terry1956 Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Hi all, As my other half is doing a bit of agency work for the good old NHS, and is working away. I have been all alone with just the pugs, and the odd run down to the pub, and the fly fishing club. Well we don,t have a TV so on these dark wet nights I look at e-bay for fishing flies, when for some reason push bikes came into mind. Had a look and saw something better then push bikes, But a push bike with 21 gears and an elec motor. weighs 26kg without the battery so will fit on the bike rack I have for the Hymer, and OK it will only be good for one person, its idea for getting the shopping etc, or just for me to get to the river or sea. So I pressed the button at the very last second and picked up a Powabyke as new with all the kit for £125, shows to thinks, there are good deals on E-bay and don,t finish your item on a friday night when all are out and about. But for all those out there who need a small run about, these bikes maybe idea, no tax or insurrance and can be placed on the back N/P, terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chas Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Seems like a great idea Terry , perhaps you will let us know how you get on with useing it and how long the charge lasts, particulary when not on hook-up . chas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terry1956 Posted March 24, 2007 Author Share Posted March 24, 2007 Hi C, will do, picking it up next weekend when I get the car back, It runs for 30 miles before needing a refill, but this is just a plug in and would be easy to do, there maybe a way of sorting this out with using an invertor,so as to power up when on the move, but I am not that way minded and need to leave that to others to think off. I have seen one around exmouth and it flys up the hill near me, will flys for a push bike, anyway. terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 About the right price and the right weight. Suggest you don,t accept any claimed mileage figures until you have tested it out for yourself. Test the mileage with increasing round trips. We started with very little bikes but as we pushed out the distances and hills we attempted to climb the power and weight got bigger. Now up to a massive 115 CC with 5 years and petrol powered. But its a trailer to tow them now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesmad Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Terry, we are looking at getting a couple of these bikes, what's your opinion of them now that you have had them a few months. steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Hi, Not sure but I think Frank (Caraprof ) bought these for him and his wife . maybe if he's around he will put me right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caraprof Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 We bought two and here's what I know.If you can afford it stay away from the circa £350 ones on eBay. They are often made up of standard Chinese 'bin parts' by companies that won't exist in a year's time.Buy a good brand such a PowaCycle or eZee. For these you're looking at around £600-£700 especially if you go for the models with the better batteries, lithium ion etc.I bought an eZee Liv for me and a Powacycle Windsor for my wife. The eZee Liv is a slightly better machine and has a much more powerful motor but my wife wanted the 'step through' frame of the Windsor, which isn't available on the eZee Liv.We are delighted with them. I haven't cycled for years but last week I went to collect my Motorhome from my warehouse, which is 18 miles away. I rode there on my bike, put it on the rack and drove home.What I like about electric bikes is that you have to pedal. I want exercise but there is no doubt that when you come to a slope it becomes hard work if you're not as fit as you once were. This is where they are brilliant. I twist the throttle and the power kicks in and riding up a moderate slope is as easy as pedalling on the flat.To sum up, we love them! We had a super week recently in Norfolk, and believe me, Norfolk is not as flat as you would imagine! The bikes enabled us to ride around some lovely little lanes and visit places that you couldn't access in a motorhome.Here are some links to a bike review site and one or two other makers.http://www.powacycle.co.uk/http://www.50cycles.com/http://www.atob.org.uk/Electric_Buyers'_Guide.htmlFinally, the eZee Liv has to be bought mail order, but mine was fine. (They do have reps around who can do demonstrations though.) The PowaCycle range can be bought from a large number of local dealers, which you may find is an advantage.Edited to say - and there's no road tax or compulsory insurance required either! