On Sunday 17th April the E-Bikeshop owners Club ventured up to Cannock Chase for a great new ride location. What a fantastic day of riding it turned out to be! Best one yet?.. Many of us ventured up to Birmingham the night before and stayed at the Hilton hotel. We met for dinner on the Saturday night, followed by drinks and a good night's sleep (apart from the fire alarm going off at 5am in the morning!). Breakfast served @ 8am and then ready to ride. As a few of the fellow owners club members tend to travel down south we thought it only fair we schedule in a ride further north to even the odds. We are glad we did! We saw a few new faces which was great as always and some new technical terrain to ride. We met in the car park for 10:30am. After some new bike handovers and a natter fellow member Bernie briefed us for the day's ride. We nominated him team leader (because Ken wasn't there) because this is Bernie's home ground, so he knew his way around! We also invited Alex from eMTB coaching along to ride as this is also a local one to him, so nice to be led around this time. Top work chaps! A couple of us were on brand new bikes too so eager keen to get them setup, bed them in and start enjoying the trails. Out the car park and we were straight onto the Red trail which is essentially a big figure of 8 with a road crossing at the centre. The trail led straight out onto some boardwalk wooden structures which were fun and fast rolling, then onto some twistier singletrack. Lots of small rock gardens, small drops and tight twists made for a fun and flowy ride. Following on we entered 'Devils Staircase' which was fast looping turns down the side of the hill with small drops which made for exciting more eventful riding. After a short break, we crossed the road onto some climbing. In fact I think it was called 'Lung Buster' which was a long gradual climb to the top with tight trees to manoeuvre your bars through. Fortunately we are all on eBikes so the climb was fun over strenuous and we were up to the top in no time to enjoy the views. The next trail was great - The Monkey Trail. In fact we all decided to climb back up and do it again, lots of long sweeping berms and bumps you could get some decent air off if carrying enough speed. Here's a quick video of the strenuous climb: We then rode a few more singletrack sections before getting back to the road crossing and stopping for a cake and coffee. At this point (what usually happens) a few chaps were inquisitive about the eBikes so we let them have a quick go followed by smiles and a 'where can I get one of these?'. Then we crossed back over the bridge to complete the remaining sections that Cannock had to offer. Some more technical trails with small slab rock drops, tight trees and small wooden boardwalk crossings made for miles of fun all the way back to the visitor center. Conclusion In total we travelled approx 16 miles including the few trails we went back and did again, it's fair to say we had absolutely amazing weather with blue skies and the sun shining all day! Everyone absolutely loved it and we'll definitely be going back again soon. We had a couple of mishaps including one mechanical (quickly resolved) and a couple of falls, but everyone got straight back up and made it home safely. I think it's fair to say it had been one of the best rides yet! A great bunch of people although we were missing a couple of regulars (due to injury). All in all we had a great time with great company. Really looking forward to visiting Cannock Chase again. The next ride will be at Peaslake at the end of May. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the club page in the next few days, don’t forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 27th March the E-Bikeshop Owners Club visited Aston Hill bike park. Of which turned out to be a wet & muddy ride around the XC track and around the surrounding forest. We all met in the main car park @ 10:30am. Aston Hill is a paid site, so after we all paid up and got the bikes setup, a quick briefing followed and we were ready for action. I counted 13 riders in total, so good to see so many people out on a rainy day. It was also great to see a few new faces, as the club grows this seems to be a common theme, so it's nice to meet new people and share the same passion we have for riding. It also makes for a mix of abilities to go out riding together. The plan was to head out and follow onto the green marked XC route to get warmed up. Then a few members could attack the DH sections if they were feeling ambitious. Unfortunately a wrong turn lead us straight onto a black run and thus a rather tricky descent down to the bottom of the hill. It's worth mentioning it had been raining non-stop the day before and the sticky mud / chalk conditions made it hard to even walk down the side of the hill, let alone ride the trails! I get the feeling a few of the new members were thinking: "What the hell have we signed up for!". Fortunately we all made it to the bottom (some sliding down on their backside I might add!). At the bottom a quick regroup led straight onto the Green XC trail. Which was much to the delight of many! I must admit at this point it was raining further and even the short steep climbs of the cross country route led for some tricky spots. A long climb to the top meant we could enjoy a little of the single track as we snaked up the hill. Fellow member Bernie's bike decided to play up at this point, fortunately we were on hand to rectify a small issue at the top, but it left him somewhat out of breath to say the least! As we were all sopping wet, the XC route was almost to the point of being un-rideable as they were so sloppy wet decided for a quick change of gloves and jackets at the main car park and led into the woods opposite for a longer run over some more natural terrain. This took in a mixture of road, bridlepath and forestry tracks. One track in particular was fast flowing and led to lots of mud splatter. Literally some were unrecognisable at the bottom of this trail! It's all part of it I suppose and glad everyone got stuck in! Unfortunately about an hour in the group was split at a junction and we got completely lost as one group went one way and the other another way. This led to a load of confusion with people darting off as we were trying to communicate and re-group. At this point we had covered many miles and we were at the limits of the bikes, so we managed to find a road and coordinate everyone to meet in a local town. On arrival we all had a well deserved bacon sarnie and much desired hot chocolate. Before a short road ride back to the main car park. Conclusion This ride was unlike no other! For one the weather was not on our side, as everyone knows this can spoil a ride before it's started. The trails had not had a chance to drain and this left a lot of sloppy mud everywhere we rode. The fact that we all got split up didn't help either. A lesson learned on this one I think. On the plus side we all returned safely and at least managed to get some miles under the belt. Plus not forgetting the social side and a good natter in between! Finally well done to the Cooke's in particular - Alli, Nigel & Julia done so well. We thank you for staying well spirited, keeping up morale & continuing to ride the duration of the ride. The next ride will be different - Promise! Really looking forward to the next ride, which will be at Cannock Chase at the end of next month. