Cycling UK Forum

I'm thinking of getting an electric bike through through cycle to work scheme. I've narrowed it down to the Raleigh Velo Cite (£1350.00) or the Giant Twist Lite 2. The Raleigh gets a very good review in Electric Bike magazine and is a torque sensing drive. Having spoken to the staff in one of the Giant stores I have been assured that the Twist Lite 2 is a torque sensing drive, too. I am not convinced though at that price (£1199.00) and it's really not clear from the spec on their website.

I know that torque sensing drive normally only comes with e-bikes that have the motor in the bottom bracket but these are usually nearer the £2k mark and would be out of my price range.

Any thoughts?

Torque sense is good, but have you ridden either/both?

Not yet as neither of the stores near to me (Watford) have these models in stock at the moment, though I'm told they will soon.

I got an e-bike a few years back based on the Bosch centre drive system and can highly recommend it. I went for this type after trying a few e-bikes at an NEC cycle show. Apart from the advantages of delivering the power through the bikes own gearing, it also means you have complete freedom of choice in gears, brakes and front wheel build.

I see loads of e-bikes on the roads where I live (sunny Belgium) and by far the most popular system is the Bosch motor at the bottom bracket point.
As for the brand of bike, probably Granville, but I doubt they are available in the UK. You could still compare prices, spec etc on their website.

We have a recumbent (HPVelotechnik Gekko) with Bionx. There is a torque sensor in the rear hub

Im overweight. In fact Im fat, and lazy.
So I need to ride my real bike not get one of those power-station polluters

Or maybe, like a colleague of mine, an bike could help you get started commuting. He barely uses the assist any more....

Or it could extend your cycling into places you couldn't go before, or deeper into retirement or even old age...

To get back on thread - can't emphasise enough that, unless you live in East Anglia, or somewhere with similar topography, or weigh next to nothing, the thing that really matters is the battery size.
Endurance in e-bikes is like fuel consumption figures in cars. They may give a basis for comparison between models, but don't even think that they represent what is achievable in real life.
Here in Plymouth, going up the railway gradients of the Plym Trail, a round trip of 30 miles uses about 40% of available endurance. On the other hand, 30 miles between Ilfracombe and Lynton used between 80% and 90% of the battery on my bike, and 60% to 70% of my wife's (guess who also had the heavy panniers - old habits die hard!). And No, we didn't go up the hill at Hunters Inn.

We bit on the bullet and bought the top line Raleigh Motus with the Bosch System a couple of weeks ago. The first 150 miles (about three years riding on my old push bike) suggests it was a good move.

Elizabethsdad wrote:I got an e-bike a few years back based on the Bosch centre drive system and can highly recommend it. I went for this type after trying a few e-bikes at an NEC cycle show. Apart from the advantages of delivering the power through the bikes own gearing, it also means you have complete freedom of choice in gears, brakes and front wheel build.

But what about choice of chainset? One of these gives you choice over just about everything except in the unlikely event you want to use a Campagnolo cassette or screw on freewheel.

The Bosch Motor IS the chainset - choice of 4 levels of assistance, depending on how hard (or otherwise) you want to work. Raleigh Motus options include a Shimano 7 ring cassette, or an Nexus 7 gear hub; and presumably - if one were searching for perfection (which I'm not) - one could ring the changes on those.

dave28 wrote:The Bosch Motor IS the chainset - choice of 4 levels of assistance, depending on how hard (or otherwise) you want to work. Raleigh Motus options include a Shimano 7 ring cassette, or an Nexus 7 gear hub; and presumably - if one were searching for perfection (which I'm not) - one could ring the changes on those.

That's was my point - you are limited to a single chain ring. WIth the one illustrated you can have a triple.
Have been researching electric power stuff for someone who has lowered heart function causing trouble pedalling sometimes but wants to carry on with laden touring. The Q100 seems ideal - can still keep stronglight triple chainset with 9 speed on the back and a reasonably sized battery and the controller will fit in a nelson saddlebag. Bike will be a bit heavier but ridden as normal much of the time with electric assistance used when required.
I suppose it depends on the type of use you want for the electric motor.

Why would I want a chain ring?
The motor unit senses how much power I'm putting in, and I can chose to have no assistance, or an extra 40, 100, 150, or 225% of my effort level.
It's a bit like having a 5 ring chain set - except that, confusingly when one starts to analyse it, sometimes max power acts like the big ring (when you're on the level and just going places) and sometimes it acts like the little ring (enabling a high cadence on steep hills). Either way, it puts the Hand of God between your shoulder blades, just when you want it.
And when both I and the bike are overwhelmed by the gradient (it really doesn't like 1 in 5s), there's a push button override for walking up-hill.
We use ours for round town where the ability to "pour on the power" whilst remaining all calm and collected makes for safer and more confident cycling (though it eats battery charge); and pannier laden touring, where we try to keep the assistance level as low as possible, to conserve energy stocks for the unexpected.
Touring, we find that the limiting factor on endurance is ourselves rather than the battery. (I'm over 70 and with "slack lungs" that mean that, unassisted, I have to walk anything over a railway gradient). It may be heresy, but anything more than 30-40 miles on a bike is quite as much as we can cope with.
Sure, if I were into home engineering, didn't have ten big toes for fingers, and found "messing about with bikes" (to misquote Ratty) as much fun as just getting on and going somewhere new, whilst offering up thanks for the FM that makes it all possible, I might find your argument more compelling. As it is, there is just no way I would trust myself (or, more importantly, my wife) to a standard bike that I had hyped up in any way. Not that I don't respect, and even secretly envy, those that can.

dave28 wrote:Why would I want a chain ring?
The motor unit senses how much power I'm putting in, and I can chose to have no assistance, or an extra 40, 100, 150, or 225% of my effort level.
It's a bit like having a 5 ring chain set - except that, confusingly when one starts to analyse it, sometimes max power acts like the big ring (when you're on the level and just going places) and sometimes it acts like the little ring (enabling a high cadence on steep hills). Either way, it puts the Hand of God between your shoulder blades, just when you want it.
And when both I and the bike are overwhelmed by the gradient (it really doesn't like 1 in 5s), there's a push button override for walking up-hill.
We use ours for round town where the ability to "pour on the power" whilst remaining all calm and collected makes for safer and more confident cycling (though it eats battery charge); and pannier laden touring, where we try to keep the assistance level as low as possible, to conserve energy stocks for the unexpected.
Touring, we find that the limiting factor on endurance is ourselves rather than the battery. (I'm over 70 and with "slack lungs" that mean that, unassisted, I have to walk anything over a railway gradient). It may be heresy, but anything more than 30-40 miles on a bike is quite as much as we can cope with.
Sure, if I were into home engineering, didn't have ten big toes for fingers, and found "messing about with bikes" (to misquote Ratty) as much fun as just getting on and going somewhere new, whilst offering up thanks for the FM that makes it all possible, I might find your argument more compelling. As it is, there is just no way I would trust myself (or, more importantly, my wife) to a standard bike that I had hyped up in any way. Not that I don't respect, and even secretly envy, those that can.

As I said "I suppose it depends on the type of use you want for the electric motor."

I was in Truro yesterday and wandered round to Clive Mitchell Cycles.
http://www.clivemitchellcycles.co.uk
Outside he always has a collection of secondhand bikes, and yesterday there were three E-bikes.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.26282 ... 312!8i6656

They were HUGE.
High and wide 'bars, big frames, very wide Q factor, chunky wheels and tyres, wide sprung and padded saddle ................

Why are they so BIG?