Electric Bikes
A Buyers' Guide from 'A to B' magazine
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Updated February 2008

CONTENTS: Aprilia . BionX . Bliss . Bright Bikes . Curry . Dahon Roo . Eco-Bike . E-Go . Electro-drive . ETC . Euro Ebike . E-Bike . Ezee . Izip . Infineon . Gazelle . Giant Twist . Giant Suede . Heinzmann . Honda . Oxygen . Powabyke . Powacycle . Schwinn . Sinclair Zeta . S-Drive . SolarTracker . Sparta . TGA Leisure . Thompson . Yamaha . Zap . OTHER

Bicycles are judged on a star system. This can only provide a rough guide, particularly where one rating covers a range of different bikes. Best are at the top of the page, and the worst below. Bikes known or thought to be withdrawn are at the very bottom.

Full road tests of most of the bikes featured below are available from our back numbers list, but as new subscribers now receive free digital back numbers to issue 55 (August 2006), it may be cheaper to subscribe than order several recent back numbers. (A subscription costs £13.80 in the UK or £19 overseas)

Gazelle Easy Glider ***** £1,460 We had almost given up hope of finding a bike as good as the legendary Lafree, but here it is. If you have £1,400 to spare (a big if), the Glider has excellent equipment, modest power consumption, a useful range of about 20 miles, and all sorts of other lovely attributes. It isn't as fast as some, but - like the Lafree - the performance is adequate. And if you live somewhere very hilly, you will love the crank-motor and 8-speed gearbox. For 2008 Gazelle is introducing a new model with a larger battery (similar to the Agattu, below), but sadly this is not retrofittable to older bikes. We have produced a full review on the Gazelle Easy Glider in A to B 61. See A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Delightful, accomplished, classy Dutch roadster Kalkhoff Aggatu ***** £1,195 You wait and wait for a 5-star Giant Lafree replacement, then three come along at once! Latest, and arguably the best is the Kalkhoff Aggatu. It uses the latest version of the Panasonic crank-motor we loved so much on the Lafree. It's basically much the same as the Gazelle, but slightly less well equipped and a lot cheaper. With three power settings, you can opt for 40+ miles at low speed, or a much perkier 26 miles. We have tested the Agattu in A to B 63 - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Smashing German roadster Brompton-Nano ***** Typical kit price £599+ Generally, we don't recommend folding electric bikes, but this one is light (14.4kg plus separate battery pannier), whisper quiet, climbs big hills, and goes for miles and miles on a charge. There has to be a downside: At the moment it's a kit, and the kit isn't actually produced by Brompton (although the company is said to be watching with interest), so we found a few loose edges in the early sample we tried. But watch this space - despite the niggles, it's a folding electric bike that outclasses all others by a substantial margin. We tested the Nano in A to B 60, with a follow-up at 500 miles in A to B 61 - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Superb power-kit Ezee Range **** From £695 Ezee has flirted with cheaper models such as the Rider, a budget bike aimed at the Powabyke, but the Liv is a much better machine - big lithium-ion battery and a good solid, fast bike, although the price has crept up to £695. The Ezee Sprint (now 3 or 7 speed) and folding Quando are almost as light as the legendary Giant Lafree but with an assisted range close to that of the ceaper (and much heavier) Powabyke. Early models were easily the fastest in their respective classes, and are now available with 'on-road/off-road' switching. Despite some equally rapid price increases (now £830+), the Sprint seems to be selling well, having overcome early reliability problems, notably with the motor drive gears and water ingress to the electrics. We criticised the complicated power control system on our pre-production model, but this has been replaced with a straightforward twistgrip control in the UK, which is much better. Up market from the Sprint is the Cadence, which everyone seems to love, and the Torq, a lighter, faster, more conventional looking bike. Goes like stink - see our preview in the Xmas 2005 magazine. The newer Forte and Forza don't quite hit the spot in the same way for us, but you might disagree. In general, we must add that Ezee has experienced problems with Li-ion batteries, in common with manufacturers of other more powerful machines. We have no doubt this will be sorted, but for the moment, battery life is not what it should be... For full list of tests, see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag And here's some helpful independent advice on the Torq and Quando: http://users.tinyworld.co.uk/flecc/torq.html Quality bikes from China Sparta Ion **** From £1,400 New to the UK, the Ion overflows with high-tech features, and does just about everything short of make the tea and giving you a nice