When cycling to work im the only one on an ebike, during the rush hour the lights on clerkenwell road can be ten deep with cyclists and ive never seen an ebike, and yet the few people who have tried my bike (e voyager) have loved it, it cost me £600 which works out at 4 months rail travel, how can you go wrong.
Why so few Ebikes
- Thread starter stu
- Start date
My experience too, e-bikes as rare as hen's teeth, and I live in a London borough.
Perhaps not surprising though, e-bike sales in the UK have been about 1% of ordinary bike sales (20 thousand to 2 million annually). At their peak probably barely 1.5%.
The ratio to car sales is the same, 1 to 1.5% e-bikes to cars.
Perhaps not surprising though, e-bike sales in the UK have been about 1% of ordinary bike sales (20 thousand to 2 million annually). At their peak probably barely 1.5%.
The ratio to car sales is the same, 1 to 1.5% e-bikes to cars.
My local bike shop stop doing the Bionx kits as "there wasn't any call for it", I've never seen another e-biker on my commute and only saw one on a leisure ride last week , it was an old lady on a trike with her dog on the bike.
Really nice conversion with a massive bottle battery, 30Ah. It was the size of a fire extinguisher on the back!
Really nice conversion with a massive bottle battery, 30Ah. It was the size of a fire extinguisher on the back!
For me, anyway, where ebikes really excel is for commuting, but local bikes shops in the UK are anything but commuter-friendly. Most of the local bike shops I've been on stock two types of bikes: road bikes for racing on the roads, and mountain bikes for racing off road. You're lucky if they have a single proper commuter bike in stock.
So, given that they don't cater for non-electric bike commuters, they're unlikely to stock ebikes for the same reason.
Then of course, there's the sneering. The accusation that using an ebike is "cheating". The notion that you're using a bike non-competitively, and just as a cheap, quick, eco-friendly means of transport seems to be utterly lost on these people.
So, given that they don't cater for non-electric bike commuters, they're unlikely to stock ebikes for the same reason.
Then of course, there's the sneering. The accusation that using an ebike is "cheating". The notion that you're using a bike non-competitively, and just as a cheap, quick, eco-friendly means of transport seems to be utterly lost on these people.
In Britain it's more that cycling itself is seen as a sporting/fitness pursuit, and any other type of use eccentric.
In contrast, Holland, where utility cycling for practical ends is the norm, has gone overboard for e-bikes.
That's the major key, utility cycling has to exist first for e-cycling to become popular.
There's a secondary issue in these days of mass immigration. In many third world countries, cycling is seen as socially demeaning, the province of the poor. People from those countries coming here retain that view, adopting a car as soon as possible and not cycling under any circumstances. I've see a graphic illustration of how true this is. In East London where there's a very large population from the Indian sub-continent, there's a pro-cycling initiative expressly designed to overcome that prejudice.
That's generally my experience re shops in York - "England's 2nd cycling city" (so we keep getting reminded as the Tour rapidly approaches) Although there are one or two who sell commuters, often they are overpriced (in my opinion) Dutch bikes. All of them have racers/mountain bikes as their main stock.
I went into a fairly large York shop recently for some lube. The assistant was a young guy dressed in full lycra gear. He thought he was it. Asked him why he didn't have any ebikes amongst his extensive stock - his opening response was "have you ever seen an old ebike?" He then tried to convince me that they would be too much trouble, so they wouldn't stock them.
What exactly is a "cycling city" anyway?...
It seems to be applied to any city with a markedly above average utility cycling rate. Cambridge has always led in this respect, with York in second place. Claims have been made for London in this respect since cycle commuting has doubled in a decade and some half a million total cycling journeys are made each weekday. But London has over 8 million people so that's hardly a universal uptake.
There are quite a few e bikes here in Boston, mostly ridden by people over forty five. There are still quite a few old lead acid bikes. The only local seller seems to be a shop that sells mobility scooters, and it sell the Batribike brand.
I hope it is a coincidence, but in the last couple of weeks I have spoken to two Batribike buyers, and both were deeply dissatisfied. One guy had problems with an intermittent motor, and had been back three times, without a cure. I had a ride on it and was convinced the fault was just a brake cut out fault.
The other guy was so sick of the hassle that he had given the bike to a scrap man whilst it was still under guarantee. It does not show the dealer in a good light.
I hope it is a coincidence, but in the last couple of weeks I have spoken to two Batribike buyers, and both were deeply dissatisfied. One guy had problems with an intermittent motor, and had been back three times, without a cure. I had a ride on it and was convinced the fault was just a brake cut out fault.
The other guy was so sick of the hassle that he had given the bike to a scrap man whilst it was still under guarantee. It does not show the dealer in a good light.
I saw three other ebikes along the promenade at Morecambe the other day, one an old powacycle, a very nice shopper style and a pretty standard step through. I was too busy pedalling to see what makes the latter two were
I asked in Halfords how well they sell, the assistant said they dont, due to lack of interest from Halfords, they dont seem to push them at all, there were none on view in the store at Chingford, as Arbol says perhaps there is some other reason, however i do feel they (halfords) are missing a trick.
They got off to a bad start Stu. Their first effort was a Carrera bike with the SRAM Sparc rear wheel motor, at £750. Although a good price since the motor kit alone was over £500 at the time, that motor was a well out of date design and never much good anyway. It was only in some stores and they didn't tell the staff in other branches who they kept in the dark about it.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, their efforts since have shown little faith in the e-bike concept.
