Description

In A to B 101:

• The Trial: 2014 Kalkhoff Pro Connect and S11
• The Trial: Juicy Bikes Classic Grande
• Innovation: Mojo Crank Drive, Mac Allister Batteries
• Infrastructure: Getting Bristol Moving
• PLUS: Letters, news and a selection of second hand bikes

We try to produce magazines with a balance of articles, but we don’t always succeed.This month, after something of an electric bicycle famine, we are testing no fewer than four machines, from a kit priced in the low hundreds, to a breath- takingly well-equipped beast costing nearly £3,000.Whether you are interested in electric bikes or not, there’s some fascinating machinery out there.

The big issue – and it’s getting serious – is speed and power.All these machines exceed the 15mph legal limit, some by a great deal. Our view is that the 15mph limit is a bit arbitrary and retrogressive.A speed limit of 18mph would make a lot more sense on busy modern roads, and we would like to see a second category for 28mph electric bikes, as in Germany. But change is tangled up with all the usual Euro-governance issues, so don’t expect legislation soon, or indeed ever. When we started testing electrics back in the mid-90s, we ploughed a lonely furrow, but there are now numerous specialist titles. None, we like to think, understand the technology quite the way we do!

DAVID HENSHAW

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