Seeking Advice on Affordable Ebike for 20-Mile Daily Commute (£500-£600 = Budget)

[Saracen]

£500-600 good luck, the battery can cost that

Also avoid HUB drives like Woosh where possible, remember they have NO gears attached, the motor simply speeds up and slows down, with mid drives you can still change the bikes gears as you do when riding, the motor does all the work where as MID drives use the gears allowing you to change and ride a bike as usual, hub motor sellers never point out the failings of hub drives.

They are cheap for a reason

Do I Need a Hub Drive or a Mid-Drive Motor?

Which ebike system is best for you: a hub drive or a mid-drive motor? You’ll want to consider cost, use case, and the motor’s location on the bike, among other factors.

www.cyclevolta.com

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[Saracen]

Want to get new Ebike, havent got time to do a conversion and preffer new to 2nd hand

Cheap means just that cheap Chinese unreliable, good luck

I would personally not touch one but look at Halfords PRE owned

Second Hand Grade B - Carrera Vengeance E Mens Electric Mountain Bike - M, L Frames | Halfords UK

Shop the latest at Halfords UK

www.halfords.com

..

 

[Saracen]

What amazes me is the assumption that £600 is a lot, think about it

You pay £600

Of that take off sellers (shop) commission, distribution costs, manufacturing costs, and you are left with a bike who's materials are worth about £150-200, so CHEAP plastic, low value metal, rim brakes, and worst of all the cheap Chinese battery I wouldn't have in MY home when charging

I just had my Saracen and Sanderson Life framed bikes converted to E bikes, £850 each just for the conversion.

 

[chris667]

Also avoid HUB drives like Woosh where possible, remember they have NO gears attached, the motor simply speeds up and slows down, with mid drives you can still change the bikes gears as you do when riding, the motor does all the work where as MID drives use the gears allowing you to change and ride a bike as usual, hub motor sellers never point out the failings of hub drives

I don't understand your point. My hub motor has a normal splined cassette. It has exactly the same number of gears as it did when it was a pedal bike. It has a triple chainring, so probably MORE gears than most hub geared bikes.

I chose it because looking here it seems they break down less often.

 

[saneagle]

£500-600 good luck, the battery can cost that

Also avoid HUB drives like Woosh where possible, remember they have NO gears attached, the motor simply speeds up and slows down, with mid drives you can still change the bikes gears as you do when riding, the motor does all the work where as MID drives use the gears allowing you to change and ride a bike as usual, hub motor sellers never point out the failings of hub drives.

They are cheap for a reason

Do I Need a Hub Drive or a Mid-Drive Motor?

Which ebike system is best for you: a hub drive or a mid-drive motor? You’ll want to consider cost, use case, and the motor’s location on the bike, among other factors.

www.cyclevolta.com

.

That sounds like a disadvantage of crank motors. Why would you want all the problems of drive wear and having to be in the right gear all the time, when you can avoid that with a hub-motor. I thought the idea of adding a motor to your bike was to make life easier, not the same or worse.

 

[Woosh]

They are cheap for a reason

the difference between a hub kit and a crank motor kit is only about £100.
The cost difference is down to the gearbox.
The gearbox for a crank drive has to handle more torque compared to the gearbox inside the hub motor, is more complicated, heavier and more expensive.

 

[Waspy]

Also avoid HUB drives like Woosh where possible, remember they have NO gears attached,

FFS

 

[flecc]

The gearbox for a crank drive has to handle more torque compared to the gearbox inside the hub motor, is more complicated, heavier and more expensive.

And on the evidence of the last 20 years, has on average more parts to fail, lower reliability, a far higher cost to repair or replace the drive unit if it fails and the pedelec with mid driven transmission costs far more to run, on top of the other higher costs.

The Moral:

If a rear hub drive can do the job, choose that every time.
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[Nealh]

Cheap means just that cheap Chinese unreliable, good luck

I would personally not touch one but look at Halfords PRE owned

Second Hand Grade B - Carrera Vengeance E Mens Electric Mountain Bike - M, L Frames | Halfords UK

Shop the latest at Halfords UK

www.halfords.com

..

Obviously you have never retro fitted a hub kit to a bike yet alone used one for many K's of riding.

 

[saneagle]

Obviously you have never retro fitted a hub kit to a bike yet alone used one for many K's of riding.

