Yet another Fat bloke and his Small Mrs.

[Garf666]

We are planning to move back to the UK in December. We don't cycle here in Dubai because you would have to be pretty mental to cycle on the roads. Driving here is risky enough.

I am 121kg (down from 150kg in 8 months). should be down to 110-115kg by the time we get around to buying the bikes. Even at 150kg I still played hockey and now do pretty intesnive HIIT workouts 3 times a week. I do struggle on the assault bike in workouts because of knee issues (ruptured my patella tendon 13 years ago), so that's why I'm thinking of the ebike route.

I'm thinking of the Carrera Crosfire for myself as it will be mainly road/town biking. Most days will be a fairly short cycle to and from the railway station be I want to be able to do longer rides during the weekends. At 5ft5 -6 I'm vertically challenged hence the interest in the crossfire. Budget will be around 1k. Don't really like the idea of having the battery weight over the back wheel.


For the Mrs she will use her bike to commute daily to work 10-15 minutes a little hilly. Want more of a traditional / dutch style bike that she can put a basket on. Prefer disc brakes and it needs to be suitable for her height. (not much over 5ft). Thought of the Pendleton Somerby for her.

 

[Nealh]

Halfords Carrera ebikes are not really fit for purpose, if you browse on the forums search section you will find they have power loss issues which haven't been resolved.

 

[Garf666]

I've been reading about those issues but many seem happy to live with them. Apart from that issue seems a lot of bike for the money

 

[Electric Transport Shop]

Hi Garf666,

You might need something a bit stronger.

Have you considered these models: https://www.electricbikesales.co.uk/Electric-Bike-Special-Offers-ebike-electric-bikes-discounts/HAIBIKE-SDURO-CROSS-4.0-2017

Possibly with wider tyres and we can fit urban tyres to these:
https://www.electricbikesales.co.uk/Electric-Bike-Special-Offers-ebike-electric-bikes-discounts/HAIBIKE-SDURO-HARDSEVEN-4.0-2017
https://www.electricbikesales.co.uk/Electric-Bike-Special-Offers-ebike-electric-bikes-discounts?product_id=1607

We have plenty of options for your wife too. Is she after a dutch made ebike or just a dutch style ebike?

 

[Garf666]

thanks for your reply. Unfortunately they are pushing our budget a bit. Moving back is a bit of an expensive process (the wife's UK visa just cost us nearly 3 grand) and I am making a career change so I'm taking a big pay cut for 2 years.

For my wife if just needs to be small and she will demand something cute looking.

 

[Tugwell Gibson]

Garf. Where will you be based? And will you be leaving your bike at a station all day?

 

[Garf666]

will be based at Bishops Stortford. will only proceed with the Ebike if i can get it into the secure bike storage at the station

 

[Nealh]

I've been reading about those issues but many seem happy to live with them. Apart from that issue seems a lot of bike for the money

Damn right dangerous if it suddenly cuts out whilst manoeuvring at junctions.

 

[Brynric]

My (much smaller) wife & I both have crossfires. I'm very overweight, she isn't but different sizes and style (crossbar & stepthrough) suit us well.
We have both had very occasional cut out issues but in our case it's been merely a minor irritation and has diminished over time, maybe the electrics settle down? I suppose it could be dangerous but it's perfectly cycleable without the assist, albeit on the heavy side.
I quite agree that it's quite a lot of bike for the money.

 

[Garf666]

Just wanted to thank everybody for all the advice we've received on here. Me and the Mrs have actually decided that we will give regular bikes a go one more time. We both do 3-4 x 1 hour high intensity workouts every week and think we should give it a try. Was more my fitness that was the issue and I've dropped 30kg since I last tried a normal bike (150 down to 120)

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Well done. I've come down from 105kg at Xmas to 79kg now. It's dead easy: You just hae to stop eating rubbish. At first, you still want to eat those pizzas, biscuits and cakes, bu after a while, you forget about them. It's the same as giving up smoking. All you have to do is decide to do it then stick with your decision.

