Although not for mountain biking, the Mrs is after an e-bike and I'm struggling to find one that will fit her budget. She does horse eventing, which involves a lot of walking the cross country course etc, so wants an e-bike to save her energy for the actual horse riding rather than use it up with lots of walking.
We've had a look at what's out there and I've seen a few hardtails from Ghost / Cube at just under £2k. On her own and to my horror she's found this monstrosity:
http://www.proriderleisure.com/Leisure/electric-bikes/e-voyager-electric-mountain-bike-black.html
I can't allow her to buy this for obvious reasons. Can anyone think of a half decent (new) e-bike for £1k or under that might be suitable?
Thank you
Don't bother, the cube at £1700 is the cheapest thing you will get that actually works. Even that is good bosch stuff bolted to a £500 hardtail.
I've seen people pay £1000+ for something that is basically a £200 ebay kit slapped on a £200 bike, they are shocking beyond belief and I doubt there would be any sort of real backup if it did fail/explode.
£1850, but with the Yamaha power unit, which isn't as good as the Bosch, IMO.
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The Bosch version is much, much better.
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But much, much more expensive.
Cheap e-bikes are utterly horrid. That monstrosity you linked to should be illegal. Just awful. There's an old chap in the village who has one almost exactly like it and he's asked me, as someone who knows bikes, to "Just have a look at it....doesn't seem right....Sure you can fix it" sort of thing. I've told him to bin it. It's that bad.
£1k buys pretty crappy ebikes IME. As a minimum go for one from a major manufacturer. Giant, Trek etc
If I was buying one it would have the Bosch motor in it. I'd be looking to a specialist ebike manufacturer like Haibike or Kalkhoff. I was riding a Haibike yesterday actually, a very refined and easy ride, they just glide along.
Also I'd go to a big main dealer or ebike specialist like 50 Cycles.
Why? You need someone that can back the product up correctly, and knows how it works
Avoid, at all costs, ALL and ANY cheap internet bought ebikes. Trust me. Just don't.
Yeah. What Flashy said. Spot on. I've serviced bikes like the one in your link. They are absolute shit.
Great minds, PP, great minds!
I've had extensive playtime on the Bosch one I pictured above. It was a good bike, a very good bike. One which just happened to also be an eBike. Oddly, the extra weight helped at speed as it was so low down, great centre of gravity. Haibike have really worked out the whole eBike thing better than many. They're very good indeed.
[url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/All-Terrain-Fat-Tire-eBike-Black-Frame-Yellow-Rims-/171968375658?hash=item280a1d2b6a:g:xsIAAOSwo6lWHhh3 ]Vroom vroom![/url]
Its heavy, but cheap. They are going for around £700.
Someone was selling this on here yesterday.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/haibike-hard-nine-rc
Halfords do a carrera ebike and its not too shabby.
Get her this! 😉
There is a kit that can be fitted into a seat tube with a bevel gear in the bb driving the crank, it can be fitted to a normal mtb as long as the seat tube is the right diameter....
It's for assist rather than full on drive... Brother in law has one....
Google will pull it up
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Might as well be as lazy as possible.
My wife's an Eventer...your gf must be reasonably fit already to get round on the horse. If she runs out of energy is it down to nerves and not eating enough or eating the right stuff? As you know it's a long day with the early start and three disciplines to get through... Lucky if I can get my wife to have half a mug of tea sometimes!
A fan of the ebike concept - but only reasonable ones.
You might be asking for the impossible. I would imagine the walk bike/route is following the cross country course quite closely and whilst not mtbing it will be across soft fields and a bit of rough ground. Most of the cheap(er) half reasonable ebikes are basically cheap hybrids. I'm not sure a hybrid would be my first choice for riding cross a soft field, electric motor or not.
Why not a normal mountain bike? Compared to walking that's still quite an energy and time saving. Maybe even a fat bike to help over soft fields.
Thanks very much everyone,
CaptainFlasheart/PP - you've sort of confirmed what I was fearing that spending £650 new isn't enough.
Rick - that kit sounds worth a look I'll have a Google.
Spooky - You're right they do need to be fit. I maybe exaggerated. I think it's partly down to time. You need to go back and forth to get your numbers, then walk the course which can take a while, so it's partly to save time.
Found the exact one
http://www.vivax-assist.com/en/unternehmen/
UK debater as well. Shelpton mallet....
Wife often gets straight out to walk the course whilst I park up, get the numbers and start sorting the horse out and that saves half an hour. Seems like we need to aim to arrive 2 hours early to have any chance of not running late though...5am isn't unusual.
Won't be happening for a while as the stupid thing jumped out the field yesterday through barbed wire so its at the vets for the rest of the week and a leg covered in stitches...just got it fit after the last incident!
Australian co' with a UK presence
[url] http://dillengerelectricbikes.co.uk/electric-bikes.html [/url]
reckon the unrestricted £1500 fatbike will do the job
don't know anything about them - was thinking about an electric folder for mrs antigee's erratic commute and one of the few budget co's that actually have full technical specs/weights on the site
Not sure where you are OP but if you're in the Midlands head to Race Co in Stourbridge and have a chat with Paul, they have a good selection of Haibike and Cub and will normally do a deal with you.