Had an ebike 6 years and I’m the lightest and fittest I’ve been in years, the extra speed for effort is a great reward and encourages me to put more effort in. If I wasn’t getting speed as my reward I wouldn’t bother as I’ve no interest in grinding up hills slowly. I’m lighter and as fit as many people I know on normal bikes. Who gives a shit what others think. The only ones that have issues are miserable old cyclists who have spent years being miserable grinding up hills and expect everyone to have to do the same. Sod that gimme speed as my reward for effort 😃

Had a few at work from new to 150k miles. Auto gearboxes are great and have had no real issues with any. Like any vehicle once they get to 10 years old how they have been and are being looked after means more than the make of vehicle. The 2.2 engine is in every Merc going and looked after do 300k miles no problem.

Tbh having added to my carbon footprint by going to the USA for 2 weeks it’s utterly irrelevant what we do in this country, the USA will be the country that goes down in history as destroying the earth as we know it. China comes close but only because it produces loads of shit for the USA. Anything we do in this tiny country makes no difference, speed buy a V8 enjoy your fuel 👍

Any stats showing accidents above 70mph ? Crap driving is the biggest problem we have not speed but that would take too much solving. Driving should be a privilege not a right and should have regular retests. Speed on its own just isn’t the issue people seem to think it is,

If it doesn’t need pedalling it’s an e-motorbike but of course that isn’t good enough to get cyclists frothing so let’s call them e-bikes. We all know a derestricted e-bike still needs the rider to pedal and is much more dangerous at 20mph than a non e-bike doing 20mph 🙄

Riding with normal bikes on an ebike is slow and boring on anything other than downhill where it’s all about the rider. I like the hardest climbs in the peaks and they are a real challenge and a proper workout on an ebike, as we have a motor we may as well use it to tackle stuff we can’t do on a normal bike. Each to their own some people like to use them so they can just have a ride and not worry about their fitness. It’s all money coming into the industry which has to be a good thing.

It’s not hard to find the owners on FB I wonder if the mtb’r has reported them yet ?

A battery powered heated vest works well, can charge the battery(s)from solar during the day so purchase price aside it’s free to run and can be used on the bike too

One bit of advice not to be ignored, do not put any mtb stickers on it anywhere as you will only be advertising what’s in it, Thieves may look anyway but will def look if there’s a sticker telling them what may be inside. Also fit deadlocks and when you park up strap the sliding door shut so it can’t be folded down and then reverse up to something if possible. It’s all you can do even if taking the bikes out into a hotel room :)

Yup enjoyed that, mostly 😃

Had the 250 rally, great for winter trips round the peaks lanes

Loads of new EV take the 22kw charge so it’s a worthwhile fast charger to have at work. We’re installing loads at public destinations too. If the EV is an older one or cheaper one that doesn’t have the onboard 22kw it’ll revert to a 7kw charge anyway. All the 22kw we install can drip to 11 or 7 depending what the car can take. 50Kw+ DC are great if you need a real quick charge but most destination chargers are 22kw, a decent commercial 22kw unit can be installed for £5k ish whereas a DC unit starts at £50k.

Simply put yes, I own a company that installs commercial chargers (400 last year)from 85kw DC down. Lots of places finance them based on what they can charge. But most places have a reason for people to be there so if you have that you will get people using them. Bearing in mind the DC units start at £25k plus install plus DNO plus Groundworks it gets expensive. I’d say go for a dual 22kw from an existing supply if possible as that could be done for under £10k.

The cost of electric is having an affect too with some places charging £1/kw, that’s 30p a mile in electric. With a 22kw charge you may get away with 60-70p and if popular you’d be surprised how quick it would pay for itself or cover the finance plus some profit.

House bashing sparks, usually boil in the bag with no proper apprenticeship. There’s the odd good one but loads that have done a 2 week course after they saw a leaflet in b and q and anyone can do it it’s so easy. Soon get found out if they go near a good commercial company but luckily most don’t

Yup, recently bought an XL H30 and I love it, only done 50 miles and the appearance of an old injury means I’m done riding it 😞 Gutted so it’s going up for sale.

Wanted a small car for the 10k miles a year I do. Went to look at the VW ID3, interior reminded me of my daughters barbie car albeit in a cheaper plastic 🤣 ignoring that with a small deposit of £3k they wanted £400 a month. Add electric for that which can be anywhere from 7p/kWh at home on an eco deal or 80p/kWh on the road it came to around £450 lease and fuel. I opted for a polo gti whoch so far is averaging 43mpg on petrol and is costing £380 a month for the lease and fuel. It’s also a nicer place to be and much more fun to drive with no range issues, admittedly it’s a year old not a new car but I couldn’t make the figures work. I get an allowance from work (commercial EV installers🤣) and it covers the costs fine. If I didn’t get the allowance I’d be in a ten year old car or just use my Nissan Elgrand.

