mid-low range e-bike: carrera crossfuse? or alternative?

You checked out any cube e-bikes? They make some pretty decent mountain bikes which is what I'm more familiar with.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/cube-cross-hybrid-one-400-e-bike-2019/rp-prod181708

Cube are stocked in quite many bike shops locally so you could probably get a demo.

homer911 wrote: »

Decathlon in Belfast do electric bikes starting from £650 https://www.decathlon.co.uk/C-811556-electric-bikes
Dont see any on the Irish site, but it wont be long before the shop in Ballymun is open..

I was in France last month and had a look. They've a fair range of e-bikes, including a few nice looking MTBs. The urban/commuter style bikes didn't look great though - heavy, clunky with hub motors. They're strange in that they produce cracking value and spec road and mountain bikes, but their about town bikes are very meh, and their kids bike are awful compared to the likes of Isla, Frog and the like. Then again, I'm not turning over circa €10bn annually so what would I know!

Another vote for Greenaer customer service - they only charged me 10quid to run a diagnostic on my ebike - which they hadn't supplied - nice fella's.

What do you need the bike to do? Commute open road or city, cycle offroad up the side of a mountain or go to the shops? What range will you require? Make sure you try a bike first to see if you like it - Greenaer rent bikes out so that might be an idea.

I did 11000miles on an ebike in 18 months on a cube emtb with a bosch CX mid motor. I abused it daily and it never broke once and got the job done but looking back I would have gone for a different style of bike, albeit with the same drivetrain. I had the 500ah battery and I wouldn't go smaller personally. Also I added things like permenant mudguards and lights that would have been cheaper to buy already fitted to the bike. As Ray said above, mid motors wear the drivetrain - I was swapping mine every 2000miles, but I did the work myself and enjoyed doing so. I have my reservations about hub motors for big miles or offroad but they would be great for regular light to medium road use.

A good brand bike which uses a hub motor is Whisper, https://www.dlbcycles.ie/ in Dun Laoghaire supply them, no personal experience however.

I bought my bike from Chainreaction and they seem to have some good deals on at the moment. Civil/Public service also recognise them for the Bike to work grant which I availed of.

mikelata wrote: »

I need it for a small commute to work, and occasional one day/week longer commute from Dublin city center to Seapoint area

So a town / city bike with integrated mudguards and wired in lights (to the main battery) would be a good idea. Also consider a low crossbar / stepover bike. The wired in lights are super on the bosch system, press a button and the front and rear lights come on. I supplemented these with USB rechargables but the combo ensured good visibility.

mikelata wrote: »

A couple of extra questions:

- lights: fixed in the bike and use internal battery looks like a great idea. the only issue is to attract thieves when the bike is locked?
- battery: removable makes sense for easy charging, but you will need to take it out each time you lock the bike too?

thanks a lot to everybody for your help and advice!

I always remove the battery, an ebike is almost worthless without it and the charger. Also not nice to cycle without battery.

Deleted User wrote: »

The self-assembly could be as simple as attaching the wheels and seat post depending on the bike and what company it comes from. Honestly, I'm a mechanical idiot and managed to put together a bike in 10 minutes without a problem.

This is my experience, simple assembly. I had to put on the handlebars also. Usually pedals are not included

Cyclepath wrote: »

Take this advice OP!

I tried a few different bikes and it helped refine the real world requirements. Lots of things you don't think about, like:

The sheer weight of the bike when you're trying to manoeuvre it into a shed etc
Mounting and dismounting a heavy bike
Starting on a hill
Ease of battery removal and charging times
Getting the back wheel off to fix a puncture...
etc...

Any of the greenaer bikes will be middrive so removing the rear wheel will be the same as a normal bike. One fly in the ointment with the cube bikes was the crap OE tyres, I swapped them for puncture proof tyres.

The mid drives can be ridden as a normal bike btw. They respond to pedal input so are very intuitive, hub motors less so in my experience but they are still good. Charging time on the 500wh battery was 5-6hrs.

Also see if you can deal with the 25kph assistance limit, it can be frustrating, if the OP is a fit cyclist you might be better on a non-ebike commuter. The OP's commute is pretty flat. However one of the main advantages of ebikes is the ability to turn up to work/meetings/pub without sweating.

Another option to try a rental bike is https://www.shaneshowthadventures.com/en in Howth. He has hub motor offroad bikes like the Radpower.

