Another first eBike post, some advice please?

[Soycd]

I've been following https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/i-am-considering-a-first-ebike.302780/ posted by headlight with some interest. We too are first time eBikers and have been consider them for some time. We looked at a couple of VOLT bikes at the weekend (not ridden them yet) My wife liked the VOLT Burlington, I was looking at the VOLT Infinity LS and the VOLT Connect. I also want to look at some of the other bikes mentioned in the other thread. I'm 64 and my wife is nearly 60, pretty fit, but getting fed up with hills! We've had a couple of good quality KTM push bikes for about 10 years and do enjoy them.

I'm a bit concerned about security. We don't have a garage section (Adria Twin 640 SLB) to fit bikes, but we do have a Vanstar Memo bike rack which is steel and chassis mounted. I thinking a couple of Gold standard locks fixing the bikes too the steel frame should satisfy bike insurers, plus we have the Vanbitz cycle alarm loop. Any other sugestions? Weight wise we are ok. I've just up plated to 3900kg, we have C1.

Any suggestions of suitable eBikes, security, insurance etc, gratefully accepeted.

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

I don’t leave mine anywhere unattended on show as modern battery power tools are cheap and often in the hands of people who don’t care about the security.
Even with a good gold standard lock on the frame, the wheels and battery are still at risk so if I take the bike it is kept inside (and in the way as no garage ).
Although it’s insured, I don’t think a claim would be good as they already asked questions when taking out the policy about any previous losses.

 

[Daffy64]

I've been following https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/i-am-considering-a-first-ebike.302780/ posted by headlight with some interest. We too are first time eBikers and have been consider them for some time. We looked at a couple of VOLT bikes at the weekend (not ridden them yet) My wife liked the VOLT Burlington, I was looking at the VOLT Infinity LS and the VOLT Connect. I also want to look at some of the other bikes mentioned in the other thread. I'm 64 and my wife is nearly 60, pretty fit, but getting fed up with hills! We've had a couple of good quality KTM push bikes for about 10 years and do enjoy them.

I'm a bit concerned about security. We don't have a garage section (Adria Twin 640 SLB) to fit bikes, but we do have a Vanstar Memo bike rack which is steel and chassis mounted. I thinking a couple of Gold standard locks fixing the bikes too the steel frame should satisfy bike insurers, plus we have the Vanbitz cycle alarm loop. Any other sugestions? Weight wise we are ok. I've just up plated to 3900kg, we have C1.

Any suggestions of suitable eBikes, security, insurance etc, gratefully accepeted.

We’ve a couple of e-bikes so far, we started with a couple of specialised Levo mountain bikes which were brilliant but heavy and hard work without the motor, we then got a couple of Mi-Rider GB3’s which went back due to some ‘issues’, we then bought a couple of Decathlon Riverside electric bikes and these have been a breath of fresh air.

They are decathlon so don’t stand out in a crowd and this makes them less desirable for thieves (in my head anyway)
The range is excellent - I ride mine more than the wife and it will easily do 60 miles between charges, hers slightly less as she uses the motor most of the time but even she gets a good 50 miles range.
They are relatively cheap to buy.
And importantly they are basically cycles with a motor, this means that they are slightly heavier than a normal bike but they can be ridden easily without assistance which is what i tend to do mostly as I like the exercise.

So far we are 12 months in and I’d buy the same again.

We’ve had them on an Altera DL3 rack on the back of a Twin and just use a couple of good locks and a security cable to the Towbar as well as the Altera locks.

 

[VXman]

I don’t leave mine anywhere unattended on show as modern battery power tools are cheap and often in the hands of people who don’t care about the security.
Even with a good gold standard lock on the frame, the wheels and battery are still at risk so if I take the bike it is kept inside (and in the way as no garage ).
Although it’s insured, I don’t think a claim would be good as they already asked questions when taking out the policy about any previous losses.

We take the batteries off the bikes when on the rack. Saves a bit of weight off the back of the van too.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

For security all you can do is discourage the attention. Decent cover over the rack so paasers by don't know what is there. Good added locks between bike and rack and ideally rack and van (the single lock on the rack towbar is pants). Remove battery and any thing else such as detachable control displays. And deploy the alarm accessory wire loop.

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[Toady]

I have been looking at the Litelock X1 and X3. They stand up very well to attacks using hand held disc cutters.
Good video on You Tube.

 

[Soycd]

For security all you can do is discourage the attention. Decent cover over the rack so paasers by don't know what is there. Good added locks between bike and rack and ideally rack and van (the single lock on the rack towbar is pants). Remove battery and any thing else such as detachable control displays. And deploy the alarm accessory wire loop.

Yes, I was going to get rid of my 15 year old Fritz Berger cover, but I think I'll keep it in the hope that folk might think that suck a scabby cover could not possibly have decent bikes under it! Rack is chassis and made of steel so a decent anchor point. Thanks.

 

[TrudeandDall]

We take the batteries off the bikes when on the rack. Saves a bit of weight off the back of the van too.

Same here, both batteries are off when we load onto the rack. We also have a gold standard D lock for each bike, which we use attached to a solid object when parking up as well as "Dutch" AXA rear wheel locks.
The D locks also go on the bikes when they are on the rack, each one going around a frame and then through a Gold standard heavy duty chain which is then gold standard locked to the towbar framework and not just the bike rack, but which can be unlocked to swing the van swing.. The bike rack locks onto the hitch and each securing arm also has a lock. So that is 8 locks in total when the bikes are on the rack. It doesn't take much effort to put them on and take off, but it would take a lot of effort and time for a low life to get them off...
By choice we also never overnight in City's or anywhere close to ports that flagged in MH Fun have a reputation for bike thieves.

 

[Soycd]

Same here, both batteries are off when we load onto the rack. We also have a gold standard D lock for each bike, which we use attached to a solid object when parking up as well as "Dutch" AXA rear wheel locks.
The D locks also go on the bikes when they are on the rack, each one going around a frame and then through a Gold standard heavy duty chain which is then gold standard locked to the towbar framework and not just the bike rack, but which can be unlocked to swing the van swing.. The bike rack locks onto the hitch and each securing arm also has a lock. So that is 8 locks in total when the bikes are on the rack. It doesn't take much effort to put them on and take off, but it would take a lot of effort and time for a low life to get them off...
By choice we also never overnight in City's or anywhere close to ports that flagged in MH Fun have a reputation for bike thieves.

I'm thinking along the same lines, plus we have the alarm loop and chassis mounted rack. We also try to avoid the less secure locations. Looks like Gravelines is no, no in future!

 

[Derbyshire wanderer]

We take the batteries off the bikes when on the rack. Saves a bit of weight off the back of the van too.

I would do the same but don’t use the rack as it is on show.

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[suavecarve]

We have the garage but use 4 combination folding type locks when out locking them together and to something solid.
These locks are (like most) breakable so 4 for the price of 1 more secure lock makes sense to me in deterrent value. They also store within or on the bike well.

For battery we have Bosch and they can be recharged for free in several dedicated Bosch only recharging spots.
But the disused railway line thread shows free recharging in France Germany Belgium and probably Holland is relatively easy to find in certain touristy areas.

We bought ours in Germany whilst away. We knew we wanted ebikes and got lucky with our choices.

The recharging will then be a consideration dependant upon whether you camp with 240 or have sufficient leisure battery and recharge of leisure leisure battery (solar)

 

[Guigsy]

We fit a pair of Bromptons in the lockers of our van. They also fitted under the bed in our previous 5.4m PVC. They're quite a lot more compact than most other folding bikes.