Looking at getting an E bike for commuting. Its 25 miles one way so shattering if done all week. It could be possible to ride one way and drive back or vice versa…

However, the recent advert for GTECH bikes has me thinking…. is it possible for an E bike to cycle there and back and make it doable?

Any thoughts appreciated

Marko

Sounds like a good idea

I have also wondered this, and concluded ‘probably not’, at least not without spending a huge sum of money that would be better spent on a motorised bike of some sort.

Edit – I did get smoked last week by a Yoof on a full suss Haibike e-thing. Must have been hacked because I was doing 20+mph.

i absolutely think its a great idea…… not just for you but for the population as a whole.

there are so many benifits for health – air quality – traffic – stress…..

The big elephant in the room is people dont like getting cold and wet.

When small solar panels reach “that” point i reckon a Liion battery assistance and charging from a flat array on top of a rear rack will be brilliant- for my needs. arrive at work – stick it on the centre stand and let it charge all day 😀 And still be in shape to ride/race at the weekend while doing as much or as little of the cycling as i want.

FWIW i used to sell powabyke at 60lbs and lead acid batteries….. great concept poorly executed. Things have come that far in 10 years that solar charging isnt as far fetched as it may sound.

This is also my thinking. My commute is only 8 miles, but involves 2 pretty killer hills both ways, so I don’t even need a hacked bike, just something to make me blast up the 1 in 5 hills whilst my legs are still asleep.

The Go Cycle mark 3 is out about now – actually looks like an extremely well thought out bit of british designed kit…

https://www.e-bikeshop.co.uk/Gocycle-G3-Electric-Bike?gclid=CPqhrqu9mMwCFckV0wod4IsHMw

My commute is only 8 miles, but involves 2 pretty killer hills both ways,

See, now, for this I think you just need to MTFU.

A fine plan OP,give us an update if you decide to do it.
I pass two people on my commute that use eBikes,they are fully panniered up ,and cruise along bolt upright at 20mph.They don’t look like they are pushing that hard.

Range is going to be your issue unless you can plug in at work, most reasonably priced ones have a range of 30-40 miles and look fairly horrific to ride without battery assistance.

I wan’t one of these ones the pros are using, on a CX bike with a decent battery would be amazing.

most reasonably priced ones have a range of 30-40 miles and look fairly horrific to ride without battery assistance.

I take it you mean cheap shit. The modern stuff thats worth buying with a spares back upare actually all that bad.

Certainly no worse than riding an enduro gnarpoon

The new ebikes with the bosch motors have some pretty impressive claimed mileage between charges (note claimed ) ie https://www.electricbikesales.co.uk/Bosch/Gazelle-CityZen-2016 – up to 90 miles.

how realistic I don’t know.

E-bikes are ace for commuting 🙂 My commute is 45km each way.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/xgbbCr]Lovely morning for a commute![/url] by Simon Barnes, on Flickr

Thanks guys, yes mileage will be the sticking point… the GTECH is £1K but limits itself to 30miles. The Gocycle is £3.5K which is little steep especially if comments above are right with the cold and wet (i think they are)!

My planned ride is pretty flat and along canal paths or county roads. But a bit worried that if the battery looses some of its efficiency at 30 miles i could be heaving a lump for a couple of miles!

Does anyone have any experience of chipping the bikes to exceed the 15mph? That could make things a lot more interesting on the country roads!

If I was looking at one of these for commuting I’d be leaning strongly towards the proven Bosch or Shimano systems for reliability, availability of spares and back up.

I think you can buy a mod kit for your existing bike. There’s a bloke near me that’s set up a business to do this.

The benefits are that it’s cheaper and at the weekend you can remove it and use it as a normal bike if you want.

I had a go on one of his bikes at a family fun ride, I was amazed at the acceleration and speed.

Simondbarnes nails it.

Get a proper e-bike, not some bolt on/bodge job, and they’re ace!

I had a GoCycle for a while and it was a lot of fun!* However, for longer commutes, it’s not the right bike. A good pedal assist e-bike, with a good motor is the right option. Look at Specialized, Haibike or Giant, I’d say.

*It was chipped. It was fast. Very fast. The job I was doing at the time meant I could gun it between appointments, charge it up, then gun it to the next. Full gas, all the time!

I modded my HT with a bafang mid drive bbs01. Does 25 mph on the flat on private roads. Range: 20 miles when using throttle and pedalling. Outputs about 500w according to thingy meter but not sure it’s right. It woild do twice that if i eased off o. The throttle abd just used ped assist. I don’t ride like a dick near walkers or dogs . all in 600 quid with a 14.5 ah battery. I am 90kg. Bike heavy cheap HT. 8-10 KG OF bags and laptop etc. Buy a second charger for work and you’re fine. My commute is 6 miles each way in mainly flat bridle pths. I went from.not having ridden for 5 years to riding everyday over the course of two weeks (firt week i still felt knackerd).

