Tag: ebike

June 13th – At my destination, a very unusual steed was parked in their shed: an Elegance electric bike. It has a 3 speed Shimano Inter-M rear hub, driven by a shaft drive (yes, shaft drive, so no chain), rear roller brake, front disc brake, a large battery on the back and a motor in the front hub. 

It was a heavy beast, and seemed to have both electric pedal assist, full motor drive and pedal only options. It’s a nice looking thing, but it was very heavy, and I wouldn’t want to pedal that far without electric drive…

The shaft drive is clever, but it’s a lot of faith to put into small gears with high efficiency losses and worrying wear rate.

Having said that, it’s a lot of innovative design for a shade off £700.

I don’t like e-bikes, but I can see the utility of this. Find out more about it here.

March 24th – I noticed this Volt Metro folding electric bike parked in the racks outside Darlaston Library as I passed. It looks like a decent design; disc brake front, V-brake rear, motorised rear hub (I think) with derailleur gears – it even has suspension fork and seatpost. Dread to think what it weighs, but it’s an interesting bike.