massage when you get home. It isn't particularly fast, it doesn't go particularly far on a charge and it won't stomp up 1:6 gradients, but it's a pretty bike, it feels fast, and it oozes that indefinable IT factor. Not cheap to buy or run, but when you ride it you feel good, and in our book, that is enough to put it close to the top of the pile. We tested the Ion in A to B 58 in early February 2007, see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Lovely Dutch roadster Heinzmann & E-Go **** Power-assist kit or complete bike From £425 The Heinzmann motors are made in Germany and have a deserved reputation as the best hub motors around - they're relatively quiet and reliable, but starting to look a bit dated, although changes are in the wings). Range is less than average, but with a charge time of less than two hours, you'll be ready to do it all over again after a leisurely pub lunch. Or at least, the bike will. The motors are also available built-up into a bike - the Heinzmann Estelle. Typically German, the Estelle is a competent and well-equipped machine. Most Heinzmann bikes use a rack-mounted NiMH battery, but the kits are also available in the UK with cheaper, heavier (and slower charging) lead-acid batteries as the E-Go. We have a number of road-tests of the Heinzmann - see A to B Back Numbers Reliable and Sturdy Dahon Roo EL (SRAM Sparc power) **** Folding bike £1,200 The Sparc is a great idea. It's a combined hub gear and electric motor, saving both space and weight. The weak points are limited power and relatively noisy operation, but the small battery was upgraded in 2005, and new electronics mean a bit more oomph. The Sparc-powered Dahon Roo will now whip the skin from a rice pudding with ease, but don't expect to climb any steep hills unless you're willing to pedal fairly hard. On the positive side, the whole bike weighs 18.1kgs, making it one of the lightest around, and of course, it's a folder. Our only real grumble is with the price. For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag We have tested the 2002 and 2005 Dahon Roo EL. See A to B Back Numbers Technically interesting and much improved Powacycle Salisbury & Windsor *** From £595 Powacycle is best of the many cheaper newcomers. Prices start very low, but ignore the cheap and cheerful jobs - take a serious look at the Salisbury and Windsor (effectively gents and ladies roadsters). For £500 these really are quite decent machines - NiMH battery, reasonable equipment (don't expect too much at this level) and range better than claimed, which is most unusual. There's now a lithium-polymer variant too - Powacycle was the first mass-market bike with this battery chemistry - a lighter, but bigger battery for an extra hundred quid. We tested the Windsor in A to B 56, see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Genteel, budget roadsters BionX *** Estimated kit price £845 The BionX is available either as a kit for fitting to a normal bike, or as a complete machine. It's the first regenerative system to become widely available, but STILL not launched in the UK, depsite numerous promises. The bike not only supplies power, but can 'recycle' it on descents and when slowing down. It relies on complex electronics to do this (which always makes us nervous), but it has many good features - near silent operation, reasonable range and reduced brake wear (the motor does most of the braking). On the negative side, range can be limited if you don't 'drive' the system carefully, and hill-climbing is not very good. We carried out a full review of the BionX system in A to B 45, see A to B Back Numbers Clever Canadian system Izip (Formerly known as the Electrodrive or Curry) *** Power-assist kit or complete bike From £350 Plenty of confusion here, indicating just how volatile this market has become. When we tested this kit back in April 2001, it included a small but powerful motor that latched onto the rear spokes on a typical bike. At the time, the Curry was made in America, but production shifted to the Far East, then something corporate happened and the venture split in two, with two different designs coming out of different factories, with different names and specifications... To make matters worse, there have been endless debates over who might or might not be the UK importer, resulting in a number of possible contenders offering a number of different kits... All we can say with any certainty is that the model we tested was immensely strong, but technically illegal in the UK. If you're looking for brute power without much endurance, look no further. The current range appears to include the same direct spoke-drive, a toothed belt variant and a complete bike with unknown spec... In 2007, the bikes settled down as Izip (also Meerkat, just to confuse you), a (mostly) budget-priced range, made goodness knows where, but still carrying the trademark external motor. For a full test, see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Brute power, with limited endurance