Puffin Bikes

[eddieo]

So where is my advice not impartial? and yours is?lol I dont ride a Kalkhoff or a connection with 50 cycles, but you ride a Kudos..give me a break

its common for people to have problems with throttle controlled bikes when new to them.... my wife a good example. when I sold two bikes both buyers who tried them leaned on throttles and bike ran away from them. many on here have found this off putting and gone for centredrives simply because they are more civilised and like normal cycling

 

[Jimod]

What advice have I given about puffin buying a Kudos? You give confusing contradictory advice, you said get crank drive, you said hub drives aren't for you then you recommend wisper which are hub drive saying you've had 4. Where's the impartial advice?

I'd like you to now point out where I said buy a Kudos or any other make.

BTW not all hub drive bikes have throttles but I'm sure you knew that.

 

[eddieo]

I mentioned Wisper because Puffin asked? and they are the best in hub bikes as far as I'm concerned, and correct I am happily on my 4th, and their Euro spec bikes dont have throttles. But this is not about me and I am genuinely trying to help, I would not have a Kalkhoff they dont appeal, I prefer Bosch which is common knowledge.

Anyway Bosch and impulse to expensive, but the tried and well tested 26 V Panasonic's can be had at a good price. and If you dont think people have made claims after accidents on e bikes against suppliers you are naive....

 

[GaRRy]

So where is my advice not impartial? and yours is?lol I dont ride a Kalkhoff or a connection with 50 cycles, but you ride a Kudos..give me a break

its common for people to have problems with throttle controlled bikes when new to them.... my wife a good example. when I sold two bikes both buyers who tried them leaned on throttles and bike ran away from them. many on here have found this off putting and gone for centredrives simply because they are more civilised and like normal cycling

So you you don't like throttles fair enough. But not all hub drive bikes have them and those that do a lot give you the option of using it or using the bike in Pedelec mode giving the user the option of which to use. Also this is your opinion not accepted fact. I have already stated in the past I feel the opposite to you and that for me a hub bike with sensors is better and feels more natural than a crank drive. But unlike you I accept that is my personal preference and accept that others feel different which is something you seem incapable of ever accepting.

As for OP original question. You are probably realising by now that there are lots of options and lots of solutions and so you need to take you time and see which is best for you.
Probably best to talk to as many suppliers as you can.
Tell them your requirements.
See what they each offer/suggest as best solution and maybe using this narrow the field down a bit
And then get a sample of each to try out to before making the final decision.
To me for that many bikes if the supplier is not able to offer a test bike to try out for a week or so then they obviously are not really interested in the business (or the future repeat business as from what I can see most hire centres replace bikes on a fairly regular basis).
As for what is posted on here use it to get some ideas but treat it as what it is personal advice and opinions and coming with personal and business interest prejudice. At least for suppliers you can tell as they post as trade members (or should do)

Good Luck

 

[Kudoscycles]

The only reason we are all putting throttles on these bikes is that customers ask for them,it is often a primary request,if you don't want the throttle it is easily disconnected at the controller. As for the long running argument between hub and crank drive Kudos will soon have back to back test bikes. Our Arriba bike is hub drive+Thun torque sensor+Kudos TOP system,our Eiger bike is crank drive,both will be £1295.00.
Yesterday one of my competitors rode the Arriba bike and he admitted it was one of the nicest ebikes he had ever ridden at any price.
Dave
Kudoscycles

 

[JuicyBike]

See this... http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/10527-throttle-use-poll.html

 

[Woosh]

Hatti,I think that hotel is called 'the Waters Edge Hotel',its in a wonderful location but the hotel looked externally tired last time I was in that bay.
Dave
Kudoscycles

Ah! But we didn't stay there. We were in this amazing ex German bunker (sorry, Woosh are not very conventional in many ways!) 3 levels, with toilet down loads of steps OUTSIDE (not funny in the dark) and the sea right below the kitchen window. Truly magical.

And getting back to basics....the Woosh Sant-Ana has throttle override switch, the red button below the right grip. This is a feature on all our bikes (except the Mono), proving very popular and easy to use.
We've also adopted a one cable system in the Sant-Ana: brake switches, throttle and display unit can be plugged in in seconds to a front hub, thus easily swapped out if needed and taking the heachache out of electrical repairs.

 

[Kudoscycles]

Ah! But we didn't stay there. We were in this amazing ex German bunker (sorry, Woosh are not very conventional in many ways!) 3 levels, with toilet down loads of steps OUTSIDE (not funny in the dark) and the sea right below the kitchen window. Truly magical.

