What is so good about woosh electric bikes?
Electric bikes, or e-bikes, use a combination of pedal and electric power to make riding easier and more enjoyable.
When you pedal, the electric motor kicks in and does some of the work for you – either automatically or when you turn the throttle.
Motor-assisted: You can cover longer distances without getting tired and ride faster than on a normal bike, even when carrying your shopping.
Easy uphill cycling: the electric motor will take a lot of the leg work out of cycling uphill.
Cost-effective: soaring petrol prices mean an electric bike could give you a much cheaper commute. There is no tax, insurance, MOT or congestion charge on an e-bike – and hassle-free parking too!
Safe: Pulling away from junctions is safer because you can accelerate more easily on an e-bike.
Convenient: Our bikes are light or foldable, making them easy to take on public transport in off peak times..
Environmentally-friendly: our bikes do not produce emissions.
Fun to ride: Come and have a go if you don’t believe us!

How fast can they go?
The maximum speed when using the motor is 25 km per hour (15 miles per hour).
How long does the battery last?
In continuous use, the battery will last between one and 2 hours, depending on the terrain you are riding on. On flat roads in urban areas, you can count on going around 45km (30 miles with a Sirocco) per charge – less if you climb hills.
You can charge the battery using a normal mains socket in your home. For every mile that you’ve travelled it takes about 6 minutes to recharge the battery.

How much does an e-bike cost to run?
Recharging the battery – which ideally you should do approximately every 10 miles – will add about 2p to your electricity bill. Much cheaper than petrol!
A spare battery is handy if you have a fairly long commute from home to work – you could leave one on charge at work and swap it for the one on the bike on arrival, effectively extending the distance you can cycle. Click here for details of the spare batteries we stock.

Does the bike get recharged as you go along?
No. You will need the charger that comes with the bike to do this.

How do the pedal assist and throttle actually work?
If the bike is switched on and you pedal, a disc mounted on the crank will revolve in front of a Hall sensor, telling the electrics to kick in after a pedal or two and you will find the bike accelerating you along – almost as if it has a mind of its own! Some users find this disconcerting at first, but once you have got used to it, you can use pedal assist to help you travel much further in terms of distance.
The throttle is much more controllable. Simply turning it down towards you will make the bike propel forwards, like a gentle motorbike. The pedal assist can be disconnected if you don’t like it. This involves going ‘inside’ the bike and disconnecting a connector, but is fairly easy to do with our instructions.

Can I ride without the power and just switch it on when I need to?
It depends upon the model.
The Angel is a very heavy bike and is very difficult to pedal uphill without power.
The 320 is quite heavy and is also difficult going uphill without power.
Our other models, including the Mono, are light enough to pedal without power.
The Elios, Aspen and Sirocco are easy to ride without power. You can simply turn on/off the electrics controller on the left hand handlebar.

Will all your bikes sail up hills?
It depends! If you are light in weight and riding a light bike with gears such as the Sirocco or Elios, yes. If you are very heavy and riding these models, you will struggle at times. If you are heavy and ride an Angel or 320, you will struggle to get up anything more than a 6% slope.
And all electric bikes – not just ours – will suffer if pushed up steep hills constantly. The general rule is to use common sense and use your pedals!

Why are your prices so low?
We sell direct and pass on the savings to you.

What happens if things go wrong?
Local customers are always welcome to come in with their bikes and during the first year, we will repair any parts that have failed free of charge.
If you live too far away for this, you should be mechanically minded or have someone nearby who is, not just to deal with assembly but also to maintain the bike and do small repairs from time to time.
If a part fails, we will send this to you with instructions on how to do the repair yourself.
Repairs are usually straight forward and well documented or we can of course help you over the telephone.

Are you experts and do you have spares?
Yes, we know our bikes inside out. We have stripped each of our models down to small component level so are able to give customers at a distance a high level of support if needed.
We also keep good spares for each model, including batteries for the future.

What about customer service? Is it all email and telephone menus?
We are told our customer service is very good. We go to great lengths to guide customers with their choice of model and will even advise against an electric bike if we think it isn’t suitable. We also call customers on the day of delivery to tell them within a 2 hour ‘window’ when their bike should be arriving and always answer support questions by email or telephone
promptly.
And no, we don’t have a ‘press one’ for this and a ‘press two’ for that – you come straight through to a friendly, helpful human being!

Do you deliver overseas?
Only to Scottish islands, the Channel islands, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Wight!
These incur a charge for the crossing, normally paid for by the customer – our delivery up to the port is free. We regret we are unable to offer a service to Europe at present.

Are electric bikes safe?
Yes – as safe as standard bikes, if not more so since you can accelerate away faster at traffic lights or around roundabouts. And Woosh bikes of course conform to all current legislation.
Users must however look after their bikes, checking brakes, brake pads, nuts, bolts and handlebars regularly and take extra care in wet weather. A safety sheet comes with all Woosh bikes.

Can we try before we buy?
Only from our Southend store. Callers are always welcome although we are sometimes closed on Wednesdays for road shows, site visits and deliveries. If you like a bike enough to buy it, you can take it away by train (we have 2 stations here and are 5 minutes walk from each, and carriage on trains is free outside peak times) or put it in your car – usually with the front wheel removed, which is a simple matter to put back on once you are home. We normally have a bike of each model already built for you to take away, but if not, we will need around 45 minutes to build and check it for you.

Do you part-ex?
Sorry, not at the moment.

Where can I find out more?
If there’s anything else you’d like to ask, drop us a line. You can call us on 01702 435566, or send us an email using this webform.
Please also read our sales conditions before purchasing a Woosh bike.