Farm bike - do you have one?

[Kiwi Pete]

I tow a 100m length of 20mm alkathene with our one seems alright for that. But the 200m x 25mm pipe needs a quad, heavy sucker, I can't even pull it

Just remember that they're primarily a front-wheel drive with rear-wheel assist, not a rear wheel drive, so towing will transfer the weight off the wheel doing most of the work

 

[steveR]

Silly question, but what do you think it would be like for towing? Compared to a 100cc 2 stroke. I'm thinking a bit light?

Asking for a friend.

There was some testing of the UBCO by the NZ Defence forces and there is a spot of video somewhere of one towing a small monowheel trailer. What weight was in...? Who knows. I assume it was ammo carrying.

Neat little trailer pulling from the rear axle.

 

[steveR]

Quiet is an underrated quality.

As per the post above, we've been thru winter and it's been tight for feed - if we were still riding around on quads etc then you would pretty much have to shift the stock every time you wanted to go do something.

Not the case with this machine as the only real noise is my pogo-poles rattling in the rack and the ping of the wires as I zip over the top - the frame it wears was a big deciding factor as the full-length frame made it much easier to mount to

I came to that conclusion years ago when trail riding here in the UK (or anywhere).

Just anti social and a bit stupid to sound like full bore MX'er when all you are doing is running around some stock or riding a small country track.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I came to that conclusion years ago when trail riding here in the UK (or anywhere).

Just anti social and a bit stupid to sound like full bore MX'er when all you are doing is running around some stock or riding a small country track.

Farm bikes are usually pretty muffled but there's still "all that", by the time you have a drive chain etc flapping about at low speeds and an engine running it does make some noise

this just whirs (those wee hub planetary assemblies), easiest way to describe it is to watch some incar footage of GrpA. rallycars - sounds just like a dogbox whirring away

 

[steveR]

I tow a 100m length of 20mm alkathene with our one seems alright for that. But the 200m x 25mm pipe needs a quad, heavy sucker, I can't even pull it

Just remember that they're primarily a front-wheel drive with rear-wheel assist, not a rear wheel drive, so towing will transfer the weight off the wheel doing most of the work View attachment 986601

Love the wire deflecting device on the front. Not sure on riding down the road with one on, but an excellent idea I can see I would use.

Interesting that you say it is primarily FWD, I though it was the other way around.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Love the wire deflecting device on the front. Not sure on riding down the road with one on, but an excellent idea I can see I would use.

Interesting that you say it is primarily FWD, I though it was the other way around.

The way it seems, is that your twist throttle puts torque to the front wheel motor, and then the speed of the front wheel governs the power applied to the rear motor

I'm sure @UBCO UK can comment if that's wrong but that's how it seems to work in practice - I can do a front wheel burnout to drain a puddle with no push at all from the rear hub.

It also means that they zoot around corners like no tomorrow - takes an hour to get a feel for it

I pretty much go full tit at everything, including electric fences every 20 metres, suspension is quite up to it

 

[steveR]

Thanks for the tag Steve, if you want a rave review on the UBCO I'm your man.

It's been nothing short of 'transformational' here, and I'm a petrolhead/motocrosser from way back.

They go,,, well, just like you have electric motors on each wheel, I can run a sheep til it gives up and then cast it between my knees and carry it - that stepthru design is magic for that.

I can carry 3 bags on it but you wouldn't want to overload it that much - one in the stepthru, two on the back frame, but it bottoms out quite easily

Range, similar to the CTX200 but a wee bit less

Handling, razor sharp, like a fat tyred mountain bike

Regen braking is brilliant, I can commute to work and come home with more battery % than when I left

They handle mud better than a normal bike
They climb banks better than a normal bike
They ease off from a stop much better, no wheelspin unless you want wheelspin

And very light, very low CoG

I really rate it so far, had one instance where it went into front-wheel-drive so I just turned it off and back on again and it was fixed

I've only put 50 hours on it so far, it's one of those machines that is so "unmotorbike like" that the lack of noise and "I'm just wasting fuel" mean you do a lot more on it than you would a normal farm bike - or at least I do

I took it down the scenic route when we were on lockdown and I came back from a 135km round [road] trip with about 35% charge which is more range than claimed

Great overview Pete, thanks for that.

I am probably going to "move on" the SWM 600 as I just don't ride it, and it is just depreciating in the container, and would use the dosh to buy an UBCO!

The complete ease of use is partially what really appeals to me, especially at the moment as I am still a bit immobile from a pulled hamstring, same as I reckon Herself would like it for checking stock and especially when checking her cuz's stock when he away!

Got to ask though, how do you find the ergonomics of the bike though, it has always seemed too small from my perspective, especially standing up on the pegs, or do you find yourself sitting down more, when off-road?

I am impressed at the range you got.... 3.1 battery?

 

[steveR]

What I fancy, is a (short) days trail riding along the Welsh Borders. Probably have to revert back to using a trailer to get to a starting point, then do a loop. Different mindset, but fun to try.... There is one very tricky climb near Craven Arms, that has tested me since I was in my early 20s ( a long time ago) and is only really achievable in the dry as it is a slippery rock slab surface. I'd like to try it with 2WD!!

 

[Lazy Sod]

I know that they are just a work tool, but they are ugly. The front mudguard is sensible, but it could do with one at the back.

 

[steveR]

I know that they are just a work tool, but they are ugly. The front mudguard is sensible, but it could do with one at the back.

IMO, the decision to use white on the frame is a bad one! The off-road machines look way better. but they are wanting the bikes to appeal to non motorcycling customers I suspect?

I like the machines that have a plastic side "board", and if I but one, I can envisage a piece of stokboard being used here to create side panels.

 

[Lincoln75]

I looked into the UBCO about 2 years ago however the importers were just a bike shop and I wasn’t impressed with them but think the bike is great.

The other thing was the price they were wanting,think it was something like £5.5 k.

£6k plus now!!! , you`ll get a hell of a petrol enduro or trials/trail bike for that much such as a CRF300 Honda
for just over £5k , take the VAT off , hell of a bike , hell of a deal .

 

[RJ1]

Had one on demo while quad was in.

Liked the way you could zip around on it and quickly got the feel for it. But on rougher, steeper tracks the front wheel would skip and bounce all over the shop when climbing. Would be better in my view if the drive bias was rear wheel, would feel more natural for me at least.

I imagine something quite simple could be done with the cargo area on the back to carry some stakes and reels.

Kickstands were also so long as to be useless for farm use.

With a bit of refinement of the drive I can see a place for it but it's a lot of money to buy (and you'd have to save a lot of petrol to justify it) if you also need a quad on the farm anyway. Certainly was nice not to have to be fetching so much petrol for the quad!

 

[steveR]

£6k plus now!!! , you`ll get a hell of a petrol enduro or trials/trail bike for that much such as a CRF300 Honda
for just over £5k , take the VAT off , hell of a bike , hell of a deal .

True, all true. But very different to operate and use.

 

[Lincoln75]

True, all true. But very different to operate and use.

Well yes , electric for Granny and petrol for anyone under 65 .

 

[steveR]

With a bit of refinement of the drive I can see a place for it but it's a lot of money to buy (and you'd have to save a lot of petrol to justify it) if you also need a quad on the farm anyway. Certainly was nice not to have to be fetching so much petrol for the quad!

I don't have a quad as after 2 disappeared, I am not wanting to see another one go... My need for one these days is also pretty marginal, as I use a couple of compact tractors for light duties. A working 2 wheeler seems a good way to go for us.

 

[steveR]

Well yes , electric for Granny and petrol for anyone under 65 .

Well, I will be retaining the IC engined bikes for a while yet.... I don't see a trip across to Galway early next month being electric

 

[jondear]

View attachment 900607
I use my Dad's 1979 Bultaco Sherpa, which he bought when I was about 5 in the early 80's. I gave it a rebuild last year and use fairly regularly for crop 'walking'

I had a Bultaco 175 when I was 13 .Loved it !Though chain was prone to coming off!

 

[RJ1]

I don't have a quad as after 2 disappeared, I am not wanting to see another one go... My need for one these days is also pretty marginal, as I use a couple of compact tractors for light duties. A working 2 wheeler seems a good way to go for us.

In that situation, then yes, and I'd probably be tempted just like you.

That CRF300 is nice, but wasted on a farm. A better comparison is a 250 bimble about off roader (not that many made these days maybe crf l or a kawasaki similar, but heavy) or a 125. The 125's sip petrol so for around half the purchase price and far less fuel than a quad, the advantages then are not so clear, if you are happy with a motorbike rather than something more similar to a mountain bike.

I'm keen on going electric but the finances nor the drive style aren't quite right yet, for me.

 

[Cows 'n grass]

There are a couple of UBCO bikes around here and I was supposed to be getting one on demo last week but the local dealer rang to say that they don't think they're upto farm life and they are reluctant to sell any for onto stock farms.

They have plastic planetary gears in the front hub and these are causing problems locally.

I'm sure they'll be great in a few years but I'm holding off for now.

 

[JP1]

Stock checking yesterday . 110 miles £2,75 in petrol

Too far for the quad and wears the Landrover out

Be better when the stainless steel tray is on the back