Electric Bike Store

This Month we put Electric Bike Store in the Spotlight for featured Electric Bike Store:

The Electric Bike Store is one of the only independent bike shops in Central London. It’s enviable location in a historic courtyard only a few minutes walk from London Bridge makes viewing and test riding bikes easy. The ethos behind the business is to provide the customer with a great shopping experience by not only providing the best quality electric bikes but by also offering a very professional and friendly service.

1.How long have you been selling electric bikes?

We started selling electric bikes about five years ago. Over the years we’ve seen the quality of electric bikes improve significantly and with our current range of Volt™ electric bikes we believe that we have the most technologically advanced and reliable electric bikes available in the UK.

2.What is the most popular price range for electric bikes at your shop?

Our electric bikes range from £1,099 to £1,899. We tend to tailor the bike that we sell to each customer’s requirements. For example, we sell lots of folding bikes to commuters who wants to have the versatility of being able to take their bike on the train or in a taxi if need be. Likewise we sell a lot of mountain and hybrid bikes to people who want to use their bike for cycling along canal paths or tracks.

3.What is the most frequently asked question you get asked about electric bikes?

How far can it go!
Most customers are initially very focussed on how far an electric bike will take them. The Volt™ bikes all use the latest lithium polymer batteries and depending on the battery size have a range of between 50-80 miles in perfect conditions. When we tell them this they are amazed and wish they’d considered an electric bike years before! The next main questions are about technology and maintenance. Fortunately for us the Volt™ Electric Bikes really are at the cutting edge of e-bike technology and their reliability is second to none. Also nowadays with the component style design of the Volt™ bikes if anything does go wrong it really is very easy to fix.

4.How important is style vs technology to your customers?

People definitely want an electric bike that looks good but equally important to most people is that they want their electric bike to blend in and not look ‘electric’. The Volt™ bikes have been designed with this as one of their core design principles. The motor is hidden in the rear hub and the battery instead of being positioned on the rear pannier; which really stands out, is attached to the frame of the bike under the seat post. Not only does this look a lot better but it also improves the balance and handling of the bike.

5.What do you think makes the best electric bike?

The best electric bikes need a combination of good looks, the latest technology and above all reliability and Volt™ definitely offer all of these.

6.If you could only give one bit of advice to someone buying an electric bike what would it be?

You definitely get what you pay for with an electric bike. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you’re getting a great deal just because the bike is cheap. Look at the components on the bike and make sure that everything is branded and of high quality. This includes both the battery and the motor. These are the core components of the bike and if they fail you no longer have an electric bike. Bafang are the worlds largest motor manufacturer and produce very reliable, high quality motors and when looking at batteries we’d always say go for lithium polymer as they last longer than lithium ion and are very easy to look after. High quality battery manufacturers include AEE and Kingco both of whom Volt™ work closely with. A branded lithium polymer battery retails for around £500 – £800 depending on the size so it’s important so you can see how the price of a good, high quality electric bike soon adds up.