Is £800 enough money to spend on an everyday ride to work bike.

[Kudoscycles]

You can still buy the old Flying Pigeon Chinese bikes,as the bike for the people championed by Chairman Mao. They are sold in CKD form to Africa for $38.00( a round of drinks in London)
They have rod brakes and weigh a ton.
For a bit of fun I thought about bringing a batch to the UK,I could see a cult following,especially in red brick university towns. What put me off was the 60% anti dumping plus tarif duty.
KudosDave

 

[flecc]

You can still buy the old Flying Pigeon Chinese bikes,as the bike for the people championed by Chairman Mao. They are sold in CKD form to Africa for $38.00( a round of drinks in London)
They have rod brakes and weigh a ton.
For a bit of fun I thought about bringing a batch to the UK,I could see a cult following,especially in red brick university towns. What put me off was the 60% anti dumping plus tarif duty.
KudosDave

India also still makes bikes like that Dave, duty shown as 30% but also some complex extras listed on this site so not sure of the exact position.
.

 

[Jimod]

Sorry Jim.
KudosDave

Don't fret Dave, I don't care about rugby but I'm scottish, you know we can't resist an opportunity to save a few bob.

 

[Fingers]

Hello everyone. First post but not first reading on this site.

I've read a lot and learned a lot on here. So thank you for that.

I've decided to go for the Gtech Ebike. A number of reasons. Weight, looks and the 14 day trial. Plus it's £995 deal with lights, helmet, mudguards etc.

The frame size helped too. I'm 6'4". I was supremely close to taking the momentum upstart. Decent price...

http://www.e-bikesdirect.co.uk/Item/Brands/Momentum_Electric_Bikes/Momentum_Upstart_Electric_Bike.aspx

And pretty solid reviews. It's stainless steel tube was a factor though.

I liked the Freego raptor too. Believe me I have researched the whole gamut to my knowledge. But to the yodas on here. If the Gtech doesn't work out and for the same price bracket is there a better option than what I have mentioned? And are the other two better?

 

[oldtom]

But to the yodas on here. If the Gtech doesn't work out and for the same price bracket is there a better option than what I have mentioned? And are the other two better?

Welcome to the forum Fingers and congratulations on your choice of machine.

Having never ridden any of the bikes you have mentioned, I can't comment on their abilities but I am a fan of lightweight EAPCs and have one in my stable. Some 'yodas' might be a bit picky about your short-list but as you have done your research, you must be aware of each bike's abilities and limitations so there's nothing I could criticise.

16kgs is a very manageable weight and permits the bike to be carried on off-the-shelf cycle racks or up and down flights of stairs without too much trouble. Obviously, lots of hills will impact on the distance achievable from the battery but if it's not your intention to ride huge distances, then I think any of the sub-20 kg EAPCs would be a good choice.

Tom

 

[Fingers]

Welcome to the forum Fingers and congratulations on your choice of machine.

Having never ridden any of the bikes you have mentioned, I can't comment on their abilities but I am a fan of lightweight EAPCs and have one in my stable. Some 'yodas' might be a bit picky about your short-list but as you have done your research, you must be aware of each bike's abilities and limitations so there's nothing I could criticise.

16kgs is a very manageable weight and permits the bike to be carried on off-the-shelf cycle racks or up and down flights of stairs without too much trouble. Obviously, lots of hills will impact on the distance achievable from the battery but if it's not your intention to ride huge distances, then I think any of the sub-20 kg EAPCs would be a good choice.

Tom

My other reasoning Tom is that I live in a part of London that is a hill anyway I go. I want to cycle but I want to enjoy that initial burst. Not having to dread it. And coming home from work too.

