Electric bike rentals

CPTM

Hi all, I'm trying to encourage my wife to cycle to work over the summer instead of taking the bus. Before buying a bicycle, she wants to give it a go to see how she feels.

Does anyone know where we could rent an electric bicycle for a day or a weekend? It would be a 14km round trip.

DJD

CPTM wrote: »

Hi all, I'm trying to encourage my wife to cycle to work over the summer instead of taking the bus. Before buying a bicycle, she wants to give it a go to see how she feels.

Does anyone know where we could rent an electric bicycle for a day or a weekend? It would be a 14km round trip.

Halfords do a 48 hour free trial. Details are on their website

https://www.halfords.ie/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductMobileDisplay?catalogId=15551&langId=-1&categoryId=239005&productId=1455931&storeId=11101

Borderfox

Phoenix Park rent them too
https://www.phoenixparkbikes.com/rent-a-bike/

magicbastarder

probably worth mentioning where you are?

mcquill

EscapeHQ in Carlingford rent E-Bikes. They are using Kalkhoff's.
https://escapehq.ie/e-bike/

Lumen

magicbastarder wrote: »

probably worth mentioning where you are?

Has to be south Dublin. Like, it's the default?

Ferris

Greenaer are just off Pearse St in Dublin, they both rent and sell ebikes and are very decent to deal with.

Think they have a shop in Athlone also.

ted1

Was also going to recommend greenaer

https://www.greenaer.ie/rentals/

Um sure they’d discount any rental off a future purchase

mr spuckler

ted1 wrote: »

Was also going to recommend greenaer

https://www.greenaer.ie/rentals/

Um sure they’d discount any rental off a future purchase

yeah they've offered to discount the rental amount off the purchase price when I looked at an e-cargo bike previously.

ED E

GreenAer hosted a two day demo at the Corkagh Park two weeks ago. Unfortunate timing.

CPTM

These are all great recommendations. Thanks very much everyone, we really appreciate it.

rubadub

Try and get one which you intend to buy, or with the same motor or similar.

Some shops are selling (and so I presume renting) ones which go up to 45km/hr which I believe is not road legal. So she would then possibly be disappointed with the correct 25km/hr limit, though it may be fine for many.

I have a friend who worked in bike shops and owns plenty of bikes, I kept telling him to have a go on my bike (which has a higher spec motor than most). He kept saying he won't bother "sure I've been on loads of electric bikes over the years", I had guessed he had only been on cheaper models from years back with lower power/torque -when he finally did have a go a year or 2 later he was absolutely blown away with the power of it.

I have no shower facility in work so wanted to be sure I had good power to be able to cycle in very windy rainy weather in full wet gear and not break a sweat.

I could imagine some salesman giving people high power ones to try hoping they will get a sale.

Ferris

Drive unit options are generally as follows:

Front hub motor: Generally very serviceable for low speeds, can have traction issues with more powerful bikes. My old Mum with uses one of these to get up Howth hill. Motor operation is usually controlled by the cadence of the pedals - this can take a little getting used to as the power assistance is not generally linear to the users power input. Some of the Wisper brand have torque sensing which provides a more natural response. Bikes with front hubs are usually cheaper than other systems, but they can be very serviceable.

Rear hub motor: better traction for more powerful hub motors. As per front hubs apart from that. Hub motors are usually internally geared which means little drag when they are switched off. In addition they do not contribute to drivetrain wear as they provide power from the hub. Both of these points are significant advantages of hub motors.

Mid-drive: The motor is located at the bottom bearing / at the pedal cranks. Very popular as the mainstream manufacturers have concentrated on these systems. Generally you are buying a low spec hybrid / MTB build around a proprietary drive system from Bosch/Shimano/Yamaha/Brose/Panasonic. The system usually incorporates the motor/battery/controls/display. These systems are generally controlled by the riders power input, known as torque sensing, this is very natural and feels like you just have more power in your legs. Other benefits are that they use the bikes gearing and as such have 'unlimited' power, this makes them better for traction and off-road climbing. Also the bike is generally more balanced having more weight around its middle. Probably the best all round mid drive is the Bosch Active Line plus at the moment. I have a Bosch CX which is more powerful but its noisy and there is a lot of drag when you go above the 25kph limit or turn the system off. The Active Line Plus system is quiet and features little or no drag. Mid drives will wear your chain/cassette quicker than hubs - especially offroad. Mid drives are generally more expensive than hubs and proprietary systems software is not open source so you can't change aspects of the system or settings etc.

Ebikes are great, my missus was extremely resistant to the idea of cycling as we live in a hilly area. But she flew up the hills on my Ma's bike a few weeks ago and is now looking for an ebike for herself. Assisted cycling is way better than no cycling at all in my view.

