Hi all, new to all this e-bike business. Have been riding a cheap hybrid regular bike, converted to be as road-worthy as possible, for about 10 years. I ride to help fitness usually between 10-15 mile rides I guess - and to get in and out of town. I'm pretty a fair weather rider, in truth.
Started thinking about an e-bike recently as they're building a new genuinely useful cycle path near me over a moderate hill that ends - oh yeah - in my beloved cinema. I could cycle it fine but it wouldn't be any fun at all, hence the e-bike thought - arriving at the cinema not needing a shower. Then I thought... hold on, that means I can explore so much more of the countryside on an 1hr ride, still putting in some effort but not being so restricted to one 14% evil hill, which is about my limit even when I'm as close to match fit as I seem to get.
So I'm looking for an e-bike that can function as a regular bike, geared for road riding, as light as possible. I've test-ridden two bikes so far. The first was the Eco-Expedition, a mountain bike. This was really impressively put together I thought, but in the end I couldn't escape the obvious thought that I didn't want a mountain bike. It was fun to ride, but I'd run out of speed when peddling at about 18-19mph in top gear. Fun stopped. When I added up the bill to change the gearing, tyres etc, it was touching an extra £300... and it would still ultimately be a mountain bike. Also the battery and motor seemed to be unbranded.
Next was the Kudos Stealth (or rather the Alamo - same bike, different colour). This was more like it - I was able to pedal down a gentle downhill doing nearer 25. Yippee. I was worried I'd miss the 3 cogs on the front - the Stealth is an 8 speed - but I figured that this was unlikely to be a real world problem, since the lowest gear with a low-moderate assist would still be fine up hill, and it was well geared for flats and downhills. It was hard to put my finger on it, but it somehow didn't feel quite as slickly integrated as the Eco Expedition, though it could just be a case of getting used to it.
Two reservations. 1 - on literally the day I went to buy, the price on e-bikes went up £60. Grr. Do these things come up in sales? 2 - the semi-integrated Samsung battery is really slick, but I'm concerned that if I need a replacement in a couple of years it will be impossible to find. I haven't seen this exact battery anywhere else, and obviously it looks pretty specific.
Meanwhile, the chaps at the local cycle shop basically said "don't bother unless you're spending £2k with a Bosch system", which - however predicable the advice to spend a lot more money - sowed a further seed of doubt. Is spending double on a Bosch system really so much better than a Bafang? Looking around, the £2k bikes don't seem significantly lighter, one of the things I really do care about. And are my battery longevity fears unfounded? Kudos seem to have a good reputation - I'm still close to pulling the trigger, but grateful for any input from you fine informed folks here, thanks.
Started thinking about an e-bike recently as they're building a new genuinely useful cycle path near me over a moderate hill that ends - oh yeah - in my beloved cinema. I could cycle it fine but it wouldn't be any fun at all, hence the e-bike thought - arriving at the cinema not needing a shower. Then I thought... hold on, that means I can explore so much more of the countryside on an 1hr ride, still putting in some effort but not being so restricted to one 14% evil hill, which is about my limit even when I'm as close to match fit as I seem to get.
So I'm looking for an e-bike that can function as a regular bike, geared for road riding, as light as possible. I've test-ridden two bikes so far. The first was the Eco-Expedition, a mountain bike. This was really impressively put together I thought, but in the end I couldn't escape the obvious thought that I didn't want a mountain bike. It was fun to ride, but I'd run out of speed when peddling at about 18-19mph in top gear. Fun stopped. When I added up the bill to change the gearing, tyres etc, it was touching an extra £300... and it would still ultimately be a mountain bike. Also the battery and motor seemed to be unbranded.
Next was the Kudos Stealth (or rather the Alamo - same bike, different colour). This was more like it - I was able to pedal down a gentle downhill doing nearer 25. Yippee. I was worried I'd miss the 3 cogs on the front - the Stealth is an 8 speed - but I figured that this was unlikely to be a real world problem, since the lowest gear with a low-moderate assist would still be fine up hill, and it was well geared for flats and downhills. It was hard to put my finger on it, but it somehow didn't feel quite as slickly integrated as the Eco Expedition, though it could just be a case of getting used to it.
Two reservations. 1 - on literally the day I went to buy, the price on e-bikes went up £60. Grr. Do these things come up in sales? 2 - the semi-integrated Samsung battery is really slick, but I'm concerned that if I need a replacement in a couple of years it will be impossible to find. I haven't seen this exact battery anywhere else, and obviously it looks pretty specific.
Meanwhile, the chaps at the local cycle shop basically said "don't bother unless you're spending £2k with a Bosch system", which - however predicable the advice to spend a lot more money - sowed a further seed of doubt. Is spending double on a Bosch system really so much better than a Bafang? Looking around, the £2k bikes don't seem significantly lighter, one of the things I really do care about. And are my battery longevity fears unfounded? Kudos seem to have a good reputation - I'm still close to pulling the trigger, but grateful for any input from you fine informed folks here, thanks.
