Sunder
10 MW
Hey everyone. I have just accepted a secondment to London to build a new branch of my boss' business. It's happening Nov-Dec. 2018, with an ideal launch date of Jan 2019, so just under a year away.
My wife wants to try to live without a car there, despite having two young children. She believes owning a car in London is very expensive and driving very difficult, (Which admittedly, petrol and congestion charges seem very high compared to Australia, but cars - especially European cars - are very cheap)
We were thinking of setting up in Wimbledon, with most of our customers in London CBD, and our partners spread out across Middlesex, Reading and Surrey.
My question for anyone who lives in London:
1. Is this realistic by combination of electric bike and public transport? I wear a suit for work, but should be able to change at the office. We'd also need to do all grocery shopping and outings without a car.
My question for everyone else:
2. I would like to build a bike suitable for all weather. High reliability, low maintenance, moderate power is target, budget, under $5k ($4k USD). I am currently thinking BBS02, converted to Phaserunner, 12S, 16Ah Multistars with a 5W battery heater. Everything electrical I would carry spares for. Other possibility would be LTO, as they are not impacted by cold weather, so no wastage on heaters, and no loss of capacity by charging batteries cold.
Bike would be hard tail with at least 2" studded tyres, hydraulic disc brakes, Nuvinci IGH.
Any suggestions on how I can improve my riding experience?
Thanks in advance.
My wife wants to try to live without a car there, despite having two young children. She believes owning a car in London is very expensive and driving very difficult, (Which admittedly, petrol and congestion charges seem very high compared to Australia, but cars - especially European cars - are very cheap)
We were thinking of setting up in Wimbledon, with most of our customers in London CBD, and our partners spread out across Middlesex, Reading and Surrey.
My question for anyone who lives in London:
1. Is this realistic by combination of electric bike and public transport? I wear a suit for work, but should be able to change at the office. We'd also need to do all grocery shopping and outings without a car.
My question for everyone else:
2. I would like to build a bike suitable for all weather. High reliability, low maintenance, moderate power is target, budget, under $5k ($4k USD). I am currently thinking BBS02, converted to Phaserunner, 12S, 16Ah Multistars with a 5W battery heater. Everything electrical I would carry spares for. Other possibility would be LTO, as they are not impacted by cold weather, so no wastage on heaters, and no loss of capacity by charging batteries cold.
Bike would be hard tail with at least 2" studded tyres, hydraulic disc brakes, Nuvinci IGH.
Any suggestions on how I can improve my riding experience?
Thanks in advance.