Best e-bike to replace car. Lost my licence!

Re: the above comments about ‘full-fat’ motors. Does that mean >250W (off road use only)? If so, that would constitute an uninsured etc motorbike so not a good idea – particularly in these circumstances. If ‘full-fat’ means something else, though, feel free to ignore me…

“Full-fat” I take to mean legal so ~250w continuous but peaks at ~5-600 with 70+nm of torque.

Full fat refers to a 250w average legal motor (peak power can be easily 600w or more), anything >250W (average) is an e-motorbike, no ones recommending them, as per the OP’s own comment re: surrons, it would indeed be illegal. When referring to legal e-bikes it’s FF vs SL (superlight), though the SL ones are hardly that much lighter

The Specialized Turbo Tero looks like another good shout. If bought new with a transferable warranty then hopefully I can shift it on at the end of this year without too much loss. Seems that my budget needs to be somewhere 2.5k to get one. I will either need to free up some funds from elsewhere or get a wee loan to cover it but can probably make that work.

Any chance of convincing your boss to put it through a cycle to work scheme?

I prefer bosch motors for their greater repairability tho buying new that may be less of a consideration.

Any chance of convincing your boss to put it through a cycle to work scheme?

He wouldn’t be able to sell it on in six months if he did as it wouldn’t belong to him.

He wouldn’t be able to sell it on in six months if he did as it wouldn’t belong to him.

No, but he’d probably save a comparable amount to what he could sell it for anyway (the 2nd hand market is dreadful for sellers at the moment).

Save ~30%, not have to find £2.5k upfront, option to continue riding to work and save even more money if he keeps up with it after 6 months (assuming that insurance is going to be crippling at that point on top of the ~£80/month he’s saving in fuel).

That and we’re into “who’s checking” territory.  Have you seen the number of hardly used bromptons for sale that I’d hypothesize the owners don’t technically “own” yet?

I prefer bosch motors for their greater repairability tho buying new that may be less of a consideration.

Brose are just if not more repairable, it’s just those POS shimano  (whose bearing can be changed, but usually die to electrical issues) that aren’t. Yamaha are supposedly the most reliable overall but I’m not sure what parts you can get to rebuild them. Don’t be fooled into buy a Yamaha powered giant, as Giant ‘mess’ with the yamaha kit, so you can’t just swap in  yamaha parts & have to pay over inflated prices for parts.

not sure re the full fat comments?

I’ve never found my Fazua motored bike to be lacking up any hills I’ve taken it on

what i will say though is, the most tiring part of an e commuter bike is if you are likely to be pedalling beyond the limiter, if so, a good drop bar bike is quicker and easier to pedal

But, if you just sit on the motor, an e bike is pretty nice when its crappy weather  etc just to chuck suitable kit on and pedal through

It was only the older Bosch motors that were repairable. Newer ones are similar to Shimano (according to that ebike repair place).

In any case, commuter bikes tend to be much more reliable that emtbs. I’d have no issue buying 2nd hand (at a good discount). In fact, thats what I did, a 2nd hand “full fat” Bosch Performance Line touring / trekking bike, with ‘guards and lights. Knocked 30 minutes off my 90 minute commute home (commute in was the same as it’s mostly downhill and over the cut off).

I’ve never found my Fazua motored bike to be lacking up any hills I’ve taken it on

Same here, mine is on a commuter bike and it’s more than adequate for on-road use. I’m sure it’s different if you want to go full tilt up steep off-road hills but the difference is irrelevant otherwise. I don’t use the most powerful mode on mine as it gets up to the speed limit uncomfortably quickly anyway.

I like that you can just take the motor and battery out easily so if you did have any problems it should be easy to sort out. I don’t like that you’ve got to remove the motor and battery even to charge it, although I don’t think you do on newer ones.

I had the exact same situation 3 years ago. Lost licence, 15 miles/900ft each way commute. I went for a Canyon Endurace-On with a Fazua (the boardman was out of stock at the time). Being a road bike it was pretty easy to ride just above the limiter on the flat. If i had it on boost all the time it would just make it both ways on 1 charge (i was 95 kg at the time).  When I got mi licence back i gave it to my dad.

What did surprise me was that it really wasn’t any quicker than a normal road bike, the extra speed on the climbs was cancelled out by the extra bit of effort on the flats if i tried to get up into the 20 mph zone. Although probably less fatiguing over the course of a week.

My car replacement was an Orbea Kemen SUV. Shop bought, discounts readily available

It’s based on a hardtail MTB but it’s more like a very robust flat bar gravel bike. Solid 25kg rated rear rack, decent mudguards, decent 100m fork. Put some faster tyres on it and it easy to ride over the motor limit on the flat.

I can get over 70km range / over a 1000m of climbing from the 540wh battery

I bought a spa flat bar tourer for c1k, racks and guards.  Swapped bars to on one geofs, 35c marathon gts.  I m doing 100 miles a week with ease, commute, tip run, shops.

Also got a burley cargo trailer.

So 1300 gbp in v 3.5k for a surly big dummy.

Rarely use the car.

It was only the older Bosch motors that were repairable. Newer ones are similar to Shimano (according to that ebike repair place).

Really? That’s a massive own goal if that’s the case. Got a link or something to substantiate that?

I’ve just had one die after 4 months use and it was and it was a full new motor replacement by Bosch.  Whether it would have been repairable by an indy… who knows.

that Whyte looks like it would serve my needs well. Is the Bosch motor significantly superior to the Specialized one?

85Nm vs 35Nm…

For many applications, the 35Nm max torque of the Spesh’s Mahle SL motor would be fine. Probably not so much if commuting in a hurry with panniers loaded up.

Mahle motor is rather noisy too.

There are situations where I’d be happy to recommend the 35Nm SL Mahle motor, but this wouldn’t be one of them… As others have said, a full fat Bosch motor really is the way to go here. Not least because of the torque, but also the reliability (if it’s in the shop being fixed, you can’t get to work!) and the ease of getting it serviced/fixed (way more Bosch accredited shops out there than Mahle/Spesh)…

For £2.5k that Whyte looks bloody good value to me!

Really? That’s a massive own goal if that’s the case. Got a link or something to substantiate that?

@oceanskipper. Re: Bosch Motor.

No link, but I saw it mentioned on the EMTB forum. Don’t quote me, but he suggested that it was a lot harder to fix because the electronics were wrapped around the stator. Taking it apart can trash it, so be careful was the advise.

How important is battery range? 12 miles shouldn’t be a problem on a single charge for most e-bikes, but if you have hills or want extra peace of mind, a larger battery might be worth it.