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the club page in the next few days, don’t forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 28th February the E-Bikeshop Owners Club visited Bedgebury Forest Trail Center for the first time on an action packed day of riding across the Kent single track & XC. We all met in the main car park for 10:30am and after a quick setup on the bikes and a ride brief we set off. A couple of the owners club members had arrived early and already got a lap in before we set off, which was good because we could decide on which route to take. It was nice to see some new faces on this ride too, with some owners not long owning their new electric bikes so excited to get out and explore to put their new steeds through their paces and of course mingle with other eBikers. We all share the same passion! We decided to cut out the Blue section as this was mainly a family route consisting of flat fire roads, so we set off and after a short ride up a couple of tracks we were onto the red. A new member to the club was able to offer some guidance as this was his local trail center, so it was nice to be able to have someone confirm the routes etc, made day easier, thanks! It's noticeable that Bedgebury has spent some money on restoring the trails and it's clear a lot of hard work has gone into the routes. On the first bit of singletrack we entered their was fast rolling berms, a rock garden and short switchbacks. This set the pace for the day. Fun! The red route is approx 13km (8 miles), there is also a Black section that leads off the Red as you cross a fire road, we decided that we'd do the standard Red trail once, then go round and do it again to include some of the Black sections the second time round. Halfway round the Red it was noticeable that although the forest is a fairly small place and not hugely hilly, the actual terrain / gradients were actually pretty tiring, the routes plotted through the trees were marked out well with plenty of signposts and trail start and end checkpoints. The guys have done a great job reforming this trail center. Some trails had man made rock gardens within them, some downhill, some flatter and some were on gradient. The uphill rock gardens were surprisingly tricky as they zapped most of your energy, fortunately we all had the extra grunt of the eBikes to help out! After a lap of the Red we had a little break to natter and chill and then set off for another lap. First we followed some directions to the 'Bike Park' but unfortunately on arrival it's clear it was no longer had had been flattened some time ago. Fortunately we had the extended Black sections to think about and keep the excitement flowing. At one point Ken was lagging behind and as we waited decided to show off his wheelie skills, at this point (when everyone was watching) he decided to pop a wheelie straight off the side of the trail and ended up.. You guessed it spilled on the floor. More practice next time ken! The Black sections were not that hard to be fair. Albeit the big rock entrances and a few smallish drops here and there, everyone enjoyed them! A few places on the red were really flowy with high berms and switchbacks, this was real fun to blast down and at one point we had a massive flowing train from top to bottom consisting of about 15 riders. It's worth noting we took a avid MTB'r & non eBiker out with us on this ride. His impression before getting on the bike was the typical "your all cheats" (never ridden and eBike mentality) after 5 hours of riding his words were: Once dialled in, you're tearing up the trails. Great fun, grinning from ear to ear! Finally we took the 'Cake Run' that followed back down to the car park. This run was excellent and really fast, with lots of twists and turns and mini jumps. Once of which goes between two trees and you hold your breath as the handlebars only just seem to fit between them! Conclusion Throughout the whole day we didn't have any mechanicals, not even 1 puncture. Which was ace! The weather was once again on our side, we warmed up fairly quickly on the trails and the sun made an appearance on a few occasions too. At the end we were a few short who had to dart off early, but we stuck the bikes aside and grabbed a coffee and cake at the fabulous lake setting next to the car park. It was good to catch up with everyone and share a little banter of the day's riding. It's safe to say we were all pretty zonked after this one, the route wasn't massively long but it was certainly tiring! Really looking forward to the next ride, which will be at Aston Hill Bike Park. Already live on the club events section, you can sign up now. We will of course publish all the photos of this ride on the club page in the next few days, don’t forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 31st January 2016 the E-Bikeshop Owners Club visited Peaslake to check out some new hidden trails that we had not ridden before. A fun filled day with a great turnout. We met at Holmbury village hall at 10.30am where there was enough parking for us all to gather. After setting the bikes up and a quick brief we were all excited to set off and get riding. For a late Jan ride we had 13 people attend this ride with a couple of new faces included too. This ride was led by fellow E-Bikeshop Owners Club member Ken also part of the 100% club!. Ken and Chris ride the Peaslake area frequently, it's their local play heaven, so they had planned out a new route for us to tackle that also included two new trails! This time of year the trails can get very muddy, we had plenty of rain in the previous week and a late January ride was set to be a sticky one. Considering it was supposed to be raining all day, the weather actually held off and we didn't see a spec of rain all day, awesome! The first climb out of the car park was a little ambitious, with a steep climb over slippery mud, it set the par of what to expect, but to our surprise the trials were impressively flowy with only sticky parts in some places. We rode up to a the famous 'Yoghurt Pots' trail first which to our surprise was actually closed for trail maintenance. So we then headed straight over to 'Telegraph Row' which we have done before in the summer but this time round the terrain was a lot different and it almost felt like a completely different ride. This then led onto a new really slippery trail that cambered through the trees and ended with a muddy bog which I don't think anyone actually managed to pedal out of! Unfortunately a time to rest naturally came at the end of this trail and club member Bernie had a puncture. So after a quick pitstop and some arm pumping inflating a new tube, we were back up and riding in no time. After a few short climbs we headed over