CPTM

Ferris wrote: »

Ebikes are great, my missus was extremely resistant to the idea of cycling as we live in a hilly area. But she flew up the hills on my Ma's bike a few weeks ago and is now looking for an ebike for herself. Assisted cycling is way better than no cycling at all in my view.

Thanks for the great response Ferris. Which model is she thinking about buying? I think acceleration and speed would be my wife's preference, within the boundaries of the law of course..

Ray Palmer

Just to let you know my experience of ebike (pedelec correct name).
I am on my second one and bought at 2 different price ranges but both mid frame engines.
The first one was fantastic but had some issues. The internal gear hub on the back wheel is best as the gears will wear down quickly. It didn't have disc brakes which I would say are what you need.

The 2nd one was much higher spec. The problem with that is it has been expensive to service and requires more maintenance. The disc brakes make it much better to cycle. The gear gang has been replace twice in a short space of time. Very expensive. Wheels needed to be replaced too. This is apparently because it is a performance bike.

Greenaer have been good to an extent but they tend to sell only high end bikes.

So in conclusion I would say. Mid motor is best, internal gear hub, disc brakes. Get a comfort commuter style with full mud guards and carrier rather than anything else. €1500-2000 price above that costs more to maintain and more often

Tenzor07

CPTM wrote: »

Acceleration and speed would be my wife's preference, within the boundaries of the law of course..

Just be careful, especially for any inexperienced cyclists:

Last year 629 people died in road accidents in the Netherlands, according to Statistics Netherlands, of whom 189 were cyclists and 28 were on e-bikes. In the last three years at least 79 people were killed in road accidents when on an e-bike, of whom 87% were over the age of 60.

Van Hasselt said: “It would be good if more people follow a course. Because the e-bike is not a regular bike. It gives you an extra boost, and that sometimes happens unexpectedly. As a result, you can tremble, swing and sometimes even fall.

“On the bike path you used to be [with] just like-minded people, people at the same pace. But now we see e-bikes, ordinary bikes, superfast electric bikes and bicycles. In short, it has become more dangerous. Wear a helmet, especially if you are older.”

rubadub

Ray Palmer wrote: »

Wheels needed to be replaced too. This is apparently because it is a performance bike.

Mine is a cross country MTB I use for commuting. I got this as I stick to the cycletracks which are brutal, so I wanted a bike with strong components. It has suspension and really fat fairly slick tyres. It just eats up the dodgy paths. If the power is off it is a hog to get around, as most MTBs would be, but with the power it is fine and a very enjoyable and safe ride.

My bosch came with a very small front cog on the actual motor. The gearing was as though it was normal, like they did not account for the fact it has power assist. I was staying in the 3 highest gears and so they quickly wore out being the smallest cogs and the force been on just those few teeth. I also suffered from "chain suck", which is the chain sticking to the small cog at the front and so much pressure is on it. I since got a larger front cog which solved the chain suck issue and meant I was able to get much better use of the cassette as I was not in the highest gears (smallest cogs) as much. I also got special high torque ebike chains.

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Just be careful, especially for any inexperienced cyclists:

I think some of these deaths/accidents were as a result of the bike being so heavy, I think some were at a standstill and falling over as they were very elderly.

Ferris

I have done 15k km's on a derailleur, I have to change the chain and cassette every 3-4k which I do myself. Parts are 50quid. Derailleurs are pretty reliable bits of kit imo - Gear hubs can go wrong, Obvs their as you can change gears while stationary which would be great in traffic.

Also, on the increasing number of cyclist deaths in the Neatherlands - This has to be interpreted against a rapidly growing portion of overall cyclists who now commute by ebike. Recently there was a story where sales of ebikes in Germany were greater than that of conventional bikes.

Ferris

CPTM wrote: »

Thanks for the great response Ferris. Which model is she thinking about buying? I think acceleration and speed would be my wife's preference, within the boundaries of the law of course..

Nearly all ebikes will reach the 25kph limit on the flat very quickly so my priorities performance wise would be ease of riding above 25kph, range and hill climbing / pushing into a headwind ability (if that's a possibility).

After that I would be looking at comfort, fit and reliability.

I think that any bike with the Bosch Active Line plus motor has the above nailed but you can get 90% of the way there for 60-75% of the money, look at bikes like Wisper - sold by DLB cycles in Dun Laoghaire, or Woosh which are mail order from the UK.

My mothers bike is a 3yr old Giant Twist incidentally - its fine to be fair, very comfortable, slow and predicable, which is great for her.