What bike is best for learning the Knowledge of London (black cab) on?

[JuicyBike]

Hi Lee
You could try several different electric bikes at the London Bike Show later this week at excel.
You'd be very welcome to come and chat about your options and if you like I have some free tickets I can email to you if you're able to attend.
I only have a few to spare though, so take a look at our range to see if you think they may be suitable for your taste.
With our largest battery you should achieve your 50 mile target.

 

[Lee123]

That was the complete post, but I deleted it as soon as I saw you needed a quick release front wheel. They do have one rear hub motored bike but it's crossbar and doesn't have a quick release front wheel.
.

ah ok, thanks

 

[Lee123]

Hi Lee
You could try several different electric bikes at the London Bike Show later this week at excel.
You'd be very welcome to come and chat about your options and if you like I have some free tickets I can email to you if you're able to attend.
I only have a few to spare though, so take a look at our range to see if you think they may be suitable for your taste.
With our largest battery you should achieve your 50 mile target.

Bob, thats very generous of you and greatly received however i can only visit on Friday PM, the Merlin Click seems like it could be suitable for my needs but then alot do until i look into it further..

 

[JuicyBike]

Bob, thats very generous of you and greatly received however i can only visit on Friday PM, the Merlin Click seems like it could be suitable for my needs but then alot do until i look into it further..

You're very welcome.
You could try several brands at the show. Thursday continues 'til 8pm but Friday finishes at 5pm. If you head straight for the test track you could try several in an hour to help narrow down your choice.
(We have a show offer and I'm sure others will too).
No pressure!

 

[Lee123]

You're very welcome.
You could try several brands at the show. Thursday continues 'til 8pm but Friday finishes at 5pm. If you head straight for the test track you could try several in an hour to help narrow down your choice.
(We have a show offer and I'm sure others will too).
No pressure!

i have sent a PM with my email.
thanks again for the offer, i will see how my week pans out and if time allows could spend the day up there on thursday as im sure im going to find it really interesting!

 

[JuicyBike]

i have sent a PM with my email.
thanks again for the offer, i will see how my week pans out and if time allows could spend the day up there on thursday as im sure im going to find it really interesting!

My pleasure and I'll introduce you to other brands that may be useful to you. See you Thursday.

 

[Cyclezee]

Personally I would find having to remove the front wheel every time it needs to be transported by car a tedious pain, even if it is QR.

It is much easier to put a bike on a carrier to transport it by car.

Plan B could be to take the bike by train from Luton to St. Pancras and leave the car at home.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Personally I would find having to remove the front wheel every time it needs to be transported by car a tedious pain, even if it is QR.

Or buy a Montague and put a rear hub kit on it but it isn't step through...

 

[Cyclezee]

Or buy a Montague and put a rear hub kit on it but it isn't step through...

Again, this is my opinion, but with Lee weighing 20 stone a diamond frame bike is probably a better choice than a stepthru and a folder is always going to be a compromise.

 

[trex]

his weight is a problem. If he has also a large tummy, he will find a large frame step through is much more comfortable to pedal and a powerful motor like a Bafang BPM or an Ezee necessary to help with hills.
Normally I would recommend something like a Kalkhoff B8 with Bosch motor but he also wants to save money within a year, so it has to be Chinese.
Most of BPM/Ezee step through bikes have front motor, except for the woosh Santana 2 which has rear BPM.

 

[Cyclezee]

The eZee Forza LTS is available with either a front or rear hub motor.

 

[flecc]

The eZee Forza LTS is available with either a front or rear hub motor.
View attachment 13206

And the necessary very large batteries that Lee needs too. When assessing range for him, it's necessary to remember that doing the knowledge in London means plenty of stop-start to take notes etc, so consumption is much higher than running 50 miles cruising in the countryside.
.

 

[Ian-p-e-d-e-l-e-c]

Thanks Paul, i would de-restrict it tho, i know its bad but needs must

In which case, why not buy an e-motobike and just not register/tax/insure it as it's the same thing...plus increased range.

However wouldn't then having no license work against you then having the knowledge?

 

[Kudoscycles]

If your aim is to become a London Cab driver the last thing you need is a conviction for using an illegal e-bike. If the object is to learn London then speed is surely not critical,you probably need a twist throttle.
KudosDave

 

[Ian-p-e-d-e-l-e-c]

really? how fast do you think a de-restricted bike can go then, with a 20stone lump on it like myself?

You're in a similar position to me.I though big bloke, big motor, big battery.

But that's not how it works.

You are going to put in 90% of the effort, sometimes 100%.

The bike helps you with the remainder.

So if it's flat, and you can pedal ok, then you use no battery. IF it's going up a bit of a hill, then perhaps it will help 25%, really steep hill 75%, but, you're going to be pedaling. Have a look around, there are some really good deals on e-bikes at the moment, but the key thing I didn't realise, is that most come with a 14 days trial.