So it will be well under its thirty mile 'radius' most I will do per day is 15m

 

[Kudoscycles]

Fingers....where did you get the 30 mile range of the G-Tech,someone else on this forum said it was good for only 8 miles?
Am I correct that it has a 5 Ah battery? If that is correct the established rule of thumb is 3 miles per Ah....15 miles max.
These bikes with no gears would seem ideal for bombing around the middle of London,mainly flat. When climbing a hill,you are forced to use the PAS setting on max,you cannot change the torque you can provide with your leg power because you have no gears to help the motor,this could result in high power usage and short range.
My comments are in line with the other guy who tested one on this forum.
Be interesting as to whether G-tech have some magical formula that has eluded the rest of us.
KudosDave

 

[Fingers]

Fingers....where did you get the 30 mile range of the G-Tech,someone else on this forum said it was good for only 8 miles?
Am I correct that it has a 5 Ah battery? If that is correct the established rule of thumb is 3 miles per Ah....15 miles max.
These bikes with no gears would seem ideal for bombing around the middle of London,mainly flat. When climbing a hill,you are forced to use the PAS setting on max,you cannot change the torque you can provide with your leg power because you have no gears to help the motor,this could result in high power usage and short range.
My comments are in line with the other guy who tested one on this forum.
Be interesting as to whether G-tech have some magical formula that has eluded the rest of us.
KudosDave

From their website. Tbh if I got a solid 15 miles that would still do me.

I will report back on its performance and suction power.

 

[Kudoscycles]

Fingers....we have all learnt on this forum to take the range claims of some of these e-bikes with a degree of scepticism,especially when it's preceded by the words 'up to'.
You mentioned a hill....it will be interesting how it goes up the hill and also what range you achieve.
Somewhere on this forum is a report another guy made about one of these bikes,maybe someone could find it.
I see these lightweight e-bikes are ideal for a rider who wants to ride most of the time on the flat without using power then max PAS to help up a hill,but without gears you will have to maintain a reasonable speed up a hill to keep the motor above the speed that the motor will deliver strong power,that is normally about 8 mph on a SWX type motor.
I rode a similar bike,I found the biggest problem was getting going on a steep hill from stationary ,without gears it required to stand on the pedals to get the bike up to speed,I used a lot of effort.....don't understand why they didn't put gears on the bike?
KudosDave

 

[Kudoscycles]

To my mind these lightweight sports e-bikes should still be a nice sports road bike without compromise. Starting with say a 8kg Bianchi,then grafting the electrics in,the result should still retain all the dynamic features of the original bike.
That is easily said but not so easy to achieve,off the shelf batteries/motors/controllers/frames/hmi cannot be easily integrated into the overall design. Which is why it has not been successfully achieved to date,the Freygeist is IMHO the nearest to date,but the high cost and battery access is not ideal.
This is probably the e-bike of the future but it will need the component manufacturers to produce bespoke parts to achieve.
KudosDave

 

[flecc]

Somewhere on this forum is a report another guy made about one of these bikes,maybe someone could find it.

Only member Wobble has made a report on the G-Tech bike.

It's on this link
.

 

[Kudoscycles]

Only member Wobble has made a report on the G-Tech bike.

It's on this link
.

Flecc...thanks,but there was another one,I remember the guy returned it within the 14 day trial period,he was the one who got 8 miles range.
Dave

 

[flecc]

Flecc...thanks,but there was another one,I remember the guy returned it within the 14 day trial period,he was the one who got 8 miles range.
Dave

I seem to vaguely recollect that mention Dave, but I don't know what he called the bike in his post.

There's nothing about it under the search names, G-Tech, Gtech, G-Tec, G-tec, G-Tek, Gtek or other variants on this theme.

It's possible he deleted his post later within the permitted period to do this.
.

 

[Fingers]

Flecc...thanks,but there was another one,I remember the guy returned it within the 14 day trial period,he was the one who got 8 miles range.
Dave

Yeah I read his report. He actually liked it and said if it was half the price he would have definitely kept it. Well it now is half the price with lights, helmet mudguards etc chucked in for free.

The 14 day trial is great as well. If it's not fit for purpose I won't be keeping it.

 

[flecc]

Flecc...thanks,but there was another one,I remember the guy returned it within the 14 day trial period,he was the one who got 8 miles range.
Dave

Yeah I read his report. He actually liked it and said if it was half the price he would have definitely kept it. Well it now is half the price with lights, helmet mudguards etc chucked in for free.

