Newbie eBike help (1 Viewer)

[Wellington]

I'm looking at an ebike to take us out for the day while we are away in our Stardream. Turns out, there are a million ebikes out there, and I haven't a clue what most of the bumf means. My requirements are:

I am 5 foot nothing tall, so I need a small bike
My daughter is 8, and thankfully not allowed on one yet, so I will have to tow her behind me on a Followme tandem/tailgator thingummy for some of the time (hills and long distances. She can ride her own bike just fine. I don't want a trailer, because storing it is a pain and she's too big anyway)
We have a small but very dense 10 kilo dog who will be with us some of the time in some sort of carrier arrangement, as he eleven and grumbles vociferously about walking more than a mile now
We tour all over the country, and won't use the bikes much at home.
The bike will have to go on a rack, and I need to get it up there, so I need to be able to lift it. I'm pretty fit, but short.
I doubt we will do much more than 20 miles a day. It's just for taking us swimming, to the beach, to a restaurant and so on.

I tried a Freego Wren at the local bikeshop, and while I did like it, I found it a bit difficult to control at slow speeds. It was fine for hills and barrelling along, but in the city centre, it kept zooming along the moment I touched the pedals and I needed to brake straightway. It was a bit like being a rubbish driver! The size was fine on the saddles lowest setting.

I think a crank motor would be better than a hub for this, if I understand correctly? I'm considering a Rayleigh Captus or a Wisper Torque Stepthough, but really there are so many out there I'm all at sea. All help and advice gratefully received.

 

[Duck Truck]

Watching with interest

 

[Imbiber]

I'm unsure of your location in the UK, but if I were you one of my very first starting points would be to pay a visit to the guys at OnBike in Worcester.

Expert, friendly advice and the ability to test ride pretty much any of the bikes they have, or they can even get bikes in for you to test ride.

In my view, if you're investing in an e-bike you cannot beat trying them out first hand to make sure you get one that you fell comfortable with and are happy with all aspects - size, weight, etc.

Good luck in your endeavours!

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[Ken and Carol]

Carol (my wife) is only small and she rides a Volt Metro LS.
The quality of all the components is first-rate and it is perfect for the smaller person.
The price isn't low - currently £1299 - but I think you do get what you pay for.
If you want a crank motor they also do a range of these including a folding bike.
The one thing I do know is that it has transformed cycling for both of us.
I had to buy an ebike just to keep up with her.
I'm sure you'll find the right one if you try a few first.

 

[Minxy]

We've had some e-bikes, folding ones though with 20" wheels and found them fine so being small in height it may be worth looking at some of the smaller wheeled ones but if you do make sure that the chain ring has at least 50 teeth (this is the large cog near to the pedals), anything smaller will mean it is a pain in the bum to ride and your legs will whizz round like a Catherine wheel! You want one with at least 3 power levels and minimum of 5 gears for non-assisted riding.

If you go for a full sized one the above still applies to some extent but as they have larger wheels a smaller chain ring isn't such an issue.

Things to generally look out for:

• Can the battery be removed easily?
• Can the battery be recharged off the bike or just on it?
• How much is a replacement battery (they can vary enormously!)
• How heavy is it? Some are really very heavy and would be difficult to lift onto a bike rack even with the battery removed.

As for your dog - at only 10kg you should be able to get a carrier that goes onto the rear rack rather than have to use a trailer which you couldn't use anyway if you had your daughter's bike attached, you can get front baskets too but I don't think they'll take 10kg and even if you could personally I wouldn't want that weight on my handlebars!

You can get a seat for kiddies now which clamps to a seat post so you can have it either in front or behind you which would probably be easy to adapt for your dog and mean the weight is in the centre of the bike so more stable especially if you have your daughter in tow too!

