e-bikes:views and reviews

[Joeblake]

https://newatlas.com/bicycles/rotwild-r ... vel-ebike/

[redsonic]

^^^^ All aero and racey looking, but with the front chainwheel smaller than the largest rear sprocket

[Joeblake]

https://newatlas.com/bicycles/momentum- ... ity-ebike/

[Joeblake]

https://newatlas.com/bicycles/heybike-h ... ire-ebike/

[Joeblake]

https://newatlas.com/urban-transport/en ... elomobile/

[Joeblake]

https://newatlas.com/bicycles/benno-46e ... rgo-ebike/

[Comedian]

I'm considering updating the ancient gazelle to one of these. Specs look good and the price is pretty good too. Any thoughts.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/au/explore-eplus-1-gts

[blizzard]

I'm considering updating the ancient gazelle to one of these. Specs look good and the price is pretty good too. Any thoughts.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/au/explore-eplus-1-gts

Looks good. Probably only Merida and Cube can rival Giant for value, I would imagine the warranty experience is better with Giant compared to going through 99Bikes for the other two.

I have my Cube and its great, the Bosch system is very smooth. I upgraded to Cues Linkglide from Deore Hyperglide, the shift performance is marginally better but should last a lot longer.

[LateStarter]

I'm considering updating the ancient gazelle to one of these. Specs look good and the price is pretty good too. Any thoughts.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/au/explore-eplus-1-gts

I haven't paid much attention to e-bikes for a few years, promised myself a keener interest as I approach 80, bit to go yet although after a long ride I sometimes think 75 might be more relevant. Everything looks good and the price not unreasonable. Pity there is still no reliable / independent measure of range, the "...Extreme conditions typically occur when riding with a heavy load, strong headwinds or excessive climbs..." leaves a lot of (loop)holes and wiggle room, all of those could be quantified and a measurable "standard" range number derived, surely? By the time I am ready I expect tiny AAA like batteries will provide 1000kms "real" range so I won't have to worry? Looking forward to your ride report.

[Comedian]

I'm considering updating the ancient gazelle to one of these. Specs look good and the price is pretty good too. Any thoughts.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/au/explore-eplus-1-gts

Looks good. Probably only Merida and Cube can rival Giant for value, I would imagine the warranty experience is better with Giant compared to going through 99Bikes for the other two.

I have my Cube and its great, the Bosch system is very smooth. I upgraded to Cues Linkglide from Deore Hyperglide, the shift performance is marginally better but should last a lot longer.

I have a bosch activeline on the gazelle. I think it's up to 16k now. The battery is still probably 80%. Very impressed with it.

Unfortunately though it's not very strong.. I think 45nm. We live on a cliff face, and I've got a trailer of pugs to haul. I need more horsepower.

I'll wait until I've had a ride, but it seems like good horsepower (75nm) for the money.

[find_bruce]

I'll wait until I've had a ride, but it seems like good horsepower (75nm) for the money.

To be pedantic 75 nm is torque while horsepower is, as the name suggests, power. Yes the two are related but power is regulated while torque isn't. Sorry I'm a bit cynical

I have ridden the similarly specced Fastroad a mates Giant E+ ex pro 80nm rather than 75. I enjoyed riding it but found it really hard to get my heart rate up - it was only a couple of minutes quicker than my regular commute, which is stop start with traffic lights, so the acceleration up to 25 km/h was a big +. It was quite nimble despite the weight - only time I noticed how heavy they are was when pushing it over a gutter or step.

[blizzard]

I'm considering updating the ancient gazelle to one of these. Specs look good and the price is pretty good too. Any thoughts.

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/au/explore-eplus-1-gts

Looks good. Probably only Merida and Cube can rival Giant for value, I would imagine the warranty experience is better with Giant compared to going through 99Bikes for the other two.

I have my Cube and its great, the Bosch system is very smooth. I upgraded to Cues Linkglide from Deore Hyperglide, the shift performance is marginally better but should last a lot longer.

I have a bosch activeline on the gazelle. I think it's up to 16k now. The battery is still probably 80%. Very impressed with it.

Unfortunately though it's not very strong.. I think 45nm. We live on a cliff face, and I've got a trailer of pugs to haul. I need more horsepower.

I'll wait until I've had a ride, but it seems like good horsepower (75nm) for the money.

My Cube has 85nm and feels like I could get it up anything, just not always at full speed. My low gear is 38x48, I pretty much never use the bottom 3 gears even loaded. I've had the bike loaded to ~190kg system weight no issues. I imagine 75nm would be plenty in most situations.

[Comedian]

So by way of clarification.. I'll probably only use this bike to commute with occasionally. It's kind of an extra family run about because there is fighting about the gazelle.

The problem is the hill we live on. Basically the only way to get home is up a cliff face. There are a few alternative ways The flatter ones have a short pinch of about 50-100m at 17%. The other alternative is 200m at 11.4% .

