Hi need your help please

[Sparkys6887]

Hi all. What a great site, this is my first post so hope to get to know you all.

I'm fairly new back to cycling. I have a couple of physical disabilities Syringomyelia and Rheumatoid Arthritis. I'm 43 years old weigh qbout 11 stone and Previously, have been confined to a wheel-chair for 15 years. It was only in 2005 that I took my first step unaided. I live in Brighton with my family and when we moved to the flat part, (there isn't much flat in Brighton) I bought a giant hybrid bike to get me the couple of miles to work. When I rode it fir the first time my wife said i looked like a paper boy, which was probably when I last rode a push bike. Now we are moving house to a slightly hilly part of town and I won't be able to make the hills so need to get an electric bike. Want the option of peddling too though.

I've only been looking for a few days but there was a second hand Everest EV262b for sale for £300.00 and there is currently a Giant suede in my budget. I have a fairly limited budget of £350.00 absolute max. So can anyone let me know how to continue enjoying riding a bike and hopefully getting fitter.

Really excited to have found this site.

All the best

Mark

 

[RobF]

Mark,

You mention health problems and 'the option of pedalling'.

As a first step, I think you need to establish if an ebike has enough power for your use.

Most in your budget will be 250 watts, they are not mopeds and won't climb a steep hill without a fair amount of pedalling from the rider.

 

[KirstinS]

Mark

Roughly where are you in Brighton ? Or what are names of roads? I'm local so I can give you a rough indication of effort required to get up it as an 11stone rider with a 250w front motor

It's a bit finger in the air as 250w motors vary ......but it's a starting point

 

[Sparkys6887]

Thanks for such quick replies. The steepest hill will be beaconsfield Villas. We are going to be living near Stringer school. I am able to pedal fairly well now just not the hills like Edward street or Freshfield Rosd. I do also want to build my fitness

 

[jackhandy]

Morning Mark, on this bright & breezy morn

Any ebike is going to help your fitness, simply because you'll want to ride further & more often; particularly on those days when an unassisted bike is just too much of a struggle.

Your budget is going to be very tight - You're obviously going to be looking at "pre-loved" & that raises the problem of picking one that has a reasonable lifespan left in the battery. Unfortunately, some sellers will tell you porkies & there are ways of making a battery seem to be in better condition than it really is (so I'm told).

Maybe you can stretch the purse-strings a tad & try one or two of the entry-level bikes: But - You Must try any bike, preferably on a hill or two, before jumping in.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Neither of those bikes are ideal. I think the Giant Suede is pedal assist only. Do you know what type of battery it has and how old it is? The Everest is towards the bottom end of the power levels that you get from electric bikes. It's better than nothing, but I think it'll struggle on hills.

£350 will get you a kit from China to convert your existing bike, but a bike shop would charge at least £100 to fit it, and I wouldn't trust anybody to do it unless they could prove that they have experience in fitting the same type before.

 

[banbury frank]

Hi the only way is a conversion off your bike Dont buy from China NO SUPPORT I can recommend the following KIT they can supply in a 700C rim i think that is what is on your bike And if you can get somebody to bring your bike and kit to banbury I will fit it for you takes about 3 hours NO charge

This offer is only if you buy the kit below I wont fit a JUNK kit from China


Electric Bike Kit - from £399 with brushless 250W motor. Buy online at Cyclotricity

Hope this helps

Frank

 

[averhamdave]

It's difficult to offer advice but my thoughts are the two bikes you have identified are not ideal. The Suade is heavy and somewhat underpowered - nicely built but sluggish. The Everest I think is a cheap bike running on 24v and unlikely to be good at many things.

All that said, electric bikes have been a hobby of mine for the last 8 years or so and everything I have/ had has been bought secondhand. Sometimes I have been lucky - an Ezee Torq from a flea market for £45 (but with duff battery) and another time an eZee Torq with promised "excellent" battery that turned out to be duff for £300. I like eZees and currently have four, and to be fair one would do you fine BUT - the battery price is the killer. It is with most quality bikes but maybe more so with eZee.

If you had gained knowledge of the myriad of products offered and could further do some DIY mods, particularly with fitting alternative (cheaper) batteries then £300 would be quite enough budget. I'm currently fitting an alternative battery set up to a nice eZee Liv (for which I paid £25) and the whole lot will be less than £250 finished (it is spoken for though).

You will not find a decent £350 bike at a dealers. You will find one second hand without doubt but you may lose most of your money trying. You have offers from local members on here and the first thing you should do is seek them out for a chat.

Good luck.

 

[Thamosy]

Hello Sparkys6887

I could say "snap" because I'm disabled too with spinal nerve problems and although I couldn't ride a conventional bike, in the last couple of years I've modified a kind of wheelchair-cum-trike with a 500W electric front wheel that now gets me up all our local hills in the Derbyshire Peak District (and one of those hills features in the early motoring "test hills" and is around 1:4 for quite a long stretch). I'm NOW over the moon with my new freedom.

There's a big BUT though, and it's that not any old 500W motor will be good enough. In my humble opinion you need a MAC geared motor (or similar) and one that is wired not for speed, but for torque.

You might get some help from this particular thread - again someone wanting a "hill climbing special"

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/14672-building-my-first-ebike-would-appreciate-some-advice.html

All my bits and pieces came from Paul at EM3ev

He was enormously helpful to me, as I believe he was with 14N

 

[Sparkys6887]

Thanks again to everyone. That's a very kind offer Frank. I could probably stretch to that kit. I'll look to see if it's possible to get to Banbury

 

[Yamdude]

Hi all. What a great site, this is my first post so hope to get to know you all.

I'm fairly new back to cycling. I have a couple of physical disabilities Syringomyelia and Rheumatoid Arthritis. I'm 43 years old weigh qbout 11 stone and Previously, have been confined to a wheel-chair for 15 years. It was only in 2005 that I took my first step unaided. I live in Brighton with my family and when we moved to the flat part, (there isn't much flat in Brighton) I bought a giant hybrid bike to get me the couple of miles to work. When I rode it fir the first time my wife said i looked like a paper boy, which was probably when I last rode a push bike. Now we are moving house to a slightly hilly part of town and I won't be able to make the hills so need to get an electric bike. Want the option of peddling too though.

I've only been looking for a few days but there was a second hand Everest EV262b for sale for £300.00 and there is currently a Giant suede in my budget. I have a fairly limited budget of £350.00 absolute max. So can anyone let me know how to continue enjoying riding a bike and hopefully getting fitter.

Really excited to have found this site.

All the best

Mark

Seeing as you've already bought a Giant hybrid bike, which is a decent bike.... I would say fit a kit to it yourself. Its what I did and I found it really easy.
I fitted the 8fun kit and it works great.

 

[Sparkys6887]

Thanks for your reply. I'm definately leaning towards a kit. I might see if my dad or brother would be up to fitting the kit. I've not got great co-ordination for fiddly bits. I'd Love to take Frank up on his offer but its quite a way from my home. Do you need any special tools to fit a kit?

 

[Yamdude]

Thanks for your reply. I'm definately leaning towards a kit. I might see if my dad or brother would be up to fitting the kit. I've not got great co-ordination for fiddly bits. I'd Love to take Frank up on his offer but its quite a way from my home. Do you need any special tools to fit a kit?

It really is easy to fit these kits and you only need basic tools that you would use with a bicycle.... I fitted the kit to a Carrera Crossfire hybrid.
I chose the 8fun kit because its £65 cheaper than the Cyclotricity kit, if you want the pedelec sensor, led display and bottle battery.

 

[Yamdude]

BTW..... this is the kit fitted to my Carrera hybrid.

 

[Sparkys6887]

That looks amazing! Thanks for the picture. I've emailed my dad to see off he and my brother could fit one. I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[KirstinS]

I have the 8fun kit also. I was happy for a while but then had to soup it up a bit !

I did nothing until warranty expired and I had some issues with battery And handlebar panel around 9 months in . They changed both with minimum if hassle(or close enough)


It has worked daily well beyond normal parameters - so it really is a workhorse of a motor and can be tweaked for more speed or torque if you wishthe future . Can be done fairly inexpensively as well

This takes you outside the realms of the legal of course.

All the best

 

[KirstinS]

I just remembered you are local. Welcome to try my bike for an idea of motor performance (on road and off road power settings )

8fun motors aren't the lightest or most modern but they are solid

 

[Sparkys6887]

Hey thanks Kirstin. That sounds great. I move house tomorrow but will be in touch

 

[Sparkys6887]

Well I went for the 8fun kit and my bike is in my Dad's workshop. We used to race classic motorbikes so I'm sure he and my brother will do a good job fitting it. I'd still like to meet up sometime Kirstin, maybe after I've got my bike back and settled in a bit from our recent house move. Like the idea of making it go faster too

 

[Yamdude]

Well I went for the 8fun kit and my bike is in my Dad's workshop. We used to race classic motorbikes so I'm sure he and my brother will do a good job fitting it. I'd still like to meet up sometime Kirstin, maybe after I've got my bike back and settled in a bit from our recent house move. Like the idea of making it go faster too

If they're used to working on motorcycles, they should be easily competent enough to fit one of these kits. The only thing to pay particular attention to, is that the torque washers fit correctly in the drop outs and the outside washers fit perfectly in the fork dimples. Its imperative they fit right to keep the hub motor secure. Depending on what forks you have, they may need modifying, as mine did.
Post some pics when its finished and let us know what you think of the kit.