to the 'Barry Knows Best' trail. Which we all loved last time we were here. The trails had loosened up a little since we last visited, but despite the soggy ground, the trail was still fast and flowy with lots of berns, twists and turns down the side of the hill with some extra jump additions should you wish to take that line. We all enjoyed it so much most of us decided to ride back up and do it again, whilst some stayed at the bottom to catch some breath and a few snaps. From here we then crossed the road and headed up a killer climb called 'Heart Attack'. Yes, you can guess why it's called this, it really is a shocker. Fortunately we all made it up on the eBikes, but it's still hard going even with the assist! Once at the top we rode a short distance over to a new trail Chris and Ken had found that darted off in a sly opening in the trees. It's one of those trails you could easily ride past without noticing, fortunately we had the boys local knowledge as we navigated down this one! This trail was a little more demanding with fast flows, drops and jumps should you wish to ride it fast. If not you can easily navigate around them. We played here for a while as a few of the members quickly gained confidence and decided to practice some air time! This trail was fantastic, we actually rode up from the bottom and did it again, that's the beauty of being on eBikes I suppose! You can tackle the climb again to find the fun descents and repeat them as many times as possible! From here we took some more trails over to the Peaslake village store to grab some refreshments. At this point, Ken decided he had left his keys at the top of the last trail, and asked to pinch my brand new Lapierre 2016 bike I was testing to blast over and find the keys. A while later he returned with a smile on his face, at this point I thought he had found the keys, but he said they weren't up there! We later established they were in his bag the whole time! A great ploy to get some extra ride time on my new test pilot! After a slice of cake, coffee and of course a natter we headed back up the hill and rode 'Barry Knows Best' for another time, we then headed over to 'Yoghurt Pots' to find it was back open so we had a blast going down that. Finally a few of us extended to route to include one more trail that involved a demanding climb to get to, but once at the top we enjoyed a fast long trail back down to meet the others back at the car park. Conclusion All in all it was a fab ride with the usual lot and some new faces which was nice. It's great to see so many out on the bikes in January, it'd be easy to take a pass when looking out the window, but the weather held off and we all had a blast! It's worth noting the ride didn't go trouble free, we had a couple of mechanicals: 1 Puncture, 1 snapped chain link & one bent hanger. Ken also had an error on his bike, but we think it's because he rides too fast! Many thanks to all who came, glad everyone enjoyed it, a special thanks to Chris and Ken for leading the ride, the banter and being such all round great chaps. Really looking forward to the next ride, of which we are already planning for... We will of course publish all the photos on the club page in the next few days, don't forget to tag yourself in them. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
We are proud to announce a new world electric bike long distance record has now been set by e-bikeshop.co.uk sponsored - The E-Bike Cycle Tourists. After 901 hours of e-biking over 220 days at an average of 75 kilometres per day across 12 countries, the e-bikeshop.co.uk-sponsored e-Bike Cycle Tourists have set a new world e-bike long distance record. On January 20 Gary and Rachel Corbett passed the old mark of 16,047kms (9971 miles) – which was set by German Maximilian Semsch who circumnavigated Australia in 2012 – in the Algarve region of Portugal to officially claim the coveted world long distance e-bike record as their own. Over the past nine months they have cycled through England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Holland, Spain and Portugal and are due to fly to Cyprus in early February where they will continue cycling while waiting out their Schengen and UK visa exclusion period. Far from calling it quits now that they have claimed the record, Gary and Rachel have recommitted to continue cycling, with the aim now to have cycled at least 25,000 kilometres by the time they return to Australia in August 2016. From there the plan at this stage is to continue e-biking in Australia during the Australian 2016/17 summer before travelling to the USA in 2017 to continue their record-breaking ride. With at least two more years of e-biking in front of them, who knows what their kilometre total will be when they finally call it quits! The bottom line, Gary said, was to eventually set a record that will take someone else a “hell of a lot of cycling to break”. The e-Bike Cycle Tourists chose to ride Haibike xDuro Trekking RX E-Bikes with the Bosch Performance crank drive motor and 400wh battery system for the record attempt and are towing Tout Terrain Mule single wheel trailers. Since setting out from the e-bikeshop.co.uk shop in Farnham on April 23, 2015, Gary said both of their Haibike Trekking e-bikes had performed brilliantly and had not missed a beat while riding across all sorts of terrain in temperatures ranging from below freezing to more than 40 degrees. “While we have gone through a lot of consumable items such as brake pads, brake rotors, tyres, chains, chain cassettes, rear wheels and a Sram hub, the Bosch performance crank drive motor and Haibike e-bike combination on both bikes has not missed a beat, it has been amazing,” he said. The only thing that had to be replaced was a Bosch controller on one of the bikes and this was only after it was damaged after the e-bike fell over. Wherever and whenever possible during their travels Gary and Rachel have promoted e-bikes as a fun, healthy and environmentally friendly form of transport. They said the interest in their e-bike long distance record attempt had been overwhelming, with people at times queuing up to talk to them about their trip and their Haibike e-bikes/Tout Terrain trailer combination. “We have also done radio interviews, have been featured in several newspaper stories and in specialist e-bike/cycling magazines, the interest in our trip has been amazing,” Gary said. “We have also had people – mostly in the over 40 age bracket – who have emailed us to tell us that we are an ‘inspiration’ and that our trip has motivated them to purchase an e-bike and to start cycling after a break of many years or to switch from a traditional bike to an e-bike. “This is fantastic given that all we are doing is what we love to do – cycle, but I guess we have proven that if two people of our age – 60 and 57 – can set a world e-bike long distance record, then e-bikes are suitable for anyone of any age – no matter what distances are cycled.” Both Gary and Rachel also said they were personally delighted to have set a new world e-bike record after cycling for an average of 75 kilometres