Recommendation for a fussy commuter?

[sdrio]

Hello.

I'm looking for an electric bike to take the place of my motorbike, which I use for commuting in and out of London, about 12 miles each way per day.

I have a list of requirements. Have been browsing this place and the internet for a while, but wonder if I've missed anything.

These are, in no particular order;

- Stealth. I much prefer something discreet. I don't like the ones with the big fat battery attached to the frame, or on a rack. Ideally I'm looking for one of the 'water bottle' type of battery.

- Style. Preferably a hybrid kind of machine, for which read the same as all the other commuters . . . I'm not keen on the sit up and beg type of bike, or the small wheeled things.

- Ride to work scheme. I'd like to do that, so would need to be through a dealer who runs the scheme. Which leads me to . . .

- Price. Limited to £1,000, including a hat, etc, so I can do via the scheme.

The perfect machine would be something like the Cytronex conversions, but unfortunately they're all a bit too pricey. Alternatively, are there any options for a conventional bike, and a kit that would fit in the sub £1,000 range?

Thanks for reading!

Cheers

SD

 

[stesteste]

i searched for ages went through 2ebikes .both returned. then bought alien aurora more than happy not to fast not to slow pulls well. every day i go to work i love it can be also done on scheme ring jim at alien oceon very friendly guy and helpfull.£1000 .
it has battery on back but covered with panniers which u will need and cant tell its an ebike
thats my recomendation

bike -alien aurora

 

[jackhandy]

Well, the 8fun kit with a bottle battery works out at 440.00 delivered:
That would leave you with enough for a decent hybrid or whatever takes your fancy.

The 8fun works well - It won't get you up a robust hill without a decent rate of input from you, but that's the case with pretty much all the Legal motors - 250 watts ain't a motorsickle

One word of caution - Check the front forks give you 100mm clearance for about 50mm or more up the fork leg, or you could find things a tad tight, clearance-wise. Oh, and a 185 or 203mm disc is preferable to a 165mm, for the same reason.

 

[banbury frank]

I can recommend in your budget one off Johns Bikes I would spend a bit more and look at the 14AH battery

there bikes are well built and the motors are probably the most powerful hill climber in the 250 watt range

eZee Forza EV - electric bikes and conversion kits

Frank

 

[sdrio]

Thanks all, food for thought.

This whole business is much more complicated than it first looks. I started looking with the idea that there weren't actually many electric bikes on the market, but I can see now, there are hundreds . . .

Problem is I haven't found one that ticks all my boxes.

The alien I'm afraid is everything I didn't want, stylewise (meaning no disrespect). I wouldn't want panniers anyway, so that one doesn't work for me.

I looked at the 8fun kit before, also a kit by oxygen. They look good, but don't seem to work with the cycle to work scheme, which is a must for me - the idea is to use the ebike instead of my motorbike, which would save £60/month in petrol. The cost of a £1,000 bike would be exactly that, so it will be paying for itself.

Frank, again the eZee is not floating my boat in the looks dept, I just couldn't see myself on one of those. What I did start drooling over was your own commuter stealth though! But that busts the cycle to work limit (assuming you even do the scheme), but it shows what I'm looking for.

I did see another 'stealth' model here: Stealth electric cycle. Buy yours from Cyclotricity today- £699

That seems to fit the bill, but I need to do some more research on it, and also see if there's a dealer who does it under the scheme.

Thanks again for your input.

 

[banbury frank]

Hi Sdrio

Where about are you it will help to point you in the right dealers

I have spoke to the guy at Cyclotricity He seems to have some good products

I was helping him with becoming a Official Trade member

He is setting up dealers I am sure one will do the Cycle to work But beware they will charge up to 20% to set up the scam ( yes I mean Scam As the Government have changed the Rules )


Frank

 

[tillson]

I wouldn't let a cycle scheme dictate where you buy or what type of bike you buy. Since the government / HMRC, "clarified" the rules, the savings aren't very much at all. Negligible in fact.

 

[sdrio]

I wouldn't let a cycle scheme dictate where you buy or what type of bike you buy. Since the government / HMRC, "clarified" the rules, the savings aren't very much at all. Negligible in fact.

I'm obviously out of date there then. Banbury Frank seems to be saying the same thing.

Is there a cliff notes version of what has changed? It looked like a good deal, saving 40% of the cost and spreading it over a year.

How is it now?

 

[sdrio]

Hi Sdrio

Where about are you it will help to point you in the right dealers

I have spoke to the guy at Cyclotricity He seems to have some good products

I was helping him with becoming a Official Trade member

He is setting up dealers I am sure one will do the Cycle to work But beware they will charge up to 20% to set up the scam ( yes I mean Scam As the Government have changed the Rules )


Frank

Thanks Frank. I'm in London - the city during the day, and West (Richmond) other times.

