Best e-bike for smallish woman exploring hilly countryside (roads and mild off-road)?

[Cyril Haearn]

Good advice before any decision: wait awhile, collect more knowledge, do not sign anything yet
You don't know what you don't know
I upgraded my performance by simplifying and lightening my bike, maybe you do not really need an electric motor

Other views are available

[billym444]

Cugel

i can award you a prize as well,"i no more than anyone else as im the expert though ive probaly only ever own 2 electric bikes award" as to spelling well were all not great at it. but tend not to lauge at other peoples problems or pull them up without asking if they have a problem.

[Cugel]

Cugel

i can award you a prize as well,"i no more than anyone else as im the expert though ive probaly only ever own 2 electric bikes award" as to spelling well were all not great at it. but tend not to lauge at other peoples problems or pull them up without asking if they have a problem.

I offer advice only on the e-bike motor system I have direct experience of, unlike yourself. You can usefully offer the OP experience & knowledge of your own e-bike doings but why offer uninformed opinions containing factual errors about things you have no knowledge of?

As to your terrible spelling - why not employ a spell checker in whatever software you're using to make your posts? The objective of communicating on a forum is still, fundamentally, to communicate clearly, even if you enjoy a blether, as I do myself. But by all means excuse yourself of, oh, all sorts by waving your "I may have a problem" badge about. That won't make your more obscure propositions anymore convincing though.

Cugel

[Oldjohnw]

My advice would be:

If you don't/can't spend big bucks buy a hybrid that can take mudguards and add a motor. Most straightforward is a rack battery and a hub motor. Torque sensor so your strength builds and you get loads of exercise without exhaustion.

You will pay about £6-700 for motor including fitting by your LBC or even the supplier. The motor is removable and transferable.

[billym444]

so if i could find the spell checker i would use it, but most people manange to read what i say.

your advice is and was blinkered, you offered no reason why it would suit.

Oldjohnw, who has just given sound advice seems to see the bike picture.

why would you push a person into a £2000 bike with a tiny battery. who has road for decades. its very blinkered advice and not suitable. she could use the bike 3 times, and find that she runs out of power very fast. only to have 2k sitting in the shed.

start cheep and see how it goes, then move up if need be. if thats poor advice bassed on the fact that most people dont want to spend 2k on a bike and most new ebike riders need a bigger battery, then i will live with my poor advice and bad spelling.

and again sorry for my [inappropriate word removed] spelling, as said carnt find a spell checker, but as most understand me and dont feel the need to bring it up, then doesnt worry me.

merry new year to you, be safe

[lowrider]

Hi,

I am going through a similar process I don't think I will end up with the same choice but its the thought process that counts. I would ignore some of the partisan discussion and concentrate on what you want. The impression I get is that you've not quite made up your mind on what you want to do with this bike. I suspect when you get it you will use it for things you never anticipated.

The first comment I would make is don't paint yourself into a corner, my greatest fear. If you spend 2k on a bike its got to do what you want not what someone tells you want (especially dealers). If you don't know that for sure don't buy until you do. It has been said that you should try bikes out that's sound advice test as many as you can.

Being small you might find difficulty in getting a bike that fits. Small bikes can be hard to come by e bikes are no exception some makes may be too big for you. You actually need to go to the shop to try the fit in my opinion,the brochure is only a guide in this respect. This is even more important if the bike has a cross bar.

There are various types of drive to add to the confusion which I wont go into but there are various pros and cons of different manufacturers and drive systems in terms of cost, reliability and life span. I would check the forums for this, It's a major topic of discussion and its not obvious on face value what the answer is. Sometimes the most expensive is not the most economical long lived or reliable.

As for how the different types feel only riding bikes will help you there. Generally the received wisdom is mid drive better to ride but less reliable, hub drive more reliable(much) but not so good on hills. This is an over simplification and there are exceptions to the rules.

It is also important to try bikes to asses the resistance with power off, most hub drives have negligible (geared type only) some mid types do some don't. You need to try I have found some that do and some that don't in one case the same manufacturer, same type and in the same shop one that had none and one that had a noticeable resistance.

It may be that the best type of bike is an all rounder as you suggest covering as many bases as possible. Look for a hybrid type that can take racks, mudguard, accessories and different tyre types for different uses. I say can take not must fit that's up to you the only thing that is important is that there is an option to do so if you think that is the way to go at a later stage.