per day during 220 days of cycling. With just six days of wet weather cycling during that time, Rachel said they had been incredibly lucky with the weather. “I think we are the only people in history who have cycle toured in Scotland and never saw rain,” she joked. “We also only had one day of rain in Ireland, which was amazing given the dire predictions before we arrived from so many people of what we could expect from the weather.” Above all else the e-Bike Cycle Tourists claim they are delighted to have proven conclusively that it is possible to go long distance cycle touring on an e-bike. Gary said they were told by many people before they set off that what they were planning was not possible due to the daily drama of having to charge their e-bike batteries given the decision not to carry a back-up solar charging system. “While it is true that we did have reservations before setting out about how easy it would be to find mains electricity outlets on a daily basis to charge our Bosch batteries, the truth of the matter is that we should never have worried,” Gary said. We discovered that there are always many charging options available from campgrounds, cafes, friendly farmers, e-bike charging stations and even when all else failed from people whose doors we knocked on. When you have to get out of your comfort zone to get your batteries charged it is amazing how many wonderful people you meet who you would otherwise have never spoken to. “On different occasions this led to complete strangers offering us accommodation, meals, showers, coffees, maps, bike servicing and in Ireland a call out was even put out over Facebook for the e-bike community to show us a “real” Irish welcome. The result was a long list of people throughout Ireland who selflessly offered all sorts of assistance. “We have had such an amazing time over the past nine months that we don’t want to stop, we intend to keep pedalling and to continue to promote everything that is great about e-biking.” With thanks to both Gary & Rachel (The e-Bike Cycle Tourists) above for the interview.
December saw another E-Bikeshop Owners Ride. This one was different, between xmas & new year everyone was eager to get out on the electric mountain bikes, we had to excite! As many of the owners club were busy in the run up to Christmas we planned to join forces with Alex @ eMTB Coaching who was also running a social ride that day. Alex is a friend of the club and we have spent many a ride with his coaching company. The last set in Wales for a day's training and fun on the Welsh slopes. That's a whole other story, but it was great, so deserves a mention. This will actually be the third time the club appeared back at Swinley this year, but it's so much fun, everyone was up for it. With trail changes, weather and different lines, Swinley Forest trails just keep on giving! Anyway, back to the ride.. Getting started We all met in the main car park at Swinley Forest, Bracknell for 10am to promptly set off. Everyone was eager to get out on the trial and burn off some of the calories earned over the xmas week. First up was the mild Blue trail. It was clear from the off that the group was just far too big, with many 'analogue' bikers out too. The trails quickly become clogged, so we took the decision to split from the main group and let some leeway so we could all ride at our own pace. This was good because it meant we were not waiting around or getting stuck on the trails behind other bikers. We followed the Blue route for many miles before splitting off and then joining the Red trail half way round. The Red trail offers slightly harsher terrain and is a little more technical. Onto the Red trail Last time we visited the first part of the Red trail, the 'Tank Traps' section of the trail was closed for felling. Fortunately this time round it was back open so we could enjoy the tight twists and turns on offer. We returned to 'Jump Gulley' half way round the red trail to find to our disappointment it had been flattened out. We played in this for quite a while on our last visit with lots of table top jumps and drops. The forestry commission saw far too many accidents and had to take the decision to close this part of the trail center. This then followed onto the top of the hill, from here you can continue the Red route, but we decided to have a few runs down the downhill sections first. Everyone enjoyed it so much we ended up taking in some new sections of the trails we had never done before. One of which was set down the middle with lots of 'rollable' jumps and twists. We must do this again on the next visit! Conclusion We continued for many more miles along the Red tail and finally joined back on the Blue to follow back to the carpark. Even the Blue trail has some high berms and twists. Swinley really does offer a lot, even though some of us had ridden here many times before, you can take different lines and learn new sections. We were having so much fun, we all forgot to take as many photos as normal so apologies for the shorter ride report this time. The ride landed us back to the main carpark where we enjoyed some hot coffee and as always some decent eBike natter! Fellow E-Bikeshop Owners will be pleased to know the next ride is now live. So make sure to sign up, it'll be a blast! See everyone at the end of January. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
Seven months, 11 countries and 13,000 kms after setting out from the e-bikeshop HQ in Farnham, Surrey we catch up with Gary and Rachel (The eBike Cycle Tourists). Now at the midway point in an attempt to set a new world e-bike long distance record. After cycling anything up to 140kms per day week in week out, we now consider ourselves well qualified to speak about what is good and maybe not-so-good about our e-bikes. All too often you read so-called in-depth reviews of a product after a weekend or maybe one or two weeks of use at the most. That is not our style and it is why we have waited for so long and so many kilometres to do a “real” review of our Haibikes. What is our honest opinion of the Haibike xDuro Trekking Bosch powered e-bikes we have been cycling? In a word they are an “amazing” piece of technology and engineering that takes cycle touring to a whole new level! We would recommend them to anyone contemplating a long distance self-contained cycle tour. With the current world record of 16,047 kms now well within sight and our eventual target of 20,000-plus kms clearly more than achievable, our Haibike’s have clearly proven that they are more than up to the task given to them. In fact, our Haibike xDuro e-bikes, in combination with the Bosch Performance crank drive motor and 400wh battery, have not only performed flawlessly, they have surpassed all expectations! A fact all the more impressive given the fact that both e-bikes are towing Tout Terrain single wheel cycle trailers loaded with 40-plus kgs of gear in addition to carrying two pannier bags each on the bike racks packed with camping gear, tents, spare batteries, food, clothing etc. So impressive has the performance of both e-bikes been, that