Verbatin Reports

[Perseus]

Starting today, I am going to keep a record of the reports from riders, I met in the street and ask. No point in keeping the records to myself. By all means include you own experiences.

Interview 16/12/2016

Kalkhoff with Impulse motor, step through, hub gears, cost £2500. (I did not make a note of the particular model.)
Rider exceptionally pleased with performance for the 9 months he had the bike.
Purchased from 50 Cycles in Shoreham.
Particularly pleased with the computer that said the mileage left in the battery and the hub gears.
Also liked the nifty lock and the lights.

Recognised as the
Kalkhoff Agattu Premium 8G Step-through model

No problems. Good after sales service when bike lights (wires came loose) were vandalised (?)
Bike looked well used, the sort of dullness and splattering that my bikes quickly acquire.
Retired rider said "don't buy the cheap £500 models which are no good" (I found that out for myself.)

 

[Perseus]

Interview 1/11/16

Freego.

Rider was unhappy with his £999 purchase after 8 months. Started off good enough but after two months both the range (18 miles at first, now much less) and power reduced.

Furthermore the local shop the bike was purchased from were unhelpful, no longer sell the ebike, and will not repair ebikes (electrics and motors) even though they sell them (or used to).

Bike noticed because it still looked new and shiny.

 

[Perseus]

Cyclamatic purchased (circa 15/01/16 ) for £325 second-hand from a shop looking shiny and newish.
Excellent ride at first (better than the Kalkhoff in a test ride) except for squeakling front rim brakes. Gear change was very good and the throttle a real boon.
However with pedal assist used the range was only 10 miles. Ignored occasional cut-outs.
Riding without pedal assist OK for very short distances in an emergency, but the ebike is much too heavy to be practical as a pedal bike.

Only used a a few times a week, but after 6 months (mid-July) began to make alarming grinding sounds and then stopped working.
Finally stopped working entirely after mid-August after 7 months and only 500 miles.
Nobody would even consider even diagnosing the fault. Further checks to be made myself.

 

[Danidl]

Hi
Your decision to post actual case histories is to be applauded, and I hope you list more of them, however once you publish you must expect critical comment.

In the case of your own ebike, there are references to a model extremely similar to it dating from 2009, on this website, so if that is the actual age of the bike it has presumably done significantly more than 500 miles while in your possession. Indeed if you are still operating with the original battery pack, it has had enormous longitivity .
It has been my experience that people usually sell onto the secondhand market product that they are unsatisfied with. (Some exceptions. E.g bereavement sales).
As for the failure in that motor, there are some threads on this website detailing how you might diagnose failure..... See dv8 excellent posts. It could be the motor, it could be a cable open circuit or a controller fault, the later two might cost from 0 to 50£ to repair.
I can relate to your problem that the bike is very difficult to use without electric assistance. The same problem occurs with my UrbanMover, which probably shares the same motor vintage. it is like riding through treacle. Again dv8 might enlighten us, ... Did these older motors lack a freewheel clutch?

.
In the case of the freego ,Their complaint is about the battery reducing storage prematurely. Does the user pedal? Do they refills after each session or wait until it's empty. Batteries do lose capacity and more expensive batteries lose it slower. 300 to 600 refills , modern batteries prefer to be refilled after each session.

 

[Perseus]

I will just report facts as seen (trying not to invent reasons). I have always bought secondhand bikes. Mostly, they have been sitting in a shed being unused, the ones I purchase.

Original Cyclamatic tyres did not shown any signs of wear.

This does mean the battery has not been charged up maybe for a long time. Would this account for its low range? Power was good at first for three months. I used to charge my ebike after every use.

I will try and fix the Cyclamatic if I can. I would still want it for a short hilly journey I use, leaving the new prime ebike for longer journeys. It was a really good ride (better than a trial Kalkhoff).

This means that I am prepared to hire a Kalkhoff if I can't find an ebike that I really like.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Hi

I can relate to your problem that the bike is very difficult to use without electric assistance. The same problem occurs with my UrbanMover, which probably shares the same motor vintage. it is like riding through treacle. Again dv8 might enlighten us, ... Did these older motors lack a freewheel clutch?

The Cyclamatic has just about the most free-running motor I've ever seen. I had a Cyclamatic for a while and there was absolutely no problem pedalling it without power.

