Colin170CR

Well a few months on from my earlier posts & after much research can report I have bought a couple of foldable Ancheer E-MTB's on Amazon for me & the Mrs. Very happy with the overall quality for the price paid (£749 each). They are a tad heavy which is mainly due to their foldable design but then all e-bikes are heavier than regular bikes. As previously stated I wanted a foldable bike so I could get them in the back of the car rather than have to put them on the roof which given the extra weight would have been a real work out! Batteries on these bikes are in a bag on the front handle bars which makes it easy to remove them for charging on or off the bike. Batteries are not too heavy but their location does make the bike a bit top heavy, but you get used to it. The bikes have 21 speed Shimano gears, full suspension (adjustable at the back), disks brakes front & back, a front light (not that I'll be riding in the dark) & folding peddles. After reading a user review of the bike I have changed the saddles for more comfortable ones with an integrated rear light. I've also added a seat post mounted rack & saddle bags for the back of mine to help carry my fishing gear & other stuff from the local shops. I have also fitted the optional twist & go throttle (supplied with the bikes) so I can just coast along when my legs give up the ghost on longer rides - which they will. I've had a couple of run outs locally on them so far & all was good. The wife struggled getting the right gear selection before going up hills but the battery pedal assist / throttle helped enormously. The suspension makes them so much more comfortable. I bought some bungy cords to strap the bikes together when folded in the back of the car & I will probably take the quick release front wheels off in the future to make it easier to carry them in the boot. All in all not bad at all & not much more than it would have cost to do a front wheel conversion on our existing 35 year old Falcon Majorca's which have no suspension, but back then nothing did have suspension! The old Falcon bikes will probably go up for sale at some point as I'm running out of space in the garage. Until then I plan to ease myself slowly into electric biking & try not to over do it. I should also explain that I have not ridden any sort of bike in anger since my early teenage years so all this exercise is going to come as a bit of a shock to my aging bones.

Hi Shy. At least you managed to get some time away during this non-event of a year. I've not been anywhere in 9 months, other than a day out to Norfolk back in the summer Best I've done in the last 2 weeks is 2 x click & collect visits to Tesco for supplies! "Her in doors" is so spooked by the whole situation we will have to wait for years before we travel anywhere any time soon! She still has 1/2 a tank of fuel in her car from the last time she filled up in Feb!! Seriously though, we are all hoping that this new vaccine will do the business & we can return to some sort of normality as soon as possible before all the airlines go bust for good & we loose the means to travel anywhere other than by car TBH the thought of that is not so bad since I now have loads of time on my hands a long road trip somewhere for a few months would be much appreciated. Reminds me of of years gone by when I could get 3 weeks off work for road trip holidays in France, Spain, Germany etc. Roll on vaccine before I go stir crazy!!

I've been using this stuff for tyre shine. Works reasonably well & lasts longer than most others I've had in the past. Applied with a paint brush or small sponge. £10.50 on Amazon at the moment.

Years ago I had a re-mapped 1.9TDi Audi A6 the torque on which was insane. I can't remember what it produced but enough to easily spin the front wheels in the dry & take out the std manual clutch after only 15k miles. My current Superb will probably be my last car but I have been looking at possibly changing my wife's car (Fiat 500) for an EV of a similar size. It seems Skoda have stopped selling the Citygo IV & they have no plans for any other small EV cars or an EV version of the Fabia which would probably have been the size we would have gone for. That new Enyaq model is far too big & far too expensive which means I will have to look elsewhere. Currently I'm looking at Pug e-208 or possibly an e-2008. Another possibility is that if the wife packs in working in the new year we might look at selling both current cars & dropping down to a single EV car in which case that Enyaq or something similar could be an option. At least that would give decent performance & cost a whole lot less to run than our current two cars. No decisions until the new year as the wife is still undecided about retiring. Decisions decisions!!

363 to 150bhp will take a bit of getting used to. That said the extra economy helps. Did you trade the 363 fo9r the new one or sell it privately?

