Whirlwind folding Ebike

[lightning]

Has anyone any experience of the Whirlwind folding Ebike?
Apparently a Scandinavian design, assembled in the U.K. and seems remarkable value at £450.
Disc brakes, 250w rear hub motor, 20" wheels, 16kg

What am l missing? lt's 1/3 the price of the Mirider l am about to order.

Anybody got one?

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Looking on this site.

https://whirlwind-e.co.uk/

It appears to be a fairly generic chinese mini-velo type ebike and halfway down the page it says 'private land only' so presumably it has a twist and go throttle and it doesn't matter if you pedal or not.

It's par for the course with bike importers that they make false claims about designing bikes etc that are really designed in the far east.

 

[lightning]

There's definitely no twist and go throttle as it's got those generic "ergonomic" grips.

lt says it's got a digital display and there's three assist modes.
Just wondering why it's so cheap. l guess it's quality of parts and battery etc

"Hand assembled in the U.K." may well mean "Unpacked the crates from China and fitted the handlebars/pedals" but l was hoping it might also mean you can actually get spare parts.

lr appears there are dozens of these cheap Ebikes available most with names
you've never heard of, l never knew until l started looking for one.

 

[Andy-Mat]

Has anyone any experience of the Whirlwind folding Ebike?
Apparently a Scandinavian design, assembled in the U.K. and seems remarkable value at £450.
Disc brakes, 250w rear hub motor, 20" wheels, 16kg

What am l missing? lt's 1/3 the price of the Mirider l am about to order.

Anybody got one?

Why not try one out?
I myself like larger wheels and non folding designs, as I feel that small wheels equals less stability....and folding not needed, as I just pop the front wheel off....
Any parts that are maybe not to your liking, you can probably easily replace and still stay well under the £1,000 level.....
My own bike was originally £399, but after I added on all the accessories (except GPS, I have one!), a second battery and transport and import duties, it came to £930!
I am still riding it after almost 5 years... (it has a throttle, but as long as you don't draw attention to it, seemingly it gets ignored!)
Let us know what you do and best wishes for a great outcome!
regards
Andy

 

[Nealh]

Cheap partly because of the crappy 3 spd, speed control system used as well as general cheap bike components. The hub and battery will account for some 60 -70% of the bike cost so that should tell you a bit about the mechanical parts used.

 

[lightning]

Fair enough. l would test ride one but would have to buy it online, and then return it if l didn't like it.

lt needs to be a folding bike for a couple of reasons, taking with the caravan, and also going on the train.

Currently l am looking at getting the Mirider, which l have tested and was great (for a small wheeled folder) but these bikes are less than 1/3 the price of the Mirider.

 

[Andy-Mat]

Fair enough. l would test ride one but would have to buy it online, and then return it if l didn't like it.

lt needs to be a folding bike for a couple of reasons, taking with the caravan, and also going on the train.

Currently l am looking at getting the Mirider, which l have tested and was great (for a small wheeled folder) but these bikes are getting on for 1/3 the price of the Mirider.

On my caravan I had a bike "holder/carrier" that went on the A Frame at the front of my caravan! With good bike locks it was pretty safe, caused little to no extra drag, and I was never falling over it, plus the bike stayed full size.
I will try and find a foto....
There are also some carriers that fit on the rear of a car, and others for the rear of a caravan, but they need holes made I believe!
r4egards
Andy

 

[slowcoach]

The major problem with an "A" frame bike holder, is the effect on the nose weight. With our Motus weighing around 25KG each and a permitted nose weight on our towbar of 90Kg, that would be out of the question. Fortunately, as we tow with a Mondeo estate, I can load both bikes inside with the rear seats folded. Clearly, not every caravanner has that option, so I can understand some may seek a folding bike option.

My own experience of a cheap folding ebike is not good. That is how I started many years ago. It was a GR8, if anybody has heard of them. It did exactly as described, it folded. Unfortunately, owing to poor design and materials, it folded while I was cycling up a hill.A quick phone call to Barclaycard and my money was returned without too much delay.

 

[lightning]

Maximum nose weight on my vehicle is 150kg

The idea behind folding ebikes is they can be stored in the vehicle while we are in the caravan, or in the caravan when we
are out and not using them.

