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Long Commute With an eBike

by Tom_77
Mon, May 25, 2020 11:22
5

Briefly - looking to commute by eBike, 32 miles each way, twice per week. How feasible is this, and what's the best eBike for around £1500 - £2000 to do this?

Details:

I'm currently working from home. My employer is putting together a plan to get people back in the office on a "tag team" basis. So I'm probably going to be in the office 2 days per week and work the other 3 from home in the not too distant future. In the Before Times I used to get the train to work, but as you can probably imagine I'm not too keen on doing that any time soon, I could drive in but I'd prefer to cycle.

Distance to work is about 32 miles each way. I cycled it on my road bike one way at the start of February - took the day off, got the train to work and cycled home. The route is mostly quiet country lanes, a few hills and some poor road surfaces. Cycling it unassisted wasn't too tough, but I wouldn't want to do it twice in one day. Hoping that an eBike would require a lot less effort (half?).

We're signed up to the Bike2Work scheme. I was initially looking at bikes under £1000, but I've now confirmed that the limit no longer applies, so I think it would be worth spending a bit more. I've done some research online, thought the Raleigh Motus for £1650 looked pretty good.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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5 comments

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CXR94Di2 | 4 years ago
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Its will be easy for any decent ebike to do 30 miles. All you need to have is a charger to recharge whilst at work.

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kil0ran | 4 years ago
1 like

Rather than splashing out on an eBike, would a mixed commute work? Drive part of the way, cycle the rest? Most road bikes will fit a family hatch with the rear seats down no problem. I did that for years and it's a good flexible option.

If you are settled in getting a new bike something like the Ribble CGR AL e is worth a look. Road bike looks and performance, big tyres and disc brakes to handle a winter commute, and a pretty impressive 13.5kg all up. That's lighter than the Motus meaning if you do run out of assistance/range it won't be too much of a slog to get the bike home. 

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Tom_77 replied to kil0ran | 4 years ago
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A mixed commute would work in principal, but I'm trying to avoid driving as much as possible. Up until about 3 years ago I was driving 400 miles per week to get to and from work and I just got so sick of it.

Ribble looks great, but it's a hub motor (mid-drive is better from what I've read) and it doesn't look like you can remove the battery to charge it.

 

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kil0ran replied to Tom_77 | 4 years ago
1 like

Correct on both counts re the Ribble, which is an issue if you can't bring the bike in the house or don't have power to the garage. Echo your sentiments on driving too - I used to be a complete petrolhead and love driving and now it's just a chore. I certainly haven't missed driving during this lockdown period.

If you're avoiding driving then a 60+ mile commute twice a week is an ideal eBike use case I'd say. I'm not sure I'd fancy doing it on something like the Motus though - it's pretty heavy and even with assistance it's going to be a 2 hour plus ride each way. It will be a plod at a constant speed and probably not very engaging. You're also lacking the multiple hand positions offered by a road bike, although that's potentially easily solved with a bar swap to trekking/butterfly bars. We had a similar bike to the Motus for a while for popping to the shops and it just felt like even with the assistance it was hard work for anything more than a few miles.

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Sriracha replied to Tom_77 | 4 years ago
2 likes

I can't speak from experience as I've never ridden an ebike. Having seen the usual heavyweight behemoths put me off. But researching for the other half led me towards the Fazua system. Seems to have all the advantages of feeding in power as a function of your own effort, plus it disengages the motor when not in use. And the battery is removable. And it does not weigh a ton.

I looked at the Boardman offerings at Halfords. But lockdown came before we could do a test ride.
https://www.halfords.com/bikes/electric-bikes/boardman-adv-8.9e-mens-adv...
They also do a hybrid version which comes in your budget.

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