voodoo or cube or scott

[cyclopath]

Hello there,

So i used to cycle many years ago and want to get back into it for commuting to work (around 7 miles) with 2 killer hills, but also doing a few trails/country parks at the weekends, so ive kind of thought emtb is the way to go, but will probably be able to fairly cheaply add lights, bar bag (thinking Topeak TourGuide DX) and mudguards for the work ride.

My budget is around 2000. i work for the NHS so have access to cycle to work through vivup, so might go down that route (i have until the end of the month). They have a reasonable list of partners on their list including leisure lakes bikes, bike factory and evans. I also can get a bit of discount at halfords if i was to buy cash. Im by no means an expert in bikes so servicing and buying local and a reliable big brand is also important to me. I am 178cm and 18 stone, gym fitness is good, but cycling cardio not so . So im guessing 18"-19" inch frame, i have yet to ride any, but want to nail down the options a little more before making unnecessary trips out to various places if i dont have to.

I also would like to de-restrict the motor so that my commute is under 30 mins which is what it takes me in the car.

I have narrowed it down to 3 bikes (but please suggest some more i may have missed)

1. Voodoo Bizango-E 2020. I have heard a few good things about last years bike, hard to find anything on this years, but the groupset seems decent, forks ok and Shimano E8000 seems good although a few years old now? But can be software de-restricted for around 30 quid. I think with discounts i could get this for around 1750, i like the fact too they are i think british being raleigh but not doubt built abroad, and being from nottingham its a nice plus.
2. Cube Reaction Hybrid Pro 500 2020. I like the stealth dark looks of the cubes, good quality and value for money, and a well supported brand. although completely different specs to the voodoo, on par i think. It does have the bosch gen 4 motor which is a good improvement over the previous gens, but also heard they are hard to de-restrict and can even 'lock down' if detected and requires a trip back to ze germans!? with cycle to work i think it would be around 1600 although im still confused at what you are charged to buy the bike after 12 months.
3. 2019 Scott Aspect eRide 40. i do like the look of scott bikes, and although its got last gen bosch it does still have ok spec. again with cycle to work maybe 1800

So my couple of questions i also need help with are around the de-restricting of the bosch gen4, i would be really annoyed spending close to 2k only to find i am unable to do anything with it, and am limited to 15mph. thats why i am leaning towards the voodoo, is dosnt look as cool as the other 2, and might have lower resale value due to brand, but im pretty sure the shimano is the easiest to de-restrict atm. btw i know about the legalities of it.

Thanks for reading and any advise would be great. Cheers

 

[Bonzo Banana]

I voted Voodoo purely as it has the Shimano motor which should be more reliable. I certainly wouldn't get the last gen Bosch motor that had a lot of problems. Also you are fairly heavy at 18 stone. I seem to remember Cube weight limits are lower than brands like Voodoo. I think Voodoo is up to 120kg rider weight but the Cube may be 120kg total load including bike weight, accessories, luggage etc. I think 100kg is about 16 stone so assume you are under the rider weight allowed for the Voodoo but over the weight allowed for the Cube by some margin. Saying that I often remember wrongly. There is Cube, Ghost and Focus and they get blurred in my mind sometimes. Also I think Cube were manufacturing some ebikes in Bangladesh. They present themselves as German engineering excellence but then use the cheapest factories in the far east they can find.

Germany's Cube teams up with Meghna to make high-end bicycles

Cube, the biggest bicycle manufacturer in Europe, has teamed up with Meghna Group to produce high-quality cycles in Bangladesh.

www.thedailystar.net

 

[Woosh]

Voodoo Bizango-E 2020. I have heard a few good things about last years bike, hard to find anything on this years, but the groupset seems decent, forks ok and Shimano E8000 seems good although a few years old now? But can be software de-restricted for around 30 quid. I think with discounts i could get this for around 1750, i like the fact too they are i think british being raleigh but not doubt built abroad, and being from nottingham its a nice plus.

Voodoo Bizango is Halfords own brand.
I like it though, albeit the battery is only 418WH, low for 2020.
They don't build their bikes here though.

I also like decathlon e-bikes. They are assembled in France, not some poor country in the Far East.

MEN SPORT TRAIL MTB ELECTRIC BIKE - E-ST900 Electric Mountain Bike, Grey/Orange - 27.5+

£1,699.99 - MEN SPORT TRAIL MTB ELECTRIC BIKE - E-ST900 Electric Mountain Bike, Grey/Orange - 27.5+ - ROCKRIDER

www.decathlon.co.uk

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Voodoo Bizango is Halfords own brand.
I like it though, albeit the battery is only 418WH, low for 2020.
They don't build their bikes here though.

I also like decathlon e-bikes. They are assembled in France, not some poor country in the Far East.

MEN SPORT TRAIL MTB ELECTRIC BIKE - E-ST900 Electric Mountain Bike, Grey/Orange - 27.5+

£1,699.99 - MEN SPORT TRAIL MTB ELECTRIC BIKE - E-ST900 Electric Mountain Bike, Grey/Orange - 27.5+ - ROCKRIDER

www.decathlon.co.uk

I think Voodoo is a US brand but I think Halfords paid a one off fee for exclusive use of the brand in the UK. Some of the models have been similar to the US models but generally they are nothing like them except for the head badge. Some of the Halfords ebikes are coming form the Czech Republic, The Carrera folding ebike, crosscity? but don't know about Voodoo ebikes. For the moment I think many ebikes are assembled in Europe to avoid high tariffs but it's almost exclusively parts made in the far east. Why can't I just buy a box of bits from the far east and avoid the high tariffs. I'm in the EU for the moment so shouldn't have to pay a tariff if I'm assembling it myself. Yes I realise it doesn't work like that, its to protect a huge amount of jobs on the EU mainland.

 

[Woosh]

only China got hit with anti-dumping duty on e-bikes.
you can assemble your e-bikes anywhere else in the rest of the world without being penalised.

 

[Bonzo Banana]

only China got hit with anti-dumping duty on e-bikes.
you can assemble your e-bikes anywhere else in the rest of the world without being penalised.

I realise that in fact I put the link above in about Cube making ebikes in Bangladesh who have or had favoured trading status with the EU. I think ebikes exported from Bangladesh and Cambodia have to have at least 30% content by value manufactured in those countries to avoid the Chinese ebike tariff and Taiwan has a minimum 70% local content to avoid the tariff but I think you can have far less local parts if the ebike is assembled in Europe something like the last significant process rule so its more practical to do EU assembly as so many parts are made in China. A huge part of German industry is based on re-exporting Chinese products with German brands on much to the annoyance of other EU states. I was in the Halfords in Weymouth when they'd had a delivery of bikes and both a Carrera and Apollo model of ebike were both from the Czech Republic. I'm sure about the Carrera put it could have been a different brand than Apollo but it was a small ebike. They were low cost models which normally you would assume would come from somewhere like China or the far east and looked very generic ebikes that I'd seen with other brands on.

German Products May No Longer Be 'Made In Germany'

www.businessinsider.com