What to look for in a folding ebike ?

ZoZoZo

Hi,

An aging relative is looking for an ebike mainly to help with going up slopes. She currently cycles a 20-inch wheel folding bike so wants similar but with a battery.

I see two different values quoted in the specs:
1. Motor power (most of them seem to be 250W)
2. Range/Battery capacity (eg 30km or 10.5Ah/380Wh)

Am I correct in thinking that it is the power figure I should be looking (ie 250W) rather than the range/capacity km/Ah/Wh if I am specifically interested in most assistance going up slopes ?

For example one bike lists:
250W motor , 36W, 10.5Ah battery => claims 60km range
Another lists:
350W motor , 36W, 6.0Ah battery => claims 20km range

Would the second one (350W) be better specifically for slopes or is there some way in which the battery capacity would also be relevant ?

Does anyone have any experience of Windgoo brand ? It is the only one I can find with motor > 250W (https://www.laptopshop.ie/shop?store-page=Windgoo-B20-foldable-Electric-Bike-E-Bike-p300506104) It claims a 350W but I'm just wondering if it really has a 350W motor of if it is really just 250W and the 350W is a typo
It does list a max safe climbing of 25 degrees which would translate into an incline of 46% though!

Compare this to a 250W motor (eg https://www.swytchbike.com/) which claims Our compact motor has enough pulling power to assist the average adult up a steep 30% incline easily
So if the specs are to be believed the 46% incline for the Windgoo is consistent with a more powerful motor ?


Anything else I should be looking out for with an ebike ? Will the smaller 14 inch wheels make for a bumpier ride ?



Thanks,



Zozo

Inquitus

The battery capacity is only relevant to range, the motor power is relevant to speed and climbing. Although per the law the top speed should be limited.

magicbastarder

as you point out, the slopes indicated are ludicrous, so i'd take those claims with a pinch of salt. do you know what sort of inclines she's facing?

motor power for e-bikes is limited to 250W by regulation - it's not policed, but the 350W e-bike, from a legal point of view, requires a helmet, licence, insurance, etc.; it's a moped.

ED E

Average commuters aren't doing 200W steady state, not even close, so a 250W motor is essentially more than doubling your power output. Probably more for most average joes.

Its plenty.

CantGetNoSleep

Why does she need the folding part of it?

In my experience, carrying around most foldable ebikes is more physically demanding than cycling a bike up a hill.

I'd recommend trying a test ride, and during that test ride, to try out the fold and carrying it where it is intended to be used (e.g. into the house / office / car).

If it's just to put in the car / store inside, you will be fine (although I'd question why bother getting a folding bike then). If you need to carry it for any length of time (e.g. onto a train or into a large office building), then I'd suggest paying the extra for a Brompton electric as carrying 20-25kg of awkwardly folding ebike isn't an easy experience

magicbastarder

she might not need to carry it, it may be that she's short on storage options so just needs the compactness.

ZoZoZo

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Why does she need the folding part of it?

The folding was originally co-incidental, I couldn't find any adult bikes with a 20 inch wheel that weren't foldable and it still looks like most (or all ?) of these 'small' bikes are foldable.

Having had a foldable one for 5 years now she is looking for similar so that it can be easily put in the car boot to go cycling in more remote areas, this also means that it needs to be light enough to lift in/out of the boot. So ideally I'm looking for something about 15kg which isn't easy in ebikes.

ZoZoZo

magicbastarder wrote: »

as you point out, the slopes indicated are ludicrous, so i'd take those claims with a pinch of salt. do you know what sort of inclines she's facing?

motor power for e-bikes is limited to 250W by regulation - it's not policed, but the 350W e-bike, from a legal point of view, requires a helmet, licence, insurance, etc.; it's a moped.

Don't know what slopes she'll be facing but I suspect 250W will be fine but I guess 350W would always make it that much easier.

On the 250W legal limit, do you have a link to where this is specified ? I read somewhere that this is the limit in the UK but if its also the limit here then I'm surprised that retailers are selling a 350W version.

magicbastarder

It's not illegal to *sell* them with motors more powerful than 250w, the issue becomes their use on public roads. The regs specify that an e-bike motor cannot be more powerful than 250w, cannot operate unless the rider is also pedaling, and cannot provide assistance once traveling faster than 25km/h. but there are loads of bikes on the road which break one or all of these rules, but the issue is not policed.

CantGetNoSleep

ZoZoZo wrote: »

The folding was originally co-incidental, I couldn't find any adult bikes with a 20 inch wheel that weren't foldable and it still looks like most (or all ?) of these 'small' bikes are foldable.

Having had a foldable one for 5 years now she is looking for similar so that it can be easily put in the car boot to go cycling in more remote areas, this also means that it needs to be light enough to lift in/out of the boot. So ideally I'm looking for something about 15kg which isn't easy in ebikes.

Maybe try to test a Brompton electric? Or the cheapest Brompton with a swytch kit which would come in around 1500€ I think. I've done 2000km on a Brompton since beginning of last year and I love it. And I've had a Dahon folding bike before and hated it even with bigger wheels

dingding

https://easymotion.ie/collections/folding-electric-bikes

I have this bike for about 4 years. I find it great and recently got a second battery to extend the range. The smaller battery would have given me about 25 miles range and I used it a lot on the canal. It is great for the hills and it flattens out the hills from an effort point of view. My version has 3 powers and at the higher speed, I would cycle to the beach and back from my house no bother and this is about 15 miles round trip. At the lower powers, the range is higher.

This bike folds and fits in the boot of my car, I recently got a bike rack that fits on the tow bar as the bike was getting a bit heavy for lifting in and out of the car.

The bike is very hard to cycle when the battery goes flat as it is a heavy bike and you are also working against the motor.

I got it under the bike to work scheme and this company facilitated my company paying 1000 and a seperate invoice to me for the remainder. The price was broadly the same as it is now. If you are in the Sligo town area, I could let you take a test ride.