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He ain’t heavy
There has been a great deal of discussion about transporting e-bikes on motorhomes (not in them). The weight is the obvious problem with most electrically powered bikes being somewhere between 20 and 24kg. Lifting them on to a cycle rack can be an issue and then the capability of the rack to carry two of them must also be considered.
When my wife and I first started travelling around in our campervan, I crudely converted a pre-loved bike rack to hang over the rear door of our Ducato campervan; it worked well and we enjoyed the use of our old bikes. As we got older we needed lighter bikes so bought two new ones, each around 11kg with lots of shiny new gears.
They were great and our new-to-us Rapido A-class with rear bike rack coped admirably; lifting them on was easy. But, when we got older, loading the bikes and pedalling up hills was becoming increasingly difficult. We needed some power to assist us up the hills. E-bikes were the obvious answer.
We went to the NEC cycle show to have a look and maybe bag a bargain. In the morning we tried about a dozen different e-bikes around the track at the show. By lunchtime we had whittled our decision down to two, which we decided to try again in the afternoon However, on the way to one of the eateries we saw a sign which read, ‘The lightest e-bike in the world’. We stopped and looked at the stand.
The salesman admitted it was a bit of an eye-catching statement. The bike was a several-thousand-pound specialised road bike that weighed almost nothing, to which he had fitted his own designed battery and motor weighing 3.3kg. The total weight was now just under 11kg for this bike, but he could fit the same stuff to our bikes – result!
We had lunch, thought about it then went back to see him again. At that time, he was virtually a one-man band operating from his cycle shop in Winchester. As an engineer he knew there must be a way of adding electric power to any bike without a catastrophic weight addition. It took him several years and a few attempts but now the finished product was ready to be launched.
Needless to say, the company has grown and now sells ready-converted bikes and kits for DIY conversion, but more importantly, will convert your own bike to electric power.
The motor is in the front hub so pulls you along like a front-wheel drive car, the switch is a push button on the handlebars to turn on the power. Cycling without power is exactly as it always wa
