new to e-bikes advise on purchase

C

Cyclezee

Guest
I think RobF is right. The 10AH Sirocco 2 is only £599 and you get the warranty of one of the sellers on this forum. That means you can cruxify Woosh if the bike lets you down!
Phew, glad you didn't say crucify:eek:, Hatti is a nice lady;)
 

RobF

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 22, 2012
4,732
2,312
Phew, glad you didn't say crucify:eek:, Hatti is a nice lady;)
Mmm, not the first post from Cyclezee about this particular lass.

I reckon he - on the quiet - has got the hots for Hatti.
 

peerjay56

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 24, 2013
745
201
Nr Ingleton, N. Yorkshire
A small point to bear in mind with rack mounted batteries is the width of the battery often makes it impossible to fit panniers.
Really:confused:?. I've had/got bikes with a Cyclotricity kit and an Alien Ocean, both with rack mounted batteries, and have never struggled to fit panniers to either.
 

Artstu

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 2, 2009
2,420
925
Really:confused:?. I've had/got bikes with a Cyclotricity kit and an Alien Ocean, both with rack mounted batteries, and have never struggled to fit panniers to either.
The Woosh bike I've seen doesn't have room, so I'm sure a lot of others don't too. The pannier clips won't fit between the battery and the rack tubes.
 
C

Cyclezee

Guest
Really:confused:?. I've had/got bikes with a Cyclotricity kit and an Alien Ocean, both with rack mounted batteries, and have never struggled to fit panniers to either.
The same goes for the eZee kit rear battery racks, no problem fitting panniers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jackhandy

John F

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 3, 2013
435
55
The Woosh bike I've seen doesn't have room, so I'm sure a lot of others don't too. The pannier clips won't fit between the battery and the rack tubes.
I have the Woosh Santana CDL with these fitted:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001E5Q3O2/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The gap between my 15amp battery and top rack tube is around 10 mm, but you can feed the bottom adjusting straps through ok. These straps are plenty long enough.
The overall width of the rack is 183mm, and the top fixed strap between the panniers is about 190mm, so this would In other words it fits perfectly. Hope this helps.
 

ashley wood

Finding my (electric) wheels
Mar 25, 2014
6
1
40
thanks all some really good stuff to go on.

just to clarify the 14-15 mile is my new job commute.
the £250+ fuel a month is for my job i leave at the end of the month which was an 80 mile round trip
 
  • Like
Reactions: Artstu

Artstu

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 2, 2009
2,420
925
Thanks for the clarification, I thought that would be the case as the sums didn't add up. I just wanted to make sure you had the correct figures.

An E-bike can be quite expensive, and riding one shouldn't be based solely on trying to save money.
 

Jimod

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 9, 2010
1,065
634
Polmont
I've got a Kudos Tourer with a rack mounted battery and in the 3 years I've owned it I've always had either panniers or a bag on it. It comes with panniers which weren't big enough for all my stuff so I bought Raliegh ones from argos which carried everything including a spare battery.

There is some strange advice given on here sometimes.
 
Last edited:

RobF

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 22, 2012
4,732
2,312
There is some strange advice given on here sometimes.
Jim,

Presumably that's aimed at me.

As I said, and as Artstu confirmed, some ebikes can not take single panniers because there is an insufficient gap between the battery and the top rail of the carrier to take the top clips of the pannier.

Clearly, throw over linked panniers will fit anything, and some bikes have sufficient clearance, as we have heard.
 

Jimod

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 9, 2010
1,065
634
Polmont
Jim,

Presumably that's aimed at me.

As I said, and as Artstu confirmed, some ebikes can not take single panniers because there is an insufficient gap between the battery and the top rail of the carrier to take the top clips of the pannier.

Clearly, throw over linked panniers will fit anything, and some bikes have sufficient clearance, as we have heard.
Your post that I referred to said it was often impossible to fit panniers to a rack mounted battery bike. It is not impossible nor is it hard to find panniers to fit.
 

ashley wood

Finding my (electric) wheels
Mar 25, 2014
6
1
40
Thanks for the clarification, I thought that would be the case as the sums didn't add up. I just wanted to make sure you had the correct figures.