 

[Ocsid]

£450 and covered by the CRA 2015, plus credit card rights if purchased that way, it does not present a life changing financial risk, if any.
At the price it can't be anything but budget kit, so if you take it as that way you are not likely to be disappointed.
However, if you are seriously expecting something directly comparable with a product retailing three times as costly, then IMO you are setting yourself up to be disappointed to some extent, only somewhat mollified by remembering it was real cheap.
Basically, in a competitive world we get pretty much what we pay for.

If venturing, then download every bit of seductive sales literature you took onboard as an incentive to buy, to ease any recourse to recovering your investment if it fails to deliver on those promises.

It will make interesting reads when you publish your initial and following two years in ownership, reviews here.

 

[cyclebuddy]

What am l missing? lt's 1/3 the price of the Mirider l am about to order.

The MiRider (as you already know) is a Onebot S6 with a few modifications. The Onebot S6 is about the same price as this Whirlwind in Europe (£470).

You could take either ebike and 1) change the controller to a KT and 2) change the brakes from generic Chinese to a branded Chinese made mechanical disc and either would be the equal of the MiRider.

To be fair, MiRider did up the battery capacity a little and uprate the motor a little too, but IIRC they've only just started doing that from sometime last year.

There's an awful lot of choice in folding e-bikes for less than a MiRider, some even come with (the nice) KT controllers already fitted (Mycle/Estarli).

 

[lightning]

Thank you l will keep looking, it's all new to me with regards budget bikes! My last two bikes have been premium branded mountain bikes and over ten times the price of these.

The first was bought with a small inheritance and l sold that to buy the second one.

 

[Andy-Mat]

The major problem with an "A" frame bike holder, is the effect on the nose weight. With our Motus weighing around 25KG each and a permitted nose weight on our towbar of 90Kg, that would be out of the question. Fortunately, as we tow with a Mondeo estate, I can load both bikes inside with the rear seats folded. Clearly, not every caravanner has that option, so I can understand some may seek a folding bike option.

Maybe you don't use a caravan often, but you ALWAYS need to balance out the caravan, using a weight gauge if you have little experience, even with a tandem axle as I always have, (as they can transport far more "stuff" safely), and if you get a puncture, the whole thing won't possibly land on the roof!
regards
Andy

 

[Bonzo Banana]

Looking on this site.

https://whirlwind-e.co.uk/

It appears to be a fairly generic chinese mini-velo type ebike and halfway down the page it says 'private land only' so presumably it has a twist and go throttle and it doesn't matter if you pedal or not.

It's par for the course with bike importers that they make false claims about designing bikes etc that are really designed in the far east.

Seems like the 'private land only' bit has been removed since I originally mentioned it. Which is a bit suspicious. I'm guessing there is no crank sensor so it assists whether you pedal or not so not legal on the road as not a pedelec type ebike. I doubt anyone would care if you did use it on the road though.

 

[slowcoach]

Maybe you don't use a caravan often, but you ALWAYS need to balance out the caravan, using a weight gauge if you have little experience, even with a tandem axle as I always have, (as they can transport far more "stuff" safely), and if you get a puncture, the whole thing won't possibly land on the roof!
regards
Andy

As an experienced caravanner, I always check nose weight and correct balance. Over a period of time, we have been able to plan our loading to best advantage.
There can also be a risk with an A frame bike mount. of a cycle wheel striking the towing vehicle if a tight turn were required. Not necesasrily, of course, but some risk.
As an experienced caravanner you will already be aware of this and have checked.
Even worse would be fitting a bike rack to the back of a caravan. I know that some do this especially on the continent, but it adds considerable weight to the rear of the van so require heavy loading to counterbalance at the front, with the risk of exceeding the user payload.
Yes, I have seen this here when on the motorway, but I give such vehicles wide berth as they appear very unstable.

 

[lightning]

We've never owned a caravan before so this year will be our first outing! I'm taking a towing course and have a lot to learn about hitching up, nose weights, connecting up the caravan etc.

The spare room is filling up with accessories that it seems we will need.

l've decided against the £450 Ebike and will go for something better.

