First Folding E-Bike - Volt Metro LS or Wisper 806?

[Zirconium]

Hi, I am currently looking for a folding e-bike for my wife to commute to work. The journey is 4.5 miles each way predominantly on a wide dedicated cycle path and the remainder on roads, with numerous hills on route. The bike will be locked to a bike rack under CCTV at the work end, and kept folded indoors at home.

This is the first e-bike that I have bought and I have spent time trying to understand the options available in the market. I feel that I am moving towards a decision between two bikes and would appreciate any assistance that anyone can offer to help me decide. I have looked at numerous bikes in the process and have recorded why I've ruled them out. If anyone can identify any other great bikes to look at that I've missed it would also be appreciated.

Bikes I have dismissed, and why:

Brompton e-Bike: This is a last mile bike in my opinion. Tiny wheels. Small range. V-brakes. No suspension. High price. Incredibly compact and brilliant at folding, but is for taking into work rather than locking up outside.

Decathlon BTwin Tilt 500: You get what you pay for. Small range. V-brakes. No suspension. Weak battery cycle lifespan of 350-500 charges.

Go-Cycle GX: High price. All accessories are expensive extras. No way of locking it up outside. Love the design though.

Raleigh Stow-E-Way: A similar price to the Volt Metro LS and Wisper 806 but weaker specification. No suspension. V-brakes. All three of the bike shops I have visited to see the Volt / Wisper / Brompton bikes have had these in stock on display, and all dismissed it as worth looking at and did not invite me to try it.

Furo X: Long lead times. Limited dealers. Sceptical over the strength of aftersales network. Rear right and indicators are pointless when it's obscured by anything on the pannier rack. Wife dislikes the look.

Carrera Crosscity: V-brakes. No lights included. Mediocre range. Weak battery cycle lifespan of 500 charges.

e-Go Lite and Lite+: Small wheels. Wide tires. Looks well equipped for the money, although only branded components appear to the battery and gears. Appear more leisure / off-road targeted, Max versions more so.

Tern Vektron D8: I've not actually dismissed this bike, however I've struggled to find one to look at. I am not sure if the D8 model is end of line? The others start to go up a lot in price.

Bikes I am considering and have questions on:

Volt Metro LS
- A very strong specification for the money, lights, disc brakes, front suspension, suspension seat, branded components throughout.
- Panasonic 400Wh battery claims 40 miles, 1,000 charges. But the amp-hour rating is not declared - anyone know this?
- 250W SpinTech brand motor. But the Nm torque rating is not declared - anyone know this?
- Abus frame lock. But the model is not declared to be able to search compatible chains / cables - anyone know this?
- Servicing. I have read that Volt's manuals don't include the servicing instructions, and that to maintain the 2-year warranty the bike has to go into a dealer every 3 months. Please can any owner confirm if this is correct?
- Can any long term owners of the Metro or Metro LS give any feedback from their experience?

Wisper 806
- Claims to be the most popular folding electric bike in the UK, however I can find very few reviews or videos. Has anyone come across any thorough reviews or product tests of this bike?
- Samsung batteries with 375/575/700 Wh options, although no amp-hour or charges declared - anyone know this?
- Most components branded, a few self-branded exceptions - 65Nm 250W motor, saddle.
- Can any long term owners of the Wisper 806 give any feedback from their experience?

Thanks,
Zirconium

[stodd]

Also look at https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?rambletta I thought it came with a choice of batteries, but it seems only 430wH. Everybody agrees excellent service from Woosh before and after sales.

I've seen good reports of the Wisper 806 and Wisper generally.

Ask on https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums ... -i-buy.40/ for lots more opinions/advice.

An extra reason to rule out the Crosscity is poor reliability of the Suntour setup. (I think it's the same setup as the Crossfire.)

[hemo]

Beat me to it stodd !!!
Woosh are very good at CS and lower end cheaper respectable bike quality.

For 4.5 miles you only need a small battery of 300wh.

[Zirconium]

Thank you stodd and hemo.

I've spent some time going through the Pedelecs "Which E-Bike Should I Buy?" forum and come across the Woosh Rambletta there too.

It looks like another decent and reasonably priced option. It looks like it's similarly equipped, minus disc brakes and a shorter warranty (1 year rather than the 2 offered by Wisper and Volt).

I have put my questions around the technical details and warranty / servicing needs of the Metro LS to Volt, so I'll see what they come back with.

Can any Volt Metro LS or Wisper 806 owners provide any feedback on their ownership experiences?

Thanks,
Zirconium

[Bazang]

I've been searching for about 3 weeks now and found a bikeshop in Southport who had a few in as l wanted to try the Cube compact and the Juicy folding compact with the 3rd option battery so 35-40 miles, we went there today.

