Electric bikes

My friends have GTECH bikes and they dislike them because there is only one power setting, on or off, and it is on the battery.  A caravan site owner said he has been given ebikes over the years when the batteries fail.  I went from road bike to trail bike to full suspension mountain bike to eventually at 68 years old, an electric assist Haibike with Bosch system and four power settings on the handlebar controls, which is a lot more than the £1000 budget you have but the phrase you can't afford to buy cheap counts.  A hard tail Cube would maybe cost slightly more than £1000 but please consider the Bosch or Yamaha systems, maybe Trek or the newish Specialized because their reliability is likely to be better.  I strongly recommend an ebike because it will get you out more, and further than the anticipation of struggle and pain that goes with a manual bike.  I will submit an article on carrying the bike when you have a caravan - mine is 22kg though a hard tail may be less.  Please visit Whinlatter west of Keswick in The Western Lakes or Kirroughtree in Galloway to try for £25 the sort of bike that will show what a new world you are entering, forest tracks, trails and roads all await your new e-fitness to wander.

Further to my earlier post, We've now purchased a couple of lightly used s/h Carrera CrossCity folders. We've brought them away with us so if the snow melts and it warms up a bit we might actually try them out.

Hi just thought I would give some feedback on the gtech bike.

Ive been commuting 12 miles daily to and from work since I purchased the gtech eScent bike 6 weeks ago. I am very pleased with the bike. The range says 20-30miles on a full charge and there’s a lot of hills on route. I usually travel 18 miles on max power mode then I fully charge. There are two modes of pedal assist, max or eco and if you turn the battery off you can cycle like a normal bike no problem as it’s not a heavy bike and it’s the rear wheel that has the pedal assist hub.

I charge the battery after 18 miles but this is on max power all the time and 12 miles of this route is all uphill. The battery is very small the size of a water bottle. It only takes 3hours to fully charge from empty. So if you use eco mode and cycle mostly on the flat I reckon you would get the 20-30 miles.

I also bought my wife the  gtech city bike which has no gears and uses a belt rather than a chain. As the weathers not been good she has still to try it out. It has the same battery with eco and max power assis settings.

Hope this info is of use for anyone looking at the gtech bikes as I know I find the eScent better for commuting to work.