Which E-bike should I buy?

lieinking1

Finding my (electric) wheels
Aug 28, 2023
15
1
I have a budget from £800-1400 but would prefer to keep it on the lower side.

Bikes I'm interested in:
Ado air
Ado a20
Honbike U4

Both companies have bad reviews on trustpilot with overall no more than 3 stars. I have seen good reviews for all of these bikes. I wanted to just get the ADO a20 as it's the cheapest but I've heard some offputting information.

For example someone seen online:
  • someone claimed they couldn't pedal fast enough to exeed 15 mph on it at the highest assist level.
  • same person also claimed it's too heavy to ride without the pedal assist

Those are both deal breakers for me. I asked markshop if you can pedal past 15pmh on the ado a20 and they said yes but the pedal assist will stop. Markshop has 4.8 stars on trust pilot and seems to sell mostly ado bikes, yet the official ado site has a lot of bad reviews. Not sure what's going on there. There are also people on trustpilot complaining about bad after sale support from ADO. I would need to be able to replace worn out parts when they fail.

I haven't seen anyone online complain about the ADO air, except that the seat isn't very comfortable, but it is a new bike. The honbike u4 seems good but very expensive and honbike also has bad reviews on trustpilot. Actually engwie also had lots of bad reviews. I would go with the ADO a20 if those dealbreakers aren't true, otherwise I'm willing to pay the extra to avoid any future hassle. P.S you can recommend other e bikes.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
17,001
6,536

 

lieinking1

Finding my (electric) wheels
Aug 28, 2023
15
1

Don't have a bike to attach that to and is it road legal in the uk?
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
17,001
6,536
should be enough left for a bike its not road legal like most bikes but you can set it to 15mph with the programme cable and up the amps if you need to carry a load or trailer ect

my bike is not road legal as i have a dongle and had it ten years plod does not give a crap round here
 

lieinking1

Finding my (electric) wheels
Aug 28, 2023
15
1
should be enough left for a bike its not road legal like most bikes but you can set it to 15mph with the programme cable and up the amps if you need to carry a load or trailer ect

my bike is not road legal as i have a dongle and had it ten years plod does not give a crap round here
which city are you in? I'm in London. I don't know if police enforce the e bike law down here but I wouldn't want to waste so much money getting one confiscated.
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
17,001
6,536

AGS

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2023
608
190
There have been quite a few police crackdowns in city centres around the UK during the last couple of years. Mostly in pedestrianised shopping areas. These have resulted in confiscation of plenty of delivery riders e-bikes.

New York and California police are also clamping down on illegal bikes. The US are mostly targeting Surrons and Talaria’s.
 

StuartsProjects

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 9, 2021
1,798
1,014
someone claimed they couldn't pedal fast enough to exeed 15 mph on it at the highest assist level.
For a UK road legal eBike the electric assist must stop at 25Kmph\15.5mph.

But you can exceed that speed by pedaling hard (if your fit enough) or your going downhill.
 

Woosh

Trade Member
May 19, 2012
20,453
16,917
Southend on Sea
wooshbikes.co.uk
I have a budget from £800-1400 but would prefer to keep it on the lower side.

Bikes I'm interested in:
Ado air
Ado a20
Honbike U4

Both companies have bad reviews on trustpilot with overall no more than 3 stars. I have seen good reviews for all of these bikes. I wanted to just get the ADO a20 as it's the cheapest but I've heard some offputting information.

For example someone seen online:
  • someone claimed they couldn't pedal fast enough to exeed 15 mph on it at the highest assist level.
  • same person also claimed it's too heavy to ride without the pedal assist

Those are both deal breakers for me. I asked markshop if you can pedal past 15pmh on the ado a20 and they said yes but the pedal assist will stop. Markshop has 4.8 stars on trust pilot and seems to sell mostly ado bikes, yet the official ado site has a lot of bad reviews. Not sure what's going on there. There are also people on trustpilot complaining about bad after sale support from ADO. I would need to be able to replace worn out parts when they fail.

I haven't seen anyone online complain about the ADO air, except that the seat isn't very comfortable, but it is a new bike. The honbike u4 seems good but very expensive and honbike also has bad reviews on trustpilot. Actually engwie also had lots of bad reviews. I would go with the ADO a20 if those dealbreakers aren't true, otherwise I'm willing to pay the extra to avoid any future hassle. P.S you can recommend other e bikes.
single speed is not good. Low gear ratio is also not good.
If you have to have a lightweight folding bike, take a look at the Woosh Rambletta.
It fits you budget, has 8-speed and good gear ratio to let you pedal comfortably at 15mph. You also have the battery option of 36V 10AH or 36V12AH for more range.

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?rambletta
 

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
7,011
3,242
Telford
I have a budget from £800-1400 but would prefer to keep it on the lower side.

Bikes I'm interested in:
Ado air
Ado a20
Honbike U4

Both companies have bad reviews on trustpilot with overall no more than 3 stars. I have seen good reviews for all of these bikes. I wanted to just get the ADO a20 as it's the cheapest but I've heard some offputting information.

For example someone seen online:
  • someone claimed they couldn't pedal fast enough to exeed 15 mph on it at the highest assist level.
  • same person also claimed it's too heavy to ride without the pedal assist

Those are both deal breakers for me. I asked markshop if you can pedal past 15pmh on the ado a20 and they said yes but the pedal assist will stop. Markshop has 4.8 stars on trust pilot and seems to sell mostly ado bikes, yet the official ado site has a lot of bad reviews. Not sure what's going on there. There are also people on trustpilot complaining about bad after sale support from ADO. I would need to be able to replace worn out parts when they fail.

I haven't seen anyone online complain about the ADO air, except that the seat isn't very comfortable, but it is a new bike. The honbike u4 seems good but very expensive and honbike also has bad reviews on trustpilot. Actually engwie also had lots of bad reviews. I would go with the ADO a20 if those dealbreakers aren't true, otherwise I'm willing to pay the extra to avoid any future hassle. P.S you can recommend other e bikes.
I haven't ridden an Ado A20, but I can see the problems. Fat tires are pretty inefficient when it comes to pedalling, especially with small wheels. The bike has 7 speed freewheel gears, which probably means a 14T top gear, which is too low on a normal bike with 26" wheels. A 20" bike would need a large chainwheel to compensate, but the Ado doesn't have one. That means it has all three factors that prevent you from pedalling at a normal speed - small wheels, low top gear ans small crank. Nearly all the cheap 20" wheeled electric bikes suffer from those problems.

You can forget the Honbike. Things like that go wrong, then you can't get spares, so your bike becomes a garden trellis for the peas. Also single speed gears are not going to be much use when you run out of power.

Get a normal bike with standard Chinese parts. There are loads on Amazon.
 
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soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
17,001
6,536
my bosch motor is not 250w under the 15mph limit it can pull as much amps and wattage as it likes, how do you think i can get to nearly 40mph on the flat with only 250w ;)