Anyone got one? Or another e bike for there commute?

It seems they all have to have the 25km/h motor limit, which is understandable, so the increase in average speed has to come from the uphills and faster acceleration.
https://www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/road-eplus-1-2016

We are considering moving house which will make my 7 mile commute 17miles and more hilly, including frequent strong headwinds. It’s not that I don’t like thrashing myself up hills and into headwinds, I do, but I don’t want to have to resort to the 2 tonne diesel & congestion on the easy days / time pressured days (most days!). I tried the route it took about an hour, could probably find 5 mins with more effort/strength. The Road-e would make 40min possible?

To make 40minutes, You would need to figure out where on your run you dip below 16mph such that the bike would assist you, which isnt really going to be a lot since to get 17mile commute in an hour you are already averaging above the assist speed so to speak.

I can see a real potential for me personally if i could have a bike that maintained 16mph such that i could guarantee a set journey time, esp on the way home.

You need a motorbike to make that much time up! The ebike will just make it easier

Depends on how hilly it is. Imagine it was one big hill. 15mph up using assist, 25 mph downhill pedalling

That gets you to 20mph average

Chip it

Depends on how hilly it is. Imagine it was one big hill. 15mph up using assist, 25 mph downhill pedalling

That gets you to 20mph average

Not sure it does.

Take a 20 mile journey – 10 miles uphill 10 miles downhill. 20mph average is 1 hour.

15mph uphill takes 40mins. So the downhill needs to be done in 20mins. 10miles in 20m is 30mph.

So 15mph uphill and 30mph downhill for a 20mph average.

having ridden a few ebikes, if i were to get one for commuting i’d just get a comfortable sit up and beg type thing. above the cut off point, they feel like you’re pushing through a lot of treacle, so i’d rather just find a bike that was comfortble to ride and just accept sitting at 15.5mph unless you’re rolling downhill.

at the very least I’d try one out before buying, on the road. i find them pretty frustrating.

if that makes sense?

if i were to get one for commuting i’d just get a comfortable sit up and beg type thing.

Agreed, that thing in the op’s post looks a shocker. E bikes on the road above 15mph are just heavy bikes – the E bit is all about getting you shoved along at 15mph with minimum of bother. Drop bars below 15mph is a bit of waste of time & an ebike above is too.

Saw one of these at my LBS this week.

Yes it looks like a monstrosity. And yes I do want a go on one.

I’ve been thinking along similar lines, I have a 25 mile each way hilly commute. I average 14 – 18mph depending on time of year, fitness and weather. So I’d want an ebike to be at least as fast as 18mph average really, and that’s not going to happen with a 15mph cut-out.

If I do go electric it will most likely be with a 500w front wheel kit on an old MTB, like this one: http://www.electricbikeconversions.co.uk/product/500w-front-wheel-electric-bike-conversion-kit/

Should be a laugh!

we have one for demo and i gave it a try, fupping awesome….we have a ‘special button’ to make it go faster too! 😉

because making them break the law is really gonna help cycling in general in this country… 😐

Who said anything about breaking the law? No one would do such a thing, going over 15mph is only safe and responsible off road

So I’d want an ebike to be at least as fast as 18mph average really, and that’s not going to happen with a 15mph cut-out.

Yes it does. When commuting on an ebike 15mph is not your average speed, it’s your minimum speed. The more hills, the higher the average as your uphill speed doesn’t drop below 15mph (unless the hills are very steep), but your downhills are significantly faster – especially as the bike is heavy.

My commute is a hilly 40 mile round trip. On a proper bike I average 14mph, on the ebike it’s 21mph. If I take the flat scary route, proper bike is 17mph, ebike is 16mph. Unless there is a strong headwind of course.

Hmmm, I want one even more now!

er, the ‘magic button’ comment… that’s breaking the law when used on roads or publicly accessible land. i don’t know the law on conversions (although I’d be surprised if a throttle based one is legally still a bicycle), but chipped e-bikes do break the law.

Yes OK, they do break the law if used on public roads etc. Still want one.

Would anyone be interested in something like a Kinesis Tripster ACE or Ridgeback Flight 04 with a BB mounted e-bike conversion? These are £800-900 bikes, flat bars nice spec. I’m doing them brand new with a Bafang 36v pedelec motor for £1350…….

……it’s not yet a business but my Dad (who’s 82 and suffered an aortic aneurysm two years ago) has bought a Giant e-bike to keep him on the road and I decided I wanted to convert his old road bike so he could still use that. I discovered that it’s possible to do & the conclusion I’ve drawn is that many people would rather have a “proper bike” with a decent conversion rather than get spanked for a full price new bike from the big brands……the bikes I’m looking at are much nicer specs than the £2k bikes knocking around and will have the same performance…..

What’s not to like??

I’d be really interested in feedback & if anyone wants one, let me know and I’ll happily build it for you.

@hungry monkey

at the very least I’d try one out before buying, on the road. i find them pretty frustrating.

Interesting to hear this, definately need to demo.

@briselbrus

My commute is a hilly 40 mile round trip. On a proper bike I average 14mph, on the ebike it’s 21mph

…so over 25kmph is deemed dangerous and your rocketing down hills probably double that!? Disc or rim brakes? I don’t think I will get to 34kmph average as looking at the profile I think only 10 minutes could be saved (7.5km of slow/up). . The effort saving appeal is still winning me over even with 45-50 minute journeys. Working in Bristol means the car would be painfully slow for the last few miles.

@velocipede

brand new with a Bafang 36v pedelec motor for £1350……

It does sound like a good solution and great price. I curently commute on something fairly similar and keeping the disc brake option open would be good. I guess the appeal of the Giant is it’s a big brand with a dealer network…I wouldn’t expect any e-bike to be 100% reliable.

@digger95 – good feedback

One thing I’ve been thinking about is offering conversions of current bikes – this is what my Dad would have preferred if it was available when he was looking – basically retrofit to your current bike & you’d get same performance as a Giant road-e but fir about £800 instead of £2k+……

Mine is disc braked – a Carrera Crossfire E which handles remarkably nicely. I worked for Halfords at the time and got it on C2W plus staff discount so paid around £500 in total.

BTW I use metric as well usually, but as the rest of the thread was in MPH I thought I’d stick with it!

No one would do such a thing, going over 15mph is only safe and responsible off road

No more legal offroad, unless its your land

I looked into an eBike for a similar 15 mile each way commute.
I bought a Vespa instead.

Curve ball velocipede – would a conversion be compatible with a power meter, e.g. a crank based one?
It would offer the perfect data overload for lazy atheletes – how much I am putting in next to the screen showing the motor input!

I’ve got a Claud butler explorer 600 (hybrid 29er) c2013 – any issues converting it?

Just remeber that if caught on a bike capible of doing more than 15.5mph your now riding an unlicenced/in registerwd motorcycle.

Up to you if you want to risk the associated penalties.

Also my bafang doesn’t feel like treacle at over 15.5mph just feels like a heavy bike.
Hub motors sure do suck like the above treacle pedaling.

This is what you need:

http://www.realclassic.co.uk/garelli_tiger_cross.html