"Which" magazine best buys
- Thread starter mikeos
- Start date
I read a report from a guy named Neil who recently bought an electric Brompton. He claimed that his front wheel buckled after only 3 rides. He said that the weight of the battery and the motor contributed to this. I sent a message to Neil concerning his weight which he said was around 100kg. This has put me off getting an eBrompton as I am around that weight, too. I wonder if the Tern Vektron range would be more suitable?
Their top picks were,
The Bosch Performance Line Cruise with an intuvia display and 500Wh battery best, and the Active line plus with purion display and 400Wh battery next best.
They also liked Shimano steps and Yamaha PW SE.
However they also recommended the Suntour rear hub motor in the "Halfords popular Carrera electric bikes", which many members of pedelec have found problematic.
The truth is out there!!!
The Bosch Performance Line Cruise with an intuvia display and 500Wh battery best, and the Active line plus with purion display and 400Wh battery next best.
They also liked Shimano steps and Yamaha PW SE.
However they also recommended the Suntour rear hub motor in the "Halfords popular Carrera electric bikes", which many members of pedelec have found problematic.
The truth is out there!!!
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Never trust what you read in review mags or the interweb.
Great, for the quick reply, thanks (from a soon to be newbie and elderly user).
Many years ago I would only buy what Which found to be the best, they were not.
Like many things you have to read between the lines.
Like many things you have to read between the lines.
They're not unbiased. If they were, they might have asked on this forum which bikes they should review, and they would have had a totally different list.
All bikes tested with a 70kg rider doesn't sound very unbiased to me. Look at the guy in the photo, and surprise surprise, all their recommended bikes are well suited to that type of guy in his lycra.
I bet they didn't test any to see how good they were for shopping or the dash to work in the rain through heavy traffic, nor did they mention the best one for 100kg guys that have never pedalled in 40 years or guys with bad knees/war wounds.
Did they cover maintenance issues and running costs, because they seem to have chosen some of the worst from that point of view.
If you want some genuine real advice, tell us about your size, weight, fitness and what you're hoping to use the bike for.
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Which used to be a really helpful magazine. Generally quality of consumer products has gone up (except for longevity) and so the help avoiding the bad ones is not so important. Their tests of the things they ought to know about aren't as deep as they should be (otherwise our Indecit gas oven would never have been a best buy), and their tests of other things (bicycles, hifi, ...) are generally very sketchy.
I don't think the tests are intentionally biased, just not very good.
I don't think the tests are intentionally biased, just not very good.
the The Bosch Performance Line Cruise appears to be just a motor rather than a bike, unless I'm missing someting. Did "Which" not review actual ebikes?
We've tested 15 of the most common electric bike motor, battery and display combinations. Each one is found in a range of different e-bikes, so you can use these results to narrow down your search to the e-bikes that will power you up hills, deliver a smooth and consistent ride and be easy to use.
They recently reviewed folding electric bikes, and the brompton h2l came top, with the tern vectron s10 second. Only the brompton made best buy status. Dont think they have done any other bike reviews in living memory .. not their expertise?
The most recent review was just a motor test, as discussed above. No mention of any actual bike used for most motors.
The most recent review was just a motor test, as discussed above. No mention of any actual bike used for most motors.
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"Which" don't do any e-bike tests, as with many other product groups they repeat the testing others do. They simply don't have the expertise to test the whole vast range of consumer products.
There's a European organisation, I forget its name now, that tests "green" products and I noticed that one of Which's previous pedelec tests was an exact copy of theirs, obviously reproduced by arrangement. That European body is very biased, mainly including European and particularly German and Dutch pedelecs, not many oriental ones and the awards all going the European way. Some of their tests aren't very testing anyway, for example testing hill climbing on 6% which I regard as a gentle slope and would never think of as a testing hill.
Personally I would never be guided by any "Which" product test.
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If mikeos wants to access the actual magazine for no cost, this can usually be done through your local library. Even with libraries closed it might be possible to do this remotely.
Yes I had that in mind. I have in the past accessed "Which" at Guildford library. However this can only be done in person, by registered card holders. Remote access over the internet is not possible, unfortunately.
My experience also, the more I know about a thing Which reviews, the less I'm impressed by it.
His wheel buckled because either they didn't build it properly or it got some sort of abuse, like hit something solid. 100kg is no problem and battery and motor weights are completely insignificant.
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