Recommendations for a Folding E-Bicycle.

sidepod said:
No need to down size to folding. There is a good selection of latest gen super light e-bikes out there now which means there is no need for the ridiculous over designed heavy tow bar rack nonsense, just use the stock Cali rack.
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Don't want any bike rack, towbar or tailgate on my next California. We have full sized ebikes for use at home.
 
temporarysecretary said:
This isn't a market that I have looked into for my self however I used to work in the industry.

The whole market is flooded with upstarts and niche kickstarters. The market booms and contracts continually. The absolute most important thing with an ebike is after sales.

Firms go bust, they don't stock spares and you are out on your own. If I was buying an ebike. It would be Brompton or something with a Shimano or Bosch electric kit. When they work anything all BUT the budget end of the market is good. When things break you quickly find out the difference.

I have seen internal frame batteries from manufacturers go from £200-400-600 then bust and irreplaceable rendering the whole bike time limited.
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Not sure I understand your last statement. Do you mean the manufactures go bust making it not possible to get the same battery as a replacement? Are you aware of a type of battery that busts? If so that would be worrying.

Maybe worth a comment is that I can ride my e-bike with out the addition power so even if the battery fails the bike is still a useable bike. With out the battery in it it would be lighter.

I do agree with the need for good aftersales and that is why I got my bike from a local shop where I was able to test drive the bike and ensure that it was a shape that fitted me. My normal bike has a small frame as being only 5ft tall a lot of bikes are too big! I had considered adding a electric kit to my bike but decided a bike designed as an e-bike was a better option.
 
WelshGas said:
Used to have some Dahon folding bikes in the past . Very good. Fitted nicely in the back seats of the RX8.
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We have 3 Dahons and now when I go away with my husband and a friend we put my miRider and 2 dahons in the van. I get to cycle with power and they have to work a bit more!
 
WelshGas said:
Used to have some Dahon folding bikes in the past . Very good. Fitted nicely in the back seats of the RX8.
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You may find this picture of interest for size comparison. miRider and a 20in Dahon.

IMG20230314112428.jpg
 
I would seriously consider Bromptons; I know you say they're overpriced, but actually I'd argue they're still good value - I have a (non-electric) Brompton and have used it regularly for 13 years. I've cycled 20% mountain passes, done 70 miles in a day with luggage on and hacked it around big cities - it's highly competent at virtually anything, despite the odd looks, and folds down smaller and more quickly than any other mainstream folding bike (I think!). A few bits of maintenance as with any bike, but it's a brilliantly engineered bit of kit and it's relatively easy to find someone to work on it (and readily available spares) because they're so ubiquitous in the world of folding bicycles - you might find with something a bit more obscure harder to repair when the need arises.

I appreciate the e-Bromptons are very expensive, as alluded above there are options though to electrify a manual Brommie - Swytch do some pretty lightweight conversions, not sure if they'll build them into a 16" wheel though.
 
Barbara said:
Not sure I understand your last statement. Do you mean the manufactures go bust making it not possible to get the same battery as a replacement? Are you aware of a type of battery that busts? If so that would be worrying.

Maybe worth a comment is that I can ride my e-bike with out the addition power so even if the battery fails the bike is still a useable bike. With out the battery in it it would be lighter.

I do agree with the need for good aftersales and that is why I got my bike from a local shop where I was able to test drive the bike and ensure that it was a shape that fitted me. My normal bike has a small frame as being only 5ft tall a lot of bikes are too big! I had considered adding a electric kit to my bike but decided a bike designed as an e-bike was a better option.
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No, but many are sold on the www and look good but when you research no Dealerships in country , sold direct from import warehouse, contact details email only and not all UK/EU approved.
 
RockinNRollin said:
I appreciate the e-Bromptons are very expensive, as alluded above there are options though to electrify a manual Brommie - Swytch do some pretty lightweight conversions, not sure if they'll build them into a 16" wheel though.
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The advantage of the 16" wheel is that its super easy to turn over (compared to my 29" which I have to get out of the saddle to get moving).
I thought I must have an ebike for the Cali but I find the 56T front chain ring and 4 gears are very well conceived and very easy to peddle. Perfect for light hills and on the flat. For more mountainous terrain there is the option to get a 12 speed conversion but this adds almost a 1kg extra weight.
Swytch do offer an ebike upgrade with 16" wheel for the Brompton. This would be the way I would go if I ever decided it was time for an ebike plus the 12 gear upgrade when being a weight weenie is less of a concern.
 
Corradobrit said:
The advantage of the 16" wheel is that its super easy to turn over (compared to my 29" which I have to get out of the saddle to get moving).
I thought I must have an ebike for the Cali but I find the 56T front chain ring and 4 gears are very well conceived and very easy to peddle. Perfect for light hills and on the flat. For more mountainous terrain there is the option to get a 12 speed conversion but this adds almost a 1kg extra weight.
Swytch do offer an ebike upgrade with 16" wheel for the Brompton. This would be the way I would go if I ever decided it was time for an ebike plus the 12 gear upgrade when being a weight weenie is less of a concern.
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Bromptons are easier to customise than that. Mine's an older one (P6R) with a 3 speed hub gear and a little 2 speed shifter at the back. I just swapped out a smaller chainring (still have the bigger one hanging up in the garage) to give me better hill climbing capability, at the sacrifice of top end, but even now I am still pedalling at 35mph (downhill I should add, I'm not Wiggins) and realistically that's about as fast I would want to go on my Brompton!
 
