Please help to choose E-bike for 2 child trailer and unfit parents.

[Gergeyl]

Hi everyone

Me and my wife are looking to buy an e-bike to drop of our 3 year old son at nursery that he starts in September.
Since our daughter (who is 18 months) cannot really look after herself alone, she'd need to come along for the ride.
We are looking to buy a trailer and a bike in the same time. Not necessarily the same place.

Neither me or my wife are fit I am 97kg she is 101kg.
New to biking we had not been on a bike for about 6 years.
It would be mostly her doing the drop off.
Our children are 13kg and 17kg so the bike would have to be quite strong.
Budget: looking to spend about £1200-1600 without the trailer
Distance: 2.5miles so 5 mile-ish roundtrip.
Mostly flat with 1 hill near our house.
All tarmac but there may be a bridleway part the way that we need to investigate.
We are in South Cumbria

My search so far led me to the following bikes:
Woosh big bear ls: I really like what I read and seen about the company but I couldn't try as I cannot find a retailer near me.

Wisper 705 se (or torque if you think it would be needed): I feel similar about this company and there are retailers near us.

Cube touring hybrid one 400 A bit on the expensive side I am not sure the Bosch motor and batteries worth it. And the styling doesn't really appeal her.

We really want to send our children to that school/nursery so it has to be reliable. Style and looks are secondary. Also we want to do something about the fitness issue too so I probably would get a second bike for me.

From the bikes above I favour the wisper one as we could try before buy and there is a local-ish dealer.
It would had been the woosh but I didn't realize until now that Britain has gone mad for e-bikes recently and it would be good to have a month or two to get used to it and the route.

I also looked at cargo bikes but it would be nice to be able to use just as a bike too plus those seem really expensive.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you
Greg

 

[Gergeyl]

Hmm... I have to say I am surprised that no-one has come forward to give any advice at all, this seemed to be a pretty active forum.

I wonder if my question was too ridiculous to be even considered to be answered, or people are afraid to insult me.
Or maybe the fact that children are involved in the question and that puts people off.

Anyhow ANY advice is appreciated and I won't get embarrassed or insulted so please do so. (Just don't be rude)
I wonder if wisper or woosh would answer?

Waiting for replies...

Thank you
Greg

 

[Gaz]

I think people might be exercising caution in responding, which I think is understandable. There's certainly a chap on here who towed a trailer with a Big Bear, and said bike is certainly known for its grunt.
My Wife has a Wisper 705SE (Pre 2016, full throttle) and while it'll haul my 16st along quite nicely, I personally wouldn't dream of towing with it. It's a ten year old with an 8A battery, so things might be different now.

Gaz

 

[Gergeyl]

Thank you Gaz

I fully understand that people are exercising caution, I even appreciate that but any advice is advice even warnings.
I did think the big bear would fit the bill but it looks like I couldn't get one before mid August and we would like as much practice with it before September as we can.

I am now in doubt that the new wisper 705se wouldn't be up to the job. Wonder if the torque or a 905 would be any different.

Thank you
Greg

 

[Nealh]

I tow a trailer with my rear hub Bafang bike but not all the time, primarily it is used for my beekeeping. Late summer this carries about 80lbs deadweight and that is certainly noticeable as I feel it push/pulling as I move along. A hub or mid drive will work but I think the hub is the better choice as the drive train will have an easier time of it, a high torque hub is the answer giving more power & torque at lower speed.
Woosh bikes have a range of HT hub bikes and kits as not many sell them, Woosh are an online retailer only, though those near Southend can arrange to drop in. For towing avoid front wheel drive as slip often occurs.

 

[Old Fart At Play]

Pretty much anything could manage 2.5 miles with few hills, the big question is the towing thing - 30kg of kids plus say 10kg of trailer - I have no idea about towing 40kg what sort of motor you might need.

There is a thread here which suggests a woosh big bear would be a good option

Towing children uphill. Which ebike?

Hi, am more or less new to the world of ebikes. I have two small children who i need to be towing in a trailer up a steep hill daily. I considered some kind of electric cargo bike but have decided I want something that I can use solo once they are finally on their own bikes. Ideally I want to...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

Cheers, John

 

[Gergeyl]

Thank you Neal & John

It all seems to go back to my first choice the big bear.
Obviously I will get in touch with the supplier directly to ask questions.

Thanks for the thread link I will read through it soon.
Since the big bear is out of stock.
Does the Santana3 with the Bafang 8-Fun SWX02 would be able to do the job?
Obviously we are not expecting motorbike-like use but at this point I would rather go for more power.