So is this a replacement for the 363 Sportline?

Which model Shy? 1.6TDi?

I can wield spanner when needed (ex AC / elec / mech engineer) but tbh I'm past all that now. Even though I have more time than ever before I want to enjoy my retirement time & not give myself loads long term projects to do. The camper is on the back burner for the time being, at least until things return to some sort of normality. Will probably hire one first & see how I go from there. That said it does not stop me looking!!

I came from a S2 170 DSG Diesel Superb Elegance to a S3 280 L&K - both estates & both run as private cars & both purchased at around 3 years old. Reasons. No longer doing big mileages or a daily commute so fuel consumption was no longer a major consideration. Wanted to get away from diesel. Wanted more power but didn't want spinning front wheels. S2 Superb would regularly spin & tramp front wheels in damp conditions when flooring the loud pedal which prevented any chance of a quick getaway on roundabouts or lights. Wanted a more refined drive. All boxes ticked with the S3 280 L&K 4 x 4 which, after a Revo remap, now has 360bhp. Fuel consumption is 25 around town & best to date has been 36-38mpg on a run. I think it's capable of 40+ but I've yet to see that. I have to say that after years driving diesel company & private cars returning to petrol has been such a pleasure. So much so that I would have a hard time going back to diesel unless it was a smoother 6 or 8 cylinder model. An electric vehicle might be an option but the prices will have to come down a lot before I could consider one. Each to their own & your circumstances might, & probably will, dictate a different approach entirely.

Looks a better fit than the SS one I got from Amazon. Despite copious amounts of 3m double sided tape it keeps lifting off the bumper due to the tension in the metal which is not a good fit to the contour of the bumper.

That 7th cog on the DSG & Eco driving mode makes a difference. Mine has only 6 cogs & since adopting Eco drive mode & having now done a few longer trips it is now up to an avg 36mpg (up from 25mpg avg with just local roads & sport mode).

Understood but with some careful research some more cost effective models can be found. I won't be using an e-bike on a regular basis so top quality models with stratospheric prices are not possible for me. Which is also one on the reasons I drive a Skoda instead of an Audi, Jag or Aston

Hi. Have a look at this one. It's a foldable full suspension 21 speed E-bike for £749 + £20 delivery. Oppikle 26'' Electric Mountain Bike I was looking at it because it's a foldable design. There are other non-foldable designs at similar prices. Amazon search criteria is notoriously cr$p so you you have to sift through manually to find what you are looking for. Also, see this Best 10 e-bikes under £1,000

Hi. Have a look on Amazon via this link E-bikes Be careful not all are electric or foldable bikes which is what I searched for with rating above 4 stars. If you don't need the folding design then this link might be better & offer more choice more bikes

Interesting. Would that Swytch kit work for a non-disc brake set up as well? I guess it should. However, bringing the bike to a standstill from full speed with older style less efficient centre pull brakes might be a bit hairy! As much as I would like to get the tools out & get the satisfaction of doing such a conversion that Swytch kit seems to cost around £749? That around about the same price as some of the cheaper e-bikes out there which makes it a borderline decision whether to buy a new bike or convert the old ones. The other problem is that my old Falcon Majorca bikes (circa 1986) have no suspension so converting these to e-bikes might be a short lived love affair as my advancing years crave a bit more comfort - even for basic cycle pathway & none off road use. Certainly the wife would want a softer ride for her derriere. A pair of new folding e-MTB bikes (which I can fit inside the car) with full suspension, disc brakes, LED lights etc can be had for around the same price as the Swytch kits which is probably the route I would go. I don't need the highest quality / mega expensive bikes as they will only be used occasionally albeit more so than the existing bikes which still look in mint condition after minimal use in the last 35 years! I can then consider selling the matching his & her Falcon Majorca's to offset the cost of the new ones. The search goes on I think. Thanks for the info.

