Synergie Mistral or Urban Mover?

[Modus]

Greetings from Ireland, electrical bikers!
I am considering buying my first electric bike.
I have a car, and I don’t have a commute. I enjoy cycling and think I could do most sub 10 mile journeys by electric bike. My bit for the environment.
I would like an electric bike that can do a return journey of 20 miles (10 each way) before needing to be recharged. I also need something light enough that I could cycle it if the battery goes flat.
In Ireland, we don’t have great choice. goeco.ie supplies Synergie bikes., electricbikes.ie does Urban Mover, and greenmachines.ie does a range I can’t find anywhere else. I know I can buy on the internet, but I think support could be important.
I’m considering the Synergie Mistral. My question is: do I have any guarantee about the lithium-ion battery in the Mistral. Is it likely that after 6 months, it wouldn’t be able to cover the 20 mile journey. I see myself using Pedal Assist most of the time.
Would I be better going for the Urban Mover (UM 44)?
Am I silly to discount an internet purchase because of possible lack of support?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Modus

 

[MaryinScotland]

For over a year, I used an Urban Mover UM55 with the NiMH battery. My round-trip commute is 6 miles, including one half-mile hill, perhaps 1 in 10 in places. (12 stone rider.) I could do the commute twice on a charge, but after 12 miles the battery was low. I found that 14 miles would leave it flat.

I didn't have the torque sensor, so when the pedals were turning, the motor was full on. Left to myself, I ride on the flat at about 12 mph. With the motor pushing the bike to 15 mph, I was just turning the pedals unloaded, not doing much to help. If I'd been willing to ride faster and get the speed above 15 mph more of the time, I would have got more range. But I found the bike to be quite low-geared. Even in top (6th) I was spinning fairly fast to get the speed to say 18 mph.

The bike weighed just under 24 kg, fairly light for an electric, and wasn't too hard to pedal unpowered, although clearly it won't match a light road bike.

For your purpose, I think you'd need to be prepared to recharge at work. Either take your charger along, or have a second one that you could leave there.

Mary

 

[flecc]

We have two members reviews of the Synergie Mistral on the site now, and a very long and detailed one from Kal:

Synergie Mistral Reviews
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[rooel]

I would suggest you buy the Mistral from the Irish distributor, as if you are unfortunate enough to have a guarantee claim it will cost you less to return it for repair or replacement. This extract from the Goeco.ie site shows they import them from Scotland themselves:

"We researched the electric vehicle market for a long time before we eventually decided to take the dealership for the electric bikes we sell from Scotland. We did this for lots of reasons, but the main one being service, our warranty to you is backed up from them, that means we don’t have to wait Months for parts from abroad & from dealers who treat us just like a number, our relationship with our franchise master is close & personal. We sacrificed profit margins to have a partner like them."

I bought my Mistrals (plural, as the whole family like them, and the battery seems good (in pedal assist/throttle mode) for 25 miles at least per charge) from Synergie in Fife because I can collect in person, and, if the need arises, return a faulty one the same way. If an individual has to return an electric bike by courier, however, the charge is likely to be two or three times what the dealer charges to send it out as the dealer will have a low price contract with a particular courier.

 

[Modus]

Thanks to all

Thank you all for the sound advice.

I spoke to the guy in goeco.ie today. The Mistral seems a good bet.

I'll give it a little more thought before putting my money where my mouth is.

Modus