And the wife has bought a trailer for the dogs and we would like to take them for rides. So that's 20kg of trailer and another 20kg of Pug. I know they should walk but it's a bit much for them.

Anyway so that's the problem.. we need to drag a dog trailer up the hill. The gazelle manages the hill ok without the trailer but it's a struggle. It's marginally easier than a road bike so I guess that's ok. Anyway I know from loaded bunnings trips that it won't do it with the dogs on the back.

The thing that's worrying me about the giant is the front chain ring is a 46 and on the back it's got a 10-43. I reckon the lowest gear is like twice as high as the gazelle (18 and 10-36). So it might have more power but it's also much higher geared. Which frankly for a speed limited bike seems very silly.

[find_bruce]

The thing that's worrying me about the giant is the front chain ring is a 46 and on the back it's got a 10-43. I reckon the lowest gear is like twice as high as the gazelle (18 and 10-36). So it might have more power but it's also much higher geared. Which frankly for a speed limited bike seems very silly.

I agree that's just weird, especially as its using a large diameter trye, 700x57c, which exaggerates the gearing - at a cadence of 110 you would be doing ~70km/h in 46-10 - if you need a motor to get you to 25 I can't see pedal power alone getting to that speed other than going down the very steep hill when you can freewheel in any event.

My wife's KAD-E has 38 x 11-32 but with a 110 nm motor she generally rides it like its a single speed & there's no hill near us that she can't climb at 20 km/h

[blizzard]

Strange about the gearing, maybe something like this would be better? 85nm motor, 34x46 gearing.

https://www.99bikes.com.au/merida-22-eb ... additional

[Comedian]

Strange about the gearing, maybe something like this would be better? 85nm motor, 34x46 gearing.

https://www.99bikes.com.au/merida-22-eb ... additional

Good pickup. I had that on my "Maybe list".

Honestly the giant seems like it's geared to be de restricted and ride at 50k. Which is just not what I want or need. I'll ask whether they can fit a smaller front chainring.

[Comedian]

Ok.. rode the giant. I don't know how they have done it but the gearing is plenty low. The power is better than the gazelle (bosch activeline). Whether it's as good as the bosch 85 NM units.. Dunno. Probably not. Is it good enough. Probably.

I think I'm going to go with it because they seem to have done a good job of making an ebike. It looks solid, has good brakes, the shimano linkglide chain. The wheels look solid with nice big tyres that would be ok on the rail trail. In general lots of attention to detail that should give a low maintenance ebike.

The only thing it's missing is an AXA lock but it does have the mounts for one so should be easy to fit. You can get bigger headlights which plug into the bike electronics.

[Comedian]

Ooops.. ordered. Pickup shortly.

[blizzard]

Ok.. rode the giant. I don't know how they have done it but the gearing is plenty low. The power is better than the gazelle (bosch activeline). Whether it's as good as the bosch 85 NM units.. Dunno. Probably not. Is it good enough. Probably.

I think I'm going to go with it because they seem to have done a good job of making an ebike. It looks solid, has good brakes, the shimano linkglide chain. The wheels look solid with nice big tyres that would be ok on the rail trail. In general lots of attention to detail that should give a low maintenance ebike.

The only thing it's missing is an AXA lock but it does have the mounts for one so should be easy to fit. You can get bigger headlights which plug into the bike electronics.

Congratulations, I would suggest getting Giant to order an Abus frame lock with key match the Abus battery key. Might take a few weeks but it's surprisingly handy to have the 1 key for everything.

Gearing is an interesting issue, the motor can make up lot for being under geared. Down the track you can probably still swap the chain wheel out if you do run into issues.

[Comedian]

Ok.. rode the giant. I don't know how they have done it but the gearing is plenty low. The power is better than the gazelle (bosch activeline). Whether it's as good as the bosch 85 NM units.. Dunno. Probably not. Is it good enough. Probably.

I think I'm going to go with it because they seem to have done a good job of making an ebike. It looks solid, has good brakes, the shimano linkglide chain. The wheels look solid with nice big tyres that would be ok on the rail trail. In general lots of attention to detail that should give a low maintenance ebike.

The only thing it's missing is an AXA lock but it does have the mounts for one so should be easy to fit. You can get bigger headlights which plug into the bike electronics.

Congratulations, I would suggest getting Giant to order an Abus frame lock with key match the Abus battery key. Might take a few weeks but it's surprisingly handy to have the 1 key for everything.

Gearing is an interesting issue, the motor can make up lot for being under geared. Down the track you can probably still swap the chain wheel out if you do run into issues.

I had no idea Giant could do that. I will ask them about it Monday! Do you know who the abus agent is in Aus.. maybe I can point them in the right direction.

