Limited Budget Basic Electric Bike?

[DJH]

For under £1000 ?

 

[flecc]

Another way would be to cut a cell-sized slot in the top tube , and feed the cells in one at a time , like loading a bolt action rifle .

The anti-terrorist police would love this one!

 

[bazwaldo]

I don't know why people are so hard on the "chinese" style of bikes.
My chinese Bearprint bike looks quite "Wisperish" and after 16 months I still really like it's appearance!
Please see my photos in my earlier review to check out the fab Racing green frame with black and silver highlights.
If I was going to criticise it I would agree that the trianglular metal brace near the steering column is rather chunky but other than that I like it!
OK I had it serviced by my LBS last week and got an expensive bill - £130 - but with nearly 7000 miles work commuting done I have saved a lot of petrol miles to cover the cost and I really enjoy my 26 mile work commute even this time of year.
I was a little disappointed that my replacement crank bearings fitted by the same LBS last August and described at the time as a "sealed unit - fit and forget" also needed replacing again.
As highlighted above Kudos and Juicybike offer good value for money and if you have the skills to self build that can also offer great value.
Barry.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

The same with the wisper bikes why are they so hideous.

Hi Overlander you are absolutely correct many do not consider Wisper bikes particularly beautiful!! I do strangely enough but then I am a tad bias!

We designed the frame with form following function, the frame design is particularly functional and as you know has often been copied. The twin curves of the cross bar and down tube are there to make the bike strong and rigid with the webs giving us more contact between tubes to ensure we get at much of the surface of one component to touch the component it is to be welded to. This way we are able to offer a full six years no quibble warranty on the frame and have only had three claims in six years.

The elongation of the frame allows us to install a nigh on 600Wh battery that will pack enough punch to enable the bike to be useful to all riders heavy and light, fit or unfit to negotiate hills for many miles on full power. The longer frame does make the bike feel slightly less nimble but this is more than made up for by keeping the battery as low in the frame and as close the the center of the bike as possible.

We are currently working on a lithium sulphur bike in partnership with one of Europes leading car manufacturers. In a meeting yesterday, even though the new sulphur battery is lighter and smaller than lithium polymer, we decided to leave the battery where it is. It was decided that despite making the bike look a little more chunky the advantages in weight distribution and function far outweighed the advantage of making the bikes more pretty.

All the best

David

 

[TonyReisman]

Agreed Mr Wisper, though for me it is the Juicy Sport that I have fallen in love with. It is incredibly robust and, in my view, elegant. Thank goodness not all bikes are the same!

 

[neptune]

@DJH .You said "for under £1000 ? " Yes , I think that would be feasible . What is the cost of cutting a slot in the top tube and making a small plastic cover , compared to the cost of building a separate battery box ? The two problems I see are , where to put the battery management system , and access to the wiring for maintenance .Mabye a better idea would be a channel section rather than a tube , with a a detachable top cover of metal or plastic . A sort of slimline version of the old Powabyke Euro , which is a great design , but would have benefited from being just a teeny bit narrower . Not possible with the old lead acid , but certainly possible with Lithium .

 

[eddieo]

The 905 is a very practical and popular bike. My wife was happy with the wisper frame as the shape of it not to bad for women as has been proved by a good few female owners on here..

I think the juicy bike frame looks cheap (as it is) and pretty hideous I'm afraid in comparison. More like a west coast beach bike.... Yuck!

 

[Jimod]

Not just singling your bikes out as many are the same, why ohh why do they have to look so hideous. Surely it cannot be hard to make them actually look like bikes. The same with the wisper bikes why are they so hideous. I am 100% certain that the first company who make a sub £1000 bike which looks like a bike, and in different frame sizes and not just the midget frames on the market currently would have a healthy product.

Hmm, for less than £1000 my Kudos Tourer looks like a bike and is a 21" frame. One of the main reasons I bought it was because it looked like a real bike.

 

[flecc]

I think the juicy bike frame looks cheap (as it is) and pretty hideous I'm afraid in comparison. More like a west coast beach bike.... Yuck!

It was originally and still is on the eZee Cadence shown. I did try one and agree, just like an American cruiser style bike and I could never live with it.

 

[Cyclezee]

As Tony says the the basic frame of the eZee Cadence is the same as the one Juicy sell.
Of course the Cadence is front motored and has many other differences.

It was never a big seller in the UK and is no longer available here although it is still popular as a beach cruiser in the USA, Australia and Germany. Argh! those balmy Baltic breezes

P.S. If anyone has a Cadence for sale, I want one. MK has more shoreline than Jersey

 

[Cyclezee]

It is good to see a variety of views from contributors, with individual tastes, I hope we will see quite a lot more

 

[Kudoscycles]

I think the classic crossbar bike still looks the best,I am not a lover of the step through design,but I understand that it is very user friendly. I absolutely hate the mini motor bike look,if you want a motor bike go and buy a beautiful Ducati,pure art!
Dave
KudosCycles

 

[flecc]

if you want a motor bike go and buy a beautiful Ducati,pure art!

For poising on a plinth, posing and posturing, yes.

For reliability, not on your nellie, buy a Japanese bike

 

[Jimod]

For poising on a plinth, posing and posturing, yes.

For reliability, not on your nellie, buy a Japanese bike

Nonsense, buy British. Triumph are very reliable, more so than some of the Japanese bikes I've owned.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I'm surprised that nobody's imported this one. I think a few have missed a trick. It has just about everything and it's crank drive. I bet it's less than £1000.
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[flecc]

Looks like a new Chinese crank drive unit on it, it's not the Pacific Cycles one. I agree that if it could come in at under £1000 it could be a winner, but anything much over that and it will face an already overcrowded crank drive market choice.

 

[flecc]

Nonsense, buy British. Triumph are very reliable, more so than some of the Japanese bikes I've owned.

Yup, Triumph are ok now, though not to my taste, main thing is not a Ducati.

 

[JuicyBike]

I saw that Saneagle bike at Eurobike last summer. It did look interesting but the motor wasn't from any trusted source, as far as I could tell, and there were some rough edges. At the same time I spoke to the Bafang people about their own crank drive system and decided to wait on that being shown. I'll see what the first few iterations are like before even considering changing from hub drives. There was far too much euro-hype over the Bosche Drive for my taste.

 

[flecc]

There was far too much euro-hype over the Bosche Drive for my taste.

Definitely, the e-bike market has a daft way of swinging from one extreme to another. By 2006 crank drives had almost totally disappeared with hub motor the only realistic choice, but now it's swung to the other extreme where there are too many OEM crank drive choices, eight at the moment and another due shortly.

 

[Scottyf]

For reliability, not on your nellie, buy a Japanese bike

Yeah but the Jap bikes have no Soul.

Least it can look good at the side of the road.