At 79kg, cycling is dead easy. An electric bike seems almost unnecessary unless you have medical problems, though they're still useful for shopping and journeys where you don't want to make high physical effort, like commuting.

 

[Garf666]

Well done. I've come down from 105kg at Xmas to 79kg now. It's dead easy: You just hae to stop eating rubbish. At first, you still want to eat those pizzas, biscuits and cakes, bu after a while, you forget about them. It's the same as giving up smoking. All you have to do is decide to do it then stick with your decision.

At 79kg, cycling is dead easy. An electric bike seems almost unnecessary unless you have medical problems, though they're still useful for shopping and journeys where you don't want to make high physical effort, like commuting.

Although I've improved my diet a lot my main focus is losing weight through exercise. Even at my heaviest I still played competitive sport. I now do 3 to 4 HIIT workouts per week and have a personal target of hitting 1000kcal per session. If i don't hit that within the hour (which now I'm getting fitter I usually don't) I continue doing extra until I do. I also swim 1-2km once a week and walk 5km 1 or 2 times a week. I think I should be ok on a normal bike but I'm also sure that at some point in the future we will buy pedelecs.

 

[edge.bike]

We are planning to move back to the UK in December. We don't cycle here in Dubai because you would have to be pretty mental to cycle on the roads. Driving here is risky enough.

I am 121kg (down from 150kg in 8 months). should be down to 110-115kg by the time we get around to buying the bikes. Even at 150kg I still played hockey and now do pretty intesnive HIIT workouts 3 times a week. I do struggle on the assault bike in workouts because of knee issues (ruptured my patella tendon 13 years ago), so that's why I'm thinking of the ebike route.

I'm thinking of the Carrera Crosfire for myself as it will be mainly road/town biking. Most days will be a fairly short cycle to and from the railway station be I want to be able to do longer rides during the weekends. At 5ft5 -6 I'm vertically challenged hence the interest in the crossfire. Budget will be around 1k. Don't really like the idea of having the battery weight over the back wheel.


For the Mrs she will use her bike to commute daily to work 10-15 minutes a little hilly. Want more of a traditional / dutch style bike that she can put a basket on. Prefer disc brakes and it needs to be suitable for her height. (not much over 5ft). Thought of the Pendleton Somerby for her.

Hi there.
We're off to Dubai in December..but only for a couple of weeks and definitely no cycling involved !
Can I recommend our hybrid model for you and the retro or low-bar for your wife. Both great bikes and have hydraulic brakes as standard for £999

https://edge.bike/products/hybrid
https://edge.bike/products/retro
https://edge.bike/products/low-bar-coming-soon

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Hi there.
We're off to Dubai in December..but only for a couple of weeks and definitely no cycling involved !
Can I recommend our hybrid model for you and the retro or low-bar for your wife. Both great bikes and have hydraulic brakes as standard for £999

https://edge.bike/products/hybrid
https://edge.bike/products/retro
https://edge.bike/products/low-bar-coming-soon

Those links for all three bikes show in the photos and in the listing mechanical brakes (Tektro Aries). Did you upgrade them?

 

[Garf666]

Hi there.
We're off to Dubai in December..but only for a couple of weeks and definitely no cycling involved !
Can I recommend our hybrid model for you and the retro or low-bar for your wife. Both great bikes and have hydraulic brakes as standard for £999

https://edge.bike/products/hybrid
https://edge.bike/products/retro
https://edge.bike/products/low-bar-coming-soon

Thanks. they would have been an option but we decided to give unassisted bikes one more try as we are both getting a lot fitter

 

[edge.bike]

Those links for all three bikes show in the photos and in the listing mechanical brakes (Tektro Aries). Did you upgrade them?

Yep we listen to the feedback. And upgraded the brakes the pictures will be updated soon.

Rgds