2002 Nissan Elgrand, bought 7 years ago when my £35k new transporter went back to the dealer for a 7th time. Paid £5k and I still have it and reckon it’s still £5k. Now 20 years old and 130k miles and still used regularly as a family/mtb/motorbike bus 😃

Love it, £100 for cable for a rewire and £75 for an EICR. Maybe in the 1970’s 🤣
A good EICR that’s worth more than the paper it’s on is at least £200 on an average 3 bedroom house. Any less which you can find easy and it’s a box ticking exercise full of limitations that could be torn apart by anyone qualified and experienced.

As for the green goo get it out now while it’s cheaper to do.

The fire was outside Sherwood pines, more near the golf course for those that know the area

Currently 400k + cars for sale on autotrader, why not buy one of them ? I don’t get why anyone would wait more than a day or two but then again I like cars but not enough to wait for one.

I’ve been a sparky since I qualified at 21 and I’m now 53 and own a company that installs EV chargers for the commercial world.
So to start from scratch It’s possible and you may find plenty of work in the domestic market where tbh the electrics aren’t too complicated and you can prob get by with a short course. You will also have to work for the public which on the whole is crap. The public moan about tradesman but the majority get the tradesman they deserve, from the I can buy the stuff from BandQ cheaper to how much for cash ? etc etc. If you want to be a proper electrician on the commercial and industrial side it’ll take a bit longer and it can be quite physical once you start dealing with SWA cables, trunking, tray, panels etc etc. Getting into the commercial industrial side is harder without a proper apprenticeship too as companies won’t look at those with a short course behind them.

If you think you can handle working for the public and I don’t know why you would it can be a nice living driving round in your van.

Seen a few in Sherwood pines and on the roads locally. Usually wearing hoodies and balaclavas. Just like electric scooters they are used by people on lookout and selling drugs. I wouldn’t be trying to fetch them off with a stick in their spokes tbh as you may get involved in something the average person doesn’t need to be involved in.

As for chipped ebikes how do you know and does a chip give them more power than 250w and a throttle ? 🤔

Had three all bought nearly new and the first two kept 2-3 years. 06 and 09 T5 were both fine. The 2014 180DSG had 7 visits to dealers in the first year, leaky windows, gearbox, injectors, drive shafts and other stuff. It was never right and I’ve never gone back to VW since. I’d hate to risk that van now it’s 8 years old. An elgrand replaced the 2014 one at a cost of £5k, the T5.1 was sold for £25k. Elgrand is still here 7 years later with nothing more than normal servicing. Had that 2014 one been ok I’d have carried on changing every 2-3 years at a cost of £10k+. As it is my elgrand is still worth £5k.

In answer to the question it’s a lottery, an expensive lottery and one I wouldn’t play when there’s better options. It’s not like the VW drives better than other vans, the only thing it does better is impress other middle aged men in animal t-shirts 🤣

I’m on my 4th ebike in 5 years, each one has done 2500 miles ish. All but one have had bosch motors and been 100% reliable. The one that wasn’t bosch was Specialized and had 2 motors in two months before being rejected and back to a bosch.
I’d always say regardless of motor but from a local dealer so you have a place to go if it does go wrong. A lot of issues are with people jet washing them as they aren’t IP rated for that. Always hand wash and that’s one issue removed.

I currently have a trek rail 5 and they are under £5k new and perfect for trail centres. Tbh I also still have a Spesh HT and that also works very well at any trail centre and they are £3k new.

I’ve owned my elgrand for 7 years and every mtb I’ve owned goes in upright with wheels on, not quite an estate car though 🤣

People who think buying an electric car is saving the environment, people who do anything on this tiny irrelevant island thinking they are saving the environment. It’s demoralising looking at the world and realising we’re **** anyway 👍

I’ve got a bosch Trek FS as my main bike but for commuting I’ve got a turbo Levo HT. One of the cheapest HT bikes and slightly less power than the bosch but due to being lighter and on faster rolling tyres it’s just as quick. Standard forks are rubbish and I swapped mine out but I’d recommend it.

I own a company that installs 5-600 charge points a year and I’m one of the principal designers. We don’t touch domestic but they use the same regs. The earth for the oil tank is a bond back to the main earth of the supply. It should be in anyway. The bonding has to be in place to install an EV charger, the majority of UK systems are TNCS and a car charger cannot be conceited directly to this without some other protective device. The risk is if the local transformer loses a neutral that the whole electrical load of that area could in theory go through the metal bodywork of your car and when you touch it you get the whole lot through your body to earth which wouldn’t end well. The reality is with a lost neutral it would be found out before this but still we have to design for it. It isn’t an issue in other countries that don’t use our method of earthing.
The other option is to put the charger on its own earth rod and not connect to the main earth, this is fine so long as you can’t touch the two earth systems together….people do hoover their electric cars out while plugged in which could mix the two earth systems, the other option is to use a relatively new unit called an open neutral detection device. These simplify matters but cost around £140.
The paperwork for the grant is around 40 pages of govt bollox. A charger could cost £300 plus £140-£200 for materials. Then an hour or two for certification and grant claim. Good sparkies are paid £200-£350 a day. One charger job with an open neutral or an earth rod could take 3-6 hours plus travel if easy. It’s a days work minimum done properly so not far off a £1000 job. Add in dealing with the public and it’s not worthwhile for companies like us who are commercial installers, you end up with companies like podpoint paying installers £100 a job and that’s why you get crap work and service.
I’ve been in the industry years and wouldn’t know who to recommend for a domestic job so feel your pain.

