Electric Bikes

Kontiki

Kontiki

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We have been toying with the idea of selling the motorbike & getting a couple of electric bikes. We carry the motorbike in the garage of the van but at times it can be a pain to get out & get ready to go out. It also takes up a fair amount of space in the garage I reckon a couple of electric bikes would take up less room & be a bit lighter.

Wondering what others have got, how good are the claims for them regarding range. How do you charge the batteries if you aren't on a hook up, what are they like to pedal if your battery runs flat?

Some of them look quite good, prefer the ones which are more like a mountain bike.
 
SCOOTER :eek: It's not a scooter :eek: it's a motorbike (can't stand scooters) it's only a little 125 Yamaha but I am mainly only using it now in the van, I have a bigger bike (I bought it off AJ) to play with at home :rolleyes:.
 
hi . hey kontiki we could have a mods and rocker do .i,m on your side be against my principles to ride a scooter. the monkey /dax are ok .but not a scooter. strangely enough i have quite a few mates with scooters now on their campers but i cant have one. cheers alan.
as for electric they dont seem that good really . they do have a big factory in the algarve .think its giante or something like that. but they are inefficiant stay with the m,bike.
 
Kontiki said:
We have been toying with the idea of selling the motorbike & getting a couple of electric bikes. We carry the motorbike in the garage of the van but at times it can be a pain to get out & get ready to go out. It also takes up a fair amount of space in the garage I reckon a couple of electric bikes would take up less room & be a bit lighter.

Wondering what others have got, how good are the claims for them regarding range. How do you charge the batteries if you aren't on a hook up, what are they like to pedal if your battery runs flat?

Some of them look quite good, prefer the ones which are more like a mountain bike.
Click to expand...

Hi Kontiki
Now then, you really should consider that a motorbike will, for sure, get you from A to B i.e. London to York - depending on how much fuel you keep putting in: however, if you want a cheap way of getting from A to B just for pleasure and enjoyment then an electric fold up bike is brill. We now have two which we keep in the garage of the van, a Biocycle and an Autobike. The Autobike is excellent, quiet, efficient and effective with a 24v lithium ion battery. The Biocycle is just as good but with a 36v lithium ion battery, however, this runs a little noisier than the other. Range - variable. Depends on passengers weight, terrain and whether you want to assist with pedal power.
Obviously we have charged at 240v when necessary but you can charge using an invertor from cigerette lighter socket in cab.
We have just returned from our hols and we thoroughly enjoyed the bikes. We were able to use pedestrian walkways, which gave us quick short cuts to where we wanted to go, (not necessarily available if you have a motorbike), nice pub locations offering overnight parking and plenty of admirers!!
Think carefully but, thumbs up from us for electric bikes!!
o.k they are not that cheap ranging from around £400 to £1400 the cheaper models will do about 15 miles with pedal assest ( but we have found that on pedal assest you dont need to put any pressure on the pedals once you are moving as the motor takes over , but if you are like me just twist the throttle and your of ) if you go for the more expensive model you could get as much as 70 miles .
hope this helps a little ( we really enjoy ours )
WENDY & KEITH
 
One of the reasons for us thinking of ditching the motorbike in favour of a couple of electric bikes is the fact that it is great for getting you from A to B but not if you just want to ride along the cycle paths. We found that when we are touring most of the journeys we do on the motorbike are 5 miles or less & think that an electric bike could cope with this. At times it is sometimes easier & quicker to drive in the motorhome rather than unload the motorbike for a short trip. I can fit 2 ordinary bikes in the garage with the motorbike but only by partially dismantling them, also any hills are a complete no no for me on a bike.

I am aware that they can be expensive & would prefer to get something decent first time around, we are intending to try a few out & we are not rushing to buy. I can see the charging might be a problem, ideally the best time to charge would be in the daytime when the solar panel is giving me an excess of power but that is when we would likely to be using them :confused: Our battery is fine for our present usage & fitting another battery might be difficult, might possibly consider having one spare cycle battery to rotate but these seem very expensive.

