E bike advise

xl500

Hi I am looking for recommendation for 2 folding e bikes myself and my wife would like to do the greenway this summer hopefully I would folding as I want to put them in the back of a hatchback car I think it would be more secure

Thanks for help
Xl 500

loyatemu

xl500 wrote: »

Hi I am looking for recommendation for 2 folding e bikes myself and my wife would like to do the greenway this summer hopefully I would folding as I want to put them in the back of a hatchback car I think it would be more secure

Thanks for help
Xl 500

My wife has one of these:
https://rothar.ie/collections/electric-bikes/products/legend-siena-e-bike-dublin-electric-ireland

I believe it's one of the only folding ebikes with 24" wheels, which is a definite benefit in terms of stability and ride comfort. The trade off is that it doesn't fold as small as a traditional 20" wheeler.

On the negative side, it's very rear-heavy with the battery and motor both on the back, the 20" version has the battery built into the frame.

iwillhtfu

loyatemu wrote: »

My wife has one of these:
https://rothar.ie/collections/electric-bikes/products/legend-siena-e-bike-dublin-electric-ireland

I believe it's one of the only folding ebikes with 24" wheels, which is a definite benefit in terms of stability and ride comfort. The trade off is that it doesn't fold as small as a traditional 20" wheeler.

On the negative side, it's very rear-heavy with the battery and motor both on the back, the 20" version has the battery built into the frame.

It also wouldn't make it out and back on the greenway according to the spec between 50-70km. This will obviously depend on how you use it and rider weight etc.

I'm not sure I'd bother with folding bikes OP the range is limited on all of them as they're designed for short hops.

Type 17

iwillhtfu wrote: »

I'm not sure I'd bother with folding bikes OP the range is limited on all of them as they're designed for short hops.

As mentioned, folding bikes are always a compromise (even the market-leading Brompton). If your only reason for folders is ease of mounting on the car, I'd advise looking at decent racks for your specific car.

If you're worried about the weight of two e-bikes on a clip-on rack, take a look at tow-bar-mounted racks which have much higher weight limits. Although this solution might cost more, you won't get the use out of the folding bikes if you don't find them pleasant to ride.

OP have you looked into renting bikes if you are just doing a green way. As far as I know some as do have ebikes available.

sharingan

Deleted User wrote: »

OP have you looked into renting bikes if you are just doing a green way. As far as I know some as do have ebikes available.

Yeah would recommend this. Spend small change doing a proper trial of the bikes before commiting to a 4 figure purchase.

Which greenway BTW? I have done waterford -> dungarvan on a fold up brompton, but I am a bit of an outlier when it comes to orthodox cycling.

CantGetNoSleep

I can just barely fit two Brompton's (probably the smallest folding bike you can get) into the boot of my VW Golf. Anything bigger and you would need to fold down the back seats. However if the back seats are down, I can fit two road bikes - so might defeat the purpose of buying folding.