Hi Laura. Sorry to here about your Roomster. I have seen some of the Wee Broon videos you mentioned. If I'm right that's a new Wellhouse Toyota Proace conversion which starts at around £45k before extras. That Ford Transit Nugget thing is a semi official Ford Camper van (converted by Westfalia I think) & it ain't cheap either - from £55k! However, it is bigger than a VW Camper. Alongside the imported Toyota Alphard / Nissan Elgrand mpv conversions (£circa £23k) I even looked at some of the Japanese K car based campers. These are really tiny compact campervans - but in reality they are just too small. Towing anything was a no go for me - even a quick pitch trailer tent. Just too much hassle towing anything off the beaten track & the 50mph speed restriction makes long trips (especially abroad) far too long. Storage was also a problem for me. No, I think after much deliberation & consideration, I have decided to put it all on hold for the time being. I might hire a camper van next year if possible to scratch the itch & see how I go from there. Good luck with finding a replacement for your Roomster - which won't be easy as they were a bit unique.

And some!! The current situation has pushed up / inflated all leisure industry products & especially camper vans & camping gear as this type of family UK holiday is just about all that can be done at the moment while maintaining reasonable social distancing etc. Your £3.6k investment (excluding the time taken to do the work) turned into a £3k profit six year on proves my earlier thread statement that it is possible to buy & run a camper van for a couple of years & get you money back as a minimum. Since I do not want to do a van conversion myself, do I want to invest the sort of money needed (even for a few years) to get a camper with all the comforts of home? The answer to that conundrum I have decided is - no, so I'll sit tight & wait until the current situation sorts itself out before I decide what type of holiday we will end up taking & when.

It's like most things in life, if money was no object then I would move house for more outside space, buy a larger camper van & probably not use it because we would be away on planes to holiday in other far flung places Reality is somewhat different. I'm with you on a holiday cottage. After years or camping under canvas when the kids were young if there is one thing that did not appeal was the unpacking, setting up, tearing down & packing away for each stopover. Until my son was old enough to help on our camping trips muggins here had to most of the work & then I had to do all the the driving as well. I travelled a lot for work every week so it was like a busman's holiday when we went away. Now it's just me & the wife & I no longer work but I still have to all the driving as she wont drive my car or on the continent. I think hiring a camper is the best bet for us to see if it's for us before we even consider the subject any further.

Might be possible but I'm guessing the electric tailgate mechanism is not powerful enough to handle any extra weight & may not even be able to coup with just the bike rack on it's own let alone with any bikes! I don't want to run the risk of knackering the rear tailgate mechanism so I think folding bikes inside the car is the only real option or, shell out for a tow bar & bike rack. Alternatively stick the bikes on the roof & look for parking without any height restrictions.

Wow. All too testicle for me. That said I am looking at either electrifying our existing 18 speed bikes or, buying some new e-bikes to poodle around on. I'll probably go new & for a folding design to make carrying them around inside the car easier & more secure. I just found out that the Superb with an electric tailgate cannot have a rear boot mounted bike rack. Roof or a tow bar mounted bike racks are my only options. Although I have roof bars & bike mounts roof mounted is no good for height restricted car parks & a tow bar just for a bike rack is far too expensive. A folding bike would probably be cheaper than the tow bar for the Superb!!

Excuse my ignorance on this subject, but why do you need to pair your bike with your phone?

I don't think the economics were ever going to be great. That said campervans do hold their value way better than regular motors some of which depreciate at a horrendous rate. It is actually possible to buy a campervan, run it for a year or two & sell it for about the same price as originally paid. This would probably have to be a VW model as they have a big following & command a fair premium over the other makes. The biggest issue is stomping up the dosh to get one & get on the ladder - just like buying a house really! Financing is always an option & for some its the only option. For me at my time of life I do not want to be racking up any sizeable debts even if they are secured on the vehicle itself. Camping , Caravaning & Campervaning is a lifestyle choice so the economics are generally not a major consideration. You do it because you like & buy into the lifestyle. As for me, I can take it or leave it so it's not the be all & end all or a lifetime dream. I have decided to leave it - at least for the time being!!

