... IF YOU STILL WANT TO GET INTO THE E- SADDLE

VANMOOF ELECTRIFIED S3

Price: £1,798 Weight: 19kg Stated range: 37 to 93 miles Charging time: Four hours Battery at start: 96 per cent At end: 83 per cent Average speed: 12.99mph Time to complete course: 21 min 35 sec

WOW. A beautiful, relatively light contraption that doesn’t look like an e-bike. The battery is hidden in the frame, and the machine just eases down the road. It has four different speeds. Plus, there’s a booster button on the handle for an extra spurt of power when you are really struggling.

HARRY’S VERDICT: 5/5

ASSIST HYBRID ELECTRIC BIKE

Price: £599 Weight: 18kg Stated range: Up to 20 miles Charging time: Three hours Battery at start: 100 per cent At end: 100 per cent Average speed: 12.03mph Time to complete course: 23 min 21 sec I WAS wary about the cheap price. Not the sleekest of models and it was also the noisiest. But the motor was powerful and the battery remained on full charge until the end. It isn’t the best on hills. I could feel my leg muscles burning. The design, which looks like a folding bike, means you end up uncomfortably scrunched up over the handlebars.

3/5

ELOPS 920

Price: £1,399.99 Weight: 25.2kg Range: 31 to 56 miles Charging time: Six hours Battery at start: 98 per cent At end: 84 per cent Average speed: 13.94 mph Time to complete course: 20 min 39 sec

A VERY comfortable and elegant bike — and its motor is almost entirely silent. It is also very well designed, with seven gears and an easy-toread screen displaying speed and battery life.

This Elops, an in-house brand of Decathlon, recorded the highest average speed of the bikes tested. One flaw, however: it’s extremely heavy. At more than 25kg, many people would struggle to lift it up steps.

4/5

CARRERA VENGEANCE E MEN’S ELECTRIC MOUNTAIN BIKE

Price: £1,099 Weight: 23.3kg Range: up to 40miles Charging time: Six hours Battery at start: 5 bars (out of 5) At end: 4 bars Average speed: 12.96 mph Time to complete course: 22 min THE only mountain bike I tested, it coped extremely well on rough terrain. Its big, wide wheels also made it a comfortable ride. In sum, a powerful bike for not too much money. When I had to do a hill-start on a steep incline, I hardly had to use any muscle power. It is very heavy and not pretty, with the battery on the frame. But with eight gears and a smooth ride, a decent e-mountain bike.

3.5/5

BROMPTON E-BIKE H2L

Price: £2,595 Weight: 16.6kg Range: 20 to 45 miles Charging time: Four hours Battery at start: 5 bars (out of 5) At end: 4 bars Average speed: 13.71mph Time to complete course: 20 min 49 sec

THIS may be a folding bike but it contains an unbelievably strapping motor. On full power you only have to touch the pedals gently and the bike flies. It completed the course the quickest — and coped with rough gravel paths surprisingly well. Due to its small wheels, you have to give it some welly to get up hills. It also has a small saddle and narrow handlebars — and it’s very expensive. But a great e-Brompton all the same.

4/5