Our new electric bikes have arrived! (1 Viewer)

[Minxy]

After ordering our new Pro Rider E-Wayfarer electric bikes last Thursday they arrived today and what lovely bikes they are! :thumb:

Below is where we got them from:

http://www.proridermobility.com/detail.asp?productID=334

We haven't ridden them yet as by the time we'd done our running around today it was getting on a bit so we'll have a go tomorrow once the batteries are fully charged, however so far we are very, very pleased with them as they are even better than we expected. We've had a sit on them and found them very good as the seating position feels more like a standard type bike, due in no small part to the longer frame size and height adjustable handle bar, therefore they are not as 'hunched-up' as a lot of folders ... I can see that we'll definitely be able to ride further/for longer as they should be very comfortable. The red one is a very nice shade and the silver one that we thought would be a bit 'bland' and therefore didn't order originally* isn't actually painted but very highly burnished and looks extremely 'posh', certainly looking much more expensive than it was (see below for an explanation of how we ended up with it!).

In addition to other things, they have:

• Height adjustable handle bar post - most folding bikes have fixed ones
• The handle bar itself can be twisted to give the most comfortable position for the controls etc - again a lot are fixed
• Front fork suspension (adjustable)
• Rear seat post suspension (adjustable) - this means the seat doesn't 'tip' so you have to remove the seat/post to take the battery out which is easy anyway, but I'd rather this than have a harsh ride!
• Large rear carrier (carries 25kg!) with spring clamp and side bars so that if used with panniers they won't flap into the wheels
• Stand with positive locking clip to prevent it being accidentally 'tapped' out of position
• Rear servo disc brake
• Folding pedals (not all folding bikes have these believe it or not)
• Extremely bright front/rear LED lights
• 36v 10amp battery
• 250w motor

So how did we end up with a silver one? Well when hubby opened the parcels this afternoon he found that we had 1 red and 1 silver instead of 2 red ones! Having been a buyer/storeman in a previous life and quite used to getting wrong stuff sent by suppliers due to 'human error', he double checked it if was a picking error (ie wrong item picked by the warehouse staff to be sent out), a labelling error (ie wrong label on the box), or if they'd made a mistake and put us down for one of each. It turned out to be a labelling error as both boxes said they were 'red' ones, so someone in China must've stuck the wrong one on! He was disappointed though as I'd laid claim to the red one and he wanted a red one too so he rang the company and told them and whilst they were more than happy to exchange it, if we wanted to keep it instead they offered to give us a £20 discount (the cost or picking up the silver one and sending out a red one), or a 6 month warranty extension on one bike, or a 3 month warranty extension on both (just the bike(s) though, not battery), so after a quick chat we went for the last option, so we're covered by warranty until the end of June 2015. :thumb:

 

[rosalan]

Enjoy your new bikes. We have different bikes to you but get so much pleasure from them. My wife has a bad hip and finds walking painful but the bikes have given her the freedom to travel easily around towns and countryside. If you get half as much pleasure as we have had, you are in for a very good time indeed.

Alan

 

[jhorsf]

Have you a bag or something to put them in Mel ? where are you going to store them in your van? I tried on similar a little while ago but it did not have the throttle only mode your has, yours does look a good spec as the assist is variable as well .Please when you have both used them do a report on here as to what you think :thumb:

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[Minxy]

Have you a bag or something to put them in Mel ? where are you going to store them in your van? I tried on similar a little while ago but it did not have the throttle only mode your has, yours does look a good spec as the assist is variable as well .Please when you have both used them do a report on here as to what you think :thumb:

Yes, we have some nice strong black bags which we bought previously for our existing 'normal' folding bikes - they are actually some which we picked up at a show for £10 each I think, meant to put large folding camping chair in.

They'll normally be stored in our van under the rear bed on their sides, one in front of the other, which is where our existing ones go (see picture below). We'll just need to remove the seat to make them fit which is what we do now, and also means that the seat won't get squished as we put them in anyway.

