On Test
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Giant Twist Express W £999
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Affordable electric assistance to make the journey to work that bit more manageable
f your commute is longer or hillier than you can comfortably cope with, there is another way to pedal there: powerassisted. Electric bikes are becoming more and more popular. Good ones have tended to cost around £1500-£2000. Giant's Twist Express, however, comes in under the Cycle to Work threshold. It's a pedelec, not an overweight electric moped, so it only provides electric assistance when you're pedalling. The amount of assistance the control unit tells the 250 Watt front hub motor to give depends on a couple of factors. One is the power setting you choose: eco, normal, or sport – in ascending order. The other is the amount of effort you're putting through the pedals. The bike measures the torque and provides more power the harder you pedal, so it compensates automatically when you start pedalling uphill. Apart from the weight – heavy by battery-free bicycle standards, reasonable for a pedelec – it's no different from riding a conventional bicycle. It's just that the harder you pedal, the more of a helping hand you get – up to a maximum of 15mph. After that, the 250 Watt front hub motor stops helping and you'll be pedalling by yourself. By law, a pedelec isn't allowed to provide assistance beyond 15mph. It's a bicycle rather than a moped. As such, you don't need to tax or insure it, you don't need a licence, and anyone aged 14 or more can ride it. Legally, you don't even have to wear a helmet. Power is provided by a 26V lithium-ion battery, which clips in seconds into the Twist Express's custom rear rack. It's hard to say how many miles you'll get out of each
charge, as that will depend on rider weight and ride topography. You should expect to get from 20-40 miles. Charging takes about four hours, so you could recharge it at work if need be. You can pedal the Twist Express without any power-assistance at all. It's quite heavy, although not much more so than some steel roadsters – compared to which, it has a wider gear range. So flat or gently rolling journeys should be fine without power. With power, you can tackle the hilliest commute. Just don't lean too far back when you're climbing the steepest grades: the motor is the front hub, so you need to make sure you've got some weight over the front wheel for it to find traction. Strip away the electrics and the Twist Express is a proper bicycle – not a great bicycle but not, by any means, a bad one. It's essentially an entry-level hybrid: aluminium frame and fork, decent aluminium-rimmed wheels, serviceable 7-speed Shimano Tourney gearing, and effective V-brakes. The 35mm Kenda tyres roll okay and provide sufficient shock absorbency, and the contact points are comfortable. It's equipped the kind of accessories that commuters want: full length mudguards, a rear rack, and even a kickstand. It can't be easy designing a decent pedelec for less than £1,000, and the temptation is to think: what must Giant have left out? The answer is nothing. No smoke, no mirrors: you're getting effective power-assistance that's built onto a proper bicycle chassis. If you thought you couldn't manage your commute, whether because it's too hard or because you're not whippet fit, think again. www.giant-bicycles.com
Dawes Boost Suburbia Ladies £999.99 The Dawes Boost Suburbia has its 250 Watt motor in the rear hub. The 36V lithium-ion battery, stored at the top of the rear rack, has a range of up to 40 miles, depending on power mode (eco, leisure or sport). The bicycle is a fully-equipped, aluminium-framed hybrid, with a basic suspension fork, 6-speed Shimano gearing, and V-brakes. www.dawescycles.com
Wisper 705 eco £999 Wisper's 705 eco is different in that it also has a throttle, which provides power up to 4mph. After that it's pedal-assisted to 15mph. It's powered by a 37V lithium polymer battery and a rear wheel motor. Range as a pedelec is up to 65 miles. It's an aluminium hybrid with a basic suspension fork and 6-speed gearing. www.wisperbikes.com
OTHER IDES R AT E D R
Powabyke X-24 £999 The Powabyke X-24 has both throttle and pedalassist options, so you can use it as an e-bike or a pedelec. It'll do about 10 miles under battery power alone or 20 as a pedelec. The motor is in the front hub, while the 36V lithium battery fits where a water bottle would go. With 24-speed Shimano Alivio gearing, this aluminium hybrid is more capable without power than most. www.powabyke.com
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