Biggest chain stores set their sights on e-bikes
Posted on in Cycles News
The biggest UK cycle retailers have set their sights on electric bikes, launching their own brands and increasing their range of models, as reported this week in Bike Europe.
Evans have launched their own electric bike brand, expanding their Pinnacle range to include the Pinnacle Lithium Ion which uses the Shimano Steps drive system. Evans are also now stocking e-bikes from EBCO, Raleigh, Scott and Specialized.
The Pinnacle Lithium Ion currently retails around £1800 whilst their e-bike range covers the price range of £900 to £6200 and includes plenty of step-thru city style models as well as plenty of high end e-MTBs.
"We felt that most current e-bikes were quite city-bike in their styling, step through frames and rack-batteries as well as trekking bike designs that are successful in the Europe market," said James Booth, Evans PR manager.
"Pinnacle has seen good growth in hybrids with a distinct style, a simple look with bolder colours for example. We wanted to apply that visual style and get the ride feel right for a bike that is a very different product to a lightweight sports hybrid. The added fixed weight and ease of speed in many situations meant we took a fresh look at areas such as the wheel format (size and tyre volume) and how they work with the handling geometry, the handlebar type also, all factors that add up to get the ride experience right."
"The opportunity to use the mid-battery mounted Shimano Steps system was a major reason for us to expand in e-bikes with Pinnacle. We had been talking about our entry into e-bikes for a couple of years previous to the launch of Steps, discussions around what our e-bike offering needed to achieve for our customers and looking for the right system to use. Shimano's UK retail support is good and it's a trusted name. The system is great and the main lead time factor after we had initial info on the mid-battery system was ride-testing of the development bikes rather than any difficulty with incorporating the power system. For other brands the same deciding factors will apply - the reliability and ease of use of the system, the support from the distributor and the overall product appeal."
Meanwhile Evans rival Halfords have also stepped up their own e-bike offering for 2017, which now includes some 70 models at the time of writing. A Halfords spokesperson said that they believed "electric bikes would be ‘the next big thing for commuters'."
Like Evans, Halfords also have their own brand model, the Carrera Crossfire-E which they describe as ‘the best value electric bike with a range of 60 miles'. Halfords say the Crossfire aims at ‘widening the audience for e-bikes to a younger, regular commuter.'
Cytech technical e-bike
To give the cycle trade the knowledge needed to cater for this booming e-bike market, Cytech has introduced the brand new Technical e-bike course to provide the skills and confidence needed to set up, repair and sell a broad spectrum of electric bicycles along with an understanding of the specific standards and legal aspects that apply to them.
Suitable for those who are looking to stock and repair e-bikes, the Cytech technical e-bike course is available to those who already hold a Cytech technical two qualification or as a guide, 3-4 years industry knowledge.
Book a course
The
four day Cytech technical e-bike course is currently only available at
ATG Training. Visit cytech.training or contact ATG Training on 01296 737 800 to find out more and book your place on the course.
ACT members benefit from a 10% discount on all Cytech training.