E-bike and dog trailer

Clunegapyears

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Started our investigations into E-bikes and one of our issues is the 21 kilo hound we have. Whilst he can run alongside, where safe, for a couple of Km, we will want to tow a dog trailer for some of our trips and also when we are visiting towns.
We are travelling pretty much full time in an A classmotorhome, so e-bikes and trailer need to be relatively light ... we have up to 80 kilos to play with. They will be stored in the garage.
We also spend up to 10 months a year travelling in Europe, so a brand with a Euro dealer / servicing network would make sense.

My questions are:
1). How will towing a dog trailer affect the bike's battery life? Has anyone any experience of it? I'm pretty fit so don't anticiapte having to go into top assist unless really steep. 50km trips seems a reasonable goal.
2). Can anyone recommend a solid / safe collapsible dog trailer?
3). We changed our motorhome to one with a European dealer network as we had problems getting repairs and parts in Euroland for our previous British built one. Which of the e-bike brands have a solid Euro presence? Or are the e-bike parts / repairs ubiquitous?
4). We will be travelling to Holland and Germany from next week. Does anyone know if it is cheaper to buy over there given the longer and bigger presence of e-bikes?

Many thanks in anticipation,
Katherine
 
E-Bikes fall into two categories they either have the motor built into the wheel front / back or they have a mid drive where the motor drives the front chain wheel. For climbing hills the mid drive one is better as it uses the gears on the back wheel. Bosch seem to be the leader at the moment probably because they were first in. The mid drive is not the cheapest and has more to go wrong but certainly performs better.

I have just built two. Started with two fold up bikes and added the motors and batteries. For anyone with a few spanners its not rocket science and you finish up with a smart bike that can be ridden even if the power fails.

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One of the other points about the DIY kit route is you can change bikes and just keep the motors etc. The one in the picture is from my mountain bike. New bike weighed 11.5Kg the motor and battery add about 7kg
 
Kalkhoff is the brand to go for, I've test rode the following and will be buying one in the very near future.
Not cheap but like most things you get what you pay for.

Kalkhoff Integrale i8
 
Obanboy666 said:
Kalkhoff is the brand to go for, I've test rode the following and will be buying one in the very near future.
Not cheap but like most things you get what you pay for.

Kalkhoff Integrale i8
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Flamin' eck, I didn't realise that you had to pay the price of a 2nd hand car for a leccy bike, thank you Aria for our two
 
You will need to check the specifications to get 50km. The extra weight makes some of them difficult to ride without the power assist.
There are lots to chose from so try before you buy would be worth while.
 
Looking at a dog trailer for our E bikes, just to note, the bar that connects to the rear wheel has a connector that will not fit onto the rear wheel spindle on our bike. The rear wheel spindle is thicker than normal bikes, only about 2mm in our case, but you may need to drill out the connector a bit.
 
Look at Trixie for the dog cart. We have one and it's very well thought out and sturdy. Folds down really small for storage too.
 
Clunegapyears said:
Looks an amazing bike ... they do a cheaper one at around £1500, which is more our budget.
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Yes, absolutely awesome. Up until my forties I used to cycle to work and mountain bike every weekend. Sadly the use and abuse I gave my body over the years has taken its toll and my arthritic knees won't allow me to use a conventional cycle hence looking to buy an ebike.
Yes expensive but I reckon I will be using it more or less daily so looking to buy something that will last.
My sons friend recently bought the following -

Pinarello Dogma F10 Dura Ace Di2 Road Bike 2017 | Sigma Sport

Similiar to what the Sky team use. Again expensive but why shouldn't he spend his money on a bike, better than pouring copious amounts of alcohol down his throat every weekend like most of my sons friends do lol !
 
Wouldn't trust them I've seen on come uncoupled and the dog died the trailer went under the wheels of a lorry not a nice sight:cry:
 
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