Just after a bit of advice A Elderly (ish) gent i know is looking into treating himself to an electric (ideally powered over assisted) bike so he can make it into town since they have cut the bus service big time locally ……..

totally out my depth on this one any help or advice appreciated he is a True Yorkshire man so wont want to pay the earth a range of 10 miles should do him between charges………

Thanks in advance

Ton to the forum, please!

Giant and Trek make excellent examples of exactly what he’s after here.

good electric bikes and cheap are words that deffo do not go together.

flash, i never bought it.
i went and test rode one, and to be honest it felt way too heavy, and i reckon the bumf about a 100mile range is a load of rubbish.
basically a £500 hybride with £1500 worth of battery and gubbins.

i know cheap and good dont usually fall together but he just wants something acceptable to get him to the shops and back rather than doing massive mileage he can still ride normally but its more for ease at the moment if that makes sense

I reckon a half decent hybrid and one of those kits off ebay – would work a treat!
I have a spare 250w front wheel conversion kit that it possibly for sale if you’re interested? :]

http://www.onbike.co.uk/ in Prestigne in Wales are your actual Experts.

The Emotions are brilliant, and the wee Gocycle is pretty nippy. Stuff being old. I want one now.

Range tends to be about 50 miles, but if you just keep the juice for the hills it’ll go for days.

I tested one from these guys and was very impressed with it, One of the top ofthe range ones

http://www.electriccyclecompany.co.uk/

I am pretty sure that all electric bikes sold in the uk are supposed to be pedal assist otherwise they would be classed as electric motorbikes. There are exceptions that I’ve seen, I guess the regulations are relatively slack.

As others have said the good ones are not cheap. The main thing to look for should be dealer support, manufacturer support and back up etc. The cheaper ones are basically tat and very prone to failure. Even the more expensive ones can be tempermental but you should be able to take it back to where you bought it they should be able to diagnose or fix the problem. If you buy a cheap kit off ebay or a budget job what’s going to happen when it invariably develops a fault? You’re left with a 70lb piece of sh*t that no one wants to bother trying to fix.

I am pretty sure that all electric bikes sold in the uk are supposed to be pedal assist otherwise they would be classed as electric motorbikes.

was reading this a while ago in the CTC cycle mag however in europe its legal to be electric powered upto X watts iirc due to EEC regs overruling our laws it lets them in (if i read it right some workmate chucked my pile of cycle mags when i was on holiday 👿

thanks everyone