Incontournable!

Or, loosely translated, just got to go for it!

I was idly watching videos on Youtube yesterday evening, as you do, and I came across a couple of e-bike reviews. One was by a rather conventional young man in Bristol (UK) who was a cycling devotee and evidently keen on following all the rules who thought that riding down some steps was very risqué and cavalier, and another by a long-haired bloke in California who had put together the bike he reviewed in his living room and was, ahem… quite the opposite.

Not only was the bloke in California going all-out for fun but he’d done so by finding a monster of a bike with dual electric motors, one in each wheel hub, a claimed range of over 60 km without even pedalling (!!) and a top speed of… wait for it… over 35mph (56kmh). And he was almost bursting with excitement throughout his whole video as he rode up and downhill, on the beach, over big heaps of earth at the side of the road and just about anywhere else he could take it. That said it all to me.

I’ve already got an e-bike, but it’s a sit-up-and-beg, old style one that’s maybe not quite first generation but probably not long after.

It still works as it should but unlike later models you have to pedal to make the motor cut in. That’s fine when you’re a sprightly young thing as I was about forty years ago but not now. What I want is to have the option of pedalling a bit and getting the old circulation moving on the flat but having some proper assistance available for the hills because then you can confidently ride out over longer distances and know that you won’t be defeated by the terrain.

So where’s this going, you might ask? The bike that the Californian guy was reviewing had cost something over $1000 just a few months ago and I wasn’t surprised given its specification because all of the single motor, high power models I’ve looked at recently on sites like Aliexpress have been in the 700-800€ price range or higher. This one with dual motors would have had to cost more.

I had a model book-marked in my browser from last week that up to then I hadn’t paid much attention to but having seen the Californian review I thought that I’d take another look at it and when I did I was surprised to see that it also was dual-motor and almost identical to the one in the review.

So it was worth a second look. Yes, 21 gears, a 48 volt rather than a puny 35 volt system and also hydraulic disk brakes rather then the mechanical, cable operated ones that the Californian guy had looked down his nose at. But the biggest surprise came when I looked at the price… only 393,96€ including delivery!

OK, I thought, the usual Aliexpress ploy. They show the price of the lowest cost part of the item – in this case the battery – and when you click on it you find that the complete bike, including the battery, is two or three times that figure. But no! The price really was only 393,96€!

And the surprises didn’t end there. Maybe because I’ve bought a few items from the Aliexpress web site recently, I was also offered a voucher for a further 20€ off, making my price an astounding 373,96€. So what could I do? Yes, you’ve guessed it. I bought one. I mean, after all, what can possibly go wrong at that price… 😕

The bike comes in a range of fluorescent colours including yellow, red and blue. I was sorely tempted – after all, why not go the whole hog.

However, I thought that possibly discretion might be the better part of valour as a grandad flying about on a bright red or yellow e-bike might attract a bit too much attention and to be honest, although lots of kids and young people are dashing about using e-scooters as personal transport, I’m not sure how legal an e-bike like this is in France. So I’ve gone for one in black and white that won’t catch the eye of any passing ‘flic’ and cause my collar to be felt.

It’s due to be delivered by 1st March and quite honestly, I can hardly wait. I must put my old bike onto Leboncoin in the meantime to make room for the new steed 😉