Buying Guides
We test four of the best electric bikes, plus explain why you should get over the argument that electric bikes are cheating
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Cycling
Electric bikes are a common sight throughout the rest of the cycling world, especially in two-wheeled nirvanas like the Netherlands and China, where there are more than 200 million e-bikes on the road, yet they’ve never caught on in the UK. Confusion and outrage at perceived “cheating” are the main reactions of Brits when confronted with a battery-powered bike, but this bad rap is undeserved. There’s no shortage of reasons to consider adding a little juice to your cycle.
10 Reasons for Relaxing Your Hostility to Electric Bikes
1. You’re Still Exercising
If you’re not pedalling, you’re not moving. The motor won’t kick in until you turn those pedals. It’s easier than regular cycling, but slips nicely into the bracket of moderate exercise, the kind everyone should be aiming to do 30 minutes of every day. Add in the challenge of carrying the heavy bike up some stairs at home or work, plus the occasional disaster when you run out of battery and have to power home without the motor, and an electric bike will definitely make your lifestyle healthier.
2. You Can Control Your Effort
Electric bikes come with a variety of modes, so you can set exactly how much you want them to assist you. If you’re not a morning person you can cruise into the office on the highest level of assistance, before stripping it back for a more challenging ride home in the evening.
3. No-Sweat Commuting
The prospect of arriving at the office hot and sweaty deters many from regular cycling, but you won’t have this fear with electric bikes. The moderate effort required means you can don your regular work clothes without fear of excessive perspiration. As well as that…
4. There’s No Need for New Gear
A traditional bike might be cheaper to buy than an electric one, but there’s a substantial hidden cost in all the clothing you’ll end up buying to ride it. Go electric and you can just carry on wearing your normal clothes, avoiding the high prices of sweat-wicking fabrics and stigma of being labelled a MAMIL in one fell swoop.
5. It Takes (Some of) the Stress out of Cycling in the City
It’s no secret that cycling through the urban jungle can be stressful. There are irascible road users and tricky one-way networks to negotiate, and being out of breath only adds to the fluster. With an electric bike, the assistance – especially in getting a quick start at junctions – leaves you free to focus on the rest of the road and not worry about the effort involved.
6. It’s Cheaper than Public Transport
As mentioned, electric bikes are pricier than their pedal-only counterparts, but it’s all relative – anyone used to paying an annual Oyster fare won’t blanch at the outlay. And the running costs are tiny: a full charge costs pennies, and aside from replacing the battery every few years the maintenance is minimal.
7. It’ll Transport You to and from the Twilight Zones
Even the most iron-willed cyclist might find their heart faltering at the prospect of a cycle commute from London’s outskirts. However, with an electric bike, even those who dwell in the wilds of zones 4, 5 and even (gulp) 6 can happily ride in.
8. It’s an Entry Point to Cycling
There are plenty of valid concerns about city cycling but, as mentioned above, being on an electric bike dispenses with most of them. And once you’re on two wheels, you might just catch the cycling bug – and before you know it you’re halfway up Box Hill on a Saturday, Bradley Wiggins-style sideburns fluttering in the breeze.
9. You’ll Be Going Green
We all know something needs to be done about global warming – so finding a way to go green while also saving money and improving your fitness is a slam dunk.
10. You Can Try Before You Buy
Encouraged by e-bikes’ popularity around the world, the UK government is cautiously dipping a toe in the water by making 234 available to hire in ten locations around the country. Rotherham, Bristol, Exeter, Oxford and Eastbourne are among the places lucky enough to receive a few. There are also plans afoot to turn Haringey into the UK’s first e-bike borough. Because it’s full of serious inclines like Muswell Hill, some extra juice could be key to encouraging Haringey’s residents onto two wheels.
London Hills to Conquer on an Electric Bike
Once you’re fully charged, you might feel inclined to take on these five challenging hills in and around London to show off the power of electricity.
Swains Lane, N6: A short but savage climb that passes Highgate Cemetery in north London, so if you have to stop, you can take a break trying to find Karl Marx’s tomb.
College Road, SE21: Any of the approaches to Crystal Palace are tough, but College Road is more fun for cyclists due to the toll that lessens the traffic.
Broomfield Hill, KT2: This climb in Richmond Park has some pretty extreme gradients, so you might want to find a safer way down once you’ve summited with a heavy electric bike.
Alexandra Palace, N8: If you time it right, you can whizz through the traffic lights south of the park at the base of this climb to give yourself a fine start on the slog up to the Palace.
Leith Hill, Dorking: If you really get a taste for hill climbing, head out to Dorking and take on Leith Hill, the second-highest point in southeast England. This would be a bad spot to run out of battery.
Which Electric Bike Should You Buy?
