Help choosing my first ebike !

[richy1009]

Hello every one .. i am 69yr old man looking to buy my first ebike !
my budget is around £1500
I am currently looking at the wisper 705 and the Raleigh Felix+ both are around £1500
I like the bosch drive system on the raleigh but have concerns about after service.

can someone give me some guidance before making a purchase !!

Thanking you all

Richy
Beccles (UK)

 

[dodgeman]

I can’t speak of the brands you are looking at, I own a Trek. Trek makes good bikes but so do others, like Giant, Specialized, Bulls etc. Your budget? It seems like no matter what it is if you spend a little more you get a lot more. In my mind a budget of £2500-3000 gets you more. A lot of it depends on how much you will ride and what your uses will be, how many hills, how far etc.

 

[sc00ter]

Our local oceanfront had an event and Raleigh supplied some ebikes for staff to use during the event. Those things took a beating during that event! A bunch of kids going off curbs, jumping them, riding double-even triple, getting dropped/crashed. Kids and ebikes, what a fun combo! Raleigh left the ebikes behind at a local shop afterwards. They were the retro looking beach cruiser ebikes. Still ran great after all the abuse.

 

[indianajo]

I like the bosch drive system on the raleigh but have concerns about after service.

The bosch service is as good or better than anybody's. Of course a local shop is sometimes incompetent or crabby.
Downside to bosch, batteries cost 3 times generic dolphin batteries if one is stolen. Batteries have resale value, so are a theft target. when batteries were out of stock for a year or more, bosch would not allow european union citizens to buy a battery from another country. batteries are patented, there is no second source.
In the lower 3 classes of bosch mid-drives, if you want to ride unpowered, you drag the motor with your feet. I am age 73, have an excellent heart, and ride unpowered about 3/4 of the distance. Stood me well during 196 days of covid, lost a lot of lung capacity but didn't have to go to the hospital. I'm about 1/3 slower than I was over a fixed distance than August 2020. My geared hub motor does not spin the rotor when I pedal unpowered. otoh geared hub motors wear out about 3 times faster than a bosch. however, the replacements cost 1/4 as much.

 

[Dewey]

Re: concerns about Bosch service

The official Bosch line is the new "Smart System" components including batteries are not compatible with the older "System 2" components. An American bike shop has blogged more details about why this is so and arguing Bosch should be able to continue to supply parts for the next 6 years. But the Raleigh Felix has a torque PAS sensor that should feel better to ride than the cadence PAS sensor fitted to the basic 1500 quid Wisper 705 model - you would need to spend another 250 to get the optional torque sensor. I'd buy the Raleigh but then I'm more partial to mid-drives.

 

[richy1009]

Thank you all for the advice and recommendations .. i am now looking to the " RALEIGH MOTUS TOUR - DERAILLEUR GEAR ELECTRIC BIKE LOW STEP "
its bosch mid drive system . I will sleep on it and put an order in next week !