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For my septuagenarian mum, I think she just wants to get out and about a bit and do shopping and such. Not sure she is interested in gnar.
My OH has one of the carrera/suntour ones from halfords, seems fine so far apart from being an unbalanced tank on account of the hub motor.
I'm tempted to build something to replace my OFO commuter as it won't take a BB mounted motor (there s huge gusset under the BB/down tube) based around the tongsheng motor TJ keeps recommending. My reservation about the suntour is if anything were to fail your stuck with a load of proprietary bits (torque sensor cranks, 170mm hub, battery, etc) so you'd be reliant on suntour stocking and selling you somethign small and innocuous like a spare freehub or the torque sensor to avoid scrapping a £1000 bike.
How important is a torque sensing motor for just tootling around?
Anyone got experience of this?
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/elops-900-e-classic-electric-bike-blue-id_8379381.html
I've had one of the Carrera / Suntour bikes for over 4 years and it's been fine. I put around 1500km on it then my stepdaughter took it on for commuting and put another 6000km on it.
Still on the original battery but the range is down by about 15%, can still easily get 50km out of it on a hilly route.
As the power is in the hub the transmission gets a really easy life and its still on the original chain and cassette. Handling is pretty neutral and the power feed is very smooth and predictable.
Only problem is she crashed it on ice and broke the crank sensor. It's a cheap part but could only get it through Halfords. I work in a bike shop and we have an account with the Suntour importer but they will only sell the parts to Halfords. Probably more annoying to me than for most people.
Hmm it appears budget might be flexible. She likes the look of the Pendleton Somerby
Torque sensing makes riding the bike much easier and intuitive
It doesn't have to be a super duper bb mount motor tho
Well, she talked herself (with a little help from me) up to £1800 which gets you a much better bike. She got a Cannondale Treadwell Neo (step-through model), because that's basically all that was in stock:
https://www.cannondale.com/en-gb/bikes/electric/e-fitness/treadwell-neo#sort=%40msrpraw%20descending
The equipped version wasn't in stock so I've ordered the front basket anyway because bespoke accessories. What grates a little is that it was the same price as a Van Moof which are frigging awesome but they aren't available again until September.
It's not a torque sensing motor which is a shame, but the nice thing about this model is that it is only something like 3.3kg heavier than the normal bike which will be good for my Mum to handle up steps and into the garage etc. The Carrera one from Halfords was cheaper and torque sensing, but the rest of the bike looked pretty crappy.