after nearly 13,000kms of cycling over all sorts of terrain ranging from tarmac roads to boulder-strewn tracks really only suitable for a motorbike and in weather conditions ranging from well in excess of 40 degrees to below freezing, the Haibike/Bosch combination has not missed a beat – testament indeed to the quality of the product. Sure, a long list of consumable parts such as brake disc pads, brake rotors, rear wheels, chains, rear tyres, a Sram hub, pedals, bike stands and an entire rear hydraulic back brake system have had to be replaced, but not the beating heart of our beasts of burden … the Haibike xDuro Trekking RX e-bikes. The performance of our e-bikes has been all the more pleasing given the long hours of research spent studying the suitability of a wide range of e-bike models manufactured by companies from throughout the world prior to the start of the trip. The list of requirements the “right” e-bike had to have was exacting: a full range of 27 gear options, long battery life, a mid-mounted geared motor and frame-mounted battery, a relatively upright sitting position suitable for long days of comfortable cycling, hydraulic brakes for reliable stopping, front suspension, an overall suitability for long distance touring, 700c wheels for low rolling resistance, a make with an extensive list of dealers throughout Europe and the UK qualified to work on the bikes if needed and, most importantly, a sturdy frame capable of withstanding punishing long distance riding both on and off-road. In the end it seemed that all roads, no matter what specifications were taken into account, pointed to just one e-bike – the Haibike xDuro Trekking RX e-bike in combination with the Bosch Performance crank drive motor and 400wh battery system. With thanks to Gary Corbett for his write up, from the team and main sponsors at e-bikeshop. You can follow Gary & Rachel on their journey and see the full review of the bikes here.
You are the proud owner of a Bosch or Yamaha powered eBike, but a big day is approaching and your partner is nagging for gift ideas. What do you get the person who has everything? Why not think about some gifts to complement their precious pride and joy? Here we set out the top 10 gift ideas for both Bosch and Yamaha electric bike owners. Ideas to complement any eBike, from stocking fillers, to tech, to protection.. Keep scrolling. 1) Bosch / Yamaha Head Unit Display Sleeve The Bosch / Yamaha display sleeve is a universal case for transporting your display when removed from the electric bike. Made of upholstered material with scratch proof inner lining. It's also designed to fold on itself to hold the smaller Bosch Intuvia / Yamaha displays. When not in use, it also folds down neatly and wraps around the top tube of your eBike, making sure it's always to hand when you stop. Suitable: Bosch & Yamaha | Price £19.99 2) Cycliq Fly 6 Full HD Bike Camera & Rear Light The new Cycliq Fly 6 rear bike light with built in full HD camera is every cyclist's must have when out on riding! Film traffic / other riders to the rear, while maintaining safety. With a seriously increased light output of up to 30 lumens, Fly6 does everything possible to ensure playback is only ever for pleasure and not incident. With up to 6 hours of camera and light function the challenge will be who has the longest battery - you or the Fly6? Suitable: Bosch, Yamaha & All Bikes | Price £99.99 3) Bosch Nyon Heart Rate Monitor The Polar Heart Rate Sensor is paired easily and quickly with Bosch Nyon. Now the fitness screen is really useful, very clear and easy to read. The ultimate eBike tool. Heart rate monitoring for particularly effective and healthy exercise, Nyon can connect by Bluetooth to the Polar H7. This way, you can measure the intensity of your eBike exercise. Suitable: Bosch eBikes with Nyon | Price £64.99 4) Tubeless Wheel Sealant Kit Want to make your eBike lighter and resistant to punctures? The new Slime Tubeless sealant kit does just that. Convert any Bosch / Yamaha eBike to tubeless with ease. A team of racing professionals created Slime Pro Tubeless Sealant, an advanced formula that outperforms the competition. The kit includes all necessary parts to complete conversion. Suitable: Bosch, Yamaha & All Bikes | Price £49.99 5) Haibike All Mountain Rain Jacket The new Haibike Rain Jacket is essential for all weathers in the UK. Made from a lightweight material that means it's not heavy to wear and can be rolled up and tucked away neatly ready for any occasion. The rain jacket offers a neat little hood with ring pulls each side to pull in tight if required, front full length zip & velcro cuffs. A nice fitted jacket that you could even stroll up to the pub in! Suitable: All Bikers | Price £99.95 6) Bosch Nyon Upgrade Kit Take control of your Bosch powered eBike with the Bosch Nyon upgrade kit. Add lots of neat features like smart phone integration, satellite navigation & fitness tracking to name a few. This is the complete Bosch Nyon Kit, you can replace any existing Bosch Intuvia display and control buttons on the Bosch Active or Performance Line eBike system. Suitable: Bosch Active, Performance & CX | Price £449.99 7) DMR Vault eMTB Pedals The new DMR Vault is the next generation of the classic V8 and V12 family. Wide, Light, Slim, Tough, Tuneable. Winer of pretty much every mountain bike magazone review! The DMR Vault pedal is a tuneable flat pedal designed specifically for riders who want a bigger platform. Equally, at home on an all mountain or downhill setup, the DMR Vault pedal offers great stability and grip for the bumpiest of trails. Suitable: Bosch, Yamaha & All Bikes | Price £99.99 8) JetValve CO2 Smart System Repair Pod The new JetValve CO2 complete Smart System Repair Pod comes with everything you need. In one handy device that fits straight into any pocket, bag or saddle bag. Forget pumping, this takes seconds! Ideal for backpacks & saddle bags. It comes with two tyre levers, two 16g CO2 cartridges, inflator head & self-seal patches for quick and easy repair. Suitable: Bosch, Yamaha & All Bikes | Price £23.99 9) Emergency USB Mini Bike Lights These are great little lights to attach to your eBike. So small you don't notice they are there. Good if you get stuck out and need an emergency lamp to see you home. Fully USB rechargeable. No tools to fit, easy and simple, no cables to charge, the mini USB lights plug straight into a USB to recharge. Outputs up to 35 lumen with a 9 hour run time. Suitable: Bosch, Yamaha & All Bikes | Price £34.99 10) Bosch / Yamaha Battery Terminal Cover The Bosch / Yamaha eBike protection cap to cover downtube battery pin unit terminals.The cap is made of elastic Neoprene for covering the pin unit of an e-bike when the battery is taken off. Protects from weather, freezing, dirt and damage particularly when transporting the eBike. Suitable for any e-bike with frame battery. Suitable: Bosch & Yamaha So there you have it, our top 10 eBike friendly gifts. Presents you can be sure will go down on the big day! Still not certain what to get? Don't forget we also offer gift vouchers to any value.
