Suggestions for a £1,000 (ish) E-Bike (Manchester, UK). Wanted Van Moof but nowhere near me

[Frank Sebem]

Hi all

I am looking for suggestions for an Ebike for me. I want to use it occasionally on Saturdays for maximum 6 hours etc (and that includes stop offs etc). I would also like to occasionally use it to cycle to work (10 miles away) and home later in the day. I know that the best bikes are around £3,000 and more but I only want this for occasional use. Halfords have some for sub £800 but they had none in when I went to look. Can anybody suggest a decent (MOUNTAIN BIKE) around the £1,000 mark?
If you guys could just throw some suggestions around I will do the research myself.
Cheers

 

[Dewey]

As you say the Halfords Carrera Vengeance, also the Decathlon Rockrider, Pinnacle Mercury 202 from Evans Cycles, Woosh Camino, & Kudos Mistral

 

[percymon]

A few other options in nearly new models at Tredz, these are often just transit marked bikes, unused..

Nearly New Electric Bikes | 0% Finance | Tredz Bikes

Shop the latest range of Electric Bikes with 0% APR interest free finance over £99. All Electric Bikes are ready built, checked by Cytech qualified mechanics & delivered free to the UK mainland. All models come with 8 weeks free bike insurance & Tredz Price Match. Buy Now.

www.tredz.co.uk

nothing Mountain bike per se but if you want to commute on road then a mtb can be draggy and noisy (tyre drag). All depends what sort of rid8ng you want to do at the weekends.


theres a few banana rear hub drive bikes on eBay with uk suppliers so no import duties..

NEW KRISTALL E5-SPEED E-BIKE EBIKE ELECTRIC BIKE MOUNTAIN BIKE MTB 19" 350W | eBay

With 3 different cycling modes- Pedal assist, Electric power only and pedal power only (no assist). Handlebars: Aluminium alloy with matte finish. Headset: Aluminium alloy. 48V 10Ah battery with 50-70 mile range depending on the assist setting.

www.ebay.co.uk

also similar called Indiana and Ecosmo. Any of these would fine for light road/ canal path type use, but personally I wouldn’t want to risk one on a pukka MTB dirt trail.

there are plenty of China specials on aliexpress, again fine for light use. Don’t forget with these there is no local bike shop support or seller support , so any repairs are down to sourcing them. And factor in import duties , vat and ParcelForce handling fees.

 

[Frank Sebem]

Wow! Some excellent, rapid advice there guys. Thanks. Seeing as you’re so quick to help I’ll tell you a little more about my situation and needs...
Once every couple of weeks my wife and I get our trusty old Halfords Mountain bikes out of the shed. These bikes cost us £90 each 8 years ago and they are fine for us. We loosen the handle bars and literally put BOTH BIKES in the back of our Audi Q7 (with seats down). We then drive to the seaside/countryside. We use the bikes on a Saturday afternoon on roads, the odd canal path, the odd dirt track, the odd disused railway route such as The Monsall Trial in Derbyshire. We WILL need some hill assist at times! The maximum time we use the bikes on the Saturday is 6 hours broken use (probably 3 hours cycling time). We then put the bikes away for a week or two. But, if I buy a bike I think I may want to commute to work (roads) (8 miles) on a couple of weekdays in the morning and back home at teatime. A bike costing £2,000 or more is simply a waste. I’m not expecting a £10k bike for a few quid. I guess I’m looking for a bargain (aren’t we all). The Van Moof S3 ticked most boxes but was over my budget and (I’m in Manchester) they’re only available in Scotland & London.
I deffo don’t want one from Ali Express etc because if anything goes wrong I’m stumped. A half decent UK sourced bike would be best. Does that narrow it down guys?
Thanks for all your help.