An E-bike can be quite expensive, and riding one shouldn't be based solely on trying to save money.
what is the expensive part other than buying the bike / kit?

- general bike parts such as tyres and pads
- charging the battery (cant use that much elec, besides would prob charge at work)
- replacing battery (£300 every 3 years?)

labour is not an issue, there isnt much i am not accustomed to doing apart from building a wheel set from scratch :p
 

peerjay56

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 24, 2013
745
201
Nr Ingleton, N. Yorkshire
what is the expensive part other than buying the bike / kit?
Replacing the battery, as you said; if you keep the bike that long. And I don't mean that in a negative way - if you're like many on here, once you get the bug, you'll be upgrading every 12 months or so!:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: RobF

RobF

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 22, 2012
4,732
2,312
Assuming you don't fall into the upgrading cycle, you've weighed it up more or less correctly.

A new battery is likely to be your biggest single expense.

Life depends on the number of full charge cycles more than age, although that does play a part.

You will be doing about 3,000 miles a year, which will be about 100 full charge cycles.

Makers routinely say a battery will do 500 cycles before it loses significant capacity, so your three-year estimate is on the conservative side.

The mileage will have an impact on normal wear and tear bike bits, but a proper cleaning and maintenance regime will extend their life.

Inappropriate tyres won't last long, but again there's not much expense.

Lots of commuters run Schwalbe Marathon Pluses.

They are about £25 each and seem capable of many thousands of miles.
 

wissy

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jan 26, 2013
543
46
Wales
I also travel 7.5 miles each way, in a hillybarea and used to spend £200+ a month... That was a 71 VW camper so it used up quite a bit of petrol (for 19 years!!). I wanted a Haibike Trekking but none were in Uk at the time. i used cycle to work and topped up to get a wonderful KTM macina. Next time I am highly likely to get my haibike... Or a KTM yet again....
 

ashley wood

Finding my (electric) wheels
Mar 25, 2014
6
1
40
Assuming you don't fall into the upgrading cycle, you've weighed it up more or less correctly.

A new battery is likely to be your biggest single expense.

Life depends on the number of full charge cycles more than age, although that does play a part.

You will be doing about 3,000 miles a year, which will be about 100 full charge cycles.

Makers routinely say a battery will do 500 cycles before it loses significant capacity, so your three-year estimate is on the conservative side.

The mileage will have an impact on normal wear and tear bike bits, but a proper cleaning and maintenance regime will extend their life.

Inappropriate tyres won't last long, but again there's not much expense.

Lots of commuters run Schwalbe Marathon Pluses.

They are about £25 each and seem capable of many thousands of miles.

are these tyres the best generally for puncture resistance also?
would swap a bit of weight/speed for resistance quite happily
 

RobF

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 22, 2012
4,732
2,312
are these tyres the best generally for puncture resistance also?
would swap a bit of weight/speed for resistance quite happily
Marathon Pluses come up time and time again as the most puncture resistant.

They roll OK and if there is a weight penalty, the few grammes is irrelevant on a 20Kg + ebike.

Wide tyres as found on most ebikes don't tend to puncture, depending on their quality.

It's only roadies on their wafer thin, ultra narrow, super light rubber bands who get lots of flats.
 

jackhandy

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 20, 2012
1,820
323
the Cornish Alps
It's only roadies on their wafer thin, ultra narrow, super light rubber bands who get lots of flats.
Depends on your definition of Lots - I recently fitted Smart Sams to my road/trail bike: The front slime tube had 4 punctures & the rear had 1: And that's 4 months on 29x2.2 tyres :oops:
 

RobF

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 22, 2012
4,732
2,312
Depends on your definition of Lots - I recently fitted Smart Sams to my road/trail bike: The front slime tube had 4 punctures & the rear had 1: And that's 4 months on 29x2.2 tyres :oops:
The Smart Sams don't appear to have a puncture protection belt.

They are also about £12, or half the price of a Marathon Plus, so the old adage of getting what you pay for applies.

Having said that, it would have been interesting to know how many punctures you would have had if you had done the same riding with Marathon Pluses.