hi, opinions wanted

[boyabouttown]

50 year old bloke and wife looking at getting a couple of e bikes, last bike was a raleigh chopper back in the 70's so no experience of cycling. got a caravan in the peak district and the other week hired a couple of bikes to ride on the monsal trail and we enjoyed it so we are looking at ebikes, 1st thought was the gtech from seeing the tv adverts, google searches brought me here, having read the views for and against the gtech (still not convinced either way though) next had me looking at crossfire e and now looking at raleigh strada e.
so i like the thought of not having to change gear but it seems that gears will be required in the peak district, range is not really important, looks are important ( shallow) as little maintenance as possible and as few gears as possible, i might be able to manage changing a few gears but i can't really see the mrs bothering at all. have seen the nexus 8 type gears which i suppose will help if i stop in top gear and can change down while stopped,
so any suggestions welcome, 2 grand for the raleigh is really a bit much for a an hours riding at the weekend, unless it really is the best option for us.

 

[Benjahmin]

Oh yes, you need gears, otherwise the old knees are going to suffer!
Derailleur gears are cheaper and easier to self maintain. Hub gears are 'less technical' to ride with, and you can change gear when standing still.
For simplicity, I would say look at hub motored bikes rather than crank drive.
Have a look at Juicy bikes, they're based in the peak district.

Above all, RIDE A FEW, because they all feel slightly different to sit on.

 

[gray198]

If you go on Monsal trail again they actually stock ebikes in the shop at Hassop station. They have them for sale or hire. May be worth a look

regards gray

 

[Clara]

I would look at internal hub gearing. Far less hassle, and very very little maintenance. Wisper do a folding ebike with internal gearing, as does urban.ebikes.

Whisper bikes from personal experience are very quiet indeed. I didn't want to spend time adjusting them and faffing about with the gears.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I would look at internal hub gearing. Far less hassle, and very very little maintenance.

Can you elaboate please? What sort of hassle do you get with any sort of gearing that is far less with hub gears?

 

[Clara]

I was talking maintenance wise. There is very little that needs doing to internal hub gearing for me anyway. Normal gears Need indexing and tweaking, whereas I found the hub gears don't.

 

[Fordulike]

50 year old bloke and wife looking at getting a couple of e bikes, last bike was a raleigh chopper back in the 70's so no experience of cycling

Think I've found you the perfect bike, and yes it's electric



Joking aside, welcome to the forum. You're in good hands here!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I was talking maintenance wise. There is very little that needs doing to internal hub gearing for me anyway. Normal gears Need indexing and tweaking, whereas I found the hub gears don't.

Hmmm! I don't index or tweak my gears, and they're not hub gears. I've never had to on any bike except for initial installation. Even when I installed hub gears, there's still equivalent adjustments that you have make.

Also don't forget that with hub gears, you have to adjust the wheel from time to time to keep the correct chain tension, and worse still, some crank-drive bikes pull so hard on the chain that the wheel gets pulled forward, so you have to adjust it regularly. Many hub-geared bikes are not designed for crank-drive. They don't provide the necessary wheel restraints. That's not a problem with a front wheel motor.

 

[Clara]

I understand what you are saying. I was looking at report like this one. Being a bit of a Ludite with all things mechanical, for me anyway, this is the way to go. Lol

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I understand what you are saying. I was looking at report like this one. Being a bit of a Ludite with all things mechanical, for me anyway, this is the way to go. Lol

That's a very interesting article, Clara. We get similar things on this forum. Believe it or not, there's guys on this forum that buy chain-wear gauges, and they check their chains regularly. Not surprisingly, they find that their chains only last about 500 miles before needing replacement. Other guys (me) wait until their chains make grating noises before they throw a bit of oil on. After several years and maybe 10,000 miles, the oil doesn't make the grating noise go away, so the chain gets replaced. The gears still aren't slipping, so they don't get looked at.

IMHO, too many things get analysed to death. I guess that's what forums are for, but for the practical user, all these things are flysh!t. Different systems have advantages and disadvantages, which tend to cancel each other out.

 

[Clara]

I suppose for someone like me who isn't proficient with this sort of thing, does find the arguments for and against different things to be a bit of a minefield . Personally, I am a bit of a "if it ain't broke don't fix it sort or person" so anything I think will allow me to leave well alone is fabulous. Lol

I do tend to get confused when listening to different sides of the same agreement.

 

[boyabouttown]

thanks for the replies and advice, seen plenty of bikes that i like the look of but most have way too many gears for me. found some that seem good on spec but don't like the look of. not easy finding what you wan't when you don't know what you want.
At the moment form over function is my 1st priority, looks such as gtech, crossfire and strada plus the mountain bike look of some of the ktm and kudos bikes, if i must have gears then i will probably go with hub gears, are there any others besides the nexus.
Would i be able to get a hub geared bike with grip shift, my searches are probably backward as i'm just clicking on bikes i like the look of, then reading it has deore, acera dura etc, then trying to find out what these mean.
are there just 2 types of gear change, grip and the thumb switch?
Would have gone for the chopper if it still had the 3 gear stick on the frame

 

[Benjahmin]

If you want a twist grip gear change, have a look at the Giants, I think they have them. However they tend to be somewhat lower powered, being aligned to the flatlands of Dutchland!

 

[Wisper Bikes]

I should point out that our new generation Wisper 805 Torque folding bikes now have rear wheel drive and 8 speed cassette gears. We found having the motor on the front wheel with such a high torque motor made the front wheel prone to spinning if the rider started off in assist mode 3 or 4 on gravel, and there was a slight gyroscopic effect. Although I personally loved the bike we felt rear wheel drive was the best option.

All the best, David