Giant Suede & Twist *** £599 The Suede caused quite a stir, arriving in the UK for just £599, but it's nothing like as good as the now defunct Lafree. Good news: quiet, easy to use, cheap. Bad news: slow, indifferent hill-climber and now apparently withdrawn from sale. The new Twist is very similar to the Suede, so we've put them together. It's better made, with a lot more range, but it shares all the same ideosyncracies, plus batteries that are almost impossible to remove. Not long ago, Giant was our top electric brand, but with only the dreary Twist, Giant is on the way down in the electric bike world... We have one test of the Giant Suede and one of the new Twist - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Bargain price, quality brand, but flawed Schwinn ** from £1,099 This might have been a 5-star bike, but it isn't. It shares the same motor as the Nano-Brompton, with a smart high-tech battery pack under the rack, and a range of stylish frames, from Dutch roadster to state-of-the-art hybrid. Unfortunately, the electrics haven't been thought through and ours failed twice under load... We have one test of the Schwinn Transit in A to B 62- see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Quality brand, but some serious reliability issues Powabyke ** From £539 Powabyke produces a number of mid-range bikes. With steel frames and lead-acid batteries, these machines are heavy and crudely made by modern standards, but they're solid and trusty, and there's a good dealer network should something go wrong. In recent years, we've been a bit dismissive, but we've seen the hitech stuff come and go, and Powabyke is still plodding along, doing very nicely by all accounts, so they must be doing something right. No fancy stuff here - the Powabyke features a large motor fed by the largest battery on the market, itself weighing more than many conventional bikes. But range can exceed 35 miles on a good day, and assisted speed is generally close to 15mph. This is one of the few E-bikes you can realistically ride any distance (20 miles plus) without pedalling. When the chunky lead-acid battery finally hands in its notice, there's a unique subsidised battery reconditioning scheme that helps to keep running costs under control. Powabyke is toying with Lithium-ion batteries and alloy frames, but it's a bit like putting carbonfibre spoilers on a steam roller. They should stick to what they do best - retrochic. We have tested the Powabyke Classic, Folder, Euro and Commuter - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag A chunky old favourite S-Drive ** Power assist kit or complete bike From £599 An interesting one this. The S-Drive (or, more correctly Schnachner) is broadly similar to the Heinzmann, although it's designed in Austria and made in the Far East. Until recently, the motor was noisy, slow, and tended to shred it's drive gears. On a more positive note, it was an efficient system, and the dashboard ammeter helped you 'drive' the motor, giving world-beating economy... in excess of 40 miles on our hilly test route. The current situation is unclear, with a new importer and a new belt drive system. If it works, it's probably a great little hub. We have tested the early version of the S-Drive - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Unbeatable range and efficiency, question mark over reliability Euro Ebike (EV Global in the USA) ** £745 - £1,299 Great things were expected of the EV Global, the U.S. parent of these bikes, but the market never took off there, so sales have languished. The bottom-end Enviro is actually a Far-Eastern badge-engineered machine, albeit quite a nice one, but the LE and SX are everything you would expect from a U.S. manufacturer - big, brash, stylish, well-equipped and fast, but with limited range. In European trim, the power has been capped to 200 watts, and top speed from a heady 18mph to 15mph, to keep within the law. However, the importers can also supply a Euro-spec bike with a crafty switch for 'off-road' use, if you get our drift. With rather low pedal gearing, these machines are more moped than bicycle, but stylish and classy all the same. For specification and distributors, see Electric Price Tag For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Lots of style, but limited endurance Bright Bikes GR-8 ** Folding bike From £749 The motor and battery appear to be identical to the Bliss (see below), but the GR-8 is a bigger, more rideable, folding bike. Styling-wise, it works better than the Bliss, although there's something uncomfortable about the proportions. Weight is tolerable at 26kg, but it's a bit feeble and our test sample failed. However, we're reassured that things are now better. For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag We have tested the Bliss. See A to B Back Numbers Almost right, but not quite there TGA ** From £765 TGA was a slightly mysterious outfit based in Essex, that has now moved it's base up the road to Suffolk, where the company concentrates