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To actually cycle to work on! I know, madness! 2.5k tops, will be a hilly 15 miles each way with no charging at work, cos they've banned it due to fire risk (you can still wander about site vaping though, bastards). What's good, what's not, why and longevity and maintenance factors particularly. The intent is to use it most days but in icy/biblically wet conditions the mondeo will get the honours, so will take robust over fancy.
Like the look of the cube editor and levo, but will they have the gearing and reliability? Would prefer a mid motor but that could just be vanity, are hubs a more practical option? I need M520 vs candys please!
Specialized Vado SL can probably be had under budget and should do 80 miles hilly in eco mode easily…. Caveat that with presumably something like 300m or less of climbing over the 15 miles? A range extender will give it 50% more range anyway if you want to ride it in Turbo all the way.
Mid mount is much better. I have a cube " hybrid " which is actually an mtb but the do a flat bar gravel verson.
Go for a full fat one so no range worry
Ribble seems to be a popular option but Sonder now do an El Camino. Not seen a review of the El version but I know several happy analogue Camino owners.
no charging at work, cos they’ve banned it due to fire risk
Do they also ban the charging or ALL batteries (both company and staff bought), if not, raise the question of why not.
Ribble seems to be a popular option but Sonder now do an El Camino. Not seen a review of the El version but I know several happy analogue Camino owners.
My partner bought an El Camino mostly for commuting, but also occasionally fun stuff, about, I think, nine months ago and she's so far, mostly, been very happy with it. It is a little rear wheel heavy, but on the road stuff, it doesn't seem to be a big issue and I think it's maybe less crucial with gravel bikes than mountain bikes. It does make the bike a bit rear-end heavy. Otherwise it seems willing enough with hills and headwinds, eats a 15-mile-ish round commute on a single charge, has been very reliable (touch wood) and survived some deluge days okay.
It also has the same mountain bike-ish geo as the standard Camino - I have one of those and it's great for Peak District 'gravel', ahem.
Stuff that's not so good: rear wheel needs two 17mm spanners to remove and there's a connector to unplug before you can fix a flat - fortunately this hasn't happened so far - also the power cable is supplied held on with zip-ties, snipped and replace with C-clips or whatever they're called. Fortunately the standard Goodyear tyres run tubeless seems pretty robust.
Also had a minor issue with the small bolts holding the drop-outs in place being too short and coming loose. Sonder supplied longer replacements, which I Loctited for good measure, all good now. Neither of us like either the super wide Sonder weird bars or the shape of the Spitfire flared ones. Am about to replace them. The Sonder saddle is a lump. Oh and the wires to the motor up and down buttons on the bars look a bit fragile, but have been fine.
I honestly don't know if a mid-motor bike will feels substantially better on a road commute. I occasionally ride a Levo off road, but I suspect it's less of a factor on road, but I've only ridden the El Camino briefly as it's a little small for me. I could nip out on it later and report back, I guess.
But anyway, seems to work fine, Sonder back-up good - you can test ride their bikes from Alpkit stores - Camino geometry is good off and off road ime. I'm not sure how helpful all that is, but there you go 🙂
Do they also ban the charging or ALL batteries (both company and staff bought), if not, raise the question of why not.
+1
I've just done my first train / e-bike commute at this job having already brought in work clothes, towel, etc.
I've identified a neat bike-shaped slot down the side of a meeting booth with a socket point so I've just placed the bike down there and put it on charge. So far no-one has even noticed it and I've certainly not bothered asking permission for the simple reason that someone somewhere will start bleating about fire risk.
If there's any way you can just get on with it, when it is finally noticed you can point out that it's been there many times before and the building hasn't burnt down.
Then ask why they don't ask the same questions about the EVs in the car park.
My Orbea Vibe is just over two years old
In that time, I've covered over 1000km mostly on journeys between 5km and 20km. It's quite hilly where we live. The motor is the MAHLE 250W version that's had a couple of updates since.
Pros
- looks and rides like a normal bike. Actually really fun to ride. Really light weight which is why I bought this one. Motor is quiet, with a large spread of gears it's good for all types of elevation. Apart from the saddle and grips, all quality kit, MT5 brakes, Shimano transmission, decent wheels and tyres that we converted to tubeless no problem. Does have integrated head set but so far no issues.
- Simple controls, no display but integrates really well with Garmin if you have one. 3 settings, can be changed in the app. Low power is basically just making up for the weight, medium is what I use most, turbo feels a step up (from 60% assistance to 100%) but it's very battery hungry.
- Range; never seen less than 80km. Easy to charge (but battery not removal). Just gets up and goes. Integrated lights are a good idea but I run an extra one on the front.
Cons
- If it's REALLY hilly it will not waft you up there. Also these motors like a higher cadence and as an MTBer, that's a bit of an adjustment. If I lived somewhere with a massive hill I needed to get up every day, I might go for mid motor
- Same as BWD above, rear wheel is a mission to remove. Hence going tubeless. I really don't know how easy it would be to get a tube in there outside of the shed. Defo worth having puncture proof tyres and keep at eye on sealant levels. I've never had a puncture (touch wood) but it is my only worry when riding it.