 

[mikebeaches]

Thanks for all the info Mel, and glad you like your new machines.

Electric bikes have been on my radar for a while, and I'm always looking for ones that have the lightest weight (battery removed) for lugging around - into or on the van, and likewise the car.

I spotted the said company some time ago and thought they sounded good. They also happen to be based fairly close to where my sister-in-law lives, and whom we visit from time to time.

Do let us know how you get on when you have given them a test ride. :thumb:

Mike

 

[hilldweller]

• Stand with positive locking clip to prevent it being accidentally 'tapped' out of position

After forgetting to flip it up and nearly being throw off first corner I took the angle grinder to ours. Better a bike falling over than you falling over.

Enjoy.

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[Puddleduck]

They look like the bees' bendybits.

We were looking at the electric scooters at the Harrogate show - very tempting and not just for motorhoming.

 

[Jaws]

Ummmmmm.. Where is the servo you mention and how on earth does it operate ??

If its electrical it must have a heavy drain on the battery and as there is nothing on a cycle that creates a vacuum I cannot understand this at all ....

I feel a purchase coming on just so I can return it as not as advertised

 

[Minxy]

Ummmmmm.. Where is the servo you mention and how on earth does it operate ??

If its electrical it must have a heavy drain on the battery and as there is nothing on a cycle that creates a vacuum I cannot understand this at all ....

I feel a purchase coming on just so I can return it as not as advertised

Dunno, but they work! There aren't any 'V' brakes on the rear, the cable goes to the centre of the wheel, I've put a cropped image below which may help you see how it works.

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[Minxy]

Before I forget I must say a BIG THANK YOU to Rex and Janet (ludo) for telling us about these bikes when we were nattering at Newark show ... "its good to talk"! :thumb: (Rex - I'll give you a ring later as I've only just come in from sorting out the workshop an am relaxing with a cuppa! )

Well, we've had a go on them this afternoon and what lovely bikes they are.

• We found that the seat angled can be adjusted to suit the riding style/comfort and can also be moved back/forth too to get the optimum position.
• As I suspected being able to have the handlebars higher than many other folders due to it's height adjustment made for a much nicer ride as I was in a better upright seating position so more relaxed.
• The power is something to behold! With a motor the equivalent of no more than 2.5 100w lightbulbs, it fair whizzes along, we've found that the lowest setting is more than sufficient for a little bit of assistant so when it comes to going uphill the higher settings should make it child's play. Even without using the power assist at all they are very easy to ride with very little resistance so when I stopped pedalling I still travelled quite a way (on the flat), much further than our old normal folding bikes.
• The tyres are a cross between mountain bike and road, so going on tracks shouldn't be an issue, and being nice and chunky the bikes feel very stable.

We'll have some more rides to get used to the power and then probably have a few forays out (weather permitting!) ... hubby would probably have kept going on his for ages if the dogs hadn't been wanting their afternoon poddle!

I'll also have to pull the camper out and see how they go in and how much I'll need to raise the bed by, probably a couple of inches, so they'll go under, but that's for another time as my workshop still looks like a bomb has hit it so that needs sorting out first!

 

[Minxy]

Aaaaarrrrrghhhhhhhh .... oh woe is me!!!!

As someone on another forum (yes, I am 'ambidexforumous'! ) had questioned the weight of the bikes the other day, I got the scales out and weighed one without the battery or seat and it came out at 19.8kg! I initially didn't realise they were the weight they were when we got them as I hadn't actually tried to lift one myself. oh: Not a happy bunny at all! :shout:

It means that we cannot carry both of them on the rack if we want to which is a real nuisance as we tend to use bikes several times a day, travelling from one place to another with the camper, then having a ride round, so packing them away/getting them out from under bed each time would be a real pain. When we rang to order them before we did so we checked with the chap that they were 15kg and he confirmed this, hence why we ordered them otherwise we would have looked for something else.