So rode it home. It sailed up the hill easy as. It's a nice bike to ride. It's not a e-MTB but it would be good on the rail trail. It's a very stable commuter. 57 tyres which I think is equivalent to my old anthem.

[blizzard]

Ok.. rode the giant. I don't know how they have done it but the gearing is plenty low. The power is better than the gazelle (bosch activeline). Whether it's as good as the bosch 85 NM units.. Dunno. Probably not. Is it good enough. Probably.

I think I'm going to go with it because they seem to have done a good job of making an ebike. It looks solid, has good brakes, the shimano linkglide chain. The wheels look solid with nice big tyres that would be ok on the rail trail. In general lots of attention to detail that should give a low maintenance ebike.

The only thing it's missing is an AXA lock but it does have the mounts for one so should be easy to fit. You can get bigger headlights which plug into the bike electronics.

Congratulations, I would suggest getting Giant to order an Abus frame lock with key match the Abus battery key. Might take a few weeks but it's surprisingly handy to have the 1 key for everything.

Gearing is an interesting issue, the motor can make up lot for being under geared. Down the track you can probably still swap the chain wheel out if you do run into issues.

I had no idea Giant could do that. I will ask them about it Monday! Do you know who the abus agent is in Aus.. maybe I can point them in the right direction.

So rode it home. It sailed up the hill easy as. It's a nice bike to ride. It's not a e-MTB but it would be good on the rail trail. It's a very stable commuter. 57 tyres which I think is equivalent to my old anthem.

That's a nice looking bike, looks better in the sun. As long as your Giant store is an Abus dealer they should be able to order the lock to match your key via the distributor. You should have a card with the battery keys telling you your key number. Also measure your bolt spacing and tyre width to find the right lock. I think I have 5750 which fits over the 27.5x2.6 tyres on the Cube. I ordered it through 99 Bikes on Elizabeth St.

[Comedian]

That's a nice looking bike, looks better in the sun. As long as your Giant store is an Abus dealer they should be able to order the lock to match your key via the distributor. You should have a card with the battery keys telling you your key number. Also measure your bolt spacing and tyre width to find the right lock. I think I have 5750 which fits over the 27.5x2.6 tyres on the Cube. I ordered it through 99 Bikes on Elizabeth St.

So yes... the keys have a card on them ... when I scan the QR code it takes me to a German website which I can't read.

My giant dealer barely knew what a frame lock was but if 99 bikes are dealers I'll try them. Now i've got the bike in my hands I can measure it at least. I checked before I bought it - but it's got mounting points for a ring lock. Shame they don't give you one keyed to the battery which is what gazelle did!

EDIT
Holy smokes it's hard to work out which lock. I found this page so at least that's a start. I've worked out the locks with "xplus" means they can be keyed alike. I'm going to have to look at the measurements and see which one will work and then find a dealer who'll order it. The giant has big tyres (57) and mudguards so it's going to need some extra special measuring. Are those "balloon tyres" as far as the germans are concerned because they sure aren't that big for someone who rides fatbikes.

https://mobil.abus.com/int/Consumer/Bic ... rame-Locks

[Joeblake]

https://theconversation.com/the-worlds- ... ars-213870

The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars

[blizzard]

EDIT
Holy smokes it's hard to work out which lock. I found this page so at least that's a start. I've worked out the locks with "xplus" means they can be keyed alike. I'm going to have to look at the measurements and see which one will work and then find a dealer who'll order it. The giant has big tyres (57) and mudguards so it's going to need some extra special measuring. Are those "balloon tyres" as far as the germans are concerned because they sure aren't that big for someone who rides fatbikes.

https://mobil.abus.com/int/Consumer/Bic ... rame-Locks

Yes, it's a bit of a pain to find the right lock. When I was looking I managed to find other people that had posted on German Cargo bike forum which lock they used.

Just remember that the opening of the lock can be narrower than the tyre. On my bike you have to deflate the tyre to get the wheel in otherwise it fit through the lock.

[Comedian]

EDIT
Holy smokes it's hard to work out which lock. I found this page so at least that's a start. I've worked out the locks with "xplus" means they can be keyed alike. I'm going to have to look at the measurements and see which one will work and then find a dealer who'll order it. The giant has big tyres (57) and mudguards so it's going to need some extra special measuring. Are those "balloon tyres" as far as the germans are concerned because they sure aren't that big for someone who rides fatbikes.

https://mobil.abus.com/int/Consumer/Bic ... rame-Locks

Yes, it's a bit of a pain to find the right lock. When I was looking I managed to find other people that had posted on German Cargo bike forum which lock they used.

Just remember that the opening of the lock can be narrower than the tyre. On my bike you have to deflate the tyre to get the wheel in otherwise it fit through the lock.

The tyre is 56mm wide. Which rules out most of the locks. I think this guy is the only sensible choice. Now to see if I can buy it.

https://mobil.abus.com/int/Consumer/Bic ... 755L-XPlus