Electric Bikes

Good friend kept her bike for months unlocked, just rested against front railing next to the pavement.
Everyone told her to lock it up or it will get nicked. You've guessed, first night she locked it up, it got nicked.
 
witzend said:
Until it breaks I can,t answer that an it,ll be in France when that happens so Halfrauds won,t be much help
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Halfords can be of help.

Find the part you are looking for on an English web page and show the page to the French shop.

Works for all sorts of problems.

I had a dreadful time trying to find silencer repair bandage until I find showed someone a picture of "Gun gum".
The French call it "Le Gun Gum" !
 
Unfortunately, the higher the desirability, the greater the risk of theft and so the higher the insurance premium.
We were quoted almost £1000 to cover 2 e-bikes a couple of years ago!!
 
dunfillin said:
Unfortunately, the higher the desirability, the greater the risk of theft and so the higher the insurance premium.
We were quoted almost £1000 to cover 2 e-bikes a couple of years ago!!
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Cheaper to do what folks do here, buy cheap bike and tie the dog chain to the handlebars, he knows his way back from shops or pubs. 😂
 
witzend said:
Bit over my price but any comments on this would be appreciated

Buy a Basis Osprey Folding Electric Bike from e-BikesDirect

A Mid range Folding electric bike with a good kick of power!
www.e-bikesdirect.co.uk www.e-bikesdirect.co.uk
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At £800 for the 8.8Ah version, I suspect you won't find much cheaper that's actually worth having. For comparison, my Cyclotricity conversion kit cost me £600 with a 17Ah battery pack -- and that's on top of the cost of the bike I converted. Re. the bike you're considering:
  • It has three assistance levels. While five or more would give finer control, three is generally adequate. FWIW, I tend to use levels 2, 3 and 5.
  • It has a 'walking assist' throttle. This is an excellent thing to have IMO as at that price the pedelec sensor will almost certainly be cadence, which typically takes half a rotation or more of the crank before the electric kicks in. So that throttle will let you get electric from a standing start on hills etc. A torque crank sensor might be better as that would give assistance as soon as you pressed on a pedal and also would give variable assistance proportional to the effort you put in. I have a test ride on a Giant fitted with a torque sensor five or six years ago, and I loved it. It felt much more natural than a cadence sensor -- but torque sensors don't come cheap!
  • It has a freewheel rather than a cassette, which will limit your options if you want to change the gears. The spec doesn't specify sprocket sizes. However, most freewheel assemblies are not going to be remotely fast with a 44T chainring and 20" wheels.
  • Take the range specified with a large pinch of salt -- I suspect the 8.8Ah version will be good for 20-25 miles while the 14Ah will probably give 30-40 miles.
In the end, perhaps better to ask on the Pedelecs forum or similar because it's much more likely that someone will have one of these and be able to give info re. build quality, etc.
 
dunfillin said:
Unfortunately, the higher the desirability, the greater the risk of theft and so the higher the insurance premium.
We were quoted almost £1000 to cover 2 e-bikes a couple of years ago!!
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I’ve been looking at insurance for my Specialized Vado SL EQ 4.0 valued at £3,500 and quotes vary between £120.00 to £250.00 which was Direct Line.
£1,00 for a pair of e-bikes seem way over the top unless they were top of the range Riese & Muller or similiar.
 
Obanboy666 said:
I’ve been looking at insurance for my Specialized Vado SL EQ 4.0 valued at £3,500 and quotes vary between £120.00 to £250.00 which was Direct Line.
£1,00 for a pair of e-bikes seem way over the top unless they were top of the range Riese & Muller or similiar.
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I think that the £1000 quote that I received were also from Direct Line and were generated during Covid when bikes were in big demand and when presumably therefore there were a lot of thefts. Premiums are also very dependent on area covered.
As I pay a fraction of the above quote (the lowest that I could find at the time) to cover both my car and motorbike, I declined the offer and I haven't looked since. What I did find interesting was that quotes for similar valued non-electric were considerably less reflecting the risk that electric bikes are more likely to be stolen
I have instead invested in very high security whilst the bikes are garaged and our usage is such that they are never left unattended. Unfortunately the weight of adequate chains and locks is not what you would want to carry around on a day out and even they are not going to fully protect against vandalism or theft of components.

The bikes quoted for are a Scott Genius 910 (more expensive than a lot of the Riese & Muller range) and Liv Amiti-E. The combined replacement value including accessories and uprated components would be in excess of £10 k.
 
Re. insurance -- just a quick reminder to check all the T&Cs very carefully. For example, two companies who quoted for our bikes would only insure against theft if they were kept at home somewhere other than a garden shed or timber building and all external door locks had to be deadlocking; night latches not being sufficient. Away from home, the bikes had to be secured to an immovable object in an approved manner using an approved bike lock. A quick phone call confirmed that "Carry Bike" racks and similar were not acceptable and hence theft would not be covered while the bike was on a typical bike rack.
Edited to correct a typo
 
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As per Geoff, we found that the t&c's can sometimes be difficult to adhere to, our bikes are stored in a garden shed, although the shed is fairly secure and the bikes have further security within the shed, trying to find a insurance company to accept is not easy.
 
Ultimately if the criminal fraternity want something badly enough then they will have it no matter what you try to do to keep your property safe but a garden shed is so easily broken into which is why the insurance company will not cover bikes stored there.
 
colinm said:
As per Geoff, we found that the t&c's can sometimes be difficult to adhere to, our bikes are stored in a garden shed, although the shed is fairly secure and the bikes have further security within the shed, trying to find a insurance company to accept is not easy.
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Reading between the lines, the insurance requirement might be met if the bike is kept in a garden shed and secured to a fixed object (e.g. a Sheffield stand or anchor point concreted into the ground) using an approved bike lock. However, that still doesn't get around issues some insurance companies have with Carry-Bike type racks on motorhomes.
 
dunfillin said:
Ultimately if the criminal fraternity want something badly enough then they will have it no matter what you try to do to keep your property safe but a garden shed is so easily broken into which is why the insurance company will not cover bikes stored there.
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Make it as hard as possible for them.

My Motorcycle is kept in a purpose built metal Motorcycle garage Which is triple locked (insurance approved make). The garage is behind a locked gate. The motorcycle has a steering lock on which makes it nigh on impossible to get out without carrying it (220kg in a confined space). It has an alarmed (insurance approved) chain and padlock secured to a ground anchor.

If they can get past that lot without disturbing me and the dogs, they then have to get past 8 vehicles (all alarmed) parked on my drive and blocking access. (not all my vehicles I hasten to add).

The insurance company should give me money!
 
Robmac said:
Make it as hard as possible for them.

My Motorcycle is kept in a purpose built metal Motorcycle garage Which is triple locked (insurance approved make). The garage is behind a locked gate. The motorcycle has a steering lock on which makes it nigh on impossible to get out without carrying it (220kg in a confined space). It has an alarmed (insurance approved) chain and padlock secured to a ground anchor.

If they can get past that lot without disturbing me and the dogs, they then have to get past 8 vehicles (all alarmed) parked on my drive and blocking access. (not all my vehicles I hasten to add).

The insurance company should give me money!
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Electric helicopter LOL
 
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