Anyway its not the end of the world as I've been in touch with the company and they arranged for a courier to collect them today and they'll give us a full refund once they have them back. Really a shame as they were very, very good bikes but no good for us as they will be too much hassle and all that'd happen is that we wouldn't want to be bothered to get them out so they'd end up not being used. Hubby liked them so much he even 'suggested' changing the camper for one with a bigger garage/underbed area to accommodate them ... seems a bit extreme though!!!

So we're now on the hunt again ... there aren't many lightweight folding electric bikes out there, even for 5 times the price, but we think we might have found some ... I'll let you know once we've checked them out a bit more.

 

[Minxy]

UPDATE:

After much emailing and phone calls we have finally got some more folding electric bikes which arrived today.

We got them from www.bikes4u.biz (same as www.bikes4u.com), they are 'Evora' 20" folders and weigh in at 18.5kg complete with battery, just under 16kg without, so the weight is CORRECT!!!!! :thumb: They cost £499 each and we were told to order them 'on line' via the website, and that there would be a £10 delivery charge, however when we did it and completed it actually didn't charge for 'standard' delivery! We went for the silver ones, basically polished allow with a lacquer on top, as we thought they'd be less prone to show any scratches etc - very smart they are too; the decals showing them as 'electric' aren't overly obvious either which is good.

They don't have any suspension but we can add seat-posts if we need to. We've tried them today and they are very nice to ride, partially as they have a 52 tooth chain ring, instead of the usual 40/42 teeth, so when going at a higher speed you can keep up with the pedals so your legs aren't 'flailing' around! The power assist is very good as it just kicks in depending on the amount of pressure you're putting into pedalling yourself, or you can just use the twist throttle on its one, but I also found that just pedalling them without any power at all was a breeze.

They are a different design to the Wayfarer ones as the battery is inside the frame so they are not as long (no battery to accommodate behind the seat post) and are not obvious electric bikes so hopefully less 'appealing' to a would be thief, this design also this makes them lighter and a smaller size when folded too - in fact when stood next to our existing 'normal' folding bikes they are virtually identical in size. The downside of this design is that the battery is smaller at only 6.6amp, but as a replacement/spare is 'only' £150 we might get one to have a 'back-up' one fully charged - we'll see how we get on first though.

Based on the measurements we'd been give of the bikes when folded I was planning on raising the bed base an inch or two to be able to get the bikes under there on their sides, but I was planning on doing this anyway to get some air flow under the mattress to stop the condensation we get, it wasn't a major issue. However, what I didn't realise was that with the handlebars being height adjustable they can be removed from the stem totally and this reduces the folded width so they actually fit under the bed as they are! I'll still have to do something about the condensation but won't have to raise the bed base as much as I thought I might.

With buying 2 bikes we got a couple of free carry bags too and the bikes fit in these nicely so it will keep them safe from getting scratched and protect the underbed area too. We tried putting one of them on the inner runner of the bike rack and after adjusting the securing arm a bit it went on with ease, similarly when we put it on the outer runner. The rear lights aren't blocked so no issue there - with the batteries and seats on the bikes weigh 18.5kg, without under 16kg, so 32kg max, 3kg below our 'allowable' bike rack capacity.

They are currently in our 'expensive' shed (aka the conservatory! ) until we sort out insurance for them - hubby has been in there tonight 'admiring them' ... he's very impressed with how well made they are especially as they are very much at the budget end of the scale.

So, hopefully we have finally got what we wanted ... I can now stop thinking/ dreaming / having nightmares about blooming e-bikes!

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[irnbru]

Thanks for your review on the pro wayfarer. I just bought a bargain one

 

[mikebeaches]

Only just seen Mel's review on her new bikes - Thank you!

I think this is the link for the company: http://www.bicycles4u.com/

Mike

 

[Welsh girl]

I thought bike racks could take 48kilos?

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[Welsh girl]

Just read the sign on the bike rack it reads 60 kilo max payload.