on selling mobility trikes. However, they still build a few of their ancient electric bikes and trikes. With the accent on crude, but simple technology, (allegedly a lorry windscreen wiper motor driven by car batteries) the machines should be reliable, and are certainly easily fixed when things go wrong. For a few hundred pounds, you can buy a kit of parts to convert a conventional bike. For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Ancient but Reliable Brit technology SolarTracker ** From £595 China exports vast numbers of electric bikes, both good, bad and ugly... some of them effortlessly achieving all three. The SolarTracker SLB machines are better than most, being neatly styled, but like the Powabyke, too expensive. When we tested it, the power output was (deliberately) set very low, but we understand they're now a bit nippier. We have tested the SolarTracker SLB-2000 - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag A neat Powabyke clone Thompson * From £350 Thompson market a range of well-equipped, bargain-basement Chinese electric bikes. Whether you'd find one useful depends on what you're after: These single-speed, very low geared machines are not really designed to be pedalled, although a large battery propels them for a fair mileage. A good choice for older, less active folk. We have tested the Thompson Euro-Classic, Euro-City and Euro-Tourer - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Value for money oldie-transport E-Bike * From £400 Like the Thompson range, these two bikes - the Retro and Cruiser - are cheap and cheerful Chinese imports. However, the Retro is the crudest machine we've seen, and they're not quite so cheap, so you won't be quite so cheerful. The well-equipped Cruiser might be worth looking at, but bear in mind that the low saddle and even lower gearing make pedalling almost impossible. And don't expect to stop in a hurry. For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag We have tested the E-bike Retro and Cruiser. See A to B Back Numbers Value for money Chinese jobbies for non-pedalling types Oxygen Atala * From £699 Oh dear oh dear. It's almost beyond belief that a machine this poor could have made it on to the market, but here it is - Italian with US characteristics. Without dwelling too long in this dreary place, the Oxygen is over-weight, over-priced, unstable, under-powered and much else besides. In the test, we summed up by saying '...the wrong sort of motor, drawing too much power from the wrong sort of batteries, mounted in the wrong place...', which just about covers it. Still, the Italians are very good at photographing attractive young ladies, so we must forgive them. We have tested the Oxygen Atala once, and will almost certainly never return - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Hopeless bike, but sexy photography Others ** £300-£600 There are now so many cheap Ebikes flooding in from China it's impossible to rate them separately. However, there are three broad classes: 1) Wierd, dodgy-looking little folders. Keep well away - they are heavy, unreliable and with limited range. It will be one of the worst things you've ever wasted £300 on 2) Super-snazzy MTB-style machines. Sheep in Wolf's clothing. Mostly heavy, crude and impractical. Aimed at people with more money than sense and selling like Hot Cakes, which is a bit depressing. 3) Facsimiles of successful machines. Less clear cut (see Powacycle above), but we haven't yet found a copy of - for example - the Giant Twist, or Honda Compo that was worth buying. Electric bikes are high-technology machines... it's generally not worth buying something from a market trader (we may be proved wrong though). For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Mostly a complete waste of garage space Out of Production (or no UK distributor): Aprilia * Out of production, but may still be in the shops Aprilia's Enjoy has been withdrawn, and we're not surprised. It looked the part, thanks to some wicked Italian styling and lots of techy bits, but it was inefficient, over-priced, poorly designed and generally a bit of an also-ran. And you needed a mortgage for a replacement battery... We have tested the Aprilia Enjoy Race - see A to B Back Numbers Best forgotten - a complete disaster area Bliss * Folding bike From £699 We liked the tiny motor and NiMH battery, but the Bliss proved a bit disappointing. It's reasonably light, but horrible to ride, poorly geared and over-priced. And the claims are unrealistic - it will not do 20-30 miles. It survived our test, but we wish it had broken down and gone back where it came from. For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag We have tested the Bliss. See A to B Back Numbers Rather unpleasant, but good in parts Eco-Bike Tornado, Hurricane etc * From £895 We had a few problems with our test prototype Tornado, and the importer seems to have disappeared. For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Let down by hardware and software faults ETC * Power assist kit or complete bike Reduced to £90 This sounded jolly clever - you whip off the back mudguard from a standard bike and mount the battery/motor unit over the wheel. In practise, the friction drive sliped wildly in the wet, the system was horribly heavy, and the frumpy lead-acid batteries provided a laughably short range of just a few miles at lethargic speed. This was a seriously inefficient machine - ETC has now ceased trading. For specification and distributor, see Electric Price Tag For a full test, see A to B Back Numbers Heavy, slow, crude and overpriced. RIP Giant Lafree ***** From £899 Giant's first Lafree was a dreadful thing, but the classic machine, produced between 2000 and 2006 was a superb bike. Just to confuse you, this started life as the Lafree Twist, became generically known as the Lafree, but the Lafree branding was later dropped, so they became Giant Twists. Giant has now withdrawn the bike, but it's still tops in our book, so still a 5-star electric bike. The Lafree (sorry, Twist) is a proper bicycle, with power-assistance. Designed by Giant's Dutch arm, this attractive machine looks like a Dutch roadster, and includes such features as a step-thru frame (or not if you prefer), lots of practical accessories, hub gears and quiet trouble-free Panasonic motor assist. At around 20 miles, range is better than average, and the battery is one of the smallest and lightest around, so if you can afford it, buy two. Efficiency is unsurpassed. Problems? After four years, the bikes themselves are proving extremely reliable, but there have been a few battery and charger faults. Giant had to withdrawn the original Panasonic charger, replacing it with a Metco unit while the problem was fixed, but the last machines were back to Panasonic - watch this if buying a bike. Developments for 2006 included a larger battery, retrofittable to all models and complete destruction of the Lafree range. Still that's multinationals for you. We've heard that secondhand prices are now rising fast, but we'd consider the Lafree a good buy for anything under £900. Like all thoroughbreds they can be a bit highly-strung, and we've had a report or two of complete electronics failure - with spares being run down, this could be a problem. We have several Twist tests: E-series (this is something different), Lite, Comfort, Comfort ST, and Comfort at 2,000, 3,500 and 5,000 miles - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Rest in Peace. A modern classic - will be remembered as the best electric bicycle of its era Honda Step Compo *** Folding bike £1,095 Beautifully made in Japan, the Step Compo was an electric folder that really worked. Plus points include superb styling, good folding and light weight, bad points have to include the four-figure price tag and limited range form a microscopic battery. Why the past-tense? It's out of production, but Honda never tell us anything, so we can't be absolutely sure... And beware of Chinese imitations, which look just as pretty, but are heavy, with limited range. We have one test of the Honda Step Compo - see A to B Back Numbers Stylish and fun, but no longer on sale Sinclair Zeta 2 & 3 * Out of production, but may still be in the shops Sir Clive Sinclair has a track-record of superb technical and design innovation, but since the not-quite-right C5, his record on transport has been less than meteoric. The Zeta power-assist attachments were noisy, underpowered and effectively useless. They have now been withdrawn. We've awarded one star because they were cheap, so if you insist on buying one you won't have wasted too much money. We have tested the Zeta kits - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Effectively useless Viking * From £800 Chunky lead-acid batteries and friction drive... it doesn't sound very promising, and it isn't. There are lots of rather gimmicky extras, which might appeal if you like that kind of thing, but they certainly don't justify the £800 price tag. We have tested the Viking - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Way, way over-priced Zap! ** £350 or $350 The basis of the design is a simple, quiet, reliable motor driving straight onto the tyre. Powered by a similarly cheap, reliable lead/acid battery, the Zap (either a complete bike or easily-fitted kit) is a surprisingly good performer, outpacing all other friction drives. There are one or two disadvantages - the friction roller tends to slip in the wet unless you choose the tyre with care, and the roller wears out fairly quickly, although later models are ceramic rather than steel. Otherwise, a great little performer for the price. Out of production for a while, the Zap reappeared, but has now finally bitten the dust, overwhelmed by much cleverer technology from China. We have tested the Zap kit and Zap/Brompton adaption - see A to B Back Numbers For prices and stockists, see Electric Price Tag Simple, crude and effective friction drive system

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