Storage / parking is probable our main issue. If I lived on farm or had more space no problem but I don't & I wouldn't want to pay someone £12-£20 a week for secure storage either. I'm told the T6 & T5 are virtually the same dimensions just upgraded fittings, engines, tech etc. I must admit I'm not a fan of the Classic side kitchen layout especially if has a fixed position bed. If the bed is on adjustable runners then a side kitchen is ok as the bed can be moved back & forth for more flexible for storage when travelling. However, my preferred layout for any of these size vans is a rear side kitchen with two single beds which gives you access to the rear during the night & a separate lounge / kitchen area during the day. Have a look at this one by Three Bridge who are near me in Wolverton / Milton Keynes. LWB T6 with rear kitchen If needed the 2 single beds can be converted into a king double with infill panels between them or in the case of the example above, moved together on a slider mechanism to create a double - clever. I must admit most of these layouts normally use the larger / LWB vans which can then have a proper flush toilet as well as per the above example. That said I've seen a rear side kitchen layout done on a SWB van but without the fitted flush toilet - just a portable loo in a cupboard instead. This rear side kitchen layout also gives a long 3.5 - 4m corridor right down the middle of the van from the back doors to the front seats so longer items & even part broken bikes can be stored inside the van while travelling rather than having to hang them of the back or on the roof. With a pop top roof it can still sleep 4 & with a twin front passenger seat travel with 5 belted seats. As you say though it's a bit "cosy" for any more than 2 people unless you use awnings or tents for separate living / sleeping areas. Not sure why I'm still getting excited about all this as I have made my decision not to go down the van route, unless that is I win the £125,000 Planet Rock phone number draw competition which the wife has bought 3 tickets for. I figure there's more chance of winning this than the National Lottery so it was work a punt

Ha ha. Slightly off topic but that reminds me of when I was a kid. Without central heating in the house & no separate room heating upstairs we often woke up to ice on the inside of our bedroom windows. Whoever was 1st to get up had to light the pot belly stove in the kitchen & the ground floor front / back room open fires. It was warmer in the school classrooms than at home! The big freeze during the winter of 1963 was brutal & lasted for 3 months. As kids we thought it was great fun playing in the snow & ice for such a long time. No snow days for schools & work in those days you just had to deal with it.

Hi Jars. Nice pics & Interesting info based on your experience. For me a SWB T6 / Transit / Traffic / Vivaro / Proace or similar size van was the size limit I set myself based on the fact that it needed to be a dual use low height daily driver & a camper. As such some compromises were are inevitable. We were planning to add an awning or better still use our Air Beam tent to provide more living space. My sister has a T6 which she has travelled all over Europe in for 4-5 weeks at a time. I think its a Beach model so it doesn't even have a fitted sink / cooker. That said she & the brother in law are not adverse to roughing it & wild camping. Not really my thing. The only way I could consider a larger van for more useable practicality would be to keep my daily driver & only use the larger van for trips /holidays. The wife has a small Fiat 500 cos she won't drive my car (she says it's too big / powerful for her!) so we would need space for the van & 2 cars. Without moving house or paving over the front garden we only have space for 2 cars so 3 vehicles is not really an option for us unless we share her 500 & sell the Superb - & that ain't never going to happen on my watch!! I guess we could consider trading in both the Superb & her 500 for something else to share as a daily driver & get a van but I suspect that would work out too expensive overall. Finance is a factor as always. Having recently retired I have limited funds available & I have no plans to return to work to fund a campervan project. I've therefore come to the conclusion that which ever way I look at the whole van scenario I'm pretty much snookered so I guess we'll stick to tent camping during the summer & self catering / Airbnb / hotel holidays at other times of the year - which of course is not really possible at the moment as we face a 2nd wave of Covid. I think it's a case of battening down the hatches & see how things develop over the next 6-12 months.