RockinNRollin said:
Bromptons are easier to customise than that. Mine's an older one (P6R) with a 3 speed hub gear and a little 2 speed shifter at the back. I just swapped out a smaller chainring (still have the bigger one hanging up in the garage) to give me better hill climbing capability, at the sacrifice of top end, but even now I am still pedalling at 35mph (downhill I should add, I'm not Wiggins) and realistically that's about as fast I would want to go on my Brompton!
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It caught me out once not being used to the 16" wheels. The front fell into a gully and I almost went over the bars. Need to make sure the weight is far back on chassis when navigating over such obstacles.
 
Corradobrit said:
It caught me out once not being used to the 16" wheels. The front fell into a gully and I almost went over the bars. Need to make sure the weight is far back on chassis when navigating over such obstacles.
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If you don't have the front bike bag on (the clip on one), they're very easy to pop a wheely on! Advantage of the little wheels is they're incredibly strong.

People often ask me "oh it must be horrendous riding that" and I compare the effort to riding a mountain bike on the road. It's harder than a road or touring bike, but it's completely manageable.
 
Barbara said:
Not sure I understand your last statement. Do you mean the manufactures go bust making it not possible to get the same battery as a replacement? Are you aware of a type of battery that busts? If so that would be worrying.
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Sorry that I wasn't clear enough. I was talking about the businesses and not the batteries, I didn't see any batteries catch fire first hand thankfully, just the chargers. I've seen a few batteries bulge as they begin to fail which is quite scary.

The real danger is the company going into administration or stopping support for unique propiatory parts. I've met many people who have electric bikes that they use as normal bikes because their electrics are obsolete/unrepairable.
 
I realise it's not answering your question but have you seen the Thule easy fold XT2 bike rack with ramp. Incredibly easy to fit (few mins) as it folds in half, remarkably light and you can just push the ebike onto the rack. Bit of a game changer for us.
 
Skylark2.0 said:
I realise it's not answering your question but have you seen the Thule easy fold XT2 bike rack with ramp. Incredibly easy to fit (few mins) as it folds in half, remarkably light and you can just push the ebike onto the rack. Bit of a game changer for us.
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I know but I will be purchasing a California Concept or whatever they call it and I’ve decided No Bike rack, hence 2 x folding e-bikes, but thank you for the information.
 
sidepod said:
No need to down size to folding. There is a good selection of latest gen super light e-bikes out there now which means there is no need for the ridiculous over designed heavy tow bar rack nonsense, just use the stock Cali rack.
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Agree.
Specialized Vado SL, less than 15kg.
If it had to be fold, @hirsty Ado Air recommendation with a belt drive, would be where my money would go.
 
Or this.

FOLD HYBRID - COMPACT & FOLDING - TREKKING - E-BIKES | CUBE Bikes

This is the Bosch hybrid you can take with you anywhere. Ride to work, pop it in the car, take it on the train... wherever you go, your Fold Hybrid c…
www.cube.eu www.cube.eu
Cube is a superb brand.

A similar bike to my compact sport which is approaching 4 years old and so far fault free. So good, we bought another 3 months later for the wife. Both bikes still in use with lots of miles
 
WelshGas said:
We are approaching that age when hitching up a tow bar bike rack and loading 2 adult bikes is becoming a bit of a hassle.
We have full sized bikes we use at home but are looking for a folding e-bike x 2 that we can pop in the van when going away for use at our destination , popping to the shops cycling on cycle ways or towpaths etc.
Weight is not a problem . Just need something we can pop in the van, unpack when we get there and use or chain upto the vehicle if not using.
So hybrid use and a 20 mile ( 40 Km ) range or so for occasional use.

Plenty of Chinese imports around, not all legal in the UK, but really want a UK seller rather than Amazon .

Any recommendations?
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Could be worth a visit to https://nationalcyclingshow.com/ to see a selection in person.
 
soulstyledevon said:
Agree.
Specialized Vado SL, less than 15kg.
If it had to be fold, @hirsty Ado Air recommendation with a belt drive, would be where my money would go.
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Liker the look of Ado Air. Presume UK has the same EU restriction?
But I see so many delivery riders near me riding without pedalling and flying along, that I presume the police will only be (half) interested if you have an accident.
Capture.PNG
 
66tim99 said:
Liker the look of Ado Air. Presume UK has the same EU restriction?
But I see so many delivery riders near me riding without pedalling and flying along, that I presume the police will only be (half) interested if you have an accident.
View attachment 122080
Click to expand...
Look at the Ado Air " International ".

Throttle disabled/ switched on via app.
 
Proper party poopers in the EU when it comes to ebikes. Reiss and Mueller sells some really tasty models capable of 45km/hr plus. Can't use them on the cycle paths and there is no way I would ride an e-bike on the the road. 25km/hr is the limit and then it's all you. Peddling a 25kg bike isn't much fun.
 
IMG_1418.jpeg
Just seen this in the Mall in Tallin, Estonia.
Looks quirky
 
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