Challenge - Find my mother an eBike

[Boopop]

Mother Boopop wants an eBike to get to folk club. She's found this, which seems pretty good value for £1k.

I've found this, which is outside of her budget but I think is better value with its mid-drive motor and hub gears for her use case.

I think she'd benefit from the hub gears and the mid-drive, plus I think it looks better too...although I suppose it doesn't have a front suspension fork.

I keep hearing of the bike industry being in a terrible state and there being some big bargains out there. I've just spent an hour looking and I can't quite find what I think what would be perfect for her. Here's what she needs and what I think she should have.
Needs:

• Built in lights
• Rear rack
• Mudguards
• Hydraulic disc brakes

What Boopop would like it to have:

• Hub gears
• Mid drive

Yes, I know I'm asking a lot for those extras, but I think she'd really benefit. Any ideas? Cheers!

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Hi!
No ideas because I'm not interested in Ebikes (yet), but I probably could be your Mother's age
Now, I like the second bike better than the first, purely based on the look of it.
Question:
Why does your Mum need all the stuff listed in your first list?
She is not commuting or using the bike for the weekly shop, you said it's just to go to her club, correct?
I would say mudguards are essential in the UK, a rack desirable if she's anything like me - I like to stop to buy stuff, like to carry extra layers, etc, but then I'm a commuter/utilitarian cyclist.
If she's not like me, one could dispense with the rack, use a rucksack.
If you have a rack, you need good, waterproof panniers too.
Why build in lights? Imo nowadays battery light are perfectly adequate, most commuters use them (in the UK).
Why disk brakes?
Imo desirable but not essential, unless your Mum's club is down an alpine like descend.
Hub gears are good, but not essential either, unless she's planning to cycle in all weathers.
I would focus on the look/colour of the bike , on the easiness of taking off the back wheel in case of a puncture (essential imo), on the reliability of the bike in general, no use if it's cheap but keeps breaking down, she will lose interest if it happens a lot - again imo.

 

[Boopop]

All reasonable questions. I think it all boils down to convenience. This'll be a bike to get her from her home in Thornton to St. Annes and back on Fylde coast, so a 20 mile round trip. It'll be replacing what was a car journey she used to make, so I think convenience should be key. She's also already got a Burley Travoy trailer which I got her for the bargainous price of £80 which she could use to take her guitar. Of course an eBike will help with that

Let's go again:
Needs:

• Built in lights - convenience. If you're getting an eBike, so far as I'm concerned you're already carrying a massive battery so you may as well have built in lights so you don't have to worry about charging USB lights
• Rear rack - she's already got great Ortilieb pannier bags for her other bikes, so this is a bit of a no-brainer.
• Mudguards - she will potentially ride it in the rain, or at least wet roads, so this seems sensible.
• Hydraulic disc brakes - I wouldn't want to put her through v-brakes, and hub brakes seem uncommon on eBikes. Hydraulic > better than mechanical disc, and the bike she's already found (the first one) has hydraulic brakes so any other bike we reccomend instead ought to match that.

As for hub gears - they're lower maintenance. Mid-drive, better eBikes have mid-drive motors, and they make it easier to change a flat tyre.

I think I've convinced her to spend the extra and I've said I'll put £100 towards the better bike above as a combined xmas/birthday present, so we'll probably go with that one unless any kind soul can find something even better. We've had a phone call in the past hour or two and decided we'll give it two or three days and then make a decision. Cheers!

 

[Tom B]

What about a belt drive?

Perhaps no need for a chain case then hub gears pretty much a must.

Pat's mention of the rear wheel removal is a good point. My colleague has a rear hub motored ebike and getting the wheel out was a bit of an experience a while ago with the basic tools we had to hand.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/bikes...e-current-electric-gravel-bike-gunmetal__8146

£1049

No lights or rack, but quite lightweight for an ebike at ~15Kg, like the Bolt and Amp models (for ~£200/400 more).

Would make a great commute and pootle around ebike.

