eRide Waiheke – E-Bike Hire & Tours — Attraction in Waiheke

A copy of the txt message I sent to “the owner” after we received no reply from the phone number that we were told was to be called to receive assistance, if needed. Neither have I received a reply to my text!

We paid the additional fee to go around the far end adventure ride. We were puzzled why, when we went to hire the bikes for the longer ride, they seemed really keen that we did a shorter ride, telling us the gravel road was REALLY bad for the last half and the ride was really hard etc etc. Now we know why they tried to talk us out of it. The bikes don’t have the battery power for that ride and ERIDE Waiheke don’t provide the assistance they say they do when it goes wrong.

Copy of text message. “Hi, I hired two e-bikes from you this morning. We now understand why you tried to talk us out of doing the Far End Adventure ride. I had to use the assist from about 25km from the end only to go up hills that I couldn’t pedal due to the weight of the bike and by 11km from the end it had run out of battery all together and I had to manually pedal from Onetangi. The total kilometres we rode using level two very sparingly and level 1 95% of the time was only 58km. (The last 11km was all Manual!) The battery light showed 20% remaining, the shift controls showed zero.

I tried to call for assistance as you suggested we should if we had a problem, but got no reply.

I couldn't understand why you seemed so keen for us not to try this ride, before we hired the bikes, with tales of how hard the unmade track was on the latter half. If anything the latter half of the track is better!

To say I am disappointed with your bikes and service, is a huge understatement.“

And a note for anyone interested in doing the route the gravel road is fine, and worth doing, and not storm damaged or particularly rough or washboarded, as we were told when we went to hire the bikes. We’ve done much worse in NZ and elsewhere in the world. Yes it’s hilly. Just don’t do it on an ERIDE Waiheke bike unless you...

My experience with The Waiheke Bike Shop couldn't have been smoother🙂 .

I rang up on Friday afternoon. Told Mark our Half Moon Bay (Sealink) ferry details for Saturday morning. Mark met us at Kennedy and took us to the base in his vehicle. He kitted us out with helmets, a panier bag and a bike lock. He explained the electrics, watched us cycle up the road 200m and back. Fine tuned the saddle height etc and we were off, using the map he gave us and the hints he suggested about the route we wanted to go. We went to (but not into) Stoney Batter. Dep 11:30, arr 14:15 including 45 mins for a picnic lunch on the way. We chose to skip the Stoney Batter tour (50', NZ$25) and came back via Onetangi for a cuppa and an ice cream. We finally decided to return on the Fullers ferry back to Auckland. Rang Mark and he said that was fine, he'd pick the bikes up from Mataitai then, rather than Kennedy. The bikes were in very good condition and worked perfectly. We still had 2 blips of battery left when we got back. Mark was a very cheerful, helpful guy. My bike had a nice broad saddle (which I strongly prefer). In the end I wasn't even saddle sore and couldn't believe that we'd covered 48km. (I'm 66 and don't generally cycle.) The electric assist really does take the pain out of Waiheke hills.

The only thing that was wrong was the weather forecast. They had said to expect grey cloud all day yet it was gloriously sunny.

No complaints about the day...

The bike rented has no power, making the tour of the island miserable. Others in my group tried the bike and confirmed that it was malfunctioning. When I returned early, the shopkeeper put me off as the bike issue was operator error and cadence. I have a personal ebike, and it wasn't my lack of knowledge. Not recommended.

Update: ERIDE, Your response to my review is a lie. First of all, this vendor emailed our tour leader asking me to change my review. I saw the email. I DID NOT sit with your staff member and have a coffee to discuss anything. That is a out right lie! Your staff member lied to you about how it was handled. It would have set better if you or your staff member had just said "I'm sorry" or "how can we make this right?" and not blamed me for a cadence issue. ERIDE would have been better off not writing lies to my tour leader and/or not continuing the lies with your response to this review. I would lower the rating, if it were not already at it's lowest, just for rudeness and lies. I don't understand why you feel it's necessary to continue to pour salt in the wound. I will share the experience and the review with the travel agent so she is aware of the shenanigans. Beware of this vendor!

FYI - I have ridden with 3 other Ebike companies in NZ in the past 10 days...