Speaking of Halfords i cant say i was that impressed with their Chingford branch, when i was at the main paydesk the girl serving was dealing with a customer on the phone while the line behind me steadily grew, i then went upstairs to have some work done on my bike and waited 15 minutes to be seen, there seemed to be no urgency in what they were doing, in their defence the staff were all very pleasant, the store is understaffed and oddly set out, you have to lug your bike upstairs, the lift is too small, i think the people at the top have got it wrong.
Same at West Wickham Stu. The bikes used to be downstairs at the back behind the car stuff with other car stuff upstairs, Then they swapped them over, bikes having to lugged up two flights of stairs. They also scrapped the bike stand in favour of extra car parking spaces, leaving nowhere to lock bikes to.
Clearly Halfords retail management don't give a damn about bikes and propaganda to the opposite effect is meaningless. The answer? Let us not give a damn about Halfords, and go elsewhere in future for our car needs as well as bike stuff.
Clearly Halfords retail management don't give a damn about bikes and propaganda to the opposite effect is meaningless. The answer? Let us not give a damn about Halfords, and go elsewhere in future for our car needs as well as bike stuff.
One tip for Halfords: Always buy online, and do a collect in store.
The other day In was there to pick up a new chain. £3.99 online. The bloke in the queue in front of me bought the exact same chain and paid £12.99.
They have some good deals if you look closely. Continental inner tubes are £2.50 at the mo.
I agree with others though, the level of service can be appalling.
The other day In was there to pick up a new chain. £3.99 online. The bloke in the queue in front of me bought the exact same chain and paid £12.99.
They have some good deals if you look closely. Continental inner tubes are £2.50 at the mo.
I agree with others though, the level of service can be appalling.
There is a lot of truth in all the foregoing. The 'cheating' comment from the Lycra brigade is still common. The message that we don't seem to get over to the public is that electric bikes are really a competitor to the car or bus,not a competitor to sports cycling.
You wouldn't run alongside a bus and shout at the people on the bus that they are cheating just because you walk to work.
But the key to electric bike sales is the strength of the local dealer. On-bike at Kidderminster have a good sale of bikes in a country area just because they stock the right bikes and have given good service to their customers,that area has a good number of electric bikes.
Similarly,50 cycles and the London Electric Bike Company have done a good job of stocking e-bikes in the Kingston area,you see a lot of electric bikes in that area.
Unfortunately many bike shops see e-bikes as hassle and out of character with the expensive Bianchi style bikes that they sell. I would say that there is a snob attitude in some areas,the guy from UK cycling is always hostile to electric bikes being tested on 'his' test track at the London Excel show,he is openly anti these bikes.
In Holland and Germany the electric bike is seen as another form of transport...young guys will turn up at a bar all on e-bikes,grandma will go to town on one,Mum will take the kids to school on an electric cargo bike.
As an aside I saw some lovely electric cargo bikes at the Shanghai show,was tempted to bring some over ,but a nightmare to store a quantity,not sure of the demand?
Kudos has settled back to its current sales level,we seem to have bikes that many British (note not English,got to be PC these days) want to own and it's just not possible for one company to push this market harder than we have over the last few years.
KudosDave
You wouldn't run alongside a bus and shout at the people on the bus that they are cheating just because you walk to work.
But the key to electric bike sales is the strength of the local dealer. On-bike at Kidderminster have a good sale of bikes in a country area just because they stock the right bikes and have given good service to their customers,that area has a good number of electric bikes.
Similarly,50 cycles and the London Electric Bike Company have done a good job of stocking e-bikes in the Kingston area,you see a lot of electric bikes in that area.
Unfortunately many bike shops see e-bikes as hassle and out of character with the expensive Bianchi style bikes that they sell. I would say that there is a snob attitude in some areas,the guy from UK cycling is always hostile to electric bikes being tested on 'his' test track at the London Excel show,he is openly anti these bikes.
In Holland and Germany the electric bike is seen as another form of transport...young guys will turn up at a bar all on e-bikes,grandma will go to town on one,Mum will take the kids to school on an electric cargo bike.
As an aside I saw some lovely electric cargo bikes at the Shanghai show,was tempted to bring some over ,but a nightmare to store a quantity,not sure of the demand?
Kudos has settled back to its current sales level,we seem to have bikes that many British (note not English,got to be PC these days) want to own and it's just not possible for one company to push this market harder than we have over the last few years.
KudosDave
Tricky one this Dave, native peoples prefer to use their own nationality of English, Scottish or Welsh, and they are right, for those are the nations of Britain. Britain is strictly speaking not a nation, it is a federation, as is the UK. This is even more apparent with the formation of the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly, effectively making the so-called English parliament a UK federal government.
Accordingly those most likely to say British are the immigrants who are misled by the government's citizenship requirements which wrongly refer to British nationality. Britain after all is a very recent concept, only invented with the inclusion of Scotland 300 years ago, which means Britain will factually no longer even exist if Scotland votes to leave the union!
To be PC there's another time honoured way of referring to the peoples of these islands. Collectively they are Britons, a term derived from the name of the country, Britannia, and dating back to Roman times before the land was divided into the present three mainland zones and therefore of one nation. That is the term I use, both PC and valid.
The modern term Britain to describe the country of the three nations collectively was derived from Britannia and it's people the Britons of course.
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