To test out the benefits of e-bikes, Coach tried four different models on a regular commute into the centre of London of six miles (9.6km) each way. As well as checking the ride and battery life, Coach also subjected the bikes to a rigorous weight test by hauling them up two narrow flights of stairs.
Gocycle G2
The Ride The Gocycle has a small, lightweight frame, which can be folded up, and for a smaller bike was very stable and pleasingly nippy to ride. The motor kicks in very smoothly, and packs a punch to tackle any terrain due to the power-to-weight ratio enabled by the lighter frame. It even has automatic gear shifting so it’ll drop through the gears as you slow down, which is especially useful when restarting in traffic.
Display The on-board display of LED lights shows your ride and battery info. It’s clever, but takes a bit of getting used to. There’s also an impressive app, which you can use to set up your ride, right down to exactly what stage you want assistance from the motor to kick in.
Battery The Gocycle is good for 40-50 miles on a charge and you can cycle without the motor on in flat sections pretty easily if you want to save your juice for climbs.
Stairs Challenge A breeze.
Verdict Stunningly designed with clever innovations. Perfect for city areas where you have to constantly stop and start. Coach tested the G2, but the updated G3 boasts a longer battery life. £3,299 Gocycle G3, gocycle.com
Giant Dirt E+2
The Ride Designed to handle mountain biking trails, the Giant Dirt E copes on city roads with ease, providing a very smooth and comfortable ride. It’s also light, and the only full-sized bike Coach tried that was easy to ride on the flat with the assist turned off. The power doesn’t kick in as quickly as on the EBCO (below), but the motor provides enough oomph to take on hills even in the lower assist modes.
Display Aside from a tiny on/off switch secreted on the side of the controls, which was hard to find the first time, the Giant’s display is excellent, with a large clear screen and a backlight for night rides.
Battery The onscreen display has plenty of battery bars so you can count down your remaining juice accurately. Giant says you can ride mountain trails in a headwind for over 30 miles, so it’s not surprising that it lasted a week’s commuting of 50 miles comfortably.
Stairs Challenge An impressive pass. Of the full-sized bikes, this was the easiest to handle by far.
Verdict Very light, comfortable and will get you through a week’s commuting on one charge. Plug it in overnight Friday for your weekend on the trails. £1,999, giant-bicycles.com/en-gb
Emu Roam Free
The Ride The chunky size and weight of the Emu made for a very comfortable ride. The assist isn’t the quickest to respond when you first start pedalling, but it jolts into action quickly enough that you’re not left holding everyone up at traffic lights. There are six levels of assist on the Emu, and the motor is powerful enough that for anything but the steepest hills you’ll be fine in one of the two “Eco” modes.
Display The handlebar-mounted display has all the info you’d want, including speed, assist level and battery life.
Battery If you’re happy in Eco, the battery will get you through a week’s commuting easily. However, when I ventured into higher levels of assist, battery bars disappeared alarmingly quickly, so a midweek charge will be needed if you regularly crank up the motor.
Stairs Challenge Doable. The Emu is heavy but well-balanced, and can be manoeuvred up a tight staircase.
Verdict An excellent all-round option, with a stylish design, good range, and a very comfortable ride. The battery can struggle when off the flat but it would be ideal for most commuters, especially given its relatively low price. £1,299, emubikes.com
EBCO UCR-60
The Ride The EBCO is an impressively powerful beast. Even on the lowest of its three assistance settings, you’ll be flying along and it never lets you down, kicking in quickly even on a hill. However, having the weight of the battery at the back of the bike sometimes made it feel off-balance, with the front wheel a bit twitchy.
Display Very easy to control and tells you how many miles you have left before the battery dies, which is extremely useful.
Battery The battery will get you through 40-50 miles depending on the assistance levels, and you’d probably need a midweek recharge to be completely sure you avoid a calamitous journey home on a Friday.
Stairs Challenge Tough. The 29kg EBCO was the only bike that Coach had to drag, rather than lift up the stairs, thanks to the weight being largely at the back of the bike.
Verdict If your commute is especially long or hilly, the EBCO will make light work of it. However, its weight counts against it, and it’s not ideal for winding through busy traffic. £1,599, ebco-ebikes.co.uk
How to Upgrade Your Regular Bike to an E-Bike
Already have a regular bike but keen to try an e-bike? Well, there’s an electric solution for that, in the shape of the Copenhagen Wheel. This back wheel provides a powered assist when required, even adapting to how hard you’re pedalling to provide different levels of help as needed. It can also capture energy from braking or going downhill to recharge the battery. $949 for a customised wheel + $99 shipping (around £740 total), superpedestrian.com
Gear
Nick Harris-Fry
15 Mar 2016