Doing the figures for an EV. Home charging is ok but I’ll have to charge out on the road a fair bit. I’m seeing 30-80p per kw. That works out at over twice the cost per mile compared to my current 55mpg diesel. The lease on the EV is already £200 more so it’s gonna cost an awful lot more to run, I’m also reading rumours of cost per mile for road fund licence so add that in and the days of cheap motoring are long gone, are EV users just accepting this is how it’s going to be ?

Can I just vote against IAM and to some extent the Keith code stuff, they are everything I don’t want from my motorcycling. But I know some people like to have a set of instructions to follow and it may help some less than natural riders or new riders etc. But nah it’s not for me despite owning a GS 🤣

Of the things you list a few hours on track or road with an experienced rider going over the basics would put you on the way. It’s finding that person or instructor. For the track side it’s easy head over to weeksys forum there’s a lot of us there with a lot of track and race experience and even if we’re not as quick as we were we still know how to. A Trackday in that respect is a fun social event too. I spent a session helping weeksy back in 03 and in 20 mins we’d took a good few seconds off his lap times.
Personally I’m not one for ride by numbers so picking the right method and instructor is paramount.

I’ve had 160+ bikes and in recent years I’ve moved to adventure bikes as the knees have got worse. Currently an 1150GS as I don’t ride much but wanted a cheap bike. But prior 1090adv, s1000xr, tenere700, f800gs, Africa twin and a few more. All great, Africa twin best off road XR best in race track. The 1050 strom though does look good value and would be on my shortlist. However the 1090adv was a very good bike and well worth a look.

Our elgrand is also used as a day van/camper with removable kitchen pod, fridge tables etc. Can fit all this in along with 3 mtb when needed. Rear seats come out with 3 bolts in 5 mins, ours are out permanently

Yes you can carry motorbikes in the elgrand, middle row middle seat out. Rear seats out or folded up. I’ve had in the back individually, 990 superduke, zx10r, ZX6R, MT07 and many more. I use a sheet of mdf on the floor with a wheel chock in. I’ll find photos 👍

Another elgrand here, had my ‘03 for 7 years. Originally bought for £5k replacing a nearly new £37k T5.1 that had 7 warranty claims in a year. Didn’t intend to keep the elgrand but here we are 7 years on and apart from another elgrand there’s nothing close for the same type of vehicle, we’ll not,this side of a £35k V class.
Fuel has averaged 23mpg, normal servicing and several sets of suspension bushes. It’s been a superb car for mtb and motorbike carrying and as a day van and occasional over nighter.

The bike is my commuting bike, standard apart from 140mm Judy forks and tubeless’d.
It went well for a basic HT, good fun fast day out regardless of the bikes 👍

Most motors are IP54 (the second number is the water rating 4 being Protected against water splashed from all directions, limited ingress permitted.)

which is only water splashed and not direct jets of water. This is sufficient for riding but they can’t withstand a jet wash, to do that they would have to be IP-5 or 6.
I’ve had an ebike for 4 years and a jet wash or a hose goes nowhere near it, hand wash every time and I’ve had no issues. Watching people jet wash theirs and it becomes a lottery whether they will have trouble.

We’ve installed over 500 commercial charge points this year and a lot are 22kw, more newer cars are now accepting 11 and 22kw charge where a year or so ago it was 7kw or DC.
A new DNO connection would cost £5k to £20k. With that you could add 4-6 dual outlet posts on load share giving 8-12 charging spaces. Cost around £3k per space so the whole job would be around £50k. They’d be setup on a back office system and you’d pay by card or app. But who would own it ? Who owns the building and the land round it ? It’s possible but a few complications to overcome.

A HT ebike on full setting will do what you want. I use a specialized turbo levo HT for a similar journey occasionally. If you ran a euro spec one you could sit at 20mph and easily do it in 45mins. If you run a UK one they run out of assist at 15.5mph so you’d be a little over 45 mins. You’ll always have to put effort in but on fast rolling tyres and full assist you won’t arrive sweaty. Same as any bike you can out in as much or as little effort as you need. You can get a good HT for £2500. Ignoring the legal side you can set the turbo levo HT to euro spec 20mph limit for assist or no limit for assist easily with an app.