A autumn day in November saw another one of our E-Bikeshop Owners Club rides. We were really surprised to see such a turnout at QE Park for mid November but 20 riders appeared! Our November ride was planned for Queen Elizabeth Country Park, between Petersfield and Portsmouth. This trail center had some new trails built a year or so ago, so it was time for the Owners Club to check it out. As usual we booked the weather for this one. It was raining the day before & the day after but for Sunday we were blessed with warm, dry weather, even the sun made a brief appearance! Morning Brief We all met in the main car park and began a ride brief first thing in the morning, everyone was eager to set off. One fellow member (Jez) had already done a 60 mile 2.5 hour road bike warm up around the Petersfield area on his (analogue) road bike. Now to the riding From there it was straight out onto the blue trail. From the off it was clear that it was going to be very wet and muddy from the previous weeks rainfall! Our newest member David staying upright below, it was his first ride out with us. A few miles in a quick pitstop was in order to regroup and take a quick break. We can all say that there is plenty of climbing at QE Park. But fortunately we are on eBikes! The Blue trail led onto the slightly more tricky Red trail. Lot's of off camber twists turns and climbing. The trails have been greatly improved thanks to the QECP Collective who have been working hard to improve the trails. Top work guys! Fellow member Ken above showing us how it's done. Plenty of smiles all round. The middle part of the Red trail was pretty hard work in the wet, with minimal traction and lots of grunt required to stay upright. Jason above showing that although we are on electric bikes, it can still be exhausting in places! A well deserved break was due half way round to catch our breath and have a quick natter. The next part of the Red route featured a really nice bit of singletrack that made use of the steep descent, a section full of switchbacks swept down the side of the hill, made for some faster pace riding. One big train of riders emerged from the shadows! A few more climbs back to the top and we made it back onto another great section full of fast sweeping berms, and tabletop jumps. Of course could be rolled over if you didn't feel like catching some air. Something fellow member Chris decided he would drop his eMTB mid trail (due to a blockage ahead) and summersault himself off the edge of the berm, landing upright on his feet. Some say he was action man in a previous life, unfortunately didn't manage to picture the stunt, only this one of him making his way back up the trail on foot! A sight I will never forget. Conclusion As usual & after all the hard work riding we had a much deserved rest in the mani cafe, lot's of coffees and teas all round and a eBike conversations before we all headed off home for the day. One thing that was apparent was how much of a battering the eBikes took throughout the day. The conditions were wet and muddy to say the least. I am sure everyone had fun cleaning their electric mountain bikes the next day. We are busy planning for the next ride in December. Many of us are off to Bike Park Wales this weekend. Should be fun. Until next time, ride safe and stay upright! The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Monday 16th November 2015 The UK Electric Bike Company was awarded National Business Leaders of the year at the Houses of Parliament, London. Earlier in the year E-Bikeshop won a prestigious Headline Award presented at a ceremony in the London Transport Museum, more than one million companies of all types and sizes were invited to apply for the regional and national awards. E-Bikeshop won National Silver in Retail. In light of their award, they were one of a handful, put forward to become a National Business Leader. The National Business Leader awards ceremony took place in the Houses of Parliament in the evening of 16th November. Over 600 people attended on the day of which 13 companies were awarded with National Business Leaders status. Awards speaker Michael Cooke, ex MP for the environment read out a brief synopsis: The company started as a one man band back in 2008 but with dedication and persistence, company director Martin Brown has grown the business into the UK’s largest independent eBike supplier - and it is now one of the biggest in Europe. With a new Sales & Distribution centre in Farnham, Surrey opened last year; they are already planning their next expansion. Well done. Whilst Aleah Leigh, world fashion designer, presented the trophy and certificate, appropriately dressed in her latest design made of completely recycled materials. The UK Electric Bike Company will feature in next year's National Business Leaders handbook. This will be distributed free of charge to thousands of businesses, organizations, trade associations, national / local government, banks, consultants and the media to gain benefit from following the experience and expertise of the National Business Leaders. The National Business Leaders handbook will be printed early next year and is designed as a work of reference to help companies and individuals to learn from the experience & success of National Business Leaders.
