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E-cycle Your Bike

For many people there comes a time when the physical barriers to cycling can become too much, and the beloved bike is retired to the garage or shed to see out its days.

The two-wheeled stallion, which has been on family holidays, seen hundreds of commutes, trips to the shops and more, has been your workhorse for many years but now it has hit the road for the final time.

That used to be the case – but not anymore!

Now thanks to the Powabyke Conv-e kit, your beloved bike can carry on well into old age with assistance from a 6v 10a lithium ion battery and 250w brushless motor.

Powabyke has converted hundreds of bikes to electric over the years. People come to us because often they’re happy with their bike – they’ve got something they’re comfortable riding and familiar with – but just need that extra bit of assistance.

We have carried out conversions on hand cycles, recumbents, semi-recumbents, trikes and all manner of hybrids, mountain bikes, folding bikes, road bikes and more.

Our conv-e kits are available to buy as a pack, allowing you to convert your bike at home, or we can do it for you at our workshop.

The kits are designed to convert almost any standard bicycle to electric in approximately 45 minutes.

Conv-e comes complete with 10Amp battery and controller pack, powerful 250W brushless motor, charger and mounting brackets to suit your bike. The electric bike conversion kit will give you a range, on a fully charged battery that takes 5 hours to charge from flat, in excess of 20 miles.

Click here to see the other conversions we have done!

Buy yours today via our website 

The Perfect Christmas Gift

Just like the elves in Lapland, the Powabyke warehouse team has been busy getting ready for Christmas and taking delivery of some cool new bikes.

You may have heard recently that Powabyke has signed a deal with Italian manufacturer MBM to bring their impressive range of modern e-bikes to roads, bike trails and cycleways across the UK.

The Oberon, Titania and Metis models are the must-have Christmas gift for e-bikers, combining Italian engineering and style to create a modern electric cycle for 2019 and beyond.

Here we summarise the key points of each of the new models which are available to buy via our website.

A great Christmas gift for someone looking to enjoy all the benefits e-cycling can bring!

For Him:

The Oberon

With its sleek frame and urban-chic design, the Oberon weighs in at just 25kg and can reach speeds of up to 25Km/H. Perfect for commuting or light recreational use, the Oberon retails at £2,499.99 and comes fully equipped with suspension, pannier rack, lights and sidestand.

The Metis

For those looking for a bit more adventure, getting off the beaten path and tackling the trails and the downhill runs, the Metis combines power and style for the ultimate e-ride. The ultimate boys’ toy, the Metis retails at £2,699.00, weighs just 24kg and comes equipped with Trax Fatty tyres, Suntour Xcm forks and 5 sport mode power levels.

For Her:

The Titania

Featuring a low step-through frame the Titania, like the Oberon, is well suited to the urban commuter and leisure cyclist. The bike weighs 25kg and comes equipped with pannier rack, lights, suspension and sidestand.

To view the full range of Powayke products, visit our shop.

Electric Cycle Company Brings Sleek New Model to UK Market

The UK’s longest established electric bike company has announced an exclusive deal with a leading European bike manufacturer.

Powabyke UK Ltd, established in 1998, has secured sole UK distribution rights with leading Italian brand MBM for its new range of e-bikes, bringing high quality Italian design and engineering to Powabyke’s network of dealers across the UK.

MBM has been manufacturing bikes since 1973 and is one of the leading and most trusted names throughout Italy.

The company’s new range of e-bikes was launched earlier this year featuring Italian designed and built 80Nm crank drive motors, bringing more power than most e-bikes currently available on the UK market.

The range comes equipped with a lightweight 522Wh battery making the bikes capable of covering nearly 100 miles on a single charge.

Through Powabyke, the high specification Metis, Oberon and Titania models are now available to the UK market, with the complete range, including folding and city versions available from early 2019.

The partnership deal was agreed at MBM’s headquarters in Cesena, Italy in October.

MBM Sales Director Vincenzo Medugno said, “It is a fantastic opportunity to have a partner in the UK and we look forward to the trading co-operation between our two companies. Powabyke is a well established brand and is well placed to introduce the MBM range of bikes to customers throughout the UK.”