Thanks again
Greg

 

[Woosh]

Does the Santana3 with the Bafang 8-Fun SWX02 would be able to do the job?

yes, easily.

 

[Gergeyl]

Thanks Woosh I was hoping you'd join in.

So am I right in thinking that you currently have no big bears until August earliest and that you have Santana3 in stock?

If so what advice could you give us about trying before buying? Obviously I understand that we can't try your bike in shop as you are a good 4 hours away and you must have an amazing but very busy business period.

Should we try a for example wisper bike to see if we even like to use an electric bike? Are they comparable?

Thank you
Greg

 

[Woosh]

the Big Bears can be delivered in the first week of August, at least for those who have placed orders, Santana3 middle/third week of August.
Hatti looks after bikes, I take care mainly of kits.

 

[Woosh]

Should we try a for example wisper bike to see if we even like to use an electric bike? Are they comparable?

yes, very much so. Bikes are different, even if they look similar and have similar specifications.
You should always test ride as many as you can.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Thank you Gaz

I fully understand that people are exercising caution, I even appreciate that but any advice is advice even warnings.
I did think the big bear would fit the bill but it looks like I couldn't get one before mid August and we would like as much practice with it before September as we can.

I am now in doubt that the new wisper 705se wouldn't be up to the job. Wonder if the torque or a 905 would be any different.

Thank you
Greg

Hi Greg, bikes have moved on a lot in 10 years. And a 10 year old 8Ah battery will have lost power.

Any electric bike will assist you whatever you are towing, that’s the nature of electric bikes. However depending on your weight and the load you intend to tow you may be better off with a mid motor. Putting your own and the motor’s power through the gears will help you on the hills. I would also go for a mid motor with at least 75Nm available to be completely comfortable.

All the best, David

 

[Gergeyl]

Thanks for all the info.

I find myself a bit confused...
I do find it hard to compare motors as they all are 250w and a few publish the torque in nm. I am not sure if that is the be all and end all for measuring the pulling power of an e-bike. But it certainly sounds like it is.

What are the nm values for the:
Woosh big bear ls
Wisper 705se
Wisper 705 torque

Another question is rear hub or mid drive?

The trailer will be around 45kg in weight with kids included.

Am I missing something?

Thanks
Greg

 

[Woosh]

don't worry about the 45k trailer, all the bikes above can pull it.

What are the nm values for the:
Woosh big bear ls

60NM.

 

[Woosh]

Another question is rear hub or mid drive?

mid drive gives a very natural ride feel.
Gear hub gives a more motorised feel, especially in when you accelerate, but once you gain in speed, the difference disappears.

 

[Gavin]

Another question is rear hub or mid drive?

Hi Greg- you've opened the eternal debate with this question!

Just to build on what @Woosh has said, mid-drives work the drive train a lot harder, because the power of the motor goes through the chain in addition to the power of your legs. This means that the life-span of the drive train will be much shorter on a mid-drive than a hub gear. The greater the load (i.e weight, steep hills etc) the shorter the life-span.

This means that the chain, rear cassette and (to a lesser extent) chainring become routine service items. This isn't a biggie if you're spannering the bike yourself but if you're paying a bike shop to change these items the costs will add up.

 

[Nealh]

Don't try and compare quoted NM values from mid drive to hub as they deliver the torque differently, mid drive Nm is via the motor /drive train to the wheel, whilst the hub is actually from the motor at the wheel.

 

[Gergeyl]

Thank you Dave and Gavin

If everything goes right we'll try a wisper bike tomorrow. And looking to hire an e-bike for a couple of days with a trailer as a test before moving on to the purchase phase.

As to what to buy we'll figure that out after the tests.

Thank you everyone it is great to find advice from other people and to find sellers giving advice that doesn't necessarily favour their own products is very refreshing.

Cheers
Greg

 

[poloyadi]

Hmm... I have to say I am surprised that no-one has come forward to give any advice at all, 192.168.100.1 192.168.1.1 jpg to pdf this seemed to be a pretty active forum.

 

[Nealh]

Hmm... I have to say I am surprised that no-one has come forward to give any advice at all, this seemed to be a pretty active forum.

Tbh it will only be good advise if any responders had young tots that they carry around, a lot on here will not be in the age bracket or those who are and have tots don't go down the route of perching tots on their bikes for safety reasons.

The way to go carrying kids is the Danny MaCaskill way.
Daisy certainly enjoyed her ride out.