 

[Dewey]

Hi Frank, check out the Forme Curbar HTE, Forme are a UK brand the design HQ is in Derbyshire, bikes are made in the far east, can be bought from shops all over the NorthWest near you, this bike uses a standard Bafang hub motor but has a decent length (100mm) sprung fork, and comes in 3 sizes so if the small fits your wife you can buy his and hers and share batteries. It's unclear from the spec sheet if they're using a basic cadence pedal assist sensor, a torque sensor would be more bicycle-like to ride.

 

[Frank Sebem]

Cheers Dewey, indeed, there are a couple of shops nearby which I’m happy about because I get to support a small shop AND a UK Business. WIN WIN! What do you mean by ‘It's unclear from the spec sheet if they're using a basic cadence pedal assist sensor, a torque sensor would be more bicycle-like to ride’?
Cheers.

 

[percymon]

The Forme Trail Peak 3E might also be worth a look, two models, one with tube battery the other rear rack. - plenty capaBle of some gravel road riding and comfy for the commute

 

[Dewey]

Cheers Dewey, indeed, there are a couple of shops nearby which I’m happy about because I get to support a small shop AND a UK Business. WIN WIN! What do you mean by ‘It's unclear from the spec sheet if they're using a basic cadence pedal assist sensor, a torque sensor would be more bicycle-like to ride’?
Cheers.

There are two kinds of pedal assist sensors, a cadence sensor is the more basic and uses a magnet to detect if the crank or wheels are rotating so it is an on/off switch, you select a PAS level power band and the motor keeps delivering power until you get to it. The other is a torque sensor that measures the effort you are putting into pedalling and applies power accordingly so it acts more like a strain gauge, the harder you pedal the more power, hence more like a pedal bike. I recommend test riding both types before you commit to buy, for two grand you could get a Cube Reaction with a 100mm fork and a nice Bosch mid-drive motor with torque sensor. The cadence sensor on my Bafang BBS01 mid-drive is pretty basic, I fit motor cut off's to the brake levers as it keeps going for a second after you stop pedalling. If you're riding on technical terrain on a Mountain Bike you want instant reaction, if you're riding on roads or paved/gravel trails you'll be fine with a cadence sensor and ebrake sensors.

 

[percymon]

Return Focus Whistler2 3.9 2019 Electric Hardtail Mountain Bike L

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/superior-erx-630-urban-e-bike-2020/rp-prod199410

Pinnacle Mercury 2021 Electric Hybrid Bike | Evans Cycles

www.evanscycles.com

Solid fork on the last two but you could easily upgrade to suspension fork or suspension stem

 

[Fiddler]

Only in Lpool .just finishing quick conversion .Batt £207 . Rear wheel and all 170 . Loads of bikes to convert . Will see how it goes .and Dont forget torque arm 07798583402

 

[Fiddler]

Only in Lpool .just finishing quick conversion .Batt £207 . Rear wheel and all 170 . Loads of bikes to convert . Will see how it goes .and Dont forget torque arm 07798583402

I agree about mountain tyres . I'll be better off with skinnies .My rims seem v narrow
Fit hybrid tyres for road use commuting

 

[Frank Sebem]

Hi guys

Thanks to everybody for your help. Out of courtesy I thought I’d update you all so far and also tell you I BOUGHT ONE, I BOUGHT ONE. So, after posting this on Friday night I did a lot of research. I was fully intending to go and try out and even possibly purchase one of the Forme bikes. So I went on the Website for Forme and looked at their dealers. I tried 2. Shepherds cycles in Heywood and Manchester Cycle Exchange in Urmston. I rang them both up and asked them did they have any EBikes i could come and see. Both replied no. Last week Inwent to Evans at Trafford Centre and they only had Bikes starting at £2,000. I tried Halfords in White City and they had no EBikes whatsoever. So, that was that. My wife reminded me that we needed to go to Costco to get some stuff for Christmas. As if by chance there it was. A lovely looking Ebike. Suffice to say I bought TWO (one for me and the wife). I will shortly start a new thread to tell you all about the bike do it may help others who are looking.
thanks to everybody who commented. Please see my new thread about my purchase.