If the rider is very light, they would notice the difference in effort to pedal the bike without power because of the extra 6kg. A 60kg rider would have to give 10% more effort on an incline and a 120kg rider 5%. Those numbers are not particularly significant. In most cases where people say that an e-bike is difficult to ride without power, it's an illusion. The Cyclamatic only gives full power with the PAS, so when you don't have power, there's a massive difference.

The Cyclamatic's battery is only 24v 9Ah, so good for about 15 miles of lazy riding.

 

[Danidl]

The Cyclamatic has just about the most free-running motor I've ever seen. I had a Cyclamatic for a while and there was absolutely no problem pedalling it without power.

If the rider is very light, they would notice the difference in effort to pedal the bike without power because of the extra 6kg. A 60kg rider would have to give 10% more effort on an incline and a 120kg rider 5%. Those numbers are not particularly significant. In most cases where people say that an e-bike is difficult to ride without power, it's an illusion. The Cyclamatic only gives full power with the PAS, so when you don't have power, there's a massive difference.

The Cyclamatic's battery is only 24v 9Ah, so good for about 15 miles of lazy riding.

Thanks for that d8v, I have no knowledge of the Cyclamatic so your comments may help Persus, my question relates to the motor on the UrbanMoverwhich is a slightly earlier vintage 2007, and a 24v 200w motor. In my case it feels like cycling through treacle, even on the flat. I assumed that the motor remained engaged and there is rotation in the hub motor due to rim rotation.

 

[FreeGo Electric Bikes]

Interview 1/11/16

Freego.

Rider was unhappy with his £999 purchase after 8 months. Started off good enough but after two months both the range (18 miles at first, now much less) and power reduced.

Furthermore the local shop the bike was purchased from were unhelpful, no longer sell the ebike, and will not repair ebikes (electrics and motors) even though they sell them (or used to).

Bike noticed because it still looked new and shiny.

Interesting. We stopped using the silver cased battery on our bikes over 4 years ago and the Eagle frame was also changed - so this must be a fairly old bike - although very well looked after !! I am not surprised that the battery capacity has deteriorated quite dramatically by now.

 

[Perseus]

Not been nice enough weather to speak to ebike owners lately.

Previous record of somebody very pleased with an highly expensive GoCycle, purchased by necessity as road was closed to railway station and used on a flat and often muddy towpath three miles to the local railway station, and then at the London end as well as this was a lightweight folder.

http://www.velorution.com/bikes/all-brands/gocycle.html

 

[Croxden]

three miles to the local railway station, l

I'm so glad you said railway station, this modern 'train station' annoys me so.

 

[KirstinS]

Starting today, I am going to keep a record of the reports from riders, I met in the street and ask. No point in keeping the records to myself. By all means include you own experiences.

Interview 16/12/2016

Kalkhoff with Impulse motor, step through, hub gears, cost £2500. (I did not make a note of the particular model.)
Rider exceptionally pleased with performance for the 9 months he had the bike.
Purchased )

Are you local to Shoreham , perseus?
Only I live here too

Never bought an off the peg ebike though!

 

[Perseus]

Are you local to Shoreham , perseus?
Only I live here too

Never bought an off the peg ebike though!

Yep. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Shoreham.Southwick/

 

[KirstinS]

Yep. https://www.facebook.com/groups/Shoreham.Southwick/

I've joined

It's the third Shoreham group I've joined on fb!

(And I'm slightly pleased my phone auto corrects fb to 36v !)

 

[Perseus]

I went in the Shoreham 50Cycles shop. I think I want an ebike! Hearsay report of a Bosch motorised bike going wrong. Still don't know which one?

 

[Trevormonty]

I went in the Shoreham 50Cycles shop. I think I want an ebike! Hearsay report of a Bosch motorised bike going wrong. Still don't know which one?

Bosch may have great reputation for reliability, but even then the odd one can still have problems. That is what 2 yr warranty is for.

 

[Perseus]

Bosch may have great reputation for reliability, but even then the odd one can still have problems. That is what 2 yr warranty is for.

Each Kalkhoff electric bicycle comes with a no-nonsense 2 year warranty, including motor and battery.
The Impulse centre motor is a durable maintenance- free drive. It is cocoveredith a two-year warranty as the batteries and other electrical components. [/QUOTE]

I would consider 3 years to be about as fair as possible.