Electric bike is fun: shocker

Nipped along to the NEC Expo trade show the other day. We were just about to leave when we spotted on the ‘you are here’ map that we’d missed the electric bike corner. Intrigued, we made our way over there.

There was some pretty interesting stuff. Some of it was bobbins, obviously, with things that looked like two-wheeled mobility scooters but some of the bikes on display looked good, really good.

This Quantya Track caught my eye, mainly because it just looked like a really handy dirt bike. Long travel Marzocchi front forks, race-style plastic and a seat height up in the clouds.  Time for a test ride.

The track (the circuit, not the bike), if you can call it that, was hardly ideal for a bike on knobblies, but it did let me get a feel for the performance of the 12kw electric motor. And do you know what? It’s fast – like 200cc four-stroke fast. It’s really easy to control as well with peak torque just a flat line from the moment you open the throttle. It took me about twenty seconds to get a feel for it. No clutch to feather, no gears to select. Just point and go.

It also makes about as much noise as a chain going over the teeth of a sprocket - just a faint whine. Anyone married with kids will already be more than used to this experience.

My garden at home is big enough to ride a small bike around in but we haven’t found one yet that doesn’t piss the neighbours off after a few minutes. This is where electric bikes score. A 42mph top speed is quite enough to have fun with off road. Quantya claim two hours riding for a two hour charge which is a long time in the saddle when your forearm muscles are screaming enough after twenty minutes.

The only obvious downside? This Swiss made beauty isn’t cheap. The Track costs £8,850 including delivery and vat.  The Junior version is £7,200. But is that expensive? I’m not so sure. You’re not buying any petrol, there are no twenty-hour top end rebuilds to do, no rings to replace and – with an LED torch strapped to your peak – you could carry on riding well into the night without upsetting even the most ardent dolphin hugger. My last point there, is kind of hard to price isn’t it?

Looks like we’ll have to conduct further tests in the summer… now where’s that LED head torch…

By mark forsyth