The solution to ULEZ (commuting by e-bike in London)

ULEZ prompted John to scrap his car and get an Estarli e28.8 on a Cycle to Work scheme and he hasn’t looked back.

“I wouldn’t even get a bus now, i’d cycle everywhere,” says music studio owner, John. In his #myestarlistory we see what it’s like to e-bike around South London post ULEZ.

John loves how discreet his e-bike looks and how he can ride it like a normal bike when he’s feeling like a challenge.

0:00 Intro
0:52 Why the Estarli e28.8
1:12 Smart coding, tagging and immobilising
1:35 Researching which e-bike to get
1:56 Buying an e-bike using a Cycle to Work Scheme
2:05 Using the Estarli e28.8 off-road
2:34 Riding in South London since ULEZ
2:57 The feel of the ride
3:30 Turning up to meetings without sweating
4:08 E-bike on Box Hill
4:23 Combining gears with power assist

I’m John merman and I run Crown Lane Studio a recording studio here in South London yeah he’s in that room there and then you’ve got the drama over there but one take you know there’s no autot tune no anything no the team love the bike here and it’s often a talking

Point cuz I often bring it in so it’s here as people walk in and they go a that’s nice and no one knows it’s an ebike as well until they look closely do you want to jump on the back so where’s your battery see if you can find it

Right it’s build it’s going to be builing here well done can I lift yeah good come that’s a nice white sturdy it’s good is it anyway I’m off you take care I’ll see you soon see you later on I wanted a bike that was going to look

Like and feel like a real bike I love cycling I’ve always cycled it’s my main way of getting around and when I saw the bike I fell in love with its Simplicity and its minimalism and just the fact it was like a bike that I recognize wasn’t all curvy and

Trying to be modern it was just perfection as a bike the police do a local thing where you can just get it smart coded so they they look at the they just put a little code under there take some details from you yeah and it’s free all the local police teams

Do it yes I got that and then I got the immobilizer on the front put the air tag in it got it insured it ready yeah absolutely I spent a very long time online all the reviews were great and everyone who had tried it out seemed to love it so I thought you

Know what I’m not even going to try it I’m just going to make the purchase and it’s been it’s been amazing so we’re in M Hall Park which is one of my favorite places National Trust Park literally 30 seconds from work so I can just leave in

A lunch break have a little burn around here I bought the bike with the cycle to work scheme and that worked really well for us as a small business and for me personally as well it was it worked brilliantly I’ve taken it on P far worse than this yeah it’s brilliant and in

Fact I’ve taken it through where the mud sort of this deep and you can’t even see the green this is um this has been cleaned up twice from absolute clogged in mud and it yeah it I mean it comes up comes up brilliantly but I I feel sad

When it gets covered in mud cuz I feel like I should treat it better but it survives more than survives you don’t slip anywhere near as much in the mud as well with the with when you the power on so I find that it it feels a little bit

Safer as well one of the best things to happen around here was actually the ules for two reasons I got my bike with the scrappage money and also the air in our town center which was horrendous which is just outside where my business is was really really bad in all the buses the

Buses changed to electric buses at the same time as ules came in so to now cycle through the town is so different to how it was even a year ago I love the feel of the handlebars they just feel expensive so what you feel like you’re riding feels like something that is

Really worth a lot of money so the ride is really pleasurable and then yeah putting the power on I mean who doesn’t want that right I’m going to put it in going to put it in four cuz this is quite a steep hill coming up and when I’m halfway up I’ll take it

Off and see how I manage we’re okay we can do this I’ll put it back on where it used to be sort of shall I walk shall I bus or shall I drive the reason for it is often I just feel a bit lazy so now I mean I’m often on setting

Five when I’m going up the hills around here just because I don’t want to turn up sweaty to a meeting and so often like when when I was going to chesington the other day and I had to cycle the last thing I wanted is to get there to a film

Studio and then have to be totally out of breath to do a film shoot so I can cycle what is an hour’s cycle and get there and be just as I am now when I arrived because I did have it on five for most of the end of it while I was

Getting my head in gear I wouldn’t even get a bus now I’d cycle everywhere last week I took the bike up Box Hill which is one of the biggest hills around here it was a joy to go up just be this is easy and I took my lunch and I just had

It was my birthday so I just spent some peace and quiet at the top of a hill and I wasn’t nearly dead when I got to the top the gears I use a lot of the time as well so not the parasys but the gears and I use them especially at lights I’ll

I’ll take it right down before I have to pull away at lights so yeah I’m using the gears as much as I did really with my old bike I love the fact as a music that there’s a um the socket is the same as one of these mic cables and so for me

I just feel such at home and I mean these last forever and so to have to have a an XLR connector as your main power supply I’m like whoever designed this genius