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What accessories come with our hire bikes?
Well, that depends on which bike you hire. Here is the summary.
City Hybrid Bikes – You will get an approved helmet and a lock to keep the bike safe
Road Bikes – These come with 2 x bottle holders and a saddle bag filled with a tube, 2 x CO2 cannisters and dispenser and 2 x tyre levers. You can have a helmet too if need be, but most of our road bike hirees tend to bring their own. You can also let us know what pedals you need fitted. Choose from flat, SPD or SPD SL (IYKYK right?). Or bring your own and we will fit them on for you.
eBikes – Just like the City Hybrids, these come with an approved helmet as well as an extra strong U Lock for extra security
Why can't I hire an eBike overnight?
Well, that comes down to our choice. The eBikes are worth a pretty penny, and in our experience if they are going to go walkies it’ll be after dark more times than not. Don’t get us wrong, if an eBike gets stolen whilst it is out on hire, any time of the day, the hiree is liable to pay for the replacement (around $2000 at least generally) but we hate having that conversation, so we avoid it as much as possible. Hence why no overnight hires for our eBikes.
Amp hours? Watt Hours? Volts? Watts? What does it all mean?
I’ll try to keep this short, because it can very easily get out of hand.
Amp Hours (Ah) equals how big your battery is distance wise. The higher the number, the further you’ll go per charge. Generally.
Volts (V)? The more volts an ebike runs, the more torque/power/grunt/go-go the bike will have. You could also argue that the more volts a bike has, the less smooth and cruisy the bike will be to ride. Everything has a trade off. Generally.
Watt Hours (Wh) is simple, that is the number you get when you multiply the Amp Hours by the Volts. So….
36V x 10Ah = 360Wh
48V x 10Ah = 480Wh
So on, and so forth. Some manufacturers talk in Ah, some in Wh. It gets confusing for us too, but we try and mimic the manufacturers choice of specification on our website and in our stores so you get some consistency between cruising the interwebs and coming to chat with us in the shop.
The last one, Watts (W) is really a different thing altogether, but because we see W and Wh on the same pricetag it is worth mentioning it here. This is largely to do with the power coming out of the motor, or going into the motor, or both, and is the basis for the legislation behind most eBike laws around the world. In WA our laws say no motor shall have an output higher than 250W to remain a legal eBike. We will cover the legality of eBike in WA in another article and/or FAQ shortly.
Off Road Vs Private Property
This is probably the most talked about question in the shops.
A lot of folks say I will only be riding my eBike off road, so the eBike laws do not apply to me, so I can have a gazillion watt motor that does a mega-smack-tonne of kilometres per hour and be all, no dramas Mr Plod. Not really. If you literally own the land you are riding on (I’m talking private property like a farm or your backyard) you can do as you please. If you’re on crown land or in a National Park, or a pine forest that isn’t a designated Off Road Vehicle Area you might be in some strife. Copy and paste the below link for more information.
https://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/local-government/community/off-road-vehicle-areas/off-road-vehicle-map
The other half of this question, is, my eBike has a switch/button/dodgy wire I can touch/hit/flick and my eBike suddenly becomes road legal at 250W. This is not one I have a clear answer to. If you’re unsure like me, drop by your local police station and ask the question, then let me know what they say at hello@theebikespecialist.com.au.
To be clear, I am not trying to be the fun police here. If you don’t like the rules, go chat with your local MP about getting them changed.