My partner is a keen cyclist and regularly does 50-60 miles on his bike in one go. I have been thinking that I would like to join him sometimes and have been looking at an ebike. I am reasonably fit but a bit lazy and the only way I could go out with him would be on an ebike but am confused about the many varied options, probably most of which would be too big for me. I am 5'1" and small/medium build. We went to the Cycle Show last weekend and had a brief look at some at the ebikes there, and I could hardly lift them! They weighed more than my suitcase when I am going on holiday for a week! lol So, I need a bike suitable for a short person that comfortably has a range of 50 miles (70 miles ideally) that isn't too heavy. Somewhere around £1000 with some upward flexibility if something nice catches my eye! The other option would be to buy a standard bike and fit a kit, we saw a couple of kits at the show but one by Cytronex was as much as an ebike.
Smaller bike with good range
- Thread starter louiem
- Start date
hello louiem,
Your height would suit a bike with 24" wheels.
I would suggest the £949 Woosh Petite with 15AH battery. Its range depends on your weight and terrains but 15AH should be enough for all day cycling, 50 miles on a full charge is very easy, 70 miles is possible if you weigh around 10st.
E-bikes are usually heavy, especially when fitted with mudguards and rack, but the Petite is among the lighter weight.
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?petite
Your height would suit a bike with 24" wheels.
I would suggest the £949 Woosh Petite with 15AH battery. Its range depends on your weight and terrains but 15AH should be enough for all day cycling, 50 miles on a full charge is very easy, 70 miles is possible if you weigh around 10st.
E-bikes are usually heavy, especially when fitted with mudguards and rack, but the Petite is among the lighter weight.
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?petite
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
You can make any bike exactly how you want it by converting it to electric. You don't need to buy a kit. You can buy the individual components to get what you want.
If you already have a bike you're happy with, and you can do basic wiring and spanner work, post a picture of it so that we can see if there would be any problems.
In principle, you need a Q100 or Q100c motor, an S06S controller, LCD and pedal sensor. You can get them all from BMSBattery.
You can get a suitable battery from there too or there's some on Ebay. The battery is the heaviest part. With your very low weight, 11 amp-hours (400Wh), should easily be enough. You can get one with 40 Samsung 30Q cells, which will give you 12Ah at under 3 kg. A 50 cell one will give you 15 Ah, but will be 25% heavier.
If he rides a road bike and goes quite fast, you'll need a the bigger battery.
If you already have a bike you're happy with, and you can do basic wiring and spanner work, post a picture of it so that we can see if there would be any problems.
In principle, you need a Q100 or Q100c motor, an S06S controller, LCD and pedal sensor. You can get them all from BMSBattery.
You can get a suitable battery from there too or there's some on Ebay. The battery is the heaviest part. With your very low weight, 11 amp-hours (400Wh), should easily be enough. You can get one with 40 Samsung 30Q cells, which will give you 12Ah at under 3 kg. A 50 cell one will give you 15 Ah, but will be 25% heavier.
If he rides a road bike and goes quite fast, you'll need a the bigger battery.
if you tell us which bike you ride at the moment, we could make better suggestions based on that.
I do have a mountain bike but if we went for the conversion option, I would buy a hybrid, I think. I sat on a nice Bianchi hybrid at the show last weekend. My bloke averages a bit over 15mph or more if it is very flat. He is pretty handy so I will show him your suggestion. Having said that, gears baffle me and so the thought of one that has few appeals. I like the look of the GTECH but it doesn't seem to have much of a range.
I don't. I have a mountain bike but haven't been on it for 3-4 years. I use a cross trainer and treadmill for exercise currently.
you said you sportier look, that suggests e-mtbs like the Woosh Rio MTB
http://wooshbikes.co.uk/?rio-mtb
I think your 5ft1 10st frame may look good on it but that bike has 18"/44cm frame, typical of this type of bikes. You really need to pop in a shop to test ride some.
D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
Not having a bike at the moment, makes it impossible to advise exactly how to convert it. If you want to go that route, look for a used bike with disk brakes, a frame with the biggest triangle unless you'd be happy with a heavier rack battery, and any crank except an Octalink type or other such splined one. Hollotech and square taper are OK.
Hi Louiem,
With a budget of roughly £1000 I'd probably recommend something from the Roodog range.
https://powerbikes.uk/product-category/e-bikes/manufacturer/roodog/
The Roodog Avatar and Polka Dot both have battery upgrade options if you are worried about range.
Let me know what you think and I'll be happy to advise on anything.
Got to say, I do love the look of this bike!
