Electric bike - some advice please

Thelonious Monk

Hi all. I have been looking into this a bit lately, but after months of what feels like gale force winds during every commute to work, I might bite the bullet and get an electric bike as I'm sick of cycling against it every morning.
I've looked at greenaer and they all seem quite expensive, halfords look ok but I'm not sure which ones are any good or not.
Could anyone recommend an electric bike no more than about 1000 euros? Or would I just need to spend way more than that? The range in price seems to be huge.
Just something that would help make the commute a little easier.
I know there have been threads on this before but the market for ebikes seems to be constantly evolving so I thought I'd post a new thread. Thanks in advance.

Thelonious Monk

benjy1000 wrote: »

https://www.gearbest.com/electric-bikes/pp_009485100083.html?wid=1433363


That will sort you out. Takes about 8 weeks to arrive from China. All in for about €450.00

Was kind of looking for a normal looking/sized bike but this looks pretty cool actually. Have you used one yourself? If it's decent you can't go wrong at that price really.

homer911

You will probably only get something with a hub motor for that price. A mid-drive motor is really recommended. Also buy something local where you will be sure of dealer support if something goes wrong

Thelonious Monk

homer911 wrote: »

You will probably only get something with a hub motor for that price. A mid-drive motor is really recommended.

Yeah see none of this means anything to me, lol. I'll have to google all these things now.

Thelonious Monk

benjy1000 wrote: »

Yep I got one in January, I love it I have to say, now its not as quick obviously as a normal bike (25km is it's max speed)and plenty of folk pass you out but I have a 11.5km each way commute and it was taking me one hour and 5/10 mins on public transport each way ( train, luas,walk -nightmare) and now i can get door to door in just over 32 minutes each way!! would probably do it in 20 minutes with a normal bike but I'd be sweaty and gross then and that's not what i wanted so delighted with the half hour spin.

It also folds in two and can put in your boot so it's handy for that too.

Some of the ebikes here are 2k so although it's a bit slower it's ideal for my needs currently.

Wow cool. What's it like going against strong wind? Do you still have to put a lot of effort in? Would it be possible to get one of those serviced here or get parts for it do you think?

Utter Consternation

Thelonious Monk wrote: »

Wow cool. What's it like going against strong wind? Do you still have to put a lot of effort in? Would it be possible to get one of those serviced here or get parts for it do you think?

They're great going against the wind. You don't have to put in much effort. When i'm going into work the wind is at my back so it's normally quicker on my regular bike as i'm limited to 25kph, but it makes a big difference when i'm going home against the wind. If it's really windy out it can cut about twenty minutes off my commute. I do 12km each way.

The windy season is nearly over now though!! That's the only.

LollipopJimmy

I looked into an electric for my new commute. I ended up going for a Honda CBR... dont follow me down the rabbit hole

John Hutton

I strongly advise you to build your own, especially if you have a bike already.

I built one with a mid motor and the largest battery I could get for a total of 600, just as good as a store bought bike which would cost many multiples.

Ray Palmer

Greenaer basically sell top end models the china imports like shown are the bottom end.

Hub motors are on either the front or back wheels. This causes some issue on with balance and slips under certain conditions.

Mid motors are by the pedals and drive the bike like you are pedaling. Much easier to get used to. That puts more wear on chain and gears and a bit pricier

Other things to consider are replacement parts with the battery being the biggest. If the battery can't be replaced the bike is useless. Cheaper bike more likely to be a cheap battery which needs replacing. Best go for a well known system that will be about in a few years. Bosh system very popular and probably the best system to get

Fr_Dougal

benjy1000 wrote: »

https://www.gearbest.com/electric-bikes/pp_009485100083.html?wid=1433363


That will sort you out. Takes about 8 weeks to arrive from China. All in for about €450.00

Did that include customs?

Thelonious Monk

Utter Consternation wrote: »

The windy season is nearly over now though!! That's the only.

We get about 2 weeks of calm weather a year, it's been really windy since about August ffs, worst and longest period of weather I can ever remember.

Jesper

Just wanted to Bump this thread.

My family are thinking of buying our father an electric bike for his 70th birthday. He says he will use it a lot but as we are a bit uncertain how much he will use it we want to keep the price as low as possible - around €600ish?
Is this even an option (the Halford's stuff?). It might also be a option for a family member to buy it using buy to work (I will research if this is possible - don't want to break any rules of course).

Can anyone recommend anything. Comfort/moderate range/light usage/cheap etc.

John Hutton

Jesper wrote: »

Just wanted to Bump this thread.

My family are thinking of buying our father an electric bike for his 70th birthday. He says he will use it a lot but as we are a bit uncertain how much he will use it we want to keep the price as low as possible - around €600ish?
Is this even an option (the Halford's stuff?). It might also be a option for a family member to buy it using buy to work (I will research if this is possible - don't want to break any rules of course).

Can anyone recommend anything. Comfort/moderate range/light usage/cheap etc.

Does he have an old bike in the shed?

https://www.theirishantiquarian.com/2020/04/diy-electric-bicycle-revolutionary.html?m=1