Keith Palmer, Managing Director of Powabyke added, “MBM is a household name throughout Italy and the company has a great reputation for manufacturing a comprehensive range of quality bikes. The company puts emphasis on both style and substance. Each e-bike is assembled by trained technicians ensuring the high quality is maintained every step of the way.

“This new range of bikes combines Italian style and precision with high torque power and impressive battery life, ticking all boxes for anyone looking to enjoy the benefits of an e-bike.  They will be a great addition to the expanding Powabyke range.”

Winter can be a depressing time for a cyclist, and getting cold, wet and muddy does not help! There are things that you can do to improve the quality of time you have on the roads:

Clothes – Wearing the appropriate clothes can not only keep you warm and dry. The best way to do this is to layer up, so if temperatures change, then you can adapt too. Thermal layers as well as waterproof outers will keep you warm and dry. Try overshoes to keep your toes warm, also thermal gloves to protect your fingers, and thermal face and neck masks to keep the chills at bay!

Mudguards – It sounds silly, and may reduce the coolness of your ride, but mudguards will will stop you getting mud and water splattered up your backside! This in turn will keep you warm and dry! Luckily most Powabykes come fitted with mudguards as standard!

Lights – Being seen is crucial, especially when the mornings and evenings are dark, and the afternoons are often dreary, visibility is paramount. Make sure you fit a decent set of LED lights to your bike. Keep them charged regulary so you don’t lose brightness, or carry a spare set of batteries so you can change them on the move. Increasingly lights are being fitted as standard on ebikes these days, but it doesn’t hurt to have a secondary lighting system to help give oncoming drivers a perspective of where you are.

Tyres – Use tyres that give you that little bit of extra grip. Yes I’m afraid you may lose some of that top speed or range on an ebike, and it may also feel harder to ride, but ultimately anything you can do to help improve your bike’s grip is surely a good thing? You can also try reducing tyre pressure by a few lbs to improve grip. Remember wet leaves, mud and puddles could be just around the corner! You may want to think about fitting puncture resistant tyres as well, these are great for reducing the risk of punctures with the increased debris found on roads during the winter months.

Winter Cleaning – This is crucial for the longevity of parts. Dirt, salt, mud and water are a bad mix for cyclists, so by keeping your bikes clean, you will in turn increase the life of chains, derailleurs, cranks, bottom brackets, brakes etc. There are loads of websites telling you how to clean a bike, This is a video from Cycling Weekly showing you the basics.

Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley has taken control of all 61 of Evans Cycles stores. The troubled chain has been seeking £10m investment in recent months as reported in Bikebiz. 

With falling profits the chain needed investment and restructure. Sports Direct have stepped in and is reported it will shut 31 stores as part of it’s restructuring.

Powabyke electric bikes were the first electric bikes the Evans chain stocked back in 2011 but it proved too early in the electric bike revolution and was greeted with cautious protest by instore staff. Evans pulled out of the electric bike market for a few years before returning amid increasing popularity and demand, and today electric bikes are a major source of revenue and profit for Evans Cycles.

Today 1300 members of staff will go about their day to day business awaiting any final decisions on branch closures.

“We are pleased to have rescued the Evans Cycles brand,” Sports Direct chief executive Mike Ashley said.

“However, in order to save the business we only believe we will be able to keep 50 per cent of stores open in the future.

“Unfortunately some stores will have to close.”

So today the Rt Hon Philip Hammond is set to deliver the Autumn Budget for 2018. It is usually delivered on the last Wednesday of the month but the Chancellor feared the national press would use Halloween references to rip the Budget apart with headlines such as “Hammond Horror” or “A Nightmare on Downing Street”!

This is the last Budget before Brexit and it is rumoured that there will be no major shocks. There will no doubt be the usual increase in alcohol duties and tobacco duties, but it will be the online retailers that the Chancellor is under increasing pressure to introduce a digital tax. Further investment is thought to be announced to plough money in to the high street. This would go a short way to help save the High Street and our beloved local independents, whilst also ensuring the jobs for tens of thousands of people working there.

It is also understood that the Chancellor will announce a massive increase in spending on the UK roads over the next 5 years with spending thought to be close to £29.0bn, with £420m of that expected to be used directly towards tackling potholes. This is great news for the cyclist with extra cycle lanes being built and safer roads for cyclists to ride. Cycling is up over 80% in major towns and Cities and this investment will go some way to help improve the infrastructure.

