Very confused - Looking for an electric bike

[nabs]

I am 6ft fall about 220lbs, but plan on getting back down to 180. And I am very confused what bike I should get. I want one mostly for my commute to work which is about 9 miles each way.

So I was thinking of getting a Van Moof bike, I test rode it today, and I was actually not that impressed with its power. The Uber e bikes I found to be a much more powerful better ride.

At the moment I am looking at ordering a Wings Freedom bike from America to Britain. Can someone recommend some other nice bikes and brands. I am willing to spend up to £3500, but would like to spend around £2500. I am willing to pay extra if its a good bike, perhaps a lighter frame, and lot of easy power.

Ordering from America, the bike will also have a stronger motor and faster speeds. But what is the benefit of the more expensive bikes? The specs seem to be similar.

 

[soundwave]

Haibike sDuro HardSeven 5.0 2019 Yamaha

The new Haibike sDuro HardSeven 5.0 2019 Yamaha powered electric mountain bike. Available from the UK's largest Haibike eBike dealer. Learn More »

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if you dongle it it will **** all over the freedom

 

[Andy McNish]

US bikes are often classed as electric mopeds here in the UK.

The Wing bikes look good value but the review I've seen says "With just one rotation of the pedals, the e-bike’s battery-powered 350-watt motor kicks in and I zip up the bridge’s incline at a steady 20 mph."
UK and European max for e-bikes is 250W and 16mph assist.

It would be illegal to use them without registration. motorcycle helmet, insurance, numerplate etc. and you can't legally use them off road (apart from on private land). You may or may not care about this. It's not like the Wing is massively overspecced to be fair.

What type of commute do you have? Flat? Hilly? Tarmac? On road or cycle path etc.?

 

[nabs]

View attachment 30614

Haibike sDuro HardSeven 5.0 2019 Yamaha

The new Haibike sDuro HardSeven 5.0 2019 Yamaha powered electric mountain bike. Available from the UK's largest Haibike eBike dealer. Learn More »

www.e-bikeshop.co.uk

Looks awesome. And this is also appropriate for a commute? Also seems a bit heavy at 23 kg. Should one not be looking for a lighter bike?

Ideally I would like something around 13 or 14 kg. And I think a mid drive engine, perhaps. But this does look very cool.

 

[soundwave]

waight wont really matter unless you run out of power but a 14kg hi power bike does not exist atm and if it did would be 10x the price even if you had a carbon frame you wont save much 1kg if that and cost a lot more.

you could hit 30mph with a dongle but range will be about 25-30 miles

 

[nabs]

US bikes are often classed as electric mopeds here in the UK.

The Wing bikes look good value but the review I've seen says "With just one rotation of the pedals, the e-bike’s battery-powered 350-watt motor kicks in and I zip up the bridge’s incline at a steady 20 mph."
UK and European max for e-bikes is 250W and 16mph assist.

It would be illegal to use them without registration. motorcycle helmet, insurance, numerplate etc. and you can't legally use them off road (apart from on private land). You may or may not care about this. It's not like the Wing is massively overspecced to be fair.

What type of commute do you have? Flat? Hilly? Tarmac? On road or cycle path etc.?

Ahhh, okay, but do they actually care if you order one from America? What is massively overspecced then? Which bikes I mean.

I would love a light bike, that also has a powerful fast motor. If I did order it from America, would anyone check that?

My commute is quite flat.

 

[soundwave]

you can import one but it will be stupid expensive have no warranty as sending it back wont be a option cost wise.

the haibike with a dongle would leave it for dust

 

[nabs]

you can import one but it will be stupid expensive have no warranty as sending it back wont be a option cost wise.

the haibike with a dongle would leave it for dust

Oh wow. I see Haibike or Bosch can be tuned. I just want to tune it to be a bit faster. Does tuning work well and easily?

The shipping cost from America would actually not be that bad. The tuning stuff would only be a bit more expensive. But if it works well, that may solve my issues.

Are there any UK e bikes that come with a 350w motor rather than a 250w one, like in America one?

 

[soundwave]

you can dongle most mid drive motors and can pull 800w+

E-Bike Tuning - Unlock the Speed Limit & derestrict your E-Bike

E-Bike Tuning

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[Danidl]

The weight of the electric bike is much higher than an ordinary bike,but then a few more kilos does not really matter. Assume your weight is 95kg , and the bike was an incredible 10 kg ,then the overall weight is 105 kg. If the bike were a typical 25 Kg the overall weight would be 120 kg ,or just 10% more.
What can matter is your own body weight. .this impinges on the strength of frame and wheels. The Raleigh Motus has an overall weight ceiling of 120 kg.