I stuck an oxygen bikes kit on my kaffenback a couple of years ago after a second lot of knee surgery, around £500 when on offer and fitted in a couple of hours. I get just over 30 miles from a charge riding at an indicated 20mph which is plenty for my 11 mile each way commute.
If the battery does run out on a longer ride it’s not too much worse to ride unassisted, just a fair bit slower!

My sister and her husband have bought e-bikes, and gone from being non-cyclists to regular leisure riders/commuters. However, it seems £2000 only gets you about £500-worth of bike, in real terms.

Mad Max alternative. You can buy the kits here. You lose the rear brake because the drive-ring goes on the disk fitting, and the LH lever operates the clutch.

Yeah how ever that petrol monstrosity needs tax mot and insurance .

A colleague had one in south africa.

About as subtle as a brick through a glass table in use. – think someone riding a 2stroke petrol strimmer ….

They’re a hoot to ride, though…

My commute is just over 20 miles each way and I use a Carrera Crossfire E bike. With full assistance I get home with around 35% battery life remaining so easily 60 mile range. That does involve a pretty hilly route as well. The Crossfire also feels like a pretty normal bike to ride (for a Hybrid)

A couple of things to note.

When it’s cold (less than 4′) the battery life is significantly reduced.

The hillier the route the more fun and the faster your average speed. Trundling along a flat road at 15mph is a little dull and above 15mph you just have a heavy bike. On the hills though it’s great – you blast up them at 15mph and come down them at 30-40mph. So average speeds of 20-25mph are easy.

The kit on my bike is Suntour, so full backup of parts and comes with a USB port to charge your lights/phone/Garmin etc.

Bonus for me was staff discount + Cycle to work means I’ll end up paying just over £500 for it 🙂

I love it. Commuting is fun and doesn’t leave me destroyed at the end of the day.

I take it you mean cheap shit. The modern stuff thats worth buying with a spares back upare actually all that bad.

Certainly no worse than riding an enduro gnarpoon

I do indeed 😆 you’d be off your head spending three grand on a commuting bike surely, you could get a moped for that and go 30+ mph the whole way. Or get a bit fitter and road a £500 road bike

“you could get a moped for that and go 30+ mph the whole way”

yep and need insurance , tax , fuel , have to stick to road.

not have the option to shut down the power and cycle if the weathers nice and you want some exercise.

basically a petrol powered mobility scooter.

I pass two people on my commute that use eBikes,they are fully panniered up ,and cruise along bolt upright at 20mph.They don’t look like they are pushing that hard.

Either chipped, hard as nails and riding a very heavy unassisted bike very fast, or going a bit slower than you think. Ebikes (without chipping) stop assisting you at 15mph and even then on most models the assist %age drops away as you get closer to the top of that limit.

We have one that did belonged to my dad that my wife currently uses and my mum is just about to take delivery of a moustache lundi as her 70th birthday present to herself.

Whilst I can see real merit in making longer commutes less stressful for ‘proper cyclists’ (like Simon is using it above) where I see a real benefit is getting folk in normal shopping/office clothes doing the journey without a car over terrain or distances they would otherwise not consider. On the basis that something is better than nothing in terms of exercise (and riding one of these is still exercise – just with reduced peaks of power needed – conceivably better exercise for some) if it becomes an enjoyable thing and there is another car missing from the road then what’s not to like (apart from a load of battery horribles ending up in a landfill at some point in the future if we are not careful).

when I was using my kalkhoff fitted with the bosch motor, I was getting 50+ miles from 1 charge.
I bought a second battery for touring.

big outlay to start with, but a fantastic quality bit of kit.

“Whilst I can see real merit in making longer commutes less stressful for ‘proper cyclists’ (like Simon is using it above) where I see a real benefit is getting folk in normal shopping/office clothes doing the journey without a car over terrain or distances they would otherwise not consider. On the basis that something is better than nothing in terms of exercise if it becomes an enjoyable thing and there is another car missing from the road then what’s not to like (apart from a load of battery horribles ending up in a landfill at some point in the future if we are not careful).”

This and id love for it to happen but further to my comments above – researching a business plan for local promotion of these threw up a few issues from the public. 1. being lack of thought out segreated cycle provision(a local issue) and 2. the weather.

Those you cant change 🙁

I think it is a great idea for longer commutes, helps with the hills too if you don’t have shower facilities at work and don’t want to be a sweaty, smelly mess at work.

and 2. the weather.

Yes, that is an issue – all those suited and booted ebikers using one will inevitably get back in their cars on grim days. They might potentially prevent you getting so sweaty in your normal clothes but they don’t stop you getting wet and filthy from above and below in grim weather.

With e-bike tech as it is at the moment I think it’s best for shorter journeys for non cyclists/injured or where you dont want to be putting in too much effort i.e. cargo bikes for shopping.

A 20 mile daily commute is bearable on a fairly light road/cx bike or maybe a hybrid at a push, but I just haven’t seen an e-bike I’d want to pedal without the assist.