 

[Andy-Mat]

As an experienced caravanner, I always check nose weight and correct balance. Over a period of time, we have been able to plan our loading to best advantage.
There can also be a risk with an A frame bike mount. of a cycle wheel striking the towing vehicle if a tight turn were required. Not necesasrily, of course, but some risk.
As an experienced caravanner you will already be aware of this and have checked.
Even worse would be fitting a bike rack to the back of a caravan. I know that some do this especially on the continent, but it adds considerable weight to the rear of the van so require heavy loading to counterbalance at the front, with the risk of exceeding the user payload.
Yes, I have seen this here when on the motorway, but I give such vehicles wide berth as they appear very unstable.

I only know about the 4 caravans I have owned as well as several trailers. It was only possible to make contact with the sides of a small trailer, if one was not careful and either on my own, or the wrong person was guiding.
But of all the caravans I owned, never did I manage to get into such a situation as you mention. I must be a far better caravanner than I ever dreamed I was......One has to drive slower and very carefully, and when alone, I would open the rear door to see what a small trailer was doing. Not necessary with normal caravans....
Possibly because I found out many years ago that my wife cannot guide me (the driver) when doing ANYTHING with a trailer/caravan, so I always sat her behind the wheel and I gave her explicit instructions, and nothing strange ever happened. It worked remarkably well, and she was VERY happy to be useful in such situations.
That is not a criticism of my wife, as I have seen (quite a few!) men also on campings sites, with the same problems. They are the ones with the motorised tow hitch - YUKKK!
Depending upon who (hopefully) understands trailer/caravan manoevering, especially backwards, best in the family, they are the one who needs to not be behind the wheel....
I hope this helps further.
Andy

 

[lightning]

The caravan we are buying is called a Basecamp 2 and it has the facility to store two bikes inside while being towed.

The door is at the rear of the van and is quite wide, so you can get a bike in. lf you fold up the seats there are lashing points on the floor to secure the bikes.

 

[Ocsid]

I over the years have transported bikes, albeit 700 wheel road bikes, in a caravan, and now a 26" e bike in the Discovery's cabin, by removing the front wheels and using fork clamps mounted on a removable beam. Clamps of THIS ilk. I use today a length of wood decking cut to give little side movement freedom. In the caravan it was a 19mm ply plank about a foot wide again a length to neatly go between the furniture.
Here it is way best to put the bikes in the caravan rear wheel first so you can simply clip down the forks and get out afterwards. Works well.

In respect to fouling up with bikes on the "A" frame, I did not ever get enough forward moving lock on my caravan back in the days we tried that solution, it does depend on the tow vehicle's lock as one factor, but it will always be possible reversing; way too readily in my direct experience. Bikes being out in all the road thrown crap is very good reason for any external solution to be way down my sensible options list, again from experience.

 

[Andy-Mat]

I over the years have transported bikes, albeit 700 wheel road bikes, in a caravan, and now a 26" e bike in the Discovery's cabin, by removing the front wheels and using fork clamps mounted on a removable beam. Clamps of THIS ilk. I use today a length of wood decking cut to give little side movement freedom. In the caravan it was a 19mm ply plank about a foot wide again a length to neatly go between the furniture.
Here it is way best to put the bikes in the caravan rear wheel first so you can simply clip down the forks and get out afterwards. Works well.

In respect to fouling up with bikes on the "A" frame, I did not ever get enough forward moving lock on my caravan back in the days we tried that solution, it does depend on the tow vehicle's lock as one factor, but it will always be possible reversing; way too readily in my direct experience. Bikes being out in all the road thrown crap is very good reason for any external solution to be way down my sensible options list, again from experience.

The reasons I like the extrernal approach, is for when stopping for a coffee or a meal, you don't have to consider what to do with the bikes.
Also, a thief could jemmy a door (with a butter knife!) and steal them, when you are not around.
On the A Frame, they were securely bolted and with bike locks, and my bike had a vibration alarm for at night anyway, if someone started "fiddling", it would get loud (120dB), which I could turn on and off from inside the caravan wih a remote control! Sometimes if it was very windy, the alarm would go off....but seldom was it that windy.
But each to his own ideas and what makes you happy.
Andy