taking regular exercise is the effort it takes - and cycling, if you've never regularly cycled, is really quite difficult at first. E-bikes make the transition from armchair to saddle a lot easier - and they are fun! But back to the Fat Bikes specifically...
If you've never ridden on one then you've really no idea how great they actually feel! It's like floating on air, but they feel really safe and stable. I took my hire one through a variety of terrains - ripping through the local woods, flying over tree stumps and through gravel pits, over rocks and crags, through streams and on road too. Some of the comments on the other thread about Fat Bikes only being useful if you live where it's sandy or boggy are really misguided imo. These bikes are such brilliant fun to ride - and you can ride them anywhere. They are great on road, amazing off road and brilliant on hills. Around town they just look the part I think. But if you don't like people stopping and staring at your bike then don't buy one! Because they will at the moment.
However, in a few years time they will become very popular I'm sure. Maybe they won't exactly take over from other types of e-bike, but if I was in a position to bring some stock into this country now I'd surely do it - because it's a chance to establish yourself as one of the first suppliers of these amazing bikes.
Mind you - for me quality matters. I wouldn't buy an e-bike, or a Fat Bike, just because it was "cheap". "Buy cheap - buy twice" is a mantra I live by. I'd want to know a lot more about the frame and type of components and the quality of the motor etc. Unless some new manufacturers turn up with a better offering I think I'll be buying the new, 2016, Haibike Fat Six when it comes out in Feb.
Till then - happy e-biking!
My big thing is cycling. Always has been, always will be. From a young age my bicycle was the key to my freedom. IT used to frustrate the hell out of me when I was a kid and my mates were sat indoors on a rainy day watching some "Carry On" movie and didn't want to come out to play. I have never been fond of television, not then, not now. I'd prefer to be outside doing things. As a kid I'd be out on my bike on scrambling trails on the local tip or embarking on some 40 mile trip from home to Castleton and back. A bike ride to many of my mates was riding around the local estate or going down to the rec. I had one friend, like me, who wanted to venture further and from the age of about 11 years old me and my mate Barry were knocking up 40 mile return trips - often to Derbyshire beauty spots - like Castleton, Hope, Hathersage and the like. If you don't know this part of the world then, really, you should. It is stunningly beautiful and has the most fantastic range of landscapes and trails, whether it's to plod along a disused railway track with family and have tea and scones along the way, or whether your thing is something a bit more white-knuckle and off-road out on the peaks. Or maybe you are a road biker and want to try some of those long open stretches of quiet country road that you saw around Sheffield when the Tour De France came here 2 years ago? God's own county for sure!
Anyhow, I must restrain myself because I'm sounding like an advert for the Peak District Tourist Board...back to the cycling...
So, I've spent quite a lot of time living and working abroad in recent years. My last assignment was in Switzerland where I worked in both Basel and Zurich. One of the first things I did when in Basel was to buy myself a bike (from over the border in Germany because it's a damn sight cheaper!). I spent £1500 Euro on a commuting bike, known as a "Bergamont". Absolute top, top quality bike. I used that every day to get to work when in Basel. I still have the bike now, it's 2 years old but like new as I haven't ridden it for about a year since coming home - it's just not quite the right kind of bike for the hills around here - but it's a brilliant city/commuting bike. I've been thinking of selling it. It's one of several bikes that I own and to be honest, it's the best quality one of the lot. I have a full suspension Trek carbon mountain bike (that cost me over £2k when I bought it 10 years ago), a Specialized hybrid bike, an ancient Raleigh Road Ace road bike, a Kona mountain bike, a Whyte mountain bike, and kids bikes of course.
My time in Switzerland opened my eyes to e-bikes. They are very popular over there and my journey to and from work was often punctuated with someone burning me off at the lights on one of these. It was probably during a stay in Zurich that I first became interested in them. The lady I was staying with used an electric bike to cycle the 25 miles to work each day. Zurich is pretty hilly! but she said she loved her electric bike because
it meant she could get to work comfortably without needing to shower when she got there. It started me thinking...(not about her in the shower, although that did cross my mind, but about e-bikes you see?).
