Hi all

Looking for some advice around commuting on an electric bike, any help appreciated…

My commute is 24 miles each way and during the summer I ride it once a week averaging about 20 mph – considering traffic in the car (going into Bristol), this is only 15 minutes slower than a good run car journey. But, gotta be feeling good to maintain that speed, not sure I could do it everyday, all-weather etc. etc.

Anyway, just had a kid, so no wife with me on commute means it’s a little less cost-effective to do some of it in car. Do you think there’s a solution to this in the shape of an electric bike?

I’m still looking to do some of the work myself, but if I can use an electric motor to keep me averaging 20mph even when not feeling my fittest, that’s a goer. I know in the UK 15mph is legal limit for electric assistance, so does that immediately rule this out? Do the engines automatically cut at this point or is it ‘user discretion’? My average on the up hills on commute is above 15mph so if this is the case it’s not much use at all.

Any help or shared experience really appreciated

Nick

Cuts out at 15mph leaving a very heavy battery equipped bike. Different in Europe though, so you may be able to sort something.

48 miles is a long way too, I suspect most will run out of charge.

Specialized Turbo… or something similar, probably need to source it from Europe or the US.

Not that I could condone doing so, but I understand it’s often relatively simple to bypass the 15mph restriction…

On many of the inverters i believe it is simply a jumper switch or link on the pcb…………..

Thanks for the ideas. The Specialized Turbo looks awesome.

I’m not averse to having a little play with the internals, but a) some sites suggest you won’t get much more out of them anyway, and b) would want to know it’s definitely possible before parting with my hard-earned cash!

Anyone got any experience of doing this and getting a decent speed?

My landlord bought a leccy bike, unplugged one simple lead and according to my Garmin it does 24mph. I can’t comment on range as he only uses it to go to the pub 3 miles away and keep his license.
I see Shimano are working on an integrated e-bike group set.

I have demo’d WCA’s electric bike .
On Twist and go they are fairly spritely but are limited to the aforementioned 15mph .
Switch them to ‘pedal assist’ mode and they are proper quick . Its like you put the same effort as you would on a road bike to go along at say 16mph ( flat road ) but you are doing over 20mph, all too easily.
On his it was easy to see how you could have a massive crash as they are fairly heavy . I would want a very good helmet and gloves as a minimum.
Didint ride it very far so no idea of the milage in pedal assist , but the beauty is the speed up hill is awesome. Faster than a fat bloke on a moped.

Book marked out of intrest

On my potential commute just being able to do 15mph up hill be a huge benefit

I’ve built bikes that do 35mph – it all depends on the system, some just won’t go faster, some can be tweaked. The trade off is you usually lose low-end torque.

So definitely do-able as long as you are aware of the legal implications…