When those Vivax assist systems go mainstream I’ll happily have one on them, and a big bottle battery that I can charge at work.

jsut reading about those oxydrive kits.

full kit bolted on gives you 7.3kg extra and an 80km range……

My panniers regularly weigh more than that so i wouldnt worry about riding that home if it went flat on me.

what is scary is the number of no name li ion batteries on ebay – wouldnt touch with a barge pole that lot. my guess is thats where old lap top batteries go to die…..

yep and need insurance , tax , fuel , have to stick to road.

not have the option to shut down the power and cycle if the weathers nice and you want some exercise.

Tax and insurance – <£200 in the first year, peanuts thereafter
Fuel – 100mpg if you rag it?
Cost of a scooter, less than most on here would entertain for a bike-2-work scheme commuter?

I like the idea of electric bike as the panacea for commuting, but realistically, if people weren’t prepared to get out of their car and on a moped (which would also eliminate congestion and a lot of pollution), or a push bike they won’t get an electric bike.

so more cost and still you dont have access to the segregated paths and old railway lines…..

you are forced to stick to the road with the big scary hurty things.

I like the idea of electric bike as the panacea for commuting, but realistically, if people weren’t prepared to get out of their car and on a moped (which would also eliminate congestion and a lot of pollution), or a push bike they won’t get an electric bike.

totally agree with this …. its almost like the SUV arguement again – self fulfilling . people wont get out their cars onto bikes/mopeds because they are scared of the cars….. remember motorbikes are dangerous as hell. :S

I’m weening myself into commuting to/from work by just doing 1 day a week. I only work in office mon-wed, so I’m commuting on a Tues… it’s 20 miles each way, my biggest problem isn’t the pedalling it’s the bloody weight of the laptop. It goes in rucksack and I rekon by the time I’ve got some spare clothing in for the ride home and a heavy laptop I’m carrying 7kg extra.

I do keep getting tempted by a road bike, but I really don’t like them.

An e-bike though I just feel would be cheating…

so more cost and still you dont have access to the segregated paths and old railway lines…..

you are forced to stick to the road with the big scary hurty things.

In fairness, unless you’re very lucky, those roads you’re forced to stick to are usually the quicker option by virtue of there being more of them and therefore going from where you are to where you want to go, even without a small 4-stroke.

I suspect the problem you’d have for 25 miles each way is the time in the saddle – 1h 40m if you go at 15mph the whole way (and if you go faster you won’t get any boost). That said it could be useful for headwinds, which are what cause bad days for me on my substantially shorter commute.

Chipping it is obviously illegal, will reduce the range, and is pretty inconsiderate (how would you feel about a yoof riding a 30mph limited moped along the towpaths you use?).

I know for me an e bike wouldn’t help me much, if at all, compared with riding a reasonably priced drop bar bike with slicks on (except on the windiest of days). I’d certainly consider one for a town bike (to avoid sweatiness if it gets hilly) or cargo lugging though.

how ever research says that safety on roads is more the concern over the time taken to cycle to places…….

Aberdeen unfortuantly has formed a spiders legs approach to cycling as in to get anywhere on cycle paths you first have to cycle almost into the city and the nback out to your destination….with 2 or 3 key areas being cut off completely on the path network ….so say you live in BOD(a big residential area) and work in dyce. you will have to ride on (a mental) road for a large section to get to dyce.

I purposfully bought a house on an old railway line so i could cycle to town along that.

For me my idea of an E bike would be to avoid car use on post big(cycling) weekend mondays / going shopping/ going to town so i dont arrive sweaty – but equally so it didnt take me 13 weeks to get to town in a non sweaty state.

I hate using a vehicle designed to transport 5 people and luggage to transport me and my lunch. but based on whats in my shed currently sometimes theres no other option.

I think your commute determines how you see e-bikes. Mine is 20 miles on the road, I wouldn’t want it to take any longer than it does (normally around 16mph ave) and I’d like to do it quicker. There are no bike paths/canals that would reduce my time, and a legal ebike wouldn’t make me any safer on the road whereas I think I motorbike/scooter would.

From the sounds of your commute trail rat I can see why you think differently, but for me a road or cx bike is as good as it gets at the moment. Or maybe a timetrial bike with discs and 30mm tyres 8)

This and id love for it to happen but further to my comments above – researching a business plan for local promotion of these threw up a few issues from the public. 1. being lack of thought out segreated cycle provision(a local issue) and 2. the weather.

Intrastructure is an issue obviously, but weather is just an excuse. When I lived in Holland quite a few people used ebikes if they lived too far away, or they were knocking on a bit in years. The weather there isn’t any better than here, you just wear waterproofs.

how would you feel about a yoof riding a 30mph limited moped along the towpaths you use?

Happens in Holland where mopeds are allowed to use bike paths, the cycle paths are a bit better though!

Happens in Holland where mopeds are allowed to use bike paths, the cycle paths are a bit better though!

see my post above about the rules on dutch cycle paths….and out side of amsterdam you try breaking them rules…. the dutch have no scruples about buzzing you or shouting loudly things in dutch at you as they approach.