All eyes will be on Philip Hammond come 15.30 today! We will update key facts as they happen…

UPDATES BELOW (source BBC):

• The state of the economy

  • Era of austerity is “finally coming to an end”
  • 2018 growth forecast upgraded from 1.3% to 1.6%
  • Growth forecast of 1.4%, 1.4%, 1.5% and 1.6% in four subsequent years
  • 3.3 million more people in work since 2010
  • Wages growth at its highest in nearly a decade

  The state of the public finances

  • Public borrowing in 2018 to be £11.6bn lower than forecast in March, representing 1.2% of gross domestic product, (GDP) the total value of goods produced and services provided
  • Borrowing forecast to fall in subsequent years to £31.8bn, £26.7bn. £23.8bn, £20.8bn and £19.8bn
  • Debt as share of GDP to fall from 85.2% in 2016-17 to 83.7% this year and to 74.1% by 2023-24

  Brexit

  • Extra £500m for preparations for leaving the EU
  • Spring Statement next March could be upgraded to full Budget if needed
  • A commemorative 50p coin to mark the UK’s departure from the EU (announced on 29 October)

  Alcohol, tobacco and fuel

  • Beer, cider and spirits duties to be frozen
  • Wine duty to rise in line with inflation
  • Tobacco duty will continue to rise by inflation plus 2%
  • Fuel duty to be frozen for ninth year in a row (announced on 3 October)

  Personal taxation and wages

  Stamp duty and housing

  • All shared equity purchases of up to £500,000 to be exempt from stamp duty
  • £500m for the Housing Infrastructure Fund, designed to enable a further 650,000 homes to be built
  • Lettings relief limited to properties where the owner is in shared occupancy with the tenant

  Welfare and pensions

  Defence and security

  • An extra £160m for counter-terrorism police
  • An extra £1bn for armed forces, for cyber-capabilities and the UK’s new nuclear submarine programme
  • £10m for mental health care for veterans, to mark the centenary of World War One Armistice
  • £1.7m in education programmes to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, in northern Germany

  Business and digital

  • New digital services tax on UK revenues of big technology companies, from April 2020
  • Profitable companies with global sales of more than £500m will be eligible
  • Private finance initiative (PFI) contracts to be abolished in future
  • New centre of excellence to manage existing deals “in the taxpayer’s interest”
  • Annual investment allowance to be increased from £200,000 to £1m for two years
  • Contribution of small companies to apprenticeship levy to be reduced from 10% to 5%
  • Business rates bill for companies with a rateable value of £51,000 or less to be cut by third over two years
  • Measure to benefit 90% of independent companies, cutting bill by £8,000
  • £900m in business rates relief for small businesses and £650m to rejuvenate High Streets
  • New mandatory business rates relief for all lavatories made available for public use, whether publicly or privately owned
  • Extending changes to the way self-employment status is taxed, from the public sector to medium and large private companies, from 2020

  Education and health (England only)

  • Confirmation of an extra £20.5bn for the NHS over the next five years
  • A minimum extra £2bn a year for mental health services
  • New mental health crisis centre, providing support in every accident and emergency unit in the country
  • An extra £700m for councils, for care for the elderly and those with disabilities
  • £10m for air ambulances
  • A one-off £400m “bonus” to help schools buy “the little extras they need”

  Transport, infrastructure and culture

  • A £30bn package for England’s roads, including repairs to motorways and potholes (announced on 27 October)
  • A 30% growth in infrastructure spending
  • Opening the use of e-passport gates at airports – currently available to people from Europe – to those from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan

  Environment and energy

  • A new tax on non-recycled plastic packaging
  • No tax on takeaway coffee cups but this will be reconsidered if the industry doesn’t make enough progress
  • £60m for planting trees in England
  • £10m to deal with abandoned waste sites

So today is the big day… NEW WEBSITE GOES LIVE! While we are ecstatic with everything so far, we know there may be a few glitches so bear with us! We hope to get these smoothed out as quickly as possible. In the meantime, please check back periodically as new stuff is uploaded. Until next time…