Looking to ditch the car and convert to an E-Bike for my daily work commute (25km round trip)
Have a budget of €2k max.
Prefer pedal assist so i still have the benefits of a workout (except on hills!)
Any recommendations?
are you able to avail of the cycle to work scheme? if so, your employer may have set conditions on what shops you can use, which could limit your choice.
No - unfortunately my employer is not signed up to the BTW scheme.........
what bike shops are near you, and what brands to they stock?
Buckley Cycles would be the nearest to me, but the cheapest E-Bikes they have are way above my budget
The RadPower RadCity 5 plus falls under your budget, has pedal assist with torque sensing, geared hub and hydraulic disks.
Had my daughter's Halfords Pendleton E-Bike fixed by a guy from Easy Motion last year. Found him great to deal with and they'd probably be my first port of call for a budget ebike in Dublin, see https://easymotion.ie/collections/e-bikes Would not go near Halfords again in a fit of madness for an e-bike, while the bikes aren't too bad, the service is appalling and we've had a few electrical faults needing expert repair. Parts are also difficult to get from a DIY perspective.
Get a regular bike first and then a conversion kit. Cheaper and just as good.
https://www.myebike.ie/
i have a rad runner. Love it to bits!
That's a bit pricey (€700/€850, just for the kit). Surely there's cheaper to be had.
I got mine for about 4 a year ago. Maybe inflation gouging like everything else
Not much cheaper though, you could get a Rad Power City bike in December for about 1k (they've since gone up to 1.8k)
have you asked them, it's not onerous.
Key thing about an e-bike is having a FULL service option close by.
I bought one locally just before covid and the shop had not been trained by bosch on the electrics so I need to go to Dublin, 170 kms each way when I need elec work done
going by the OP's nearest LBS being Buckley's, i suspect that puts him or her in or near offaly.
Be interesting to know how many places there are that can look after the electrics outside of the major cities and towns. First time my daughters bike went into Halfords for a repair it took them two months to get it back. Second time Easy motion picked the bike up and had it back to me the following day hence my previous post. Talking to the guy who did the work he mentioned you can get standard controllers, schematics, battery packs and cabling for the more common motors which greatly simplifies servicing if you're inclined to DIY. Also something to consider buying a new e-bike. Servicing the motor itself is an altogether more involved matter and I'm guessing most places would either replace under warranty or charge for a new one rather than repairing for budget and mid cost motors.
Like you say, you don't service an ebike motor you replace it. My mid drive packed in at 20k km which, although I wasn't ecstatic, was I suspect well beyond its design lifespan. I took it off and sent it away to be rebuilt. Bike has ~28k km on it now. None of this required a bike shop, if you can change a chain and cassette you can swap a mid-drive motor. You may need a specialist tool (norm for bike DIY) and a torque wrench but it was very straightforward. Hub motors are easier to fit but may require a new wheel or laced into the existing which I most areas have a wheel builder nearby.
Everything is usually plug and play with the exception of proprietary software, Greenaer (very reasonably - a tenner!) enabled the lighting button on my bike after I fitted lights. They have shops in Dublin, Mullingar and Cork incidentally.
Interesting data, how is your battery?
Funny you mention it because its only this week its giving a battery error code (640) and its giving a lower power level to the motor. To be fair, I use the bike to commute and on those days its charged twice so its been through thousands of charging cycles over the last 5yrs. Before it gave the error it had reduced to 50% of its capacity but was still working. The issue with bosch/shimano/yamaha systems is that the battery is proprietary to the system so you cannot swap in any old battery and as a consequence they are expensive. A replacement battery for my bike is ~600euro which seems to be the cheapest I can find shipped to Ireland.
The only other issue I had was a faulty wiring harness between the battery and the motor. Again it happened at silly mileage and it never left me stuck. FWIW I absolutely hammer the bike so its not like it gets an easy life, although I am careful to not get water into the motor and I stay on top of maintenance. The bike has been stunningly reliable really.