I saw a Boardman bike being mentioned as an option. That one I fancied but its really quite limited,this is an example of how you can go down a blind alley. I like the bike(a lot) but it would not be suitable for what I want(done this a few times). The battery in particular was VERY small most bikes worth considering will have 400wh or 500wh. Weight is the focus or possibly keeping the price down as the battery is normally an expensive component. Goto the Bosch on line range calculator and you will see where the compromise is. Its light weight but weight on an e bike this only makes a marginal difference, the main advantage is lifting the bike onto trains and up stairs (often very important). Light weight will not compensate for a small battery youll have to do that by pedalling harder.

The next thing I would say that on the forums most contributors are enthusiasts. Many are heavily into modifying, repairing and building e bikes

Although having said that, it occurs to me that there is a localish shop which might be able to help me with the sourcing, hmm...

Your on the right track, if you are not into that sort of thing as you have said find a local supplier and more importantly someone who can work on the electrics, preferably the dealer as well.

I would avoid any thoughts about conversion unless you are confident you can maintain the electrical parts of the bike or can find a willing installer and repair shop locally. I haven't tried but there are reports on the forums this is difficult for e bikes, something you need to check out before you commit. I would also avoid any make of bike that cant be serviced locally as well.

You are left with bikes or conversions that can be sourced or done in locations that can be reached without too much issue. Start from there. Look for something that's versatile, that you like, will do what you want, can get serviced and repaired easily.

You need to go shopping good luck and hope you find something soon and never take on face value statements like, "these never go wrong", check the internet, in my case I found out oh yes they did very much so. That was on a 2k bike with a leading mid motor manufacturer.

[Cugel]

so if i could find the spell checker i would use it, but most people manange to read what i say.

your advice is and was blinkered, you offered no reason why it would suit.

Oldjohnw, who has just given sound advice seems to see the bike picture.

why would you push a person into a £2000 bike with a tiny battery. who has road for decades. its very blinkered advice and not suitable. she could use the bike 3 times, and find that she runs out of power very fast. only to have 2k sitting in the shed.

start cheep and see how it goes, then move up if need be. if thats poor advice bassed on the fact that most people dont want to spend 2k on a bike and most new ebike riders need a bigger battery, then i will live with my poor advice and bad spelling.

and again sorry for my <i>[inappropriate word removed]</i> spelling, as said carnt find a spell checker, but as most understand me and dont feel the need to bring it up, then doesnt worry me.

merry new year to you, be safe

Once more you blether made-up-stuff about a bike and motor system of which you know nothing - and continue to know nothing despite all the information about it given to you.

I don't "push" the OP into anything. I point her at a bike that seems to suit the requirements expressed in her post, which bike contains a motor system I'm familiar with and can therefore recommend. And no - I have no shares or other financial interest in Fazua whatsoever, just some pleasing experience of a Fazua-equipped e-bike. Why don't you also confine yourself to relating what you know (not wildly-guess) rather than getting all ideological about your own preference?

A Fazua system doesn't have "a tiny battery" but a very adequate battery for doing 50 or more motor-assisted miles. A high quality battery. A lightweight battery. Fazua-assisted e-bikes, though, are not an electric moped in disguise which requires the user only to move the pedals to get full power. The Boardman bike seemed to have much of what the OP was asking for - an e-bike that gives some assistance but is still fundamentally a bike she needs to (and wants to) pedal with her own effort, sometimes with assistance and sometimes not, mostly on roads but also on good quality tracks.

Just in case you might become interested in some hard facts rather than a set of daft assumptions and prejudices, here's some info about Fazua systems.

https://www.electricbikesales.co.uk/con ... ction.aspx

You can't possibly know that "most people don't want to spend 2K on a bike and most new e-bike riders need a bigger battery". That's just your own want and to portray it as some sort of universal rule is just a silly prejudice. Different would-be e-cyclists have different requirements.

*********

Spell checkers are embedded into many operating systems and internet browsers, probably including yours. You just have to switch it on.

May I recommend this aphorism: Why do something badly when it can be done well just as easily? All it takes is a different attitude. This applies to giving relevant advice in response to a question or typing posts to forums that are meaningful and coherent rather than just a gabble. And to much else, including riding a bike.

What do you think your careless spelling and grammar says about the rest of your conduct? And the quality of your opinions?

Cugel, in exasperation.

[billym444]

ok mate

[billym444]

but do have a read of the last bit of your link

What Do We Think?

