Help finding a lightweight & foldable road ebike

papaformigas

Hi

I a looking for advice to buy an electric bike that will be lightweight, foldable and performed good in road and city in a mix of plane and hilly roads.

I am school teacher that every month is placed for work in a different school. These schools are in an island and the main board can place me in whatever school they want. Sometimes they place me in the area I live but sometimes can be a school that is about 30-40km from my house.

That said I was recommend to by a car. Instead I think I can make my part to make planet better place to live withou polution and buy an electric bike and avoid costs and petrol as all car costs.

The volcanic geography here is a mixed of plane roads and moderate to high hills roads so the bike would need to have a good motor strong to help me while am biking (max is 250W by law).

Some roads are plane with normal pavement but the majority roads are with lots of cubic rocks put together ( such as the Roman empire roads).

I have been searching some kind of electric bike that would sort me out but as I am entering in the bike world there are more doubts than correct answers and that's why I came to this forum trying to find help.

I saw some possible bikes that fold so that I can take it to school as here there are too many bike burglors. So the bike would need to fold and not heavy so I could go up and down school stairs.

Also as I live in a 3 floor flat I would need to take the bike through narrow three set of stairs.

Would appreciate your help me finding the best bike for this situation.

Thanks.

cougie

The electric Brompton might fit the bill but it's not cheap or especially light.

https://www.brompton.com/Brompton-Electric

There are other people doing conversions too but I've not ridden then so I'd not want to recommend them.

keef66

I admire your desire to help the planet, but I can't think of any E-bike compatible with the kinds of road you describe that I'd want to be lugging up and down three flights of stairs :shock:

cooldad

Just get a normal bike and ride it up and down the stairs.

Matthewfalle

airnimal with gruber assist.

job jobbed.

http://airnimal.eu/products/chameleon/p ... nce-sport/

full size wheels, proper groupset, folding.

as used by the pros allegedly.

https://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category ... kit-42720/

mercia_man

Kalkhoff do some of the best e-bikes around with a huge range on their Impulse motor models. My wife’s Agattu will do 125 miles on eco setting and around 75 miles using bigger boost in hilly terrain. The Sahel model linked to below has a slightly less powerful battery but is lighter with fat tyre 20 inch wheels for portability.

http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/ ... t_i_8.html

papaformigas

Hi these bikes are cool but they are very expensive !!!

I am looking for some bike that fits my budget £600.

I know that I can't have a bike with all features that my situation require but amoung my budget whats the best ebike I can buy.

cooldad

Google is your friend.

Bang on budget, but I wouldn't.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-New-Mo ... 0506.m3226

Looks heavy and nasty.

cooldad

Especially with a high quality lithium tyre?

papaformigas

Anyone know this A1 e-bike:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2836329955


Or this E-Lion ebike:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2836321229

mercia_man

Cheap e-bikes have a deservedly bad reputation. There’s lots of low quality Chinese bikes on the UK market offered by here today gone tomorrow importers. They are thrown together with the cheapest possible components which will fail very quickly and may even be dangerous. The range is very limited - maybe 15-20 miles when new - and that will reduce quickly as the battery wears out. I wouldn’t bother.

papaformigas

Ok I understand...

What about the retail giants Decathlon Hoptown 500 ebike?

https://www.btwin.com/en/city-bikes/vel ... -bike.html

mercia_man

Just had a look at that bike from Decathlon - a tiny 20km range in normal mode when new and just a two year battery life. It gets poor reviews. The two reviews I read complained about connections working loose and power failing within days of buying, and similar problems for replacements under warranty. You get what you pay for.

Have a look at 50 Cycles who are long established e-bike specialists. The starting point for a decent bike with warranty, spares and back-up from them is £1,195 for a Kalkhoff Durban.

http://www.50cycles.com/electric-bikes/ ... bikes.html

cooldad

At least it will have a useable warranty, but tiny wheels. Looks fine for a town bike, but not much fun for a 20km commute of rough roads.

papaformigas

How about the Brompton bikes?

Some sell at £600 at eBay and then it is possible to put an electric motor kit on it.. is this a good solution?

There are even some of those bikes already with kits installed for sale.

The only drawback I see is the lack of suspension...

mercia_man

You can buy kits to electrify any bike. I have in front of me a recent review by Richard Hallett in Cycling UK's magazine about his positive experiences with a Panda e-bike conversion kit. Cost was £350 for the kit plus £350 for the battery. You can fit it yourself or pay £150 to have it fitted by a Panda dealer. Range claimed is 20-40 miles. I think you just have to accept that £600 is too low a budget for what you need.

https://www.pandaebikes.com/

Matthewfalle

where are you?

papaformigas

Iam in the Island of Azores, in the middle of the Atlantic ocean where actually in the last 24 hours there have been more than 600 mini earth quakes.. you probably read in the news... There was today a 3,6 Richter earth quake but nothing to worry about but the land moved a bit...

Officials don't know if this is due volcanic or tectonic activities...

Matthewfalle

outside of the EU?

if so, take off the VAT from any UK prices if that helps.

papaformigas

It's part of the EU because the island of Azores are part of Portugal. Unfortunately I will have to pay Vat...

Anyway I have just found this bike on eBay. Any good? Is a panda bike..

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2550494185

Matthewfalle

no.

sorry.

mercia_man

papaformigas wrote:

It's part of the EU because the island of Azores are part of Portugal. Unfortunately I will have to pay Vat...

Anyway I have just found this bike on eBay. Any good? Is a panda bike..

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2550494185

Sorry to give you bad news but that is a Panda Leisure bike, a different company from Panda eBikes, and it looks like a typical cheap low quality Chinese model. The original Panda eBikes company appear to be in a legal battle with them over use of the name, according to the forum linked below.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads ... -xl.26233/

Sorry to keep banging on about Kalhoffs but I have an elderly cycling companion - who holds a national veterans record for 10-mile time trials on his regular bike - who loves his Kalkhoff Tasman e-bike. He had it flown out to his holiday home in the Caribbean where he says it's fantastic to get about the steep unmade roads on his island. It would be perfect for you but of course it's way above your budget. You might want to contact 50 Cycles to see what they advise - they had secondhand models in when I visited.

cooldad

You might want to try in the Commuting forum.

This side is full of lycra clad weight weenies, I doubt many have cheap e bikes.

cooldad

Or that pedelecs link. Forum for ebikes only.

papaformigas

I heard about the Kwikfold Xite2 bikes... Are these any good??

The fold ok but I don't know if they are any good for longer distances like from A to B. With distances like 30 km one way.

cooldad

Seems like no one on here uses fold up electric bikes.

Certainly not enough to sound like experts.

You're kind of on the wrong forum.