[Phil the drill]

Reviewer: Phil

Purchased From: The Electric Transport Shop

Purchase Price: £1200

Time Owned: 3 months

Local Terrain: Very Hilly

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Strengths: Nicely made bike, well packaged for delivery and a 'quality feel' to most of the components. Rides nicely, changes gear very smoothly, and reasonably comfortable (might want to change the saddle though - that's down to personal preference and shape). Looks good. Battery capacity appears good, haven't yet tested it to the limit, so can't be sure of the actual range for me. Great for speed on the flat, especially using the 'off road' option.



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Weaknesses: Over geared for steep hills. Promax disc on the front is not great (weak, difficult to adjust, tendency to bind going up hills). The rear promax V brake is also pretty unimpressive. Brake cables as supplied appear to be made of bungee cord. Have to remove the seat post every trip to get the battery out to recharge. £1200 and no manual, or setup instructions! - shameful!!



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Summary: I do like this bike. I have only had it a short while, it is replacing a powabyke 24spd I had for several years. I wrote that bike off in a head on crash with a white van when I was tearing down a steep hill on a narrow country lane. Still, I've mended (unlike the bike) and I fancied a change. The Wisper looked good, seemed to have decent reviews, and I went for it.
It is great for my daily commute (8 + miles of vicious hill, both up and down, precious little flat), but I have had to cutomize it to suit. First, the downhills are long, steep and very fast - good braking is very important to me (sic!) so the promax brakes have been dumped in favour of an Avid BB07 disc and single digit v brake at the back. Cables were upgraded to decent Shimano's. If nothing else you MUST change those cables! Second, I changed the gearing, replacing the front 52t chainring for a 42t, and changing the hub gears for Shimano mega range 11t-34t (instead of 14t -24t). This has been great - higher top speed (slight), with lower hill climbing gears - it makes all the difference to those long steep gradients with 1:6 or greater parts in them (I live in mid Cornwall, in case you were wondering. Those in the know will tell you just how vicious those valleys are to cycle across).
Overall I really do like this bike, but cannot see the sense in making a relatively expensive bike, and scrimping on cheap additions like brake cables and calipers, and the lack of any setup instructions or a manual is really inexcusable, even if it it is reasonably simple to work out yourself.
One further issue - the bike is described as suiting people up to