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesmad Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Thanks for the review of the bikes. We looked at a bike made by Giant and it cost £550, but the shop only has 1 as the company Giant has made a newer model and the cost are £1050 each, a bit pricy. I have looked on EBay and they do has some that fold up which we are interested in and at a good price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caraprof Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 yesmad - 2007-10-01 1:29 PM Thanks for the review of the bikes. We looked at a bike made by Giant and it cost £550, but the shop only has 1 as the company Giant has made a newer model and the cost are £1050 each, a bit pricy. I have looked on EBay and they do has some that fold up which we are interested in and at a good price. Be careful if choosing folding bikes. They are a compromise and are not usually as comfortable or as efficient as proper full-sized ones and if you're going to carry them on a bike-rack or in a large garage there's no real advantage in the smaller size.Also, two folding bikes will take up loads of room if you're think of carrying them inside your 'van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yesmad Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Great thanks for the advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonB Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Electric bikes are fast coming of age at the dearer end. Schwinn manufacture a range that do at least 50 miles on the flat (35 undulating)and weigh less than 20kg. At this weight you can ride them like ordinary bikes if you want to and only use the motor as necessary - or if the battery runs out revert to riding them as normal bikes. If you have around a £1,000 to spare contact Hildenthorpe Cycles, Bridlington 01262 400141. No connection to me other than....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w1ntersun Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 Hi, having had a powerbyke I can say two things. 1 can,t recharge the batteries when not on hook ups. 2 batteries can take 100 recharges if you are lucky and cost £95 to replace. Mine lasted exactly 18 months. Other than that it was great. I have now gone back to a lightweight pushbike. Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caraprof Posted October 1, 2007 Share Posted October 1, 2007 w1ntersun - 2007-10-01 4:43 PM Hi, having had a powerbyke I can say two things. 1 can,t recharge the batteries when not on hook ups. 2 batteries can take 100 recharges if you are lucky and cost £95 to replace. Mine lasted exactly 18 months. Other than that it was great. I have now gone back to a lightweight pushbike. Richard You should get up to 500 charges from a modern lithium ion or Ni-Mh battery. But they're nearer £200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonB Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 The Schwinn uses one battery. I make the cost about a penny a mile assuming 35 miles per charge. Is anyone complaining? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Usinmyknaus Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 We originally planned to put a small 2 seater petrol scooter in the garage of the MH but for various reasons have now opted to test out an electic bike and if it works out we will buy a second. After a long wait from initial order, I took delivery yesterday of an Urbanmover UM36 which looks like a traditional mountain bike (see www.urbanmover.com) but has a Lipol battery carrier as part of the main frame. It can be used in 3 modes, first, traditional pedal bike, second, VPAC i.e. Variable Pedal Assistance where a torque sensor assesses the pedalling effort of the user and puts in power to raise the speed to 15 mph. Assistance continuously helps until the user stops pedaling. Finally there is throttle mode where the user employs a twist grip handle bar throttle which disconnects VPAC, kicks in the motor full time and the bike acts like an electric scooter. Its been bucketing with rain here so I have not tested it fully yet but first impesssions are of a very solid, powerful and visually attractive machine. Our cunning plan is to charge the bike via a range of kit installed by Dave Newell. A 100w solar panel charges 2, 100Ah deep-cycle leisure batteries and a 700w max, remotely switchable inverter will provide mains power to charge the bike when it is in the MH's garage. Urbanmover's product engineer was very helpful during the planning stage and reckons the bike will draw a peak of 480 watts but generally rather less over the whole 2 to 3 hour re-charge cycle. The Lipol battery should be good for in excess of 1000 charge cycles and provide, conservatively, a VPAC range of about 23 miles and a throttle only range of 10 miles. Obviously, on hook up the bike will charge from the mains socket without the inverter but we try ro be self-sufficient via the solar panel whenever we can and we prefer CLs/CSs and Aires de Service to commercial sites so we are hoping our (very) experimental solar charging system will prove up to the task. We also have the option of charging the bike via the inverter when the Motorhome is travelling between sites and the leisure batteries are being charged via the alternator so hopefully, the bike will always be available for use. I'll feed back on our experiences in case of interest to anyone. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Bob - very useful info. Thanks. If you can keep us posted on the progress of your cunning plan in the coming weeks/months, that would be great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hymer C 9. Posted October 2, 2007 Share Posted October 2, 2007 Woops :$ did not see this thread and just posted another post re electric bikes did not mean to cross threads so to speak. Carol. *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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