It's going to be interesting to see how quickly he changes to a hub-motor motor, when his present one fails or when his drive train fails and he gets stranded, or when his gear cable snaps and he has to try to ride home in top gear.

 

[flecc]

It's going to be interesting to see how quickly he changes to a hub-motor motor, when his present one fails or when his drive train fails and he gets stranded, or when his gear cable snaps and he has to try to ride home in top gear.

Possibly not since Saracen declares he is proud of his autism. The third most common characteristic of autism is the presence of restrictive and repetitive behaviours. In turn often leading to being unwilling to change behaviours and annoyance with any change imposed.
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[esuark]

What amazes me

"what amazes me" is a member since 24th august 2023 and is now an "expert" on E bikes.

 

[Saracen]

Obviously you have never retro fitted a hub kit to a bike yet alone used one for many K's of riding.

LOL I do laugh at people's assumptions, never assume you are always wrong ROFL

 

[Saracen]

That sounds like a disadvantage of crank motors. Why would you want all the problems of drive wear and having to be in the right gear all the time, when you can avoid that with a hub-motor. I thought the idea of adding a motor to your bike was to make life easier, not the same or worse.

Then you have never ridden one, Ill take you OFF road you ride a hub Ill ride mid drive

 

[Saracen]

the difference between a hub kit and a crank motor kit is only about £100.
The cost difference is down to the gearbox.
The gearbox for a crank drive has to handle more torque compared to the gearbox inside the hub motor, is more complicated, heavier and more expensive.

POST the prices and site, post here the comparison now.

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[Saracen]

A difference riders can’t see, but will experience on a long ride – especially on hills – is that a bike with a mid-drive motor works synergistically with the bike’s gears for higher efficiency, which translates into longer riding range per charge. Like a car’s engine, electric motors like to spin fast not slow.

Just google "which is best hub drive or centre" the majority can not be wrong, you can't argue with FACT.

 

[Saracen]

Any who state otherwise have no realistic knowledge of the drives........................

The single largest advantage that mid-motors have over hub motors is their gear ratio. They allow the rider to power the rear wheel via the same chain and gear set as the pedals, which means that a low gear can be selected for powering up steep hills or accelerating from a stop with massive torque. A mid-drive motor in low gear can climb steeper hills than a hub motor of similar power, and can climb hills for longer than a hub motor, which could overheat on long steep hill climbs.

Electric bicycle hub motors vs mid-drive motors: Which should be on your next e-bike?

Electric bicycles are becoming increasingly popular forms of two-wheeled electric transportation for both commuting and pleasure riding. The two most...

electrek.co

 

[Saracen]

The Dealer Perspective

"Customers who come in asking for mid-drives are usually experienced bicyclists who want an e-mountain bike or performance commuter," said Alex Dunn, general manager of Seattle E-Bike. "If they are asking about good warranties, light weight, serviceability, then we convince them to go for a mid-drive."

"When people ask, 'What's the cheapest thing you offer?' We point them to the hub motors," Dunn said.

E-bike motor trends: mid-drives vs. hub drives

(BRAIN) — When Specialized announced the re-launch of its Globe brand in May as an affordable electric bike purveyor focused on car-replacing transportation, the company released only one spy photo showing an e-bike obscured by cargo baskets and cactuses. While the e-bike's frame was largely...

www.bicycleretailer.com

 

[Cadence]

Then you have never ridden one, Ill take you OFF road you ride a hub Ill ride mid drive

Why don't you go back and read the OP's original post? He was asking for advice about an affordable bike for a 20 mile daily commute, not for an off-road mudfest. Horses for courses. Your two bikes look wholely inappropriate for commuting.

 

[Woosh]

POST the prices and site, post here the comparison now.

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I can do that. Take for example a TSDZ02B bottom bracket torque sensor crank drive with 48V 15AH bag battery and throttle: £705.
A 48V hub DWG22C with 48V 12.5AH HL downtube battery and throttle: £635.


£705: https://wooshbikes.co.uk/cart/#/product/uid-270-tsdz2t-15ahdp/tsdz2t-cd-kit-48v-15ah-with-throttle
£635: https://wooshbikes.co.uk/cart/#/product/uid-241-dwg22c-48v12ah/shengyi-dwg22c-48v-250w-rear-hub-kit-with-48v-12ah-battery