Cyclepath wrote: »

I'm leaving it til I'm 60, or the knees give up!

Good point. My pensioner mother, who has COPD, can cycle up Howth hill on her hub motor ebike.

mikelata wrote: »

This bike looks deadly: https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/fuji-e-traverse-1-3-intl-e-bike-2019/rp-prod179618

Bosch 400Wh Battery
25% discounted
integrated lighting and removable battery
very light 21.70kg (relatively speaking)

I don't know anything about Fuji bikes though

Are you planning on using the cycle to work scheme?

Fuji/Cube etc. are all much of a muchness imo. I would rather focus on a drive type (bosch/shimano/yamaha/hub motor - Bafang) and then buy which is most comfortable, has best spec and at the best price

For instance here is a cube for 100quid less with a similar spec but with the 500wh battery https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/cube-acid-hybrid-one-500-allroad-29-grey-n-white-770806

Basically the same spec as the Fuji for ~1700
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/cube-cross-hybrid-one-400-allroad-iridium-n-blue-768403

Its a good time to buy, retailers are letting go of their 2019 models hence all the deals.
I

Utter Consternation wrote: »

According the the RSA it's not legal. I've seen one or two Radrhinos around Dublin however.

https://www.rsa.ie/Documents/VS_Information_Notes/Two_Three_Wheeled_Vehicles/FAQs%20on%20E%20Bikes%20and%20Pedelecs%20and%20battery%20Scooters.pdf

Their new radrunner looks ebike legal (250W, max 25kph) but it has a low-speed throttle for walking speed (max 6kph) which could muddy the waters. I suppose you could remove the throttle.

Walking throttles are legal, every Bosch powered bike has one.

Utter Consternation wrote: »

This one superceeds the assist when cycling uphill to give you an extra push.

If you stay below 6kph the Bosch will do the same, just that its hard to do - easier to cycle. However I had a look on the Radrunner specs there and it doesnt mention the EN 15194 standard so it may not comply, worth asking.

Ray Palmer wrote: »

There is mention of the 25kph restriction on ebikes which I find strange. The mid motors don't have that problem at all. The motor switches off at 25kph but you can still cycle faster and will. The wheel motors are the ones that won't let you cycle faster and that is the cheap ones only.

I said that there was no assistance above 25kph, which is correct. My Bosch CX motor features a lot of transmittion drag above this speed but you can, as you say, pedal faster - its just not easy. The newer gen 3 Active Line Plus motor has little or no drag above 25kph and would be more like a regular bike, albeit heavier.

Ferris wrote: »

Walking throttles are legal, every Bosch powered bike has one.

Not in Ireland. No pedalling no power, otherwise it's not a pedelec.


It's a nuance that's above the RPU but an insurance assessor might catch.

ED E wrote: »

Not in Ireland. No pedalling no power, otherwise it's not a pedelec.


It's a nuance that's above the RPU but an insurance assessor might catch.

It is not a pedelec by definition of the law in regards to the finance act which covers bikes on the bike to work scheme. They appear to have done a copy and paste job from EU regs.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2008/act/25/section/7/enacted/en/html

The poster said they were legal, not that they qualified for the definition for bike to work scheme. I believe they could well be legal as the limit as I think it is the same as mobility scooters and similar. I was looking into this about escooters, can't remember the figures but I have not heard of people in electric wheelchairs being done for doing 6km/h, and many on footpaths... Electric wheelchairs are allowed on roads before some smartarse brings it up, in some countries they have higher speed limits on roads

But I did see a video saying the walk assist was not available on the US models, even though they have a more sensible 32.2km/h limit. I have said in other threads that if that was the limit here I reckon many would not go to the expense/risk/bother of derestricting theirs.

mikelata wrote: »

this might sound like a very silly question, but is the difference between

Cube cross hybrid

and

Cube touring hybrid

that the Cross has MB wheels, and that the touring has a pannier rack ?
The cross one appears to be 200 EUR cheaper in all places I checked. So, I could just buy a pannier rack for it and that is it

thanks

Doesn’t seem to be much in it but hold on for a sec. both seem to have the ‘performance line cruise’ motor, I think the ‘active line plus’ has more torque (50nm vs. 63nm). Might be worth considering, I’d want the plus as a minimum myself.