I don't think I've ridden a bike since I was in my early teens, about 30 years ago. Even then I was a casual cyclist and I have no idea to do any kind of maintenance, and I think I have only fixed a puncture once. I'm really new at this.
I didn't even know about e-bikes until about 6 weeks ago and went through a phase of reading this forum avidly and getting a headache trying to figure out which bike is best for me. I thoroughly agree with the advice that it is best to try a few, but this is difficult because there is no single place that stocks more than a small number of bands or models. I was dead-set on a wisper for a while, planned to go to e-bikes direct and then got let down at the last moment by the person who was going to drive me there. The good people e-bikes direct offered to pick me up from the station, but I never got the time to make the trip. Then there were discussions on this forum about the new bikes coming out in 2012 (bosch is better; no, panasonic; no, bosch...
)
In the end I decided that the stress of trying to get the right bike by comparing the different bikes was getting to be too much for me. I then changed my thinking to focus on which bike has the lowest probability of causing me to be disappointed in two years time. I decided that it would be something that was: unquestionably powerful enough to handle my new commute that has some big, long hills; by a bike manufacturer with an established reputation; from a vendor with an established reputation; and able to (mostly?) pay for itself in saved rail/bus fares or petrol in two years. I also came to realise that I didn't want a bike with a throttle. I ended up raising the amount I was willing to spend from £1,500 to £2,000 and started being obsessed with the Kalkhoff range. I went to 50cycles in London and tried a couple of bikes out. A little to my surprise I preferred the feel of the Kalkhoff Image B27 BionX.
I ordered one, it arrived on Friday and on Saturday I set it up. I'm so new at this it took me an hour and some searching for images on google to work out which way round the handlebars should be.
I then took it out for a spin. This is the first time I've had a new bike, the first time I've had a quality bike, and even without power assist it was such a lovely ride. At first I felt terrified going at more than 15km/h (but the road was very bad), but I got into it and then I hit some hills. Wow. It was almost a religious experience.
But, wow! What a great feeling. I've now tested part of my commute, doing some of the downhill stretches at 40km/h (no assist) and coming back up the hills at a steady 25km/h. The way the power assist engages (and presumably disengages) is so smooth and natural, it's incredible.
Later today I will test my full commute. I can't wait!
I didn't even know about e-bikes until about 6 weeks ago and went through a phase of reading this forum avidly and getting a headache trying to figure out which bike is best for me. I thoroughly agree with the advice that it is best to try a few, but this is difficult because there is no single place that stocks more than a small number of bands or models. I was dead-set on a wisper for a while, planned to go to e-bikes direct and then got let down at the last moment by the person who was going to drive me there. The good people e-bikes direct offered to pick me up from the station, but I never got the time to make the trip. Then there were discussions on this forum about the new bikes coming out in 2012 (bosch is better; no, panasonic; no, bosch...
)In the end I decided that the stress of trying to get the right bike by comparing the different bikes was getting to be too much for me. I then changed my thinking to focus on which bike has the lowest probability of causing me to be disappointed in two years time. I decided that it would be something that was: unquestionably powerful enough to handle my new commute that has some big, long hills; by a bike manufacturer with an established reputation; from a vendor with an established reputation; and able to (mostly?) pay for itself in saved rail/bus fares or petrol in two years. I also came to realise that I didn't want a bike with a throttle. I ended up raising the amount I was willing to spend from £1,500 to £2,000 and started being obsessed with the Kalkhoff range. I went to 50cycles in London and tried a couple of bikes out. A little to my surprise I preferred the feel of the Kalkhoff Image B27 BionX.
I ordered one, it arrived on Friday and on Saturday I set it up. I'm so new at this it took me an hour and some searching for images on google to work out which way round the handlebars should be.
I then took it out for a spin. This is the first time I've had a new bike, the first time I've had a quality bike, and even without power assist it was such a lovely ride. At first I felt terrified going at more than 15km/h (but the road was very bad), but I got into it and then I hit some hills. Wow. It was almost a religious experience.
But, wow! What a great feeling. I've now tested part of my commute, doing some of the downhill stretches at 40km/h (no assist) and coming back up the hills at a steady 25km/h. The way the power assist engages (and presumably disengages) is so smooth and natural, it's incredible.
Later today I will test my full commute. I can't wait!
Last edited:
