B'Twin launch budget e-bike

Decathlon have long been known for packing a whole lot of value into their own-brand range of B'Twin bikes. Now they're adding an electric bike – the B'Twin Original 700 Electric – priced at £720 which will make it one of the most affordable e-bikes on the market.

The Original 700 is already in the B'Twin range; it's a full-suspension city hybrid with a Y-shaped mainframe, and it'll cost you £259.99. That means Decathlon have managed to source and add the electric components for an additional £460 to the consumer.

And what are those components? Well, the Original 700 Electric gets a 250W brushless motor built into the front wheel. There's a bar-mounted control panel, and the battery is a rack-mounted unit at the back. The battery also powers a front light; a rear light is included too, but that's battery-powered.

The electric bike shares the non-powered Original 700 drivetrain which is a 7-speed, triple chainset transmission based on SRAM 3.0 mechs and grip shifters. The 28/28 lowest ratio should be low enough to haul yourself up pretty much anything, even if the bike does weigh 26.5kg To be fair, that's not a great deal more than the £2,500 Koga that Dave's currently ranting around on.

You get a telescopic suspension fork and the rear is a four-bar linkage with the shock placed parallel to the seat tube. There's two sizes of frame in the non-powered bike so we expect the electric version will follow suit. The frame design gives a low standover which makes it a good unisex option. B'Twin reckon the two sizes will cater for everyone from 1.55m (5'1") to 1.95m (6'5"); obviously precise fit isn't quite so crucial with a bike like this.

So what you're probably wondering is: can a £400 e-bike be any good? Well, we don't know yet. But we'll be sure to get one in and point it at one of Bath's many and testing hills to find out. Stay tuned!