E-bikes have soared in popularity over recent years, with half of younger Londoners now using a Lime bike at least once a week.
About 50,000 e-bikes are available across central London, from market leader Lime, its “eco” challenger Forest to Transport for London’s pioneering “Boris bikes”, which introduced the concept of hire bikes – albeit manual-powered ones – in July 2010.
The e-Boris bike arrived in September 2022. There are around 2,000 on the streets – and they’re three times as popular as the “classic” Boris bike.
Another private operator, Voi, said last year that it would introduce a fleet of bikes in the capital in the first half of 2025 – with small-scale pilot schemes due soon in west and east London boroughs.
Nevertheless, Londoners are already spoiled for choice. But which e-bike is best? The Standard’s journalists got in the saddle to put them to the test.
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8 Comments
1st 😂
I used Forest bikes and the app was pretty good.
Unfortunately there were so many which had broken pedals or loose saddles. But yh the saddles were nice and plush.
Jus get a surron and stop paying massive companies to rent a bike, brain dead move.
This is video doesn't really touch upon the long term implications of these services. Santander bikes as a service were neglected and overpriced for years, which enabled private services such as forest and lime to establish themselves, all the while using public space to offer their services at absolutely no tax, and have now established a complete monopoly. I use forest on the daily, and I've recently noticed I've been getting more and more broken bikes… These private companies have no more incentive to keep up their services once they've made people dependent on them
Discussion around pricing feels like a missed opportunity
How could you compare them without mentioning their pricing models at all??
I agree with the commenters below. Why is pricing not mentioned in the review?
Most of the discussions centers around bike speed, maneuverability, comfort and ease of use of the app, but this is not a race to see which bike performs the fastest.
Another discussion which had been left out is: The number of locations you can park or rent a bike. Nobody wants to rent a bike that is a kilometer away from your destination.
6:49 What do you mean you "dont like how the basket stays in the same place" 😂. Forest is the best hands down especially price wise.