The E-Bikeshop Owners Club visited Ranmore Common in October 2015 for another amazing day riding electric mountain bikes across the various trails and singletrack. Across the top of the South Downs, Ranmore common offered a mix of different riding terrain. With yet another great day of weather for the club this meant another pleasurable yet exciting ride for the members at the Surrey setting. As our members club continues to grow we welcome the new faces to the team with every meet we have, this is a great chance for them to test their new bikes to the max with a group of E-Bike lovers. Long lasting members Chris and Ken treated the club to another one of their pre-planned track rides, of which they never seem to fail to bring something for everyone. After a little prep talk from the pair about what was ahead for us we soon set off on our adventures on these power injected push bikes. After much hill climbing before long we hit our first bomb hole, some of these ballsy men psyched themselves up enough to chuck themselves down this giant bomb hole. With this winter leafy grounds now forming some of us decided we didn't quite have balls big enough and chose a calmer route. This is what is the great thing about these rides is that no one leaves disappointed, we make our rides as easy or as hard as each individual is comfortable with. Although there is nothing like pushing yourself that little bit harder. Clive after free falling from an identical hill like this one on the opposite side creating a U shape, which shot him straight up the this second hill. There were quite a lot of tree roots going down this hill which made it very slippery but great to watch as an observer. Here is the club having one of our 5 minute breaks because although these great push bikes are powered with electrics we are still getting great exercise and we do have to catch our breath sometimes, especially if some of us have just chucked ourselves down some crazy hills. It is also very important we keep ourselves hydrated, I mean we are going out longer, harder, faster, that's thirsty work. Derek being the one of many ballsy riders went all out and did a slide out down this steep hill. A ride isn't a ride without someone having a slide out. The inner trials always comes out of our main man Martin when he gets out on two wheels, but yet shows us that these bikes can be so versatile, which equals to great entertainment. We always manage to find some area where there some more technical jumpy parts, which is great to mix things up. Chris doing his thing in leading the way through the Ranmore Common hills, tracks and trails, doing an amazing job as always. 'The Sick Bowl' now named by the club. This awesome but daring bowl that we came across gets it's name due to it making you feel so sick because once you join the bowl you can't stop or you'd full in the leafy water that awaits in the middle, much fun for some of the members. Bernie loves to challenge himself and rarely opts out of the trickier parts. This is another bomb hole, these can be very steep and slippery at this time of year and often with many trees blocking tracks, so this can very much be a challenge but great fun. Conclusion While out for another amazing ride with the club we stopped for a little treat at a cafe for tea and cake where we could gather and chat about our ride so far. To sum it up there were a couple of falls, a lot of laughs and a lot of power. We even topped off the ride with a little extra circuit for the more technical riders which really tested their performance. Overall great work from the club, to be continued... Don’t worry club members, the next ride will be posted in the group shortly. Photos will of course be uploaded to the members page in the coming days, feel free to tag yourselves! The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
The E-Bikeshop Owners Club revisited Swinley Forest in September 2015 for another amazing day riding electric mountain bikes across the various trails and singletrack. We actually already visited Swinley Forest AKA The Lookout in Bracknell earlier in the year & everyone had a great day. So we decided to do it again for our September outing, this time with lots more riders and some new faces as always. To mix things up fellow club member Clive offered to lead a few 'off piste' sections which were optional as he lives local and knows some of the hidden trails off the main track. We all met in the carpark first thing for a quick briefing and welcome, mainly for the newer members. We don't have rules as such, but a quick overview of where we were going and some trail etiquette saw us off out the car park and hitting the trails in no time. We had a mixed group of riders this time, some only just got their new eBikes and some were more hardened members. A couple of ladies joined us and we had a mix of abilities, fortunately we never push the limits too much, so it's a enjoyable experience for everyone. There are certain places where the 'wilder' riders can have a bit of fun too! We started on the Blue section, which is tight and twisty with lots of man made berms and bumps through the trees, this leads onto the Red section which is slightly harsher trails, but still tame enough to be able to gently roll over the whole trail if needs be. Some sections we had to make sure if we were stopping in between to regroup for a few seconds, that we actually didn't block the trail. This was quite apparent with everyone grouping over to one side to let other people past on the crossing sections. The first part of the red section was actually closed last time we visited which was a real shame, but fortunately all the felling was complete and it was back open this time for us tall to enjoy. The famous 'Tank Traps' lead you up and down each side of a small valley, was really fun keeping your momentum up each side to come back down again. A quick pit stop a short way in was just enough to catch the breath, also a good time to natter 'eBike talk' and of course chat with 'Analogue Bikers' to educate on what they will be upgrading to in the near future! About half way round we took a detour over the 'Jump Gully', this was great to have a little play over the jumps and also a good rest stop for others. Some were getting a little bit ambitious (Derek mainly) which turned into dropping off small ledges into the gulley! Everyone had a few runs down here. It was great as you can take it at your own pace, all the jumps are tabletops, so they are flat on top, which means you can simply roll over them until you build up confidence and speed. As the confidence grew, some club members found themselves catch air as they got faster and faster over the jumps. Fortunately everyone stayed upright, although Derek did have a little wobble after dropping off ledge and nearly coming off sideways, fortunately he held on and rolled out safely without hurting his pride. The next section of Red trails were absolutely awesome, probably a good point to say the weather was fantastic with blue summer skies and the sun really warming the trails up. As most of this was singletrack through the trees the shelter got the temperature just right. With such a high number of riders, we pretty much ruled the trails yesterday, it was nice to be in a decent sized group as it added lots of different positions within the group to ride in and close with other Bikers. Conclusion There were a couple of tumbles throughout the day, but everyone made it back in safely in one piece with smiles all round. Most of all we all had fun! This ride ended with a monster tea and coffee order in the cafe next to the car park, another good time to catch up and natter about the day's events. What is the most noticeable when riding in the club, it's not just the enthusiasm shared across the eBikes, it's the great people who make the club what it is. Such a good bunch of guys (and girls), it's actually as much about catching up with everyone as it is riding the bikes. Don't worry club members, the next ride will be posted in the group shortly. Keep your eyes peeled! There are over 100 photos from the day will be uploaded shortly to the members area. Feel free to tag and share as you like. Lots of good new profile pictures in there. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 2nd August we travelled south for another E-Bikeshop owners club ride. This time seeing what the south coast has to offer around Friston Forest! We met mid morning at a small village called Alfriston, here a convenient car park located just a short ride down some country lanes and we were straight onto some tracks. While a couple of Owners Club regulars missed this one, we did see some more new faces on this ride, every ride seems to show new people and the club is growing in popularity. We rode out of Alfriston and up a steep climb then headed out onto the road to see a fantastic sight - The Wilmington Giant. We then climbed further up the side of Windover Hill for quite a while until we hit the peak at the top, where some more fantastic views could be taken in. Fortunately all the climbing at the start of the ride was not diminished as of course we were all on eBikes and could enjoy the up hills! We then rode down and along into the top of Friston forest, this ride was led by fellow member Gary. This is his local riding spot so he knew exactly where to take us to get the best views, terrain and singletrack. Friston forest is full of bomb holes following the war. Fortunately for us, these bomb holes made for great riding in between the tight woodland singletrack. The first ones we rode are called Doris and Bert. We then went on to ride 'The Wall of Death Bomb Hole'. All the tricker parts were avoidable for the less experienced in the group. Whilst some got carried away and hit them multiple times, getting more and more confident with each run! We then went on to ride the 'Fairy Trail' with lots of tight twists, turns, roots and the odd jump to keep things exciting. Gary got us all trying the bomb hole challenge, where you have to enter one side and leave the other side without pedalling. The temptation to stick the anchors on or add in a little pedal to get back the other side was agonising. But a couple managed to do it after multiple attempts. Entering with enough speed to get back out meant that a little airtime was required as you entered the bomb hole. Good fun indeed! Lovely trails and the fact that you could ride around most bits if you were not confident was again great for the newer members. Although by the end of the ride most of them were getting air on the tabletop jumps! From the bottom of Friston forest we climbed back up and Gary showed us the Snow Trail. What appeared to be fairly hidden, I am glad we had him on board as so many of these excellent trails could easily be missed if you didn't know where they were. The bonus of having a local in the club I suppose! We have found this with previous rides too, it's so nice to follow and not have to know where you are going. Each ride we tend to have a leader that knows the area well. This works perfectly and not only do you get to ride with like minded eBikers, but you learn new places to ride too. Double win! Conclusion To conclude the ride we headed out of Friston and rode down through Westdean to Cuckmere Haven. This hotspot was really busy on the Sunday with tourists and locals alike enjoying the beach and a quick paddle in the sea. It was a great opportunity to stop, unwind and cool off. Forgot to add at the start of the report that once again the weather was amazing! A short ride back up through Litlington and over to Alfriston left us back at the car park where we met. With high spirits & smiles all round. The big question is when is the next ride out? Well it's live now, so to all of our fellow owners, login and make sure you get the date aside! This next one's going to be popular as we revisit a favourite from earlier in the year. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.
On Sunday 12th July 2015 our E-bike Shop Owners Club hit the hills again for another great day riding electric bikes at Leith Hill! While our chief man was doing his E-Bike thing is Germany checking out the new range, that meant that the other E-Bike Shop Members took lead in making sure our team were geared up and ready for a super fun ride. While we have the same great faces that come to our action packed meet's that we now class as friends, it was great to see the new faces of the two Mark’s and Neil that joined us on the day and are now very much sucked into the E-bike vibe. We soon set off where Chris and Ken lead the way to show us all kinds of different terrains, some of which we had not yet come across such as sand. It’s great that we can get different rides with each meet we have, no ride is ever the same, which always makes it that more exciting. After much climbing and a lot of pedal work we were rewarded with these breath taking views (quite literally after getting up there), a full 360 degree view of nothing but fields. We all thanked ourselves for getting up early to appreciate such views. Which is the lovely thing about this club is that it’s not just about the fitness, yes it gets you out the house, it gets you meeting new people with the same interest, but we get to see views that not everyone is able to see, which always gives you the real feeling of achievement together as a team. On our journeys, of course we are always going to come up against people and have not seen these bikes before and always have a few questions, of course naturally we always just hand them the bike and say try it for yourself, as there sometimes is just no other way to explain or describe such a fantastic invention. Ken being the talkative one, he tends to stop and chat to everyone interested, but like Ken we are all equally passionate about these great bikes. There is always time for a quick selfie just to show how happy we are, even with a few minor stumbles along the way. The team are always supportive, so motivational to keep you going when at times, even when you feel you may be struggling. But we always do it as a team, and we never split off and always wait for one another. But we always make it flexible so we can go at our own pace. There were some easy parts of our ride but also some extra tricky parts which involved pushing yourself that little bit further. We love a good challenge to keep it interesting and to test ourselves but to get that feeling of accomplishment. To finish off what was another great ride, at this point we started getting quite heavy rain, while before it was a nice light misty rain which kept us feeling fresh and cool with the British muggy weather, we began to get quite soaked through. To which we thought a great opportunity to have a hot beverage before heading back. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.