Nice of you to help like this, considering it's someone elses bike I'm looking at!

 

[flecc]

.
This post and thread will explain the way the cycle to work scheme operates now and it's limited benefits.

 

[amigafan2003]

I wouldn't let a cycle scheme dictate where you buy or what type of bike you buy. Since the government / HMRC, "clarified" the rules, the savings aren't very much at all. Negligible in fact.

£200 on my £700 Trek (including final "rental" fee). Also effectively an interest free loan over 12 months with no credit check

Still worth looking into imho.

 

[sdrio]

£200 on my £700 Trek (including final "rental" fee). Also effectively an interest free loan over 12 months with no credit check

Still worth looking into imho.

Thanks, and Flecc for your post as well.

As I'm paing 40% tax, maybe there is some mileage in it still.

I shall investigate, with all of you guys help.

Having said all this, I'm sure I'm not the only one who as a kid used to pedal his bike around, wishing for a magic button to press that would make the bike suddently do the work for me . . . it's going to be hard to resist doing this, even if I have to pay full price!

 

[piotrmacheta]

What about buying a tongxin motor and controller from Sky (see JerrySimon's posts), fitting it to a commuter bike and buying a bottle battery. Probably less than £1k. Not sure if a shop can do this under C2W though. I'm doing just that with my Cannodale race bike.

 

[SportRider]

What I did start drooling over was your own commuter stealth though! But that busts the cycle to work limit (assuming you even do the scheme), but it shows what I'm looking for.

I did the same a while back and made the fatal mistake of taking a test ride. As a result I left Banbury poorer in money but considerably richer in bike!

I'm a motorcyclist too (GSX-R 1000) and never thought e-bikes could be so much fun. Fantastic machine, and highly recommended. (And I can vouch that Xipi's after sales customer service is second to none.)

On the stealth note, don't forget that there's always the option of a battery backpack. I was speaking to the guys at Xipi the other day, and they were saying that they'd set up a full suspension Boardman for a customer with this option.

Not sure I'd want to go down that road myself, but worth thinking about.

Whatever you do, try to demo as many bikes as you can before deciding. It's amazing how different they all are (and I'm sure you wouldn't buy a motorbike without checking it out first...)

Happy hunting!

 

[sdrio]

I did the same a while back and made the fatal mistake of taking a test ride. As a result I left Banbury poorer in money but considerably richer in bike!

I'm a motorcyclist too (GSX-R 1000) and never thought e-bikes could be so much fun. Fantastic machine, and highly recommended. (And I can vouch that Xipi's after sales customer service is second to none.)

On the stealth note, don't forget that there's always the option of a battery backpack. I was speaking to the guys at Xipi the other day, and they were saying that they'd set up a full suspension Boardman for a customer with this option.

Not sure I'd want to go down that road myself, but worth thinking about.

Whatever you do, try to demo as many bikes as you can before deciding. It's amazing how different they all are (and I'm sure you wouldn't buy a motorbike without checking it out first...)

Happy hunting!

Stepping from a GSXr1000 to one of those and not complaining is as good an endorsement as there can possibly be! Mines a MT03. Slightly odd machine, but perfect for commuting.

Thanks for the advice, I think I'm with you on the backpack, not least of all because mine would already have sandwiches in it.

I'm going slowly with all this, but so far the ones I'd go for would be the Cyclotricity, although I'm slightly dubious about range on that, or if budget permits when I do get round to it, the Xipi. I liked the look of the Burisch too, but seems they don't have any stock till the end of the year.

I've looked at the cycle2work issues. I think if I can do it I will, but it has to go to the bottom of the priority list, as it doesn't look like it's much help now. My company do season ticket loans, and I've already agreed with the finance guy that they'd do a loan over a year to buy one of these instead.

I'll watch and wait for a bit more, try to do some test rides.

Thanks again to everybody for your wisdom.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Have a look at the Woosh Bikes website. They don't use the Cycle to Work scheme, but they have some alternative, which might apply to any bike shop.

Also, I don' know whether I'm supposed to say anything, but they have a rather nice new bike coming very shortly. It's not yet on their website so keep looking because it may appear very soon. From what you've said, this one may be just what you're looking for.
Cycle to work scheme | Electric Bikes from Woosh | electric bike sales & hire

 

[CycloTricity]

Hi Sdrio

Where about are you it will help to point you in the right dealers

I have spoke to the guy at Cyclotricity He seems to have some good products

I was helping him with becoming a Official Trade member

He is setting up dealers I am sure one will do the Cycle to work But beware they will charge up to 20% to set up the scam ( yes I mean Scam As the Government have changed the Rules )


Frank

Hi Frank,

Thanks for the kind comment! By the way, I was very impressed with your conversions, and have already referred a few customers to you that were looking for high powered 48V kits.

Hope you're doing well otherwise

Regards,
Rami