We have recently taken on a fresh and innovative new brand called Estarli. What makes them different?
For one they are made in the UK, not only that but only 20 miles away in Berkhamsted in our own Chiltern Hills. Secondly, they are superb quality and designed for the UK market. Thirdly and most surprisingly as they are excellent value. The majority of the range comes in under the £2000 price . So they have a great backstory, a great product and unmatched value.
Unsurprisingly, despite only having them in the shop for a few weeks, they have sold extremely well.
All the staff in the shop have been very keen to go and see the factory as it is so local. An idea for a day out took shape.
One Thursday afternoon nine of us took a minibus taxi over to Berkhamsted . The plan was to have a tour of Estarli, then use all of their demo bikes to ride back to Marlow, where our customers could try them a day later at the shop.
Oliver and Harry from Estarli gave us an introduction to the brand, its history and ambitious plans for the future. We then enjoyed a tour around the factory and witnessed the love and care going into the building of each bike.
Time was against us as we had 22 miles to ride back and being late October the light was against us.
Each member of staff would have a test on the various types of bike which included a cargo bike, folding bikes, hybrids and the new G700 gravel bike. Despite only being 22 miles, it was straight across the Chilterns so there were four valleys to contend with and lots of climbing. A superb test for any electric bike.
Oliver followed us on the back of a cargo bike filming some video which you can see at the end of this article.
Fortunately, the weather was kind and the Chiltern Hills were looking magnificent in their Autumnal splendour.
We plan a route avoiding main roads as much as possible and taking in some well chosen bridal paths. We soon passed Chesham and circumnavigated Amersham to find ourselves in Mop End and onto Penn Street. We were motivated to get to the fabled Royal Standard of England, reputedly Britain’s oldest pub.
We found a lovely spot in the wood panelled pub in the glow of a log fire and enjoyed one or two local pints .
Suitably refreshed and with the light fading we set off again. Fortunately, all the Estarli bikes come equipped with lights that run from the battery, so we were well illuminated.
Before you know it, we were all back in the shop with our fleet of demo bikes. Then came the post match assessment as to what we all thought. First thing to mention is that despite it being a challenging ride all the bikes comfortably got back on one charge. So the battery life is a big tick.
Second tick, we had no mechanicals whatsoever, so no punctures, no squeaky brakes and nothing to hold us up.
The third and most important tick is that all the staff thought the bikes rode beautifully and were very impressed with the quality of the ride and the build.
The Friday was spent giving the bike a clean up and recharging them ready for our customers to demo on the Saturday. The day was very productive and we had a good flow of customers wanting to try these original new bikes.
See how the day went on the video link below.