Not keen on the folding bikes & we are ok for the room for full sized bikes, like the look of the mountain bike type they had on the Gadget Show.
 
hi, i use a two seater chinese dax .only weighs 80kg. great for running around on . as been used for me and a mate both over 17 stone .look abit daft but we dont care. find abroad nobody minds if you ride it up footways slowly. with grey beards they just think we are a bit daft. i wear leg calipers so cant walk too far. if i was stopped i would explain my predicament but so far have never been asked. they can be bought quite cheap . the other way could be proper mopeds . again can be bought cheap. specially i some euro coutries. have fun . see you somewhere .cheers alan.
 
There would be no point considering anything other than electric or I might as well stay with my Ymanha YBR, as I said don't mind having to pedal a bit as I could do with the exercise but probably couldn't manage with just a bike. Looking at the benefits - no tax/MOT, don't have to wear crash hats, protective gear etc. (though probably stick to the bike helmet :rolleyes: , saved me when I went over the handlebars :eek:) no paperwork to carry (nearly got done in Portugal for not having insurance with me) & we can 'legally' go down cycle paths not sure what would happen if I tried on my YBR, easier to load & unload from the van. Wife could go off to the shops on it (she tried the motorbike but will only ride pillion).

Thanks for your views/opinions but I really want to get some info from people who have electric bikes especially if anybody has the more rugged type that you can ride offroad a bit (not talking about flying down a mountain :eek:) but ones that can handle a bit of a rough track.
 
scooters !!!!!! whats up with them:cool: we have a x9 500 what a tool twist and gooooooooooooo

electric bikes hmm they are heavy and what's up with peddle one keep you fit and all that:rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
If I was fit enough I would just buy a couple of good mountain bikes, unfortunately I'm not :( I can manage a couple of miles taking it steady on the flat but the slightest hill & I'm stuffed. We are ok riding along the beach roads but anything else is just useless.
That is why we want some decent electric bikes that are also able to be pedaled reasonably well.

In my younger days the only time I ever got hurt was on scooters :eek: I never owned one but as I had a full license I used to ride pillion on my mates, after coming off I few times I would only go with him if I was driving. Hated the things & never enjoyed riding them though. I'm from the mods & rockers era as well :rolleyes: so I'd rather walk than be seen dead on a scooter.
 
looks like we may have to arrange a meet somewhere on the south cost. we can sort it out then. next year i,l may be loose some weight and wear my teddy boy suit just to add a bit of colour . where is that razor. .. fight fight. .possibly get a few hippies for us all to kick in. ha ha . takes you back. hippy girls are ok cheesecloth frocks and no --ickers . i remember that. cheers alan.
 
Electric bikes are great! you can park your M/H a couple of mile out of town, and ride back for shopping without having to pay parking fees, or find a car park without barriers, and its good fun to ride down the various proms without to much effort, i've had motorbikes, scooters, mountain bikes, shopper bikes, racing bikes, that faithful day you sat on your first trike or the one with the stabilizers changed your life forever! lol, go for it!...jack
 
cipro said:
scooters !!!!!! whats up with them:cool: we have a x9 500 what a tool twist and gooooooooooooo

electric bikes hmm they are heavy and what's up with peddle one keep you fit and all that:rolleyes::rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Scooters are great.
Iv had small bikes, big bikes and fast bikes, Yamaha XJ600 the fastest, once touched 130mph.

Now have a Honda 600cc Silverwing scooter. Soo practical.

Twist N go. No clutch lever that makes my hand ache.
No gear lever, often caused ache in foot when shifting UP gear/s.

I also hve my home made E bike (so powerful it pulls wheelies)
Climb any hill the back wheel can grip, even to the point of flipping backwards.

Whats up with pedalling, if you ever get the onset of arthritis in the knees,
you'll find out, as I have - the hard way, I cannot pedal a bike anymore :-(

Deker
 
E-bike v dino fuelled bike

I would not take my E-bike on camping vacations, the range is just so low,
only 7 miles on mine.

