Electric Bike Report | Electric Bike, Ebikes, Electric Bicycles, E Bike, Reviews
Electric Bike Reviews, News, and Information; plus e-bike riding and maintenance tips!
In this week’s news:
Wilier’s Hybrid Triestina Move Fast looks as though it certainly should do just that
Whilst many higher-priced e-bikes contain mid-drives (examined in full in our recent Guide to eBike MidDrives) the other main type of e-bike motor, hub motors, are often found on more budget models. Hub motors (as you would guess, these are motors found within the wheel hubs) are also used where saving weight is important, for example on lightweight city bikes you might want to pick up and sling over your shoulder to get them up steps or on e-folders that you need to carry in one hand. A third, less common reason for using hub motors (especially of the gearless variety) is on ultra-low maintenance e-bikes where they can be used alongside belt drives and hub gears to give a virtually ‘fit and forget’ system.
As in our overview of mid-drives, we’ll take a look at all the main hub motor players out there but first, there’s just a couple of points to note.
A geared motor (left) uses gears to drive onto the hub shell whilst in a gearless motor (right) the hub shell is actually a rotating part of the hub motor itself.
Having a comfortable e-bike that is easy to control and that you feel safe on can make all the difference to how much you use it. This is doubly so as you begin to age – when it’s especially advisable for people to keep cycling to stave off the effects of age on muscles, motor coordination, and the immune system.
With this in mid EBR looks at some of the best e-bikes for older riders.
Comfort and controllability are of extra importance to older riders and a fairly upright riding position is usually the best way to attain this. If the e-bike has a traditional diamond frame (though see below for the advantages of step-thru frames), a short top tube means the seat and handlebars will be quite near each other, making it easy to sit upright. Sportier designs and e-road bikes in particular will have longer top tubes and are inherently hard if not impossible to ride in an upright posture. As with everything, it’s a case of pros and cons though.
This striking image from bike designer Mark Sanders shows how the spine, neck and wrists are forced out of their natural riding positions by sportier designs of bike but a natural and comfortable position is maintained on an upright bike.
In this week’s electric bike news:
The BiMotal Elevate retrofit system has just been announced. It features a unique motor that mounts around disk brake mounting points and has a claimed weight of 2lbs / sub 1kg with a 750W rating assisting ‘up to 28mph’!
It claims to remove in 20 seconds with only 200g of extra weight remaining on the bike.
[Read more…]
In this week’s news:
Jeep’s new e-bike is designed to be a ‘go anywhere’ model
Back in a February news post we mentioned that an advert for a Jeep e-bike had appeared during the Superbowl but that more detail wasn’t available. Well now it is; as mentioned in the original news piece, it is in fact a rebranded Quietcat and the spec certainly looks in keeping with Jeep’s off-road automotive tradition.
Mid-drives use a system of complex gears and a torque sensor for the motor to provide electric assist through to the pedal cranks
Mid-drives are electric-assist motors on e-bikes that drive through the pedal cranks (usually on turning the cranks – so-called pedelec power). They have become hugely popular in recent years as the technology has become more powerful, lighter, and more efficient, with every year bringing announcements of new mid-drive developments.
A typical mid-drive motor design that powers the bike along via the pedal cranks. Mid-drives are usually activated on pedalling with power both proportional to your pedal effort and dependent on what power level you have the motor set at. A few designs include an auxiliary throttle control in addition to ‘pedelec’ control.
In this week’s news:
The Great American Outdoors Act has just been signed into Law – but what exactly is it and what does it mean for e-bikers? The extra funding it secures means mountain bikers and electric mountain bikers could ultimately see more trails opening up for them to ride on.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund is now permanently funded at $900 million per year as of 2019, and the fund is divided into two separate parts—federal and stateside. Add that to new resources for maintenance backlog on federal public lands, and land agencies will have access to nearly $2 billion per year for the next five years. It has been described as the biggest land conservation legislation in a generation as well as being an unlikely success story that attracted bipartisan support from both major political parties. It is aimed at addressing, amongst other things, the US$12 billion backlog of maintenance to repair roads, trails, campgrounds, monuments, fire safety, utilities, and visitor infrastructure in National Parks.
Here’s a video from IMBA, the International Mountain Bicycling Association, that gives more detail on the implications for trail access:
ICE electric assist recumbents from the UK fitted with one of the premier mid drives on the market, the Shimano Steps electric assist system
A recumbent bike or e-bike, as the name suggests, is one where you lay down in a seat rather than perch on a saddle. They come in 2, 3 and 4 wheeled versions, though 3 wheelers or trikes as they are more commonly known are by far the most common design.
I’ve test ridden several recumbent and electric recumbent machines and always enjoyed it – and always received loads of interest in the bike itself, mainly in the form of what is it and why would I want to ride one? So, if you want to know too, read on…
Fancy cycling in real comfort? Why not try an electric recumbent? These models are from HP Velotechnik who have a wide network of dealers in Europe, US and Canada.
In this week’s news:
Bike and e-bike advocacy group People for Bikes say they are currently taking a number of steps to fight racial injustice both within the bike industry and at large. This webpage outlines their current programme and incudes steps such as:
Marker website has a great piece that gives an insight into the bike and e-bike boom consequent on Covid-19, seen particularly through the eyes of one of the US’s premier bike and e-bike brands, Trek. At the start of lockdown Trek believed a best case scenario would be a 50% sales fall in April, 20% in May then levels remaining remain flat through the rest of the year. In fact in April Trek CEO John Burke was starting to think the company would need to be making many many more bikes than usual as the sales curve headed upwards at an incredible rate.
‘According to NPD Group, a market-research firm, U.S. bicycle sales (including indoor bikes, helmets, and other accessories) hit $1 billion in April, up 75% from the previous year — and the first time ever that sales had reached such a height. Sales of bikes under $200 grew more than 200% and front-suspension mountain bikes were up 150%. Kids’ bikes spiked 107%’ says the Marker article.
Such a boom, of course, meant empty shelves and, with a typical bike or e-bike needing parts from literally dozens of suppliers around the world and taking several months to produce from the start of the order process to arrival in a shop, a scramble from manufacturers to place more orders at the same time with global capacity and supply chains severely disrupted by Covid-19 caused huge shortages.
Will the boom last? Trek’s Burke and the Marker article certainly seem to think that will be the case in the US at least: ‘Trek, which is privately held, does not disclose sales numbers, though the company reportedly sells about a million bikes a year. A company spokesperson says that it expects 2020 sales to be more than double those of 2019, and is expecting sales of kids bikes and e-bikes to surge this holiday season.’
European manufacturer Ampler saw a boom in its sales of lightweight e-bikes
In this week’s news:
IZIP has announced the following new e-bikes into its Commuting, Cruising and Adventure collections for Fall 2020.
Both the new Path+ Step Thru and Path+ Step Over e-bikes use a Bosch Active Line center motor and a 400WH PowerPack battery. IZIP say ‘This new class 1 eBike has a top pedal assist speed of 20 mph and 30-50 miles of travel per charge. The tektro mechanical disc brakes provide solid stopping power. The 700c wheels provide rolling efficiency while 40c tires add extra comfort on any surface. The Shimano Altus 7spd shifting with optical gearbox provides riders visual confirmation of gear shifting.’ $2,400 MSRP.
The new cruising range is a choice between the Zuma Luxe Step Thru and the Zuma Luxe Step Over. Both feature Bosch Active Line Plus 250W motors and 500Wh batteries. Both models are equipped with Tektro hydraulic disc brakes, Shimano Acera 8spd shifting with optical gearbox and a wide range gear cassette. $2,750 MSRP.