 

[DangerMousy]

I've had my Raleigh Motus stepthrough (basically same as the Captus but a larger battery, integrated lights etc.) and so far its been great. With the crank drive the power application is very smooth - though obviously livelier if you have it on turbo I'd definitely recommend going for the Motus over the Captus - you'll appreciate the larger battery if you're going to be towing a dog trailer or a tag-along. Being short you might prefer the smaller 26" wheel version (rather than the 700c I have), but definitely go somewhere and have test ride. Don't know where in Leicestershire you are, but I believe 50 Cylces in Loughborough have a good reputation https://www.50cycles.com/

Ebikes aren't light though - I had them take the cafe lock off to save a couple of lbs (its not rated for the insurance anyway) and always remove the battery before putting it on the rack, but its still 18-19kgs which is a lot of lift onto a bike rack. Looking at photos of the Stardream I think your bike rack will be about the same height as ours so you may struggle: hubby does most of the lifting on ours, but its far easier with two of us as they have to be lifted to shoulder height. And even at 6' tall I need a step stool to get the bike cover over the top.

Do you have the payload to be able to fit a tow bar so you could use a lower tow bar rack? Its something we'd like to do, but sadly can't as our rear storage access is underneath the rack (a silly design!). But if/when we change the MH we'll definitely be looking to carry the bikes on a tow bar carrier instead.

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[Viennese]

I want to try a lighter one, and lifted up the Gtech at Peterbro' show. I shall, at some stage, wend my way to Worcester where the factory is to try one. You can try one for 2 weeks to see if it suits. They are 16kg.

 

[Viennese]

I lifted up the GTech at Peterbro because I want a lighter e-bike. It weighs only 16kg. They are also based in Worcester and will let you try the bike out for 2 weeks. @DM23 have you considered a Memo bike rack which swings away from the van? We have one as we like to get out of our PVC rear doors without taking the bikes down when we are travelling.

 

[Puddleduck]

I am not going to tell you which bike to get but I will tell you to try out as many as you can.

Before we bought ours we tried around 7 different makes.

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[DangerMousy]

@DM23 have you considered a Memo bike rack which swings away from the van? We have one as we like to get out of our PVC rear doors without taking the bikes down when we are travelling.

That looks great! Wonder if they do one to fit the Alko chassis.....I'll look into that thanks!

 

[Wellington]

Hmm, don't know why my location wasn't showing. Worcestershire is OK for us. Loughborough isn't far at all. I completely agree about trying them, but there are so many to choose from!

I'd seen the Volt, and I definitely agree you get what you pay for (up to a point, at least) in this case size does matter, because patently I can't ride the thing if I can't touch the ground!

I'm pretty sure I don't want a folding bike. I can't see any particular benefit in it for us, but I can certainly see the point about the wheel/cog size.

Archie is absolutely going to be a rear passenger, he isn't terribly active but I'm not letting him choose the route. We'll end up in the nearest pub with a fire, via the butchers every time (he will mostly stay at behind. We do a lot of kid activities, in which he is not allowed and shows little interest, preferring to catch up on his many, many naps back at the MH). Chucking the pair of them in a trailer would be a lot easier, but they seem to be all aimed at toddlers.

So its battery rather than motor I need to be looking at for pulling power? I was thinking of the battery purely in terms of range and longevity. I don't think we will be doing a great many miles, to be honest. We aren't really cycling for leisure, just to get around without having to pack up and haul the stardream around town centres. We prefer quieter sites, so tend to park up a few miles outside and commute in for swimming, beaches etc, and stop off at a restaurant on the way home. I read something about bigger batteries lasting longer, and thus being cheaper in the long run anyway, and I'm expecting to shell out a couple of grand on the thing (although I would prefer to keep it to around £1500 if possible. I probably need to get my daughter a new bike as well, because she will insist on growing and if I'm going to get kit fitted to it, it may as well be the next size up)

Being short you might prefer the smaller 26" wheel version (rather than the 700c I have)

This is the sort of thing I keep coming up against. Why is one size measured in inches and one in "c". what sort of unit is "c" when it's a home? How is one supposed to know which is bigger/smaller? I'll look at the Motus as well. I'm struggling to find somewhere that carries both Wisper and Rayleigh so I can try them both out side-by-side

We have a towbar and tow bar rack. I don't like it, because you can't really collapse it and I have to keep hefting the thing on and off. I don't suppose it really matters much if I just leave it on though. I think the bikes are going to have to live on it for a while anyway. Either that or in the dining room until we move. I was going to have a fitted rack installed, but it sounds like it would be more sensible to stick to what we have for the moment. I plan to replace the Stardream in the next couple of years, and will probably go for a rear garage model over single beds then.