 

[Boopop]

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/bikes...e-current-electric-gravel-bike-gunmetal__8146

£1049

No lights or rack, but quite lightweight for an ebike at ~15Kg, like the Bolt and Amp models (for ~£200/400 more).

Would make a great commute and pootle around ebike.

Thanks - it's a good price but we'd ideally like mudguards and a rack for the price...along with lights and a chaincase/guard!

What about a belt drive?

Perhaps no need for a chain case then hub gears pretty much a must.

Pat's mention of the rear wheel removal is a good point. My colleague has a rear hub motored ebike and getting the wheel out was a bit of an experience a while ago with the basic tools we had to hand.

Belt drive's a good call, although I suspect they'd definitely be outside of her price range. There was a Riese and Muller going cheap locally but it's the wrong size and has just been sold anyway.

This is the current favourite. I've warmed to the idea of a used eBike which is higher end, so long as it comes from somewhere with a reasonable reputation. The problem with the Frappe is the motor is from a brand I'm unfamiliar with (and seemingly so is most of the WWW), so I'm concerned about getting spare parts. Even if the Gazelle needs a new motor/battery sooner than a new bike would, it'll be easy to source and should be an eBike to last her a lifetime rather than the next three years. Just need to wait to hear back from the seller.

 

[Boopop]

This looks very very nice (if not insanely heavy, more than my Hase Pino tanem!) but surely it's also very very dodgy!

 

[Dadam]

https://www.paulscycles.co.uk/bikes...e-current-electric-gravel-bike-gunmetal__8146

£1049

No lights or rack, but quite lightweight for an ebike at ~15Kg, like the Bolt and Amp models (for ~£200/400 more).

Would make a great commute and pootle around ebike.

Mahle are good lightweight systems but the motors are on the anaemic side. You do need to put in a fair bit of your own effort on a steep hill so whether it's a good choice depends on how fit she is.

They claim 40nm but that's very disingenuous, the small print has some weasel words like hub motor equivalent. It's not. Real world torque on the X35+ is about 17nm. Also the hub motor has a single internal set of gearing, so it at its most efficient at around 12mph. This can mean it gets bogged down on the really steep stuff.

 

[Boopop]

Update:
Found one of these used and offered £1,100 for it. Comes with all the bits and only has 1,000 miles on the odometer. Bargain! I'm picking it up tomorrow, can't wait! It's perfect. Mum's getting the train down to pick it up on Sunday.

 

[Dadam]

Is that the right link? That one is to Microsoft Teams and requires a sign in.

 

[Boopop]

Is that the right link? That one is to Microsoft Teams and requires a sign in.

Oops, indeed it wasn't, thanks. Fixed!

 

[Jenkins]

No experience with that brand, but that general style of ebike seems very popular with the seniors around this way.

 

[Gwylan]

Update:
Found one of these used and offered £1,100 for it. Comes with all the bits and only has 1,000 miles on the odometer. Bargain! I'm picking it up tomorrow, can't wait! It's perfect. Mum's getting the train down to pick it up on Sunday.

That is a steal.

 

[Gwylan]

Post priori

Get an ebike from a name with an address and accessible service from LBS.

Simple technology on the control and management side. Avoid app driven bikes.

Best is in hub gears, belt drive, and hub motor
Cable disk brakes, trust me.

Take a very jaundiced view of range claims.

On and off bike charging is a real must. A second battery makes life a lot easier.

In my 4th year of e-biking and second bike. The third is imminent.
I still seek perfection.

 

[Boopop]

I think it's a good sign I'm jealous of my mum's new bike. Few scuffs here and there, and the front light needs repairing/replacing but other than that, great bike. Her battery is bigger than my Hase Pino's! Seller gave me £20 off for the faulty light so that's good of him, he seemed like a genuine bloke and didn't realise the light had issues. Enviolo stepless gear hub too, very high end. Mum will pick it up tomorrow and I'll help her get it on the train to Manchester from Milton Keynes