darrens756

Need help to choose an ebike around £1000. Mainly for cycles round the coast and the odd commute to work.
I have been trying to narrow it down for days looking at various ones but I need someones advice who knows their stuff.
The 2 in question are:
Decathlons Rockrider E-ST500
Greenedge CS2

I was also looking at the Cyclotricity bikes. I just don't have a clue. But I'm fed up thinking about it, I just want to buy one. Can anyone help? Or if there is maybe one in my price range that I haven't looked at that maybe someone would recommend??

2old

Since you're in GB, have you tried pedelecs.co.uk?

pigshed

Hi,


I've been through several weeks trying to make a similar decision. Where I live it's very undulating terrain and mainly forest tracks and I wanted some electrical assist to help when I'm out riding with the OH on horseback. On the loose/steep/long uphill sections, I always end up left behind and I'm normally spent by the crest. She's already rested and ready to go, so no letup for the next section. It's hard going, but you eventually pass a line where it's no longer fun ! Hence the electric bike idea.


I honestly didn't know how effective it would be. Would a 250w motor push me and a bike up hard rocky gravelly trails or through the mud or soft gallop trails, repeatedly, or would it not make any difference due to the extra weight of the bike, or would the battery be dead after 5km's in the real world of repeated steep and long climbs ?


After lots of uncertainly and questioning if I'd be better waiting and spending more on a base haibike for instance, I went for the Decathlon e-sp500.


I've only had it a week, so I can't give you a thorough long term view on it. But in the short term, wow, it's everything and more that I could have hoped for ! On the flat and easy sections I generally have assist on 0 (off), it doesn't really seem that much different or more difficult than my normal bike. First time out with the horse and our first steep section up gravel where I'd normally be left behind I tried assist 1. Amazing, it was like someone strong grabbed my saddle and gave me a shove. By the end I felt like I'd had a good ride, legs were pumped, breathing up, but I'd stayed with the horse. The next hard section was steeper with a mix of rock, gravel, mud with old washed out ruts. Halfway up on 1 I was flagging a bit and the horse was starting to pull away, so I went for 2. A second strong person ran up behind and shoved my saddle and we stayed with the horse.


It does have three assistance levels, I tried the third briefly uphill yesterday just out of curiosity, it followed on similarly and was like a third strong person joined in with the shoving whilst running. I think it would have to be really steep, really long or I'd have to be really tired to use 3, but it's nice to know it's there if you need it at the end of a long ride or helps make the decision to press on further into the hills or turn back.


So far I've been averaging 1% battery use for each km travelled. (I'm in France, so KM's by default). That would obviously vary enormously on how you use it, as I say, I generally have the assistance turned off unless I feel I need it to keep going. For me and this type of riding, I'm really happy with my decision. It's simple, easy, effective and does everything I want. The brakes are mechanical disks, but seem fine for my purposes. The motor's hub not crank, but does everything I want from it. It's a lot heaver than my mountain bike, but once on the move, it's not as noticeable as I was expecting.


It won't be for everyone, but for me and that kind of riding, it's great.

pigshed

It's time for an update on my experience with the Rockrider E-ST500.

It's been a very mixed relationship ! When it's worked, I've enjoyed my time on the bike and have expanded my types of riding and distances covered. On the whole it rides nicely and gives confidence . The brakes, being cable disks, seem to suffer more cable stretch than would be ideal and require regular adjustment. The forks generally don't actually move more than 60mm, even when set on the lowest pre-load and using the bike to it's full. The Hutchinson Cougar tyres offer zero grip on wet rock and roots which has caused a few unplanned dismounts.

The main problem however, is reliability. There seem to be two or three design fault/component quality issues.

Water gets in round the battery connectors. There is a fix for this involving a spacer, which should in theory stop that problem.

Water also gets into the crank area and stops the "torque" sensor working (more of a movement sensor which picks up when the left pedal is descending so assistance is applied). When this happens there's no way to get electrical assistance, so if you're 20km's from home, in the rain, and can only get back on forest trails with several hundred meters of climbs ahead of you, you're in for a good and somewhat painful exercise session ahead of you riding a 22kg mountain bike. This has happened three times.

There is in theory a fix for this also which involves packing the crank with a specific grease.

The bike didn't come back this week as promised and I'm now reading about motor problems as the bike has more miles on it, if you've managed to keep it dry so you can put more miles on it.

So for me, I'm at the limit with it and have just been for a reimbursement from Decathlon. All the staff I've dealt with at Decathlon have been fantastic. I'm sure in time they'll sort the problems and have a usable, reliable and relatively cheap (for an e-bike) bike. But at the moment I'm not willing to spend anymore time without a bike and with an uncertain future as regards reliability.

2old

I reside in CA, so in general water isn't an issue (although this year has been banner for rainfall), but most of the "experts" have stated that e-bikes suffer to varying degrees in wet conditions, and the connectors, controller and throttle/PAS must be kept dry (many say to cover with plastic wrap of some variety). Motors getting shorted out is another issue.