In summary:

Try a lot of bikes
find one you like to ride (can touch the floor on etc)
hope you can lift it
give up the cover
spend about fifty percent more than you intended

 

[jockaneezer]

@Wellington, 700c wheels are 29 inches in diameter.

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[Burgo]

You did say that you're pretty fit. Got to ask, why do you want an ebike, as a regular push bike is a superb way to keep that fitness?

 

[dalspa]

@Wellington. I see that you are based in Leicestershire, so not far from Rutland Water. Rutland Cycling have good shops, one at Whitwell on the North side and the other at Edith Weston on the opposite side. They also have a big shop in Peterborough at the entrance to Ferry Meadows. Each stock different makes of bikes. They will give good advice and have demo bikes. At the end of the summer they sell off hire bikes. Look them up on their website.
Go for the crank drive and biggest battery.

 

[arto stu]

Hi there... we have just bought a couple of Freego folders I have to say I am very impressed with the build quality and the service we have had from Wizbikes .... at setting 1 you just potter along at about 5mph... we are lucky enough to have a largish garage so fitting in is no problem... I hope you enjoy whatever you end up with!

Stu

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[Wellington]

@Wellington, 700c wheels are 29 inches in diameter.

Then why on earth don't they say so?! All the others are measured in inches! I swear its conspiracy to over complicate things! Grumble grumble mutter mutter....

You did say that you're pretty fit. Got to ask, why do you want an ebike, as a regular push bike is a superb way to keep that fitness?

22 kilos of kid, 10 kilos of dog, kids bike, swimming kit, beach paraphernalia, shopping. Hauling all that around for twenty miles a day, and then having to swim when I get there and find the energy to play. Let alone hills! I carry a squirming eight year old to bed most nights, so I reckon I can haul a bike around, is what I really meant, but perhaps I should have said able bodied.

Thanks for the heads up about Rutland, I might head over there tomorrow.

 

[Hymer 1961]

@Wellington. I see that you are based in Leicestershire, so not far from Rutland Water. Rutland Cycling have good shops, one at Whitwell on the North side and the other at Edith Weston on the opposite side. They also have a big shop in Peterborough at the entrance to Ferry Meadows. Each stock different makes of bikes. They will give good advice and have demo bikes. At the end of the summer they sell off hire bikes. Look them up on their website.
Go for the crank drive and biggest battery.

We just purchased two Cube Hydrid ebikes from Rutland Cycling, Ham Lane, Ferry Meadows.
First class shop and service, ask for Kurt Sanders he really knows his stuff and has the patience of Job. Great prices and generous points back scheme against further purchases or accessories.

 

[Wellington]

I went for the Motus. At £1650, it’s a bit more than I’d wanted to spend, especially with needing to replace the rack, but it was so much lighter than the Captus to ride. It was also boring. The FreeGo was really fun, zooming off at the touch of a pedal, whereas the Motus does really feel like peddling downhill all the time. It’s clearly set up so it senses rider input much better, and thus you’d hardly know it was electric. Which is not so much fun, but clearly a lot more grown up. I'm assured it will tow the lot of us just fine, and have ordered the followme as well. I’ll try and remember to post a pic.

If anyone is considering a Motus, there are a couple on eBay atm. I can’t bid, because I needed to get mine ordered this week to give us time to get the followme fitted as well before we go off for the summer in a fortnight.

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