Hopper SE - Bargain?

[Gedge]

just ordered one of these for my wife as they received reasonable reviews....online today they are a bargain price of £275 (£7 delivery).....275 club card points too

You can also get double value of any club card vouchers against the purchase too ..( I didn't find this out until too late.....


http://www.tesco.com/direct/hopper-city-se-electric-bike/433-7852.prd?skuId=433-7852&pageLevel=sku

 

[pjtives]

I bought a similar one in June ( had the longer range and rear suspension) @ about £380. Must say I was very impressed with the quality at that price, didn't get a chance to ride it much as have been ill. Hopefully give it a blast next week when I am in UK. I think you'll both like it

 

[Kuorider]

These are surprisingly good little bikes, the battery alone is £200 to buy elsewhere. The handlebar folding part is a nice item and better that that on some more expensive bikes. An excellent intro to e biking

 

[jonathan75]

I'm sure you're right about some frog style batteries but this one is only 5ah 24v unfortunately, 120Wh.

 

[Kuorider]

I'm sure you're right about some frog style batteries but this one is only 5ah 24v unfortunately, 120Wh.

Good point ,but I have yet to see one with a 5ah battery . All I have looked at have at least an 8.5ah unit fitted .

 

[Wingreen]

I bought this one from Tesco about 18 months ago:

http://www.tesco.com/direct/hopper-shopper-electric-bike-blue/761-4756.prd

Now no longer available it seems but similar to the one you are looking at. Its a brilliant introduction to ebikes. I believe they are almost exactly the same as the ones sold by Avocet but about half the price. Mine was an 8.5ah with 24 volt battery. It regularly took me about 20 miles. The beauty of them (apart from the price) is that they fold right down. We were so impressed that we ended up buying two! We could then get both of them into the back of my Skoda Octavia hatchback which allowed us to travel wherever we wanted to start our bike rides. Both have been ridden about once or twice a week with no problems.

 

[Gedge]

Thanks for the replies...probably won't get ridden any great distance so the 5ah battery will probably be ok...if not I see on a search in here that BMS do a replacement 15ah battery for £108 ( presumably plus import and delivery costs...) I have my Burish Synergy which seems to do all I need and hopefully this will be a good intro for my wife ( plus I might squeeze it into the boot when I go off out for the day for getting round town) ....

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It's not just had range that you need to consider. You'll probably get a lot less power with the 5ah battery.

 

[Wingreen]

Thanks for the replies...probably won't get ridden any great distance so the 5ah battery will probably be ok...if not I see on a search in here that BMS do a replacement 15ah battery for £108 ( presumably plus import and delivery costs...) I have my Burish Synergy which seems to do all I need and hopefully this will be a good intro for my wife ( plus I might squeeze it into the boot when I go off out for the day for getting round town) ....

I looked into powering up my ebike by getting a 36v 10ah replacement battery but I understand (thanks to d8veh's advice) that its not always so easy to upgrade the battery

 

[Gedge]

It's not just had range that you need to consider. You'll probably get a lot less power with the 5ah battery.

Looking back at the other threads..is it likely that a BMS battery will be a straight swap or will I need some rewiring? How about moving up to a 36v battery? Will the controller cope if it's only built for such a small battery or would I do better to stick with 24v with just mor Ah?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Contollers don't cost much, so, even if it doesn't work at 36v, you can buy a new better one. Most 24v ones do work at 36v. Often, you have to change a connector or two when repkacing a controller.

With a frog battery, there is no wiring to change it. You just slide off the old one and insert the new one.

 

[Scott clarke]

I added a throttle to my tesco hopper shopper SE great little bike for the money but you do need to be handy with the spanners

 

[pjtives]

Just took mine out for first proper run, mainly pavements and disused railway walk, country park. 9,5km I need to check battery but have forgotten how to take it off to charge it. Took it off last night ok but tonight I can't remember how I did it (it's got a key lock). Can someone spell it out in simple terms please.

 

[pjtives]

I bought this one from Tesco about 18 months ago:

http://www.tesco.com/direct/hopper-shopper-electric-bike-blue/761-4756.prd

Now no longer available it seems but similar to the one you are looking at. Its a brilliant introduction to ebikes. I believe they are almost exactly the same as the ones sold by Avocet but about half the price. Mine was an 8.5ah with 24 volt battery. It regularly took me about 20 miles. The beauty of them (apart from the price) is that they fold right down. We were so impressed that we ended up buying two! We could then get both of them into the back of my Skoda Octavia hatchback which allowed us to travel wherever we wanted to start our bike rides. Both have been ridden about once or twice a week with no problems.

That's the one I just got (in June) I like that it is easy to use without power too.

 

[Gedge]

Just took mine out for first proper run, mainly pavements and disused railway walk, country park. 9,5km I need to check battery but have forgotten how to take it off to charge it. Took it off last night ok but tonight I can't remember how I did it (it's got a key lock). Can someone spell it out in simple terms please.

Key has 3 positions...on, off and unlock....turn key to unlock position and hold it there, slide battery straight back and away from the seat post....

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The battery is sometimes very stiff to get out. You have to give it a bit of a badh with the palm of your hand, but be careful because it can jump out onto the ground when you're not expecting it.

 

[Scott clarke]

Push key in and turn towards handle bars when key stops turning push key in harder and you will feel the key slide in a little deeper turn again towards handle bars this unlocks battery. Pull on the battery handle and give a little wiggle and the battery pops off.

 

[pjtives]

Push key in and turn towards handle bars when key stops turning push key in harder and you will feel the key slide in a little deeper turn again towards handle bars this unlocks battery. Pull on the battery handle and give a little wiggle and the battery pops off.

The battery is sometimes very stiff to get out. You have to give it a bit of a badh with the palm of your hand, but be careful because it can jump out onto the ground when you're not expecting it.

Key has 3 positions...on, off and unlock....turn key to unlock position and hold it there, slide battery straight back and away from the seat post....

Thanks lads, I was turning the wrong way and the pin is not quite flush so battery sticks. Easy when you know these things, thanks again

 

[Gedge]

I added a throttle to my tesco hopper shopper SE great little bike for the money but you do need to be handy with the spanners

I tried to add a throttle but it wouldn't work...appears to be either a fault in the controller ( several dry joints), or it has somehow been programmed to disable separate throttle?? Had to give in and reassemble for now...still works fine on pedelec but a thumb throttle would have been a nice addition...at least it gave me a chance to look inside the box of electrics....

 

[Scott clarke]

I tried to add a throttle but it wouldn't work...appears to be either a fault in the controller ( several dry joints), or it has somehow been programmed to disable separate throttle?? Had to give in and reassemble for now...still works fine on pedelec but a thumb throttle would have been a nice addition...at least it gave me a chance to look inside the box of electrics....

This is what your looking for hanging off the controller the. Throttle plugs in to this.