EBike advice needed please!

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HomeyJay

Regular
Hi all, I need some advice regarding choosing an ebike!
My wife and I decided to get a couple of electric bikes and go cycling on cycle trails as there are quite a few around here (in Wales). She bought a Fiido D2s and I got a Fiido D1. I only got the D1 because I got it cheap and it was available!

My wife is pretty new to cycling so she’s very nervous and really only wants to cycle on cycle paths and trails but as I’ve always loved cycling, I started cycling around our area using the D1 and quickly found it was awful to use on roads - small tyres, no gears etc..
I took my wife’s D2s out on the roads and it was much better but the 16” wheels weren’t ideal and the top gear ran out of puff very quickly and I just couldn’t get any decent speed.

I need to get a bike which would be fine to cycle with her at low speeds (typically max of 15mph but more like 8 or 9] and also good on the open road.
I tried a mountain bike with 26” wheels and found it cumbersome to ride slowly next to her on cycle tracks but great on the open road.
I’ve been looking at everything from 20” fat tyre electric bikes to the GoCycle GS and am now hopelessly confused.

Can anyone suggest something that would work please, and it also has to be a folding bike - got to go in the car!
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Gearing on small wheeled/folding ebikes can be compromised, just as it can with push bikes.

The GoCycle is regarded as the best ebike of this type.

If you've tried one and it doesn't suit, it may be an ebike is not for you for this cycling purpose.

I like the 20" fat tyred bikes, they are a good compromise of usable gears, rolling well, and compactness.

But most don't fold, and if they do, the folded package is unwieldy.

A converted Brompton might work for you.

A conversion means you can choose the gearing, and in any event the conversions are more reliable than the factory ebikes.

You could also convert a late used one, which might save you a shilling or two, and given supply problems with new bikes, get you sorted sooner.

If the fold would suit, the Woosh Rambletta is about as good as Chinese ebikes get.

https://www.nanoelectricbikes.co.uk/

https://wooshbikes.co.uk/?rambletta
 
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HomeyJay

Regular
Thanks for this, mulling over my options. Would love the GoCycle but worried about its real world range with lots of people claiming 40+ miles and others claiming 15 to 20 max!
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Thanks for this, mulling over my options. Would love the GoCycle but worried about its real world range with lots of people claiming 40+ miles and others claiming 15 to 20 max!

There is no magic wand when it comes to range.

Further, all legal ebikes consume about the same amount of power.

The standard GoCycle has a 300 watt hour (wh) battery.

A rider pedalling moderately in easy conditions will consume 10 or 12wh per mile - a range of about 30 miles.

Hills could easily double that, so the range in what we could call adverse conditions will be the 15-20 miles which you've read about.

I reckon I could flatten the battery in even fewer miles on one of the properly hilly routes in the Yorkshire Dales.

Just one of the long climbs on that patch would take a big bite out of it.
 
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