Any Electric Bike Recommendations?

No I didn’t. I’ve been meaning to test them out as you can do free tests with Halfords, but just never got round to it. There’s so many pool bikes around these days, some electric, I might not bother for now

hspexy What is a pool bike, I've looked it up and it just shows exercise bikes close to swimming pools or even bikes in swimming pools. Do you mean some sort of bike sharing scheme, city bikes? Sadly nothing around here like that, I'm in a small town so can't see that happening and where they have had it in some cities they get frequently vandalised and financially it lost a lot of money.

BonzoBanana yes the bike sharing schemes. We’ve a lot of electric ones now, like Jump and Lime (who’ve now been taken over by uber). But they definitely only pop up in city centres I’m afraid

Thanks. It’s not hilly where I am so it’s one reason why I’ve stopped looking around, as I can get about on a normal bike just fine. But I might move to an area more rural so may have to consider an electric bike in the near future

Some of the Carrera ebikes are great value and I like the Suntour HESC system due to its torque sensor which means it works like a mid-drive motor, the harder you pedal the more assistance. I guess the Subway is my preferred ebike in their range.

Have you ever had cutouts on the bike especially going up steep hills and when the battery is completely flat do you feel any drag on the hub motor when you have to cycle un-assisted?

BonzoBanana I’ve had a cutout only on the unicycle but not on the ebikes, as the ones I’ve tried usually have enough power, but you do feel a drag

BonzoBanana I haven't had any cut out problems although when I first had it 3 years ago there were comments in the reviews that it was prone to them . I always spray the battery contacts every 2 or 3 months with contact cleaner/Electrolube .

The cut outs referred to in the reviews stated that removing the battery then refitting it solved the problem so can only assume it was a contact problem at that time .

Made sure I've never run out of battery but it is pedalable without battery assistance , but it is a heavy bike (about 20kgs ) so it would be hard work ,certainly on hills .

Golfforall What sort of electrolube do you use. I was thinking of using petroleum jelly which I know isn't conductive but can seal in a contact and prevent corrosion over the long term and shouldn't prevent electricity conducting, it works very well for car batteries including the very high current needed for starting an engine but wondered if that was something usable on an ebike. I should add I'm in the process of building an ebike from parts, my battery is a hailong 48V 12.5A so 600Wh so fairly powerful and just trying to be pro-active in preventing the contacts deteriorating. The good thing about petrolum jelly not being conductive is you can slap it on without worry of it shorting out pins and prevents abrasion to the pins.

BonzoBanana I'm sure that would do the job , I have never experienced the problem but just assumed it came from pitting of the contacts . I don't use mine X Country (or very rarely) so the other thing I thought may cause it would be bouncing the bike around (as the battery is quite heavy for its size ) . My battery is a tight fit though , if it had loosened off the next thing to try would have been some door/window foam draughtproofing strip around where the battery joins the holder to hold it firmer and insulate from vibration - but never had the problem so never got to do that .

Golfforall That sounds like a good tip for reducing vibration, I will make sure my battery is a tight fit. I'm only planning on using my ebike on the road but there are lots of pot holes around here and I'm not always successful at avoiding them. Lots of BMW drivers too who only give you a couple of mm distance when they pass you so you are often forced into the gutter area.