Bike recommendation or considerations

[Jdsk]

Yes, you can include links. But please put something in the body of the post that says what they are, eg the name of the bike rather than bare URLs.

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

I have no experience of e-bikes but do wonder about the state of the battery on a lower priced 2nd hand bike (ie older, more used). Batteries are "consumable" and lose capacity the more charge cycles they go through and depending on how they are looked after. And my impression is that replacement are not always low cost items. Not an issue beyond potentially impacting the total price when buying 2nd hand in spend £<x> on teh bike and then discover you need to spend an additional £<y> on replacing the battery.

Others might know if this is a real risk or not (as said, I don't know about e-bikes).

Ian

[Nearholmer]

What I can tell by a quick google is that some of them don’t seem to be UK street legal, except possibly if licensed, taxed etc as mopeds (but, I’m not sure they comply with moped law), so you could only legally use them on private land.

[TheWho]

I've added links to the other post. Also realised the Beacon isn't fat tires. As you said @Nearholmer it may not be possible at this price range

GOGOBEST GF600 & GF700
Engwe M20
Cyrusher XF650 Hardtail
Black Widow E-Bike
Basis Beacon Hardtail
Himiway Cruiser

[TheWho]

What I can tell by a quick google is that some of them don’t seem to be UK street legal, except possibly if licensed, taxed etc as mopeds (but, I’m not sure they comply with moped law), so you could only legally use them on private land.

Thanks for the heads up I'll have to check them all.

[Dupont]

I have no experience of e-bikes but do wonder about the state of the battery on a lower priced 2nd hand bike (ie older, more used). Batteries are "consumable" and lose capacity the more charge cycles they go through and depending on how they are looked after. And my impression is that replacement are not always low cost items. Not an issue beyond potentially impacting the total price when buying 2nd hand in spend £<x> on teh bike and then discover you need to spend an additional £<y> on replacing the battery.

Others might know if this is a real risk or not (as said, I don't know about e-bikes).

Ian

The Bosch battery on my bike is good for about 500 charges before it starts to decline. I get 50 to 60 miles from a charge, so there would be some serious miles up the bike before battery replacement is needed and it could be that most of the other parts on it would be severely worn or expired by then.

I seriously doubt Chinese brands would do that mileage per battery though.

[TheWho]

Okay, so I'm realising that two decades is a lot in the biking world and eBay is showing my that I can't even get a secondhand e-mtb with fat tires for £2,000. I didn't even know you could spend over £10,000 on a bike! I was very naive.

Looks like I'm not getting out on to any tracks for a long while.

[Nearholmer]

Are you absolutely sure you can’t do this without the “e”? Because if you can, we can get you pedalling up a track for way under £1000.

If you can pedal an e-assisted bike, you can pedal one with no assistance, just perhaps less far, less fast, or less steep.

[slowster]

mainly off road routes through countryside, some bog/hill riding, some gravel, some mud, moorland, fields, woodland. I don't want to do fast or downhills. I'd like the option to go out in snow in winter in the future if I really get into it. I'm recovering from a health condition so I'd very much like an e-bike to take some of the strain as I build up my fitness.

Reading between the lines of the above, especially my emboldening, your subsequent reference to "e-mtb with fat tires", and looking at the 'e-bikes' you have mentioned, you seem to want a fat tyred (>3") electric bike for difficult off-road terrain.

I suspect that the reality is that the 'e-bikes' you have identified will be too heavy to use without using the maximum assist level virtually continuously off-road, and they would probably be awful to ride - even on roads - without using the assistance. As has already been noted, most of them are illegal mopeds/motorbikes, which may not be used on roads or anywhere the public has access, such as bridleways.

Fat bikes, i.e. MTBs with 4" to 6" tyres, are used by some MTBers to ride off-road on the sort of terrain you have listed where the wide tyres are useful due to the absence of tracks or very rough terrain, but they are a very small niche of MTBing, and I am not aware of the manufacturers of fat bikes making electrically assisted versions.

If you want a bike that will enable you to ride over almost any terrain, you probably need to reset your expectations.

Have you investigated what bikes/ebikes people use who are already riding where you want to ride?

All bikes are a compromise. The trick is to choose one that is the best compromise for you, and that might not be the type of bike that you initially imagine yourself riding.

[Psamathe]

...
Looks like I'm not getting out on to any tracks for a long while.

Don't give-up. If you want to resume cycling and from your other thread one option is to reconsider the type of cycling. If you are really set on getting out on tracks then maybe less specialised, less niche bike. Or reconsider your reasons for avoiding roads?

Ian

[Nearholmer]

At a seriously practical level, some of those bikes are amazingly heavy, and I for one wouldn’t want to be trying to pedal one home if it goes faulty, or pushing it out of a quagmire if you got stuck, miles from anywhere and everybody, with a limiting health condition.

[roubaixtuesday]

Not sure why you want fat tyres.

What's wrong with the decathlon suggestion made upthread.

I works personally avoid random cheap brands.

[TheWho]

Thanks for the helpful replies. I think you're right about the fat tires. I thought they'd be better for mud, but there seems to be a lot of disagreement on that and they are probably not that important.

@Nearholmer I was a bit worried about the weight too, hence asking for some of this advice. Some are 30kg+

Would this be a good (but more expensive) option:
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/27-5-elec ... R-p-168875

[Dupont]

Thanks for the helpful replies. I think you're right about the fat tires. I thought they'd be better for mud, but there seems to be a lot of disagreement on that and they are probably not that important.

@Nearholmer I was a bit worried about the weight too, hence asking for some of this advice. Some are 30kg+

Would this be a good (but more expensive) option:
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/27-5-elec ... R-p-168875

I had a non electric Rockrider from Decathlon years back. Paid £199 for it. Absolutely recommend. It was nice to ride and utterly bombproof. I got £100 for it when i sold it on.

If you are thinking about spending £1700 though I would go with a hybrid as opposed to a mountain bike. You get the best of both worlds then. Or maybe an egravel with drops.

[Nearholmer]

Review of it here https://ebiketips.road.cc/content/revie ... l%20winner.

Although it’s worth checking that components haven’t been downgraded since then, because that has happened to a fair few bikes since the pandemic to maintain price under cost pressures.