With a budget of roughly £1000 I'd probably recommend something from the Roodog range.
https://powerbikes.uk/product-category/e-bikes/manufacturer/roodog/
The Roodog Avatar and Polka Dot both have battery upgrade options if you are worried about range.
Let me know what you think and I'll be happy to advise on anything.
Got to say, I do love the look of this bike!
Could anyone give me an idea of the average likely range for this bike:
https://www.evanscycles.com/cube-cross-pro-400-2017-womens-electric-hybrid-bike-EV291184
In the questions at the foot of the page, someone asked the range on the lowest setting and was advised it was 105 miles - is that likely to be accurate?
https://www.evanscycles.com/cube-cross-pro-400-2017-womens-electric-hybrid-bike-EV291184
In the questions at the foot of the page, someone asked the range on the lowest setting and was advised it was 105 miles - is that likely to be accurate?
If it's 105 on the lowest setting, maybe it would be comfortably good for 70 on a mixture? I wouldn't do 70, more likely 30-50. I am having a demo of a GTECH in a fortnight but would need a spare battery for the range, I think. However, the lack of chain and gears appeals.
range has more to do with your fitness and the battery capacity than other factors like bike motor, geometry, weight.
You should test ride the bike(s) to see how close they are to ride like an unpowered bike.
The 105 range needs to be taken with a pinch of salt and is the optimal possible. A very able fit rider on flat terrain would may be manage it, though would be putting n considerable effort . There are so many variables involved, terrain and riders weight/fitness in to the equation. A more realistic range with a 400wh battery is more likely 20 - 45 miles, most peeps buy an ebike to make the ride effortless and will most probably use a higher setting for an easier peddling experience.
A ready reckoner for range is to divide the battery capacity(Wh) by the riders usage Wh/per hr. A starting basis I would say is to use the figure of 15 or 20 Wh per mile.
For instance I am a regular rider with Asthma who pedals quite hard, my Wh usage ranges from 9 -15 Wh per hour.
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It's just difficult to know what bikes to make an effort to test so I'm trying to make a shortlist but really, I have no clue what I am looking at, spec wise. There is no point me buying one if it's only going to do 30 miles as then I wouldn't be able to go out with my bf and the bike would end up not being used. I would say he would more often do 40-50 miles, although when I join him, we would do less to start with, I am sure. I have also been thinking about the Giant Ease-E+ but the battery is stated as being a Giant EnergyPak 300, so I'm presuming (perhaps incorrectly?) that it would do less range than the Cube. I also saw one the other day with a 500w Bosch battery, but I can't remember what bike it was now, have looked at so many!
it's pretty easy to say that if you can do 30 miles without assistance then we know you are pretty fit, you would unlikely be needing maximum assist (300%) on a Bosch bike unless it's a steep hill. At average 200% assist, you can do 100 miles easy peasy with a 500WH battery.
Is this not a case where hiring a bike for a week end makes a lot of sense in sorting out what suits?
I think first I would sample the various options bike retailers can come up with as demo bikes to sort out the style bike that interest you. Then if that can't be made available for an extended demo from that retailer, hire from someone offering that service for a proper evaluation doing exactly what you are planning to use it doing.
There is at least one company in Hampshire, in what IMO is a challenging area for cycling that offers hire e-bikes;
https://www.right-bike.co.uk/contact-us/
Their pricings are £30 a day £80 for three days, probably a price worth paying to avoid a wrong purchase, and not bad for a fun weekend either if you make good use of it.
I think first I would sample the various options bike retailers can come up with as demo bikes to sort out the style bike that interest you. Then if that can't be made available for an extended demo from that retailer, hire from someone offering that service for a proper evaluation doing exactly what you are planning to use it doing.
There is at least one company in Hampshire, in what IMO is a challenging area for cycling that offers hire e-bikes;
https://www.right-bike.co.uk/contact-us/
Their pricings are £30 a day £80 for three days, probably a price worth paying to avoid a wrong purchase, and not bad for a fun weekend either if you make good use of it.
No, I couldn't do 30 miles without assistance. On the flat, I probably wouldn't need any unless we were some way into the ride. However, I would need one that with various levels of assist along the way and sometimes with no assist, would be good for up to 50 miles without me worrying that I was going to have to peddle a heavy bike under my own steam for the last half a dozen miles.
I did think about this as an option but it still comes back to, for me, the choice being a bit bewildering regarding the range. There is an ebike shop about 100m from our door that is a Freego, and another brand I have never heard of, stockist so they may offer hire too.
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