A few weeks ago, back home in the UK, I visited my local bike shop with a view to getting myself a decent road bike and trying to recapture some of that fitness from my youth. It was during that visit that my interest in e-bikes was furthered. When I told the guy in the shop that I wanted a road bike for fitness, he said he was a keen road biker too, but the best thing he'd done was to buy an electric bike. That got me thinking further and started to erode this common misconception that electric bikes were for old folks whose legs don't work properly!
He went on to explain how you can get various levels of assistance from the electric motor, so you are still getting a damn good work out - but you can go further and faster and see more! I liked the sound of that!
I decided to take a couple of e-bikes out for a ride, to test them out. As I can only ride one bike at a time I brought my eldest son along with me and we hired the 2 bikes for a whole day.
The first bike was the Haibike XDuro mountain bike. Top of the range job - sells at about £6k. The other bike, also a Haibike, was a fat bike, the Haibike Fat Six - about £3500. We swopped over during the day but both came to the same conclusion - the Fat Bike was amazing. (The XDuro, we both thought, was disappointing - it's a very heavy bike, you wouldn't want to be pedalling that if the battery had gone flat! But also, it was ergonomically a bit uncomfortable - a kind of weird cycling position). The Fat Six was like feeling you are on a big powerful motorcycle, but actually it's light enough to pedal it even without the motor switched on. It feels very stable and comfortable and the Bosch digital display screen is really clever. Long story cut short, we cycled 48 miles in the few hours that we were out. Had a lovely lunch at Hassop Cafe, near Bakewell, then returned the bikes to the shop, wishing we could keep the Fat Bike in particular.
The 2016 models will be better though as they are improving the lifespan of the battery apparently. Currently it's only good for about 3 hours. I've kind of got it in my head that I'll make a move for one of these in Feb, when the new models come into the shops or on-line. I might need to offload the Bergamont to make room for it though/justify having yet another bike to my wife!
Now, a final word if I may on the subject of Fat Bikes, because I saw a thread on here where one guy is asking if you think there will be a big demand for them in the UK - and most of you are saying "No" and passing this off as a "fad". I think you're wrong you know - very wrong in fact - and when I read the details of what some of you are saying it occurred to me that there's a lot of misconceptions out there about Fat Bikes - just like there still are about e-bikes in general. I'm a businessman, a marketer for want of a better description. One of the things I do for a living is to anticipate future market trends - I do it at quite a high level and work for some of the world's largest multinational companies - nothing to do with bikes I admit - but the principles are the same. Let me tell you what I think will happen in the bicycle market...
I think the current "stigma" that some attach to e-bikes will be gone in the next 5 years and e-bikes will be popular with all age groups, even for kids. (I also think prices will fall a lot too). The reason why I think this is because we are an increasingly "leisure oriented" society and as a society are becoming more health conscious. One of the things that puts people off taking regular exercise is the effort it takes - and cycling, if you've never regularly cycled, is really quite difficult at first. E-bikes make the transition from armchair to saddle a lot easier - and they are fun! But back to the Fat Bikes specifically...
If you've never ridden on one then you've really no idea how great they actually feel! It's like floating on air, but they feel really safe and stable. I took my hire one through a variety of terrains - ripping through the local woods, flying over tree stumps and through gravel pits, over rocks and crags, through streams and on road too. Some of the comments on the other thread about Fat Bikes only being useful if you live where it's sandy or boggy are really misguided imo. These bikes are such brilliant fun to ride - and you can ride them anywhere. They are great on road, amazing off road and brilliant on hills. Around town they just look the part I think. But if you don't like people stopping and staring at your bike then don't buy one! Because they will at the moment.
However, in a few years time they will become very popular I'm sure. Maybe they won't exactly take over from other types of e-bike, but if I was in a position to bring some stock into this country now I'd surely do it - because it's a chance to establish yourself as one of the first suppliers of these amazing bikes.
Mind you - for me quality matters. I wouldn't buy an e-bike, or a Fat Bike, just because it was "cheap". "Buy cheap - buy twice" is a mantra I live by. I'd want to know a lot more about the frame and type of components and the quality of the motor etc. Unless some new manufacturers turn up with a better offering I think I'll be buying the new, 2016, Haibike Fat Six when it comes out in Feb.
Till then - happy e-biking!
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