any opinions of avanti electra bikes??

Hi there
A month or so ago I posted a "darn it" my bike has been stolen message
AAMI came through and I got a $750 cheque from them (not full bike
replacement but still pretty good)
Anyone have any experience with avanti electra bikes??
A local bike store has them for $1800, with them possibly coming on sale in
2 weeks time as it might be last years model
A part of me says - dont get one its cheating
the lazy part says - you know you want one
I travel 8.5 - 9 km twice a day 5 times a week to get to work and there is a
bike path for about %80 of that
also something else I am thinking of getting is a avanti baracuda for $1500
hopefully for sale
Stephen

Stephan,

"Stephen N" wrote in message
...
A month or so ago I posted a "darn it" my bike has been stolen message
AAMI came through and I got a $750 cheque from them (not full bike
replacement but still pretty good)
Anyone have any experience with avanti electra bikes??

I currently commute on a different electric power assist bicycle.
With the motor, I don't need a shower when I arrive.
(Although with the recent weather you get a shower on
the way to work :-)
My current motor has a problem.

I am also thinking of buying an Avanti Electra bike.
I went for a test ride and observations we
- It gave less assist than my current 180W motor which
has a hand throttle.
- It has no hand throttle. The motor tries maintain your
speed with light pedalling. With no pedalling your
speed slowly drops.
- It backs off on the assist when the speed drops suddenly
such as when you apply the brakes. It also seemed to
back off when you reached a steep rise. This is when you
want maximum assistance. The steep rise wasn't long
enough to tell if it would actually increase assistance once
it got back to steady state.
- It was slightly lighter than my current bike because
it used a smaller batter (2/3 the size).

If you go for a test ride, I'd be interested to hear your
comments.

General comments about electric assist bikes:
The bike is heavier. Instead of 15kg bike it is 25-30kg.
Avoid jumping kerbs with a heavy bike.
You don't want to ride without assist because it feels
like you are riding into a headwind. With motor it
feels like a tailwind.
I'd prefer to have a second bike without a motor.

i spoke to my manager at work about the bike and she told me about a
customer who bought one and had lots of problems with an electric bike.
Since there arnt too many bike stores in Albury its probably the electra or
one of the other ones they sell.
I am emailing the guy in a day or 2 to see what the bike was and what
problems did he have with it.
Something about the place where he bought it being really bad when it came
time to get repairs done

Stephen