Mine was a bit more than 2.5k but they've come down a lot now.
Stealth add. Got a Cannondale topstone in medium, with a Bafang middrive motor that I was going to get rid of in the spring. Give me a shout if you're interested. Would easily do that commute at max power (obs' it's speed limited).
Ribble Gravel Al-e will cope with those distances with plenty to spare - understand looks are nice, IMO
Lapierre e-Crosshill 5.2 (available from Winstanleys for £2k) in 70's Porsche brown. I've had mine just over 12 months and done about 5200 commuter miles on it since then. It was a tie up between this and the Ribble Gravel Al-e. They were essentially the same spec but this was a good deal cheaper and I wanted something with as little branding as possible to avoid the attention of London bike-scrotes. Apart from battery failure after 900 miles (replaced under warranty) I've been pretty happy with it. Commute is 42 miles with 400m height gain and the battery is easily good for that even in cold weather, headwind and a rider feeling lazy - only run it in eco mode though.
Hmmm punctures could be a deal breaker on the hub drive, there are some very pumftinkle infested bits of roadside cycle path on the route at the work end...
Cheers all, good stuff to chew on, @Autolec thanks but needs to be halfords cycle to work voucher,⁵ dont have the cash for it
Keep it coming...
Fixed many a roadside puncture with the mahle hub (Orbea, Ribble, Lapierre) it’s a piece of cake. Just make sure you have an M12 Allen key to undo the bolts and other than that you just need to disconnect the cable -just pull it apart at the socket on the non-drive chain stay - reconnect by lining up the arrows and pushing back together. Big tubeless fan on mtb and tried like hell to make them work for the commute but just couldn’t find a setup that was reliable for the mix of urban and rural roads that my commute takes in. Been on plain old Schwalbe Marathons (not the plus version) for the last few months. Cheap and bombproof.
Hmmm punctures could be a deal breaker on the hub drive, there are some very pumftinkle infested bits of roadside cycle path on the route at the work end
In the case of the Sonder, I don't really think it's a big issue, you just need to be prepared - ie carry two 17mm wrenches, cone spanners will do and don't weigh much and remove the power cable zip-ties in advance. Obviously it's slightly more complicated than a standard rear wheel, but nothing insane.
...and other bikes with the same motor don't necessarily have the same fixings - my Cannondale has the same Mahle motor but uses a big fat allen key like nparker above.
That GT Grade looks an absolute steal!
Stuff that’s not so good: rear wheel needs two 17mm spanners to remove and there’s a connector to unplug before you can fix a flat
for the Mahle X35? ? Looked at a few YT vids and people seem to be managing with just a multitool! (obviously a bit more faff than a normal bike though)
Been considering one of these for MrsZilog, there's loads of bargains around at the moment. Puncture-fixability would be good, of course, although (touch wood!) doesn't really happen that often.
I keep looking at the Van Rysel road ebikes...
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/sports/cycling/electric-road-bikes
Mine's a 17mm- it also has some funky dropouts with collet/washer things. Getting it all back in isn't difficult, it's just fiddly and a pain as the wheel is quite heavy. . Disconnecting the power is similar to what Nig says and while it appears to be a high quality connector, I do worry about multiple dis/re-connects. The Vibe has a particular issue as the light is in the way when you invert the bike.
I did work out a way of doing it through a bit of experimentation at home and have the tools I used in case I ever have to on the road. I would just rather not!
The Kenda tyres it came with (no longer available) have been fine tubeless. Although now I remember, it did take two goes at taping the rims before they both stayed up.
for the Mahle X35?
No, for whatever it is that Sonder uses.
Preloved/tested Cairn options are available from Cairn, with a 12 month warranty: https://www.cairncycles.com/collections/used-and-ex-demo-cairn-bikes
My husband has an e-adventure for getting about (he can't yet drive in the UK) and it's done loads of miles on and off road.
I sent you a message dude.gt gravel ebike under 2k
Surely I saw that GT eGrade Bolt deal back in mid January, but dismissed it as I didn't know RM Cycles.
Pauls Cycles now have Current hybrid, plus Bolt and Amp eGrade gravel bikes at £1049-1249-1449. May have been that silly price for a while, I saw it last night...
I like the idea of 30/46 rings with 11-34 cassette with the Mahle X35+ motor and at the price you would pay for just a GRX gravel without E, I've gone back on my plan to buy local... Some deals are too good to miss, just like my Cube Attain GTC Disc in '17.
I got a GT eGrade Amp from Paul’s Cycles last week and I love it. I prefer the ride to my wife’s full fat Bosch bike. The lighter weight makes it feel just like a normal bike with a boost on the hills. It even rides pretty well with the motor turned off. On steep hills it seems to prefer seated spinning to standing.
have upgrades planned already of course. Use Vybe seat post off another bike and some more flared and comfortable bars
Good to read, enjoy!
I've never had Nanos, but apparently the 40mm on the Bolt have ~27W rolling resistance per tyre. Been looking what is out there, taking account that the wheels aren't tubeless, not that I'm likely to try tubeless for a while anyway.
For now while I'm so heavy, I'm looking forward to some extra comfort from tyres up to ~47mm.