I only trialled the Juicy and l was sold, bought it and brought it home and so far l love it. It might not be your spec, for me it's derailleur gears not hub as l'd hoped but it's no problem whatsoever and certainly gives me the power up the hills l've been craving. A big plus is the seat is so comfortable

Hope your search goes well, take you time and enjoy whatever you buy

[COYB]

Re- Folding e-Bike. I bought my wife a Wisper 806 last year and she loves it. She rides it locally and when we are touring with the caravan. The bike has 5 power settings but she very rarely has the power set above one. A local route we ride here takes you up a long energy sapping hill but she still only has the power level on three and leaves me for dead on my Specialized Tricross. We opted for the 575 battery and it holds the charge for months when not in use. So pleased we went for the Wisper , we are both in our late 60s now so not sure how long it will be before I go electric but if I do it will be another Wisper.

[Zirconium]

Thanks Bazang and COYB.

The Juicy looks like another good budget option, although I personally was prepared to pay a bit more to have disk brakes as I feel that they are worth the investment given that V-brakes would have to work hard with the overall weight and increased rim speed from small wheels.

The Cube Compact is a nice bike, although it's not a folder and has a nice price tag to go with it.

In the end we have purchased a Wisper 806 with a 575Wh battery and so far so good.

Volt put their Metro LS prices up from £1,350-1,400 to £1,500, with lead times online of at least 2-4 weeks. Their manuals aren't available to download on their website and they are yet to respond to my email last week. That said - it is a very nice bike.

In the end the biggest attraction of the Wisper was the local support. We have both a +10 year dealer and Wisper's UK HQ / service centre within 5-10 miles of us. The knowledge of the intricacies of the bike from the dealer was excellent and the sales service superb, riding along with my wife on a good 20 minute test ride in the local area. We were able to buy an untouched bike to ride away including free lifetime servicing.

One minor niggle I have had with the Wisper since is trying to find suitable rear pannier bags. As the Wisper battery is beneath the rear rack the rack itself is a custom design. The pannier mounting rails are quite short in length and further apart than a standard rack. Finding something that will work with the constraints and avoid heel clashing given the 20" wheels has taken a lot of research. I finally found Rockbros 12L waterproof single pannier bags (yellow / black) that I believe from lots of scaling measurements off of photos etc. are going to do the job.

I have also found that many locks come with a frame mounted holder for the water bottle position low down on the seat tube. However, due to the low step design and absence of a top bar that enables any of the top / head / down tubes to be used for locking, the main lock needs to go around the seat tube and pass through the triangle created by the seat and chain stays. This means that the lock is likely to have a tendency to foul anything on the seat tube. It's not a big issue as the lock can be carried on the rear rack or in the panniers, but it's of consideration for low step designs.

Thanks
Zirconium

[simonineaston]

I have been very pleased with my Brompton, with a nano conversion. It is pretty much the Brompton e-bike you have crossed off your list so why am I mentioning it? 'Cos it's 99% of what the Brompton is (Tony Castle did the development work...) without the eye-watering cost of the Brompton labelled product. Bromptons of course do have suspension, albeit at rear only. Comfy for up to 10 /12 miles in my view, range with my 2 year old battery remains at around 20 miles, the way I cycle...

[Cpl]

I've been searching for about 3 weeks now and found a bikeshop in Southport who had a few in as l wanted to try the Cube compact and the Juicy folding compact with the 3rd option battery so 35-40 miles, we went there today.

I only trialled the Juicy and l was sold, bought it and brought it home and so far l love it. It might not be your spec, for me it's derailleur gears not hub as l'd hoped but it's no problem whatsoever and certainly gives me the power up the hills l've been craving. A big plus is the seat is so comfortable

Hope your search goes well, take you time and enjoy whatever you buy

Which southport (live between southport and preston) and how are you getting on with the juicy?
Looking to buy a first ebike, to fold under my desk at work, 6mile each way commute. Was looking at e-go lite, ezego etc. Budget important (don't earn enough for help to buy schemes) but don't want to buy a mare..

[Bonzo Banana]

I'm always curious about charge cycles in ebike specs. I do wonder if Decathlon and Halfords being much larger players and selling a huge amount of ebikes end up with more honest and fair specs than many of the small suppliers whose claims aren't really tested to the same degree. There are many variables to why a 18650 cell may have reduced capacity, how fast they are charged, how fast they are discharged etc and of course some variation between the cells in performance and of course the bike itself and how it is geared but the variables of how much the seller of the bike pushes their claims seems much wider. An ebike with a large capacity battery based on a higher amount of cells and a slow charger with a motor which doesn't have particularly high peak watts is likely to have a longer lasting battery but charge cycle claims just seem completely random a lot of the time. Gtech claimed about 500 cycles for their battery but it was very small capacity and each cell had a huge discharge rate which shortened their life considerably. You can claim 1000 cycles if you assume the rider is light, puts maximum effort in and lives where there aren't many hills plus you think 60% remaining capacity is acceptable etc.

My point is I would take the amount of charge cycles with a pinch of salt. Such claims aren't regulated and I think a bit of detective work is required. Even the best quality cells with regards charge cycles will heavily vary depending on their application.

Just to add looking at my post again I think you can link number of charge cycles with battery range a lot of the time. If you have a supplier who makes up wild unrealistic claims for assisted range then I suspect such a supplier will also be unrealistic with charge cycles too.