2 years back I bought a Honda ST50 (Dax) fitted with a 108cc engine to use
on my camping vacations.
Also bought a rack to fit the bike on the back of my Delica.

Have I used it for said purpose - - NO, why not ?
My ST50 is in "As new" condition, terrified of getting it wet and dirty.

Oh well, (sigh)

Deker.
 
Wondering what others have got, how good are the claims for them regarding range. How do you charge the batteries if you aren't on a hook up, what are they like to pedal if your battery runs flat?

Some of them look quite good, prefer the ones which are more like a mountain bike.[/QUOTE]

The new models are pretty good however if you are like me a bit overweight, and a bit too idle to pedal, take at least 25% off the "claimed" range. If it's a hilly region take off another 25%. As to recharging if you are not on hook up, don't. I think the fag lighter option will drain your battery "faster than a squirell chased by bear". The mountain bike option is sort of mid price range £800 or there abouts. And yes the batteries do weigh a bit if you have to pedal when they run out, it's a bit like cycling home with the shopping on board. Great if all you need them for is a quick ride to the beach/shops/pub, but any trip more than 5 miles each way needs thinking about, and a fully charged battery.
 
Thanks Glencairn, it's the sort of info I was looking for as to how good they are. Admittedly the people selling them will always make them sound better & I would insist that I would want a proper trial before parting with any cash as I would be buying 2 :rolleyes:. Range is important for us, don't mind peddling a bit, already got arthritis in knees, hands & other bits, triple by pass, asthma etc............ hence an ordinary bike would be useless unless we were only going on the flat or downhill :eek:

We are going to the Shepton show later this month (won tickets off the 365camping forum :D) so I will have a good look at some there but not in a great rush to buy.
 
Have a look here
UK Electric Bike Buyer?s Guide - Reviews of the best electric bikes in the UK.

lots of info on electric bikes. I think there are acouple of other threads on here about e-bikes as well.
we have Kalkhoff agattu's, which we find very good. Not cheap though. I also saw an
e-mover, (i think) in halfords which looked good.
Things to note are weight of bike and will your current bike rack hold it.
We had a tow bar fitted to van and use a thule rack designed for ebikes. most racks will only carry 15kg/bike, ours are 25kg.
Can you switch power on/off on handle bars or is it on all the time?
We prefered this option as it means the battery can be switched on only when needed so effectively lasts longer.
Do you want suspension, and if possible try and ride the bike before purchasing, not always easy as often they are order only.
Ours are pedal assist so you need to pedal all the time, but you can get twist throttle ones which will go without pedalling.
Hope that helps
Jules
 
Racks not a problem (don't have one) we carry a motorbike weighing around 110 kg at the moment so a couple of bikes will probably be lighter. Not looking for websites (can find them through Google) as I prefer real peoples opinions. Went in Halfords & our local one doesn't stock them, you have to order them & all they could do was show me a picture. I said I wanted to have a proper look & at least try it out before buying.

Will have a good look at the Shepton Show next week & talk to people who have them.

Thanks for your comments anyway
 
We're going down the electric bike route so we can keep up with the 3 kids on cycle paths.
We have just purchased an iZip Ladies Enlightened Trekking which is 'pedal assist' . Basically you pedal and the motor helps, the range seems to be around 25 miles on 'full assist' (which requires hardly any rider effort) and it's like a normal bike to ride when the power is turned off.
I need a bike where you don't need to pedal at all (disabled) these look exactly the same but are only legal 'for off road use';).Bikes using Lithium batteries are lighter than lead/iron ones, though more expensive but they recharge quicker.
We already carry 3 normal bikes on the back and are going to adapt a motorcycle rack for the electric bikes. We're lucky as we can take the weight.
If you have a chance do try a few out as they vary quite a lot, there is an electric bike forum www.[B]pedelecs[/B].co.uk full of good info.
 
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