Vintage rides

[Gliggsy]

Hi guys I recently made comments about elitism and e bikes on another post, there's often noobs coming on here and looking for recommendations as to which bikes and usually quoting rather expensive bikes, my thoughts are that some of the modern bikes, although they have modern tech they maybe don't have any historic pedegree. I like old tech and it would be interesting to hear how old your ride is and how many miles covered, reliability and general opinion or is it just that ebikes haven't been around long enough yet and are still evolving to have formed any real pedigree

 

[slowcoach]

Interesting subject. I used to have an Ezee Sprint with front wheel hub motor. Bought it June 2005 and it proved to be an extremely reliable bike. I modified the rear brake because the roller brake with the Nexus 7 hub gears just could not cope with the weight of the bike. At about six years I managed to get the batteries re-celled and kept the bike for a good 12 years and around 12000 miles
Foolishly, I decided, rather than re-cell the batteries a second time, I would invest in new technology and after much consideration made a choice. To be honest, I can only describe the new one as a heap of rubbish, fit only for scrap metal. It is now 3years old and has spent the last year in the manufacturer's factory. I think they have given up trying to get it to work.
Just a shame I gave that old Sprint to a transport museum. Definitely should have kept to old, proven technology.
OK, rant over.

 

[mike killay]

I have two bikes,
1 A Tonaro Enduro purchased in 2011 now on a re-celled battery and going strong. Because this one has a twist throttle I removed the pedelec and get along just fine.

2 A Woosh Gale purchased in 2012, also on its second battery but going well.

I have found both bikes, simple, easily maintained and repaired and very reliable.
My son in law who bought a Bosh motored bike last year is now waiting for the battery to be examined/replaced etc. for the second time.
Give me a simple unsophisticated Chinese bike any day.
Spares are cheap, any old battery will do, if it is hub motored you can even change to a different type of motor.
As far as I am concerned expensive bikes are deliberately designed to trap you into the marque. Fashionable batteries disguised to look like an 'ordinary' bike will be difficult to replace in the future.
Simplicity rules, or:-

Simple in=simple out
Complicated in= really expensive out.

 

[soundwave]

my original 400w batt is still going from 2014 and the inside of my motor is like new and use a dongle and ramp the crap out of it

 

[vfr400]

The old Chinese bikes have really crappy controllers. They work, but it's not the best riding experience. Motors haven't changed much and modern batteries give more power and have more capacity than the old ones.

 

[Benjahmin]

I have a Carrera Crossfire bought in 2015. It has an Ezee front hub kit origionally bought in 2014 and transferred from another bike. I use the battery rack that came with the kit, original cells replaced, by Jimmy, with Boston power cells. I also use a soft pack battery in parallel, also made by Jimmy.
The kit has done about 12k miles now. Only problem has been a motor bearing that was sorted by John of Cycleeze (miss you John) sending me a replacement outer casing, already laced into a wheel, for the princely sum of £20.
The controller is speed control, so not subtle, but gets me around the hills of west Wales competantly. It has twist and go throttle (pre 2016) for hill starts and tops out around 17-18mph in 4/5. However that's too fast for the rutty potholed lanes I ride so is rarely used.
Hub allowed me to keep the three front rings (there's some lung busting hills around here) and overall the kit has been trouble free apart from some connector niggles, easily sorted with a soldering iron and some e bay bits.
Try doing that on yer three and a half grand Haibike (other examples exist)!

 

[Gliggsy]

I have a Carrera Crossfire bought in 2015. It has an Ezee front hub kit origionally bought in 2014 and transferred from another bike. I use the battery rack that came with the kit, original cells replaced, by Jimmy, with Boston power cells. I also use a soft pack battery in parallel, also made by Jimmy.
The kit has done about 12k miles now. Only problem has been a motor bearing that was sorted by John of Cycleeze (miss you John) sending me a replacement outer casing, already laced into a wheel, for the princely sum of £20.
The controller is speed control, so not subtle, but gets me around the hills of west Wales competantly. It has twist and go throttle (pre 2016) for hill starts and tops out around 17-18mph in 4/5. However that's too fast for the rutty potholed lanes I ride so is rarely used.
Hub allowed me to keep the three front rings (there's some lung busting hills around here) and overall the kit has been trouble free apart from some connector niggles, easily sorted with a soldering iron and some e bay bits.
Try doing that on yer three and a half grand Haibike (other examples exist)!

Sounds like you've had your moneys worth out of that one

 

[Nealh]

A pair of 2006 Swizzbees.