Have you lived there since WW2? It must be a shock for you coming out after all these years-your deutchmarks must have suffered a bit with inflation, still hang on to them the rate against the Euro will come back!

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Puffin I`m not sure Police Forces have adopted particular Ebikes , more like gratefully` received `from the suppliers .They probably have adverts on them like some of the cars received in the same way .

Hi Roger, I have been watching this thread with interest resisting the urge to join in the selling frenzy! Of course though we would be delighted to work with Puffin.

The reason I am posting is to point out that we have only ever donated one bike to the Police and that was to the City of London Police about 18 months ago (still used on a daily basis), all the other bikes have been sold into the police and it is fair to point out, not by us but by our local dealers.

All the best

David

 

[eddieo]

one of my sons favorite pictures

Puffin - nuffin

 

[GaRRy]

Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is a troll, I have heard about them but am not 100% what they do?

All the best

David

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

Assuming you are not trolling yourself

 

[carpetbagger]

wasn't a lot of the merchandise for the olympics made elsewhere by NONE british companies.
KEEP WISPER BRITISH

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Facinating, thanks Garry. I have often been called a Troll but that was due to my features, size and weight rather than any thread related incident!

All the best

David

 

[neptune]

I would say that among the many factors to consider when buying hire bikes, is what happens when you get technical problems. These bikes will be ridden largely by novices with no mechanical sympathy. You will be miles away from your dealer whatever you choose. Ideally you will need a mechanic who understands them, and can fix things like gears brakes and punctures. It might be wise to carry some spares. Good luck whatever you choose. I would go for hub motors for reliability and simplicity, and vee brakes for the same reasons. All bikes will need to be checked for defects before each hire.

 

[eddieo]

nothing simpler or more reliable then a crank drive bike. One sealed for life drive unit, containing all electronics. Battery normally mounted adjacent. One cable to handle bar display, and one to rear wheel sensor. Also silent, with no learning curve and a very natural system to ride....

 

[neptune]

As always opinions will differ. "Sealed for Life" is a phrase I have problems with. Define "life". It definitely does not mean "three score years and ten." To me it implies " Throw away an expensive assembly that is 90% OK because of the failure of a small inexpensive component that is inaccessible and made from Unobtainium".

 

[eddieo]

Dear oh dear.....life of the bike

I have one of each and more then happy..but for a hire business I know what I would choose.

 

[flecc]

As always opinions will differ. "Sealed for Life" is a phrase I have problems with. Define "life". It definitely does not mean "three score years and ten." To me it implies " Throw away an expensive assembly that is 90% OK because of the failure of a small inexpensive component that is inaccessible and made from Unobtainium".

With the better crank drive units it's usually a justifiable term. Many of the Panasonic original units are running ok at up to ten years old, despite a few suffering from the odd fault in this first generation model. The later version deals with those known problems and I'd think others like Bosch have learnt from Panasonic's experience in designing their later units.

Panasonic give a two year free replacement warranty and things that last for two years without a fault usually tend to be ok for life.

 

[neptune]

My personal experience of "sealed for life", or should that read "sealed for death."
For many years, I used to run my own business, repairing Washing machines. In the early years, a regular job was replacing drum bearings. Although it was a noisy, dirty job, to me it was lucrative, and if done properly would extend the life of the machine by several years. Even if it was necessary to change the drum shaft as well, the repair cost would be about a third of the cost of a new machine.
Then came "progressive" ideas from Merloni in Italy, and from Bosch. At great expense in Research and development, They redesigned the machine so that the outer drum, inner drum, bearings and inner drum support spider and shaft, became a "sealed for death" unit.If the bearings failed, you had to replace the whole shebang. The cost of this lump was typically 85% of the cost of a new machine. So the machine went into landfill, and I lost a repair job. After I retired, I bought a brand new Bosch machine for my house. The bearings failed after two months.
It is allegedly still a free country, but I would never buy a bike with a sealed unit.

 

[flecc]

It is allegedly still a free country, but I would never buy a bike with a sealed unit.

You're right, but also your loss, some of the finest e-bikes ever made and still made use the sealed units.

And sealed bottom-bracket cassettes on normal bikes are a huge advance on the former troublesome cup and cone abominations.

Of course on the e-bike units sealed isn't literal, they can be opened up and some repairs are possible as my support website on the earlier Panasonic unit shows. Although there are no spares available, scavenging from old units solves that problem too:

motorunit1
.