Posted on July 24 2019
My Adventures in the world of Ebikes - Adopting Eddie www.gudereit-uk.com
This is a new blog and a world first for me, Duncan.
Being stuck in the 19th century, the concept of blogging is well weird to me , but as they say hey you must go with the times , so 10 years later than everybody else here goes!
I retired last year and shortly after (but not connected really!) I had a full hip replacement.
Having been fairly fit beforehand , and as some people say “big boned” , following my operation I was not allowed to play squash for a year (I only lasted 9 months but don't tell the surgeon) and was a keen but slow parkrunner . For those who are still in the running world’s dark ages , it is a 5km run every Saturday morning in parks all over the UK and now abroad . It is for the fit and those who think they may be fit at some future point . It is a timed run organised by volunteers and best of all it is free !!!
Because I had to take a 9 month break from park running , due to the hip operation, I decided to get my old electric bike out and start to cycle .
The bike , a Juicy bike of Chinese origin , had been great 5 years ago go when I bought it, but now it seemed heavy , impossible to ride when the battery was flat (which happened very quickly) and had a short range. The ride was ok but not what you would call comfortable.
So I went on the search ( Google and Gumtree naturally) for a used e-bike.
Having spent many wasted hours at night in front of the omnipotent laptop screen , I honed it down to the best of the many and varied opinions.
The overwhelming consensus was for a centre motor , that that should be a Bosch motor and battery with Shimano gears
The Bosch motor seemed to be the best all round performance , as was later confirmed and by a Which 2019 report on e-bikes .
On my Virtual wonderings I came across an Ebike for sale in London. This is a light year away from the rural idyll of Cheshire/Derbyshire border where I live , but it looked great and had all I wanted .It was 4 years old, being offered at half the new price . Not bad I thought .
It was the first time I have come across the bike manufacturer GUDEREIT and following it up (naturally on Google) , I discovered it was hand built in Bielefeld: Germany not more than 60 miles away from where we also live in Germany, and this was the sole GUDEREIT Ebike in the UK !
Anyway, to cut a long story short ,when I discussed the bike with its owner, a Hungarian who had bought it in Germany but now lived in London and needed some cash , a sale was agreed without even seeing it .
The bike had 2400 km on the clock and still on its original battery. Not bad for 4 years old bike , especially when compared to my Chinese Ebike on its third battery .
So off I went to London and saw the GUDEREIT ET-7 for the first time . It was love at first ride!:-)
It was amazingly comfortable and so easy to ride . So off I pedalled from Shadwell to ride down to Westminster to see the zoo do outside Parliament known as Brexit demonstrations .
I was amazed at how easily it was and best of all , how I glided by and through all the central London traffic , arriving for dinner in the City, not dirty , sweaty or even out of breath.
Anyway ET-7 and I caught the Virgin train back to Stockport with no hassle , and I cycled home on my new found best friend , feeling really chuffed with myself.
I had had a great day in London, travelled around the city at no cost and got home from the station ,7 miles away, without having to cadge a lift or take the train and with a false sense of moral superiority that I had not used my diesel car and saved the environment ( well a little anyway) . I’d done some great exercise , seen more of London for the first time and felt really healthy .
ET-7 , or Eddie as he is now known, settled into the rural life if very quickly.
The story continues : “Eddie wants to meet his relations”
Contact www.gudereit-uk.com for information on Guidereit UK
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