The 14 day trial is great as well. If it's not fit for purpose I won't be keeping it.

Well he must have deleted it or the mention of 8 miles not long after posting.

I've now done an extensive search for "8 miles", going back months, and as part of that found two member entries quoting seeing his 8 mile post. But his original post mentioning 8 miles doesn't appear at all.

I've also searched for the 14 day trial and found two other members tried one.

Rick James was one of them and he mentions doing 6 miles on a part charge. He has made six posts in total in this forum and none now mentions 8 miles. His post mentioning 6 miles from half of a charge is on this link

Wobble was the second member and his total of four posts in this forum makes no mention of 8 miles

So deletion must have occurred, either of a whole post or deletion or amendment of the mention of 8 miles.
.

 

[Mac_user82]

i would try and hold out if you can and try and buy a better bike for yourself something that would last you longer so you wouldn't have to replace parts.

As the old fashion saying states buy cheap buy twice

 

[trex]

'buy cheap buy twice' is generally true especially when it comes to women's shoes, but if you look at the number of advertisements for little used bikes on this forum, they are mostly for expensive bikes. That seems to me that expensive bikes are statistically expensive to own.
As for parts, things like tyres and brake pads are as per use. I can't see many parts where cheap bikes break down significantly more often than expensive bikes.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Sondors is at it again with a cheap "ordinary" bike. His $690 fat bike has quite good components when compared to more expensive offerings. When did you last read Panasonic or Samsung cells on the description of a Bosch battery pack? The only way to know what they are using is to crack the pack open.

A cheap bike with good tyres and brakes used regularly is a more interesting investment than a 3000€ one that you dare not take out in the rain or park anywhere for fear of it being stolen. An aside: The other day someone downstairs said "what a great looking bike", it scared me silly! I hope bike thieves see the Decathlon branding and flaking varnish!

 

[Fingers]

The Gtech finally arrived today. First impression was the frame was a bit chunkier than I expected and the welding of the joints a bit agricultural to say the least. But. It's still the most 'normal' looking Ebike I've seen and the rest of the features such as the chain, handlebars saddle etc really do seem of a decent spec. The mudguards, helmet and lights also seem of a very high design quality, clearly tailor made for the bike. The lights in particular are excellent. It's actually made in Taiwan not China. Isn't that where all the Giant bikes are made?

Took it for a very short initial spin after a pretty straightforward set up. I wasn't completely blown away. It was good compared to a normal bike but not quite the power assist I was expecting. I have bought the bike to get me fitter so I wasn't totally dispirited but did come back home and found myself looking at the momentum upstart on Ebikes direct...(btw, they are selling a Freego Raptor on there for £399 if anyone is interested)

After a better set up, properly fixing the brakes, putting on the lights, setting the saddle etc and consulting the manual I realised I had been cycling on the weaker power assist mode....ahem....So I went out again. This time in driving rain and wind. It was a much better experience. From a standing start it's raring to go and the acceleration is more than acceptable to me. As a free running machine it really pops. Going downhill and on the flat it's a greyhound. Going uphill it's not amazing. A short medium (London medium, not Yorkshire dales medium) steeped hill was ok but I had to work. Tbh this is fine with me as I want to get fit but I need to check it out properly on a longer hill tomorrow to see if it's fit for purpose.

Initial appraisal. I love it. The motor is almost silent, it really does feel a lovely bit of kit. I need to use it more in anger before I decide to keep it though.

Will come back when I've properly tested the range and power assist.

 

[trex]

this is the newest woosh BPM bike for £799 (with 15AH battery, £749 with 13AH battery):

http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?santana2

woosh commented on their facebook page yesterday that prices will go up from 1st April due to the drop in the value of the Pound. They say the Pound bought $1.53 in 2015 and $1.43 now. That's 6.5% drop in value. I expect other suppliers will also put their prices up too.