If it doesn't have one, don't touch it.
If it does then you can see what you need.

 

[Lee123]

You're in a similar position to me.I though big bloke, big motor, big battery.

But that's not how it works.

You are going to put in 90% of the effort, sometimes 100%.

The bike helps you with the remainder.

So if it's flat, and you can pedal ok, then you use no battery. IF it's going up a bit of a hill, then perhaps it will help 25%, really steep hill 75%, but, you're going to be pedaling. Have a look around, there are some really good deals on e-bikes at the moment, but the key thing I didn't realise, is that most come with a 14 days trial.

If it doesn't have one, don't touch it.
If it does then you can see what you need.

Thats interesting and thanks for the post Ian. i was really on the understanding that you could adjust the assisstance levels, as they say they have 4-5 levels and if it was up to 100% i thought the bike would do all the work.
i thought i could get the bike to travel at 15mph for the entire journey of the battery i.e 50miles without any input from me, this is obviously not the case then, maybe i hd better have another think!!

 

[Ian-p-e-d-e-l-e-c]

Thats interesting and thanks for the post Ian. i was really on the understanding that you could adjust the assisstance levels, as they say they have 4-5 levels and if it was up to 100% i thought the bike would do all the work.
i thought i could get the bike to travel at 15mph for the entire journey of the battery i.e 50miles without any input from me, this is obviously not the case then, maybe i hd better have another think!!

Ok maybe I didn't explain myself very well. The bikes do have varying levels of assist.

However it's not a moped. The idea is that you do some of the work. Even if you're really really unfit, and puff if you go up stairs, I bet you could sit on an exercise bike with no resistance and pedal gently for 60 minutes.

So if you were doing that on the flat, the battery would have helped you get up to 15mph, then your gentle pedaling helps you. So if you were on the flat at that point, you'd have only used the battery for 2 mins, and then it would stop.

It's not like a motorbike/moped, where you do nothing with your feet.

However this is NOT a disadvantage. Because even that gentle pedalling will extend your range hugely as opposed to doing nothing at all.

Imagine month one, you get the tube into the edge of london, and the "50" mile range bike, only does 1/2 a day. You can keep doing that to get your fitness up, the bike then does further and further with you...

So lets say you live in Morden (I know you don't but it's an easy find on the bottom of the northern line) So day one, you do that area. Day 2, you go one stop, then do that area, etc etc to allow the tube/train to extend your range, rather than spending loads on a second battery.

You'd have to look at trains however, as the tube is not full size bike friendly..

 

[Lee123]

Ok maybe I didn't explain myself very well. The bikes do have varying levels of assist.

However it's not a moped. The idea is that you do some of the work. Even if you're really really unfit, and puff if you go up stairs, I bet you could sit on an exercise bike with no resistance and pedal gently for 60 minutes.

So if you were doing that on the flat, the battery would have helped you get up to 15mph, then your gentle pedaling helps you. So if you were on the flat at that point, you'd have only used the battery for 2 mins, and then it would stop.

It's not like a motorbike/moped, where you do nothing with your feet.

However this is NOT a disadvantage. Because even that gentle pedalling will extend your range hugely as opposed to doing nothing at all.

Imagine month one, you get the tube into the edge of london, and the "50" mile range bike, only does 1/2 a day. You can keep doing that to get your fitness up, the bike then does further and further with you...

So lets say you live in Morden (I know you don't but it's an easy find on the bottom of the northern line) So day one, you do that area. Day 2, you go one stop, then do that area, etc etc to allow the tube/train to extend your range, rather than spending loads on a second battery.

You'd have to look at trains however, as the tube is not full size bike friendly..

thanks Ian. im going to drive down to hendon and ride from therre, this should save me around 250 a month, and get me fit!
i need a bike with QR front wheel so it fits in car, a rear hub and one with a strong motor/battery or two as the case maybe.
also a sml requirement of mine is to put a knowledge board onto the handle bars, surely this cant be a too hard a thing to achieve..
thanks for your replies
Lee

 

[RobF]

Lee,

The previous couple of posts by our new m-e-m-b-e-r are confusing at best.

You need to try a couple of ebikes, all the legal ones are much of a muchness when it comes to grunt and the amount of effort required by a rider.

Once you've tried a couple, you will know if an ebike is likely to work for your application.

 

[Lee123]

Lee,

The previous couple of posts by our new m-e-m-b-e-r are confusing at best.

You need to try a couple of ebikes, all the legal ones are much of a muchness when it comes to grunt and the amount of effort required by a rider.

Once you've tried a couple, you will know if an ebike is likely to work for your application.

Appreciated, thanks Rob.