Today we head KRUZ E-bikes Cork to get answers to your questions about E-bikes for camping

Hello I’m Aaron and Charlie Brown is my chocolate brown cocker spaniel and together with my wife Deirdre we love camping in our 2006 HYMER 655 or our 1989 VW T3 motorhomes.

We want you to join us as we go around Ireland reviewing campsites and stop overs letting you know the good and bad places available to camp.

These are just MY opinions .. opinions vary . .

If you would like some FREE stickers or to buy some merchandise email your contact details to…
sales@charlieandme.ie

I also co-present a camping podcast
anchor.fm/the-camping-crew or wherever you listen to your podcasts

Web site
https://charlieandme.ie

htpp://kruzofficial.com for more on e-bikes & scooters

Hi guys welcome back to Charlie or me camping Vlog today we answer one of the questions that you guys have put to us on the camping crew podcast and on Charlie and me and it’s about electric bikes I know nothing about electric bikes or scooters so I’ve come to this

Place it’s called Cruise they’re in Douglas in P now I absolutely love the idea of having an electric bike So the plan is we’re going to meet Ed inside we’re going to have a chat with him about the legality of owning a scooter or an electric bike he’s going to show

Us some of the products we may talk price and hopefully that will answer your questions on scooters and what electric bike might suit you and your partner to put on the back of your camper band so let’s take a walk inside and let’s meet Ed so I’ve made an inside to the warmth

Of the crew shop and this is Ed the general manager of the shop and we find out a few things for us Ed how long have Cruz been operating here in Doug so we’ve been retailing for two years just we slightly over about two years two months um new business going strong

Obviously new to the market so we obviously just trying to establish ourselves but I would say in the two years we’ve become well known well established and we’re only going forward from there on now now you don’t just sell electric bikes and scooters there’s there’s another part of the company and

It’s always developing about what else is available here at Cruz apart from the electric bikes and scooters so from Cru we have a wide range we have Hennessy which is Outdoor Products which is play playhouses jungle gemms garden furniture sheds we have our Hol and bow which is

Kitties uh table and chairs Playmates accessories we’ve just brought in Burg um which we now the official uh reta teller in Cork they do plagium um they do uh trampolines they do the push carts penal carts you have a selection of electronic locks which we’re going to

Talk about later on as part of the bike stand you have a selection of what is known as smart helmet that’s correct smart helmet is the correct term quickly what we’re going to take a look at one but what’s a smart helmet so the top of

The range smart helmet is a Laval BH 51 it’s got integrated lights into the back wow it’s got a walkie-talkie function it’s got Bluetooth so you can listen to Spotify podcast for example you can cycle and listen to your own podcast can you answer your phone from it like yeah

Course Bluetooth full Bluetooth answer and reject phone calls and you can crack on all day if you want to reject the phone call you double click you don’t want to talk to One brilliant one click on sir I’ll be double quicking quite a lot to be honest let’s talk about the

Bikes yes on the camping crew podcast on Charlie and me our listeners have asked us do we know anything about bikes can we recommend electric bikes can we recommend the supplier can we recommend so I saw you guys have been following on multimedia for quite a while I’m very

Impressed with your multimedia presence so I said these guys seem to know what they’re talking about and from what I’ve seen I’m not wrong well we hope so we like to know that we know what we’re talking about and yeah I think our products are very good we have a nice

Range especially for campus yeah and the price range is good and you also do repair and maintenance here correct so it’s not just sales and good luck good luck so we’re not one of the companies where we sell you something and that’s it we have service repair warranty this

Is what we have we have to after our customers okay let’s talk about bikes we’re going to take a look and more inp look actually let’s do it now I’m going to change cameras and we’re going to pull out one bike and we’re just just I’m just going to pick there’s a little

Red one over there we’re going to pick that bike the folding bikes are they all folding bikes all folding we specialize in the folding bike right which will fit into the boot of practically every car now I drive a little feed 500 but I still honestly think if I lift out my

Shelf that the bike will fit into the definitely guaranteed let’s take a look at a folding bike all right have an example do these bikes have names or numbers or models so right so we have three that we sell so we have the cadis the kr2 which is this model in front of