The arguement about dongles and illegally raising the assist speed ,needs to be taken in context. The power consumption on a bike is primarily due to the air resistance of a person and bike. The equation is that power consumption increases by the Cube of the speed relative to the wind. Even simple doubling of the speed means that the air loss is EIGHT times more. Consider a person travelling at 10 miles per hour with and against and at right angles to a 10 mile per hour breeze.
With the breeze. There is no air resistance loss,and virtually idling power consumption from the motor.
At right angles to the breeze, the cyclist experience a wind flow of 10 miles per hour...
Against the wind, the cyclist experiences 20 mph wind speed and the power consumption is 8 times that of the previous case.
This is to remind you that even minor increases in speed will play havoc with range.

 

[Andy McNish]

You won't need a more powerful motor for a few extra mph on the flat. The 250W rated ones actually put out far more than 250W at peak.

And weight doesn't matter much unless you are lifting the bike up stairs or over obstacles or trying to get over the assist limit under your own power.

Yes dongles work well technically but will invalidate manufacturers' guarantees, your insurance and are illegal. Getting caught is unlikely unless you hit someone and injure them, at which point you could be in trouble.

If your commute is mostly off road/uses cycle paths/canal banks etc. then 16 mph is all you need anyway. If it's all on road mixing with cars then I have some sympathy with people who use dongles.

If you really want a light legal road ebike then there are options such as the Orbea Gain and Cannondale Synapse Neo available...

 

[Audio2]

If you buy from USA cusoms will charge duty + vat.

 

[Electric Transport Shop]

Hi Nabs,

Take a look at these two:

Electric Bike Sales

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Electric Bike Sales

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We can fit gps tracking and speed and other upgrades if required.

 

[nabs]

I don't know why I got it in my head, that a 350w motor with a speed limit of 20mph would be a much better thing. But I guess its not really necessary.

Is it a dumb idea to buy a EMTB for commuting in London?

Hi Nabs,

Take a look at these two:

Electric Bike Sales

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www.electricbikesales.co.uk

Electric Bike Sales

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www.electricbikesales.co.uk

We can fit gps tracking and speed and other upgrades if required.

Those look very nice. Nice, i may pick one of them up.

 

[Woosh]

I don't know why I got it in my head, that a 350w motor with a speed limit of 20mph would be a much better thing.

you can't buy one of them in the shops.
any bike with assist speed over 15.5mph will need to have a number plate and insurance, you will also have to wear a helmet and ride on the roads, not bicycle paths.

 

[nabs]

you can't buy one of them in the shops.
any bike with assist speed over 15.5mph will need to have a number plate and insurance, you will also have to wear a helmet and ride on the roads, not bicycle paths.

Won't a 350w motor pull one up hills far better? Possible to get that in a uk bike, but obvs with the speed limiter?

 

[soundwave]

a mid drive motor can pull way more wattage than 250w under the 15mph speed limit it is why they climb so well if you use a dongle to remove the speed limit then it would make it a s class bike and 28mph+

 

[soundwave]

 

[Woosh]

Won't a 350w motor pull one up hills far better? Possible to get that in a uk bike, but obvs with the speed limiter?

no, not necessarily.
'350W' label means simply that the copper wire inside is beefier than one with '250W'.
The climbing power comes from the controller, a 48V 15A controller pulls more than a 36V 17A controller, you multiply the voltage by the max Amps, you get the max Watts. That's what the controller pulls from the battery.
Multiply the Watts by the motor yield, you get the mechanical Watts at the rear wheel. So a motor that gives a yield of 0.8 at 10mph climbs better than one with same WATTS but lower yield at the same speed. Hence, a crank drive motor is better at climbing at the same Wattage because you can select a gear that runs the motor at its best.
If climbing power is your most important criterion, fit a 48V TSDZ2 crank drive kit (road legal, 250W but don't let the number worry you) to some bike with SRAM NX 11-speed or 12-speed crankset, it will climb like a goat.
I fitted a TSDZ2 to this Decathlon:

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[Wicky]

Is it a dumb idea to buy a EMTB for commuting in London?

Hopefully you have secure & accessible parking / storage at both ends of your planned commute.

 

[nabs]

Hopefully you have secure & accessible parking / storage at both ends of your planned commute.

I actually do. Like otherwise you really can't use it can you?

Like if I wanted to bike down to central london to catch a movie, it just would be a terrible idea to use your electric bike right? Its a shame one can't use it that freely even if you lock it down.

I have test rode some bikes, and that damned Uber Jump e bike is the only one that I loved. The haibike was not bad.