It doesn’t really describe a new rider,

And most people on here or any ebike forum will be put of with a 7ah battery, as its bloody tiny for a battery. and worse as it will be a small P so unless it has high draw cells (witch it doesn’t tell you) that battery on full power is going to be working very hard. so short life, and at £350 for a replacement could be an expensive option. its only 7ah because the bike is more suited for tarmac, and aimed at fitter more experienced riders, also so they can save weight and make the bike look good, with by the way it is a nice looking bike and for the right rider is nice.

I’ve also no once slagged the bike of apart from the battery size and the price

[hemo]

The lady asking for advice should try and test ride various bikes first to get a feel of how different systems ride/work.
Mid drive Bosch, Yam, Steps & Bafang Max are torque drive systems, that is they are torque multipliers that require a riders input to get more power out of them so fitness and stamina need to be taken into account esp where hills are involved.

Rear hub bikes in the main use a simple cadence crank sensor that can propel you along at up to about 15mph without much input, though give them a bit of input you can get a reasonable 17/18mph after you hit the cut off.


The lady might not be far from TN15 6PW/Sevenoaks so a visit to Wisper might be an option or Halfords, they have Carrera Bosch drive bikes and also some Carrera bikes use the Suntour hub torque system but this can be a bit flaky and not worth the hassle. One to avoid.

Regarding battery size/capacity the range factor is to variable and depends on so many variables such as rider ability,terrain, wind and a few more.
I have a 209wh battery and can manage approx. 25miles but this totally drains the battery and uses near 100% of the available capacity, Ideally a battery with some wh's spare is ideal so that DOD does not drain the battery fully.
Using 100% of available battery capacity does not mean using 4.2v per cell down to 0v as this is not possible, the cells capacity in side a battery pack is usually 4.2v down to 3.2v. Each 0.1v is approx. 10% of the available safe useable capacity with in.

[CXRAndy]

I think said young lady poster has left due to bickering

Personal choice would be to get a simple, but comfortable bike with disc brakes(hydraulic) Drop in a Tongscheng or Bafang motor kit.

Kits take very little to fit, any competent bike shop or home cycle enthusiast can do it. It took me about an hour to fit the kit and another couple of hours to tidy up all the excess wiring to make a neat water resistance job

I did this for my wife, with a Tongscheng TSDZ2 kit. She immediately went from zero to 20 miles with little effort. We now ride at a higher pace, she actually leads me up hills now

Here is her bike, cost less than £1100 for everything

[stodd]

I never thought when I suggested the Pedalecs forum as an extra source of advice near the start of this thread that she would find more silly bickering on this forum than she found there.

[billym444]

i am sorry for my dyslexic bickering, and its not my normal way, but the advice didn’t seem good to me.

Anyway CRXandy great advice and the right direction in my opinion.

To be honest I don’t post much on forums, and only joined because a friend on here though I may be able to offer advice and help on batteries and bafang kits. I build and resell batteries, but as should have been noticed I don’t try to sell or push my batteries on to anyone. Like I said I came on as a friend though id be good to offer help and advice.

So again I am sorry about the bickering and be assured it won’t happen again from me.

[jiktten]

Hi all, apologies for disappearing! For the record it wasn't due to bickering, more that all the different opinions and approaches made me realise just how much I didn't know, so I needed to go away and learn things before I was able to follow the conversation!

By way of update, after doing said research and having a good hard think about what I actually wanted out of my future bike, I realised that I didn't actually need an e-bike at all. What I needed was a decent all-round ordinary bike, and then to get off my rotund backside and do some work. To that end, I've ended up with a Trek Dual Sport 3 (Women's) which I picked up last week. I've only been able to go out twice so far, and only managed to stay out for just over half an hour each time and then spent the rest of the day feeling rather sore, but nevertheless, I'm pleased to report that it's been a lot more fun than I remember biking being, and I'm looking forward to going out again next time (and hoping that the ratio of time spent on bike to time spent feeling sore afterwards will soon begin to adjust in my favour!).

So, in sum, thank you all for helping me come to what was ultimately the right decision, even though it wasn't on the cards at the beginning of this thread!

[Cyril Haearn]

..
I realised that I didn't actually need an e-bike at all. What I needed was a decent all-round ordinary bike
..
So, in sum, thank you all for helping me come to what was ultimately the right decision
..

+2!