You here the kr2 and then we have the B the B obviously is our most popular seller for people commuting especially in the town because it has an option of a gearing system but as a camper or a short commuter from maybe an office to home yeah it’s a single drive 250 W

Motor ideal perfect lightweight as well you’re getting good mileage out of them so if I live in Douglas and work in Cork City yeah is that the ideal bike ideal bike then I would say you probably the bise model okay why because of the sixspeed chimon gearing system okay it

Is a slightly bigger wheel 20 in with these are 16inch wheels okay but you have the optional of the gearing system so if you forget to charge the battery and you’re cracking on and the back the bike dies on you you can change the gears and cycle like a normal push bike

Okay where obviously with these now they’re just one gear it’s a one gear so you want to make sure these are fully charged but you are getting good distance out of them if I live in Douglas can I ride this into town of course you do the job they don’t do the

Job no problem but one is better suited for I would say look generally they all would do the same job I would just my personal opinion would be pushing someone onto a b it’s more of an all rounded Town Country where I think these are brilliant as well if it’s a city

Commute or if you’re looking for something a bit smaller the B are slightly bigger because of the quing tril but definitely as a camper house boat commuting around the city this is what you’d recommend rough price wise so this is retailing at 145 okay this is a foldable bike this is a foldable

Three-step folding quick and easy show me how right so obviously we’ll make sure the bike is powered off we’ll put the kick stand up we bring the pedal halfway just pre doing everything before we start folding right so now we getting to the folding three step quick and easy

I always stand on the side of the hinge because it’s easier to fold it towards you then away from you okay so there’s a catch release we’ll push that down and keep it engaged and we’ll just pop that forward like that okay that’s step one step two just swing it around into the

Magnet and drop it down then you have step three there’s another catch release on the stem here so now we’re going to be folding the uh handle bars down so like that so catch release there pop that forward you said magnet so that’s holding the oh I see that’s wheel corre

Okay so we’ll drop that all the way down into there okay so that’s two quick release on the seat up and out and then once St further you just squeeze and flip the pedals no way and squeeze and flip the pedals and that’s it like that would fit into any small

Boot it’s not light but it’s it’s not light like you talking car magnesium alloy you’re carrying it you’re carrying it from here to the car that’s it you’re not carrying well you’re not carrying it to the car you’re carrying it just to put it in the car actually yes you fold

It at the and it’ll stay there it’s a quick lift in and a quick lift out and that’s all you really need it for put me back together quick and easy so I normally tend it’s basically reverse just reverse that’s it so I go saddle first so when you folding it you got

Something to hold on to and then this is also the adjuster that’s it so that’s so just get the saddle in so saddle in like that and just lock it up for example just like that and you can straighten it out once you’ve obviously done all of it

So back again we’ll separate the magnets over here like that and I normally just give it a pickup to there make sure the latch is out yeah and then there snap it into you know it’s closed that’s it you’ll hear it it’ll snap into place and then we’ll go

With the next fold we’ll bring that all the way up same over here just push that up and snap into place so the only thing to do is reset reset the seat pedals are easy just give them a little pull and they snap out you want me perfect and

We’ll just readjust your seat there and that’s it you can do that under 10 seconds once you know how to do it and you’re on your way 30 seconds first go so 20 seconds second go 10 seconds when you’re used to it that’s it very easy and they’re all identical to that’s the

Routine that’s the routine on all our models so from the cadis the CaRu and the B so here yeah here here folds till you feel the click of the magnets that’s it here finally and you just throw the the saddle in between and then show me

This oh yeah you just push the pedals so you just I’ll show it on P it up there you literally just squeeze and flip down flip down quick and easy okay scooter this price ranges from oh I meant to say on the bike the bikes come with front and back lights because

I see on this one so you can switch it on and off reflectors at the back okay we go through the controls of that bike in a second as well just tell me about a scooter what price is this scooter so our our scooters range from about 600 up to about2 and half

So they’re not toys cuz you can get cheaper scooters see the young Lads the problem is cheaper scooters you buy online you have no off toale service where we have the offer of off toale service I came in here the other day and you guys were actually servicing a

Scooter changing the brakes on it yes so that to me says well here’s a bike like we say with 1,000 kilometers and a scooter with 1,000 kilometers and it’s still going because the customer said I just need a service that’s it so you get what you pay for you get what you pay

For and the bottom line is maintenance mainten as a car as aamp if you don’t main it it’s not going to it’s to St so yeah we we Rec regular servicing break adjustments tie inflation Etc will prolong the life of the scooters right so I mean this for example is the bottom

Of the range this is our zline we have a special on this currently coming with a free zie alarmed lock and a free C free C20 helmet and a har vest okay once again we promoting safety helmet and vest and then obviously security anti- theft device security Etc so this is a

Grand little commuter very lighter as well get me from here into town no problem does it fold it does then again fold very easy so I’ll show it to you quickly so always power off there one of the things I do love about it when you’re powering off are they little yes

Are the camera picked them up with those lovely little fast and furious running lights put on there fast and furious R I like that very cool again you don’t get that in a 49 Euro scooter you don’t and I think with having lights on the sides

You’re more visual at night time as well even with a smart helmet even with a high VI even with your lights on every little he 100% so once again quick and easy to fold there’s a catch release there we’ll lift that up pop the Nea forward that just drops down put your

Finger in there like that oh there’s a catch catch and just snap it in and Pi it and you can pick it up and you’re ready to H onto the bus or put it in the boot of the car feel the white to yourself if you want there

Aron oh gladly hop onto a bus that’s it gladly hop on to so whether it’s a child a lady an older person a younger person and it comes with a with a stand stand correct y s I’m back together back together that’s it forward forward and

Just snap it on give it a good push and we’re back and you’re good to go so quick and easy for commuting saves you time saves you energy saves you big costs as legal currently there’s no law on scooters as well okay so it is a great area top

Speed 25k an hour as well yep you’d want a helmet you would I’d want a helmet of course and I mean it’s only the right thing to do I think that helmets and harvest jackets should be mandatory as a safety perspective they’ve got a very bad press they do

Scooters now I will be honest the guys where I am in car are not zooming around on these scooters yeah so I’m doing they cheaper bought in I say online or wherever that’s it but this is something you’re going to maintain at if you’re going to be spending from what did you

Say they range from from 600 you’re going to be spending €600 yeah you’re going to maintain it of course if not you have money to burn that’s it like I mean so especially at the moment if somebody comes in here today now to buy one of these they’re going to get a high

Visz that’s it a lock a lock hel and a helmet smart helmet a helmet just a regular C20 helmet so even that it’s got lights on the back it’s flashing so you still seen again so it’s definitely safety is a key issue for us we do promote that quite strongly with our

Customers as well let’s take a look at controls on that cruise bike that seconds I’ll grab it there for you okay so again this model is the kr2 top speed of 25k an hour roughly if we go at 20 km an hour how long of a charge have I got

So charge won’t give you a time frame it’ll give you about a kilometer range so you have anything from 30 to 60 km on a single charge now that would be depending on how you’re using it that’s I’m saying if if you open it up at 25 km

You’re not going to get you’re not so when you say opening up it’s not fully electric so it doesn’t have a throttle these are pedal assisted bikes they have a Pas system so what that is is you have to cycle these bikes all the time and as you’re cycling the crank rotation picks

Up there’s a sensor on the side it picks up that the crank is moving and then the motor will then kick in and assist you so do I have to Pedal at 25 km an hour to get up 25 K hour you do to a certain degree but with the pedal assistance you

Are not breaking a sweat because the amount of uh assistance the motor is giving you all you’re really doing is keeping the crank rotating I’ll show you a sample there now in a few minutes and we’ll give you a demo on how that actually works so we turn on the bike

After putting it back there correct so we’ve put it back together we’ll push and hold that we power it on it’s got a nice little display there I noticed the light on automatically came on is that the way it goes or can you turn them off

You can actually turn off so you have your light on and off there you have your horn then you have your nice digital display here obviously showing us your battery life your kilometers per hour that would be your odometer reading okay and currently we are in eco mode

There okay cuz it’s doing nothing that’s so well eco mode would be level one drive mode would be level two sport mode would be level three so but you want to be ping like the clappers to get level three not really automatically no you have to actually oh

Yes so there I’ve switched it to mode two and then mode three right and obviously the higher mode the more batter power you’re using cor because assist is working more that’s it you get more assistance from the motor okay and then back this is for back down

To zero or back down so with the menu again it’ll go down to zero so you can actually pedal this bike without any assistance so now that would be a standard bike with no assistance that you if you’re going down the hill or you’re on a long straight and you no

Point power so if you have enough energy to do that and you want to spare a bit of battery just put it into zero or even just turn the bike off yeah you can pedal it like it does take a bit of effort to get it going because of the

Small gear ratio but once it’s going you can keep that no problem okay I’m going to have to take this for a spin oh man I promise you not you will absolutely love it guaranteed so let’s put it onto mode one so that what we call an eco mode

Right so as you see now I have the wheel lifted up there and all I’m going to do I’m gently just going to sprin the crank and you can actually hear the motor kicking in look at my hands my hands are up here that’s pretty much driving itself but all you’re doing is

Keeping the crank rotating and the motor is going to keep on going and that’s kilm per hour got 15 km an hour in eco mode wow so as soon as you stop pedling obviously the mode will stop and it goes back into correct correct and then

Obviously if you want to up the speed you can go that is now in drive mode that will get you about 20ks an hour and then and you’re you’re not pedaling very hard there that’s it like I mean this the momentum on its own that’s top speed 25k

An hour that’s 20 and then because you stop pedling that’s it so we stop the crank there that will stop soon as you start pedling again that will kick in and I mean I’m literally just using the tip of my finger just to keep the crank rotating so the amount of effort put

Into it is bare minimum you’re not breaking out in sweats and you’re not absolutely killing yourself pedaling and cycling to work some of the bikes are like motor bikes you can stop ping and go room room correct that’s a full electric so that would be a throttle

Base where you can just sit on put it on whatever mode you in grab the throttle and go and go or pedal now those as far as I know will be illegal there are there are as aop well at the moment this is a pedal assist electric but correct and

All our brands are pedal assist that goes up to 25 km an hour we can fold it put it into your car you can leave it as is and put it onto the bike rack on the back of the camper so they have a good water rating

IP 54 water rating as well so they’re not waterproof they are water resistant okay a lot of people get that terminology mixed up where they go oh but that’s waterproof they think it’s a sub and you can cycle through and don’t leave it out and obviously not like I

Mean it is an electrical item it does need some sort of protection so yeah obviously the more you look after it the longer it will last and it’ll look after you can I charge this as is or can I take the battery off and bring it into

The AR you can do yeah so you got two ways of doing it you can charge it in the bike itself I’ll flip that around for you quickly so if you if you’re charging the bike as is we have a charging port right here you just lift

It up we’ll plug the charger in here then we’ll plug it into the wall switch it on so the charger will have a red light to say that it’s charging and then a green light to say that it’s fully charged fully charged just unplug it put the charger away make sure you obviously

Close the battery port up there to keep it obviously clear from water debris or whatever and then you’re good to go so removing the battery as well it comes with the key I’ll flip that around for you again stick the key in there turn it release the battery battery drops out

And you can take the battery and charge the battery and the same charger again pluged into ex yeah yeah so it’s nice as an allrounder as well so definitely for camping I reckon a brilliant candidate for camping I hope that’s answered some of your questions guys Crews seem to

Know their stuff they’re here over two years their sales speak for themselves they’re not just an ebike e scooter shop so if you want something for the garden if you want some toys for the kids if you want climbing frames just check out the website it’s on here behind me and

It’s Cruise official.com so check out the website but if you’re buying a bike or a scooter come in don’t buy in line come in the guys would gladly that they have them powered up you can go around the car park here do not buy online from

Anybody to be honest try before you buy you saw what Ed earlier on he’s just a Fountain of Knowledge if they don’t know the answer they get you the answer the legal implications okay we did the best we can but look the the government don’t know the answer so make your way down

All the details will come up at the end of this video as I said at the offset this video was just to answer the questions of hey Aaron what do you guys know about electric bikes or electric scooters I hope that this video has answered your questions now the next

Video regarding electric bikes is Ed is actually going to give me the red bike that we had on demo I’m going to bring it home and I’m going to take it on the blue way in carig and the greenway in Waterford and I’m going to give you an

Honest review on that from me Aaron from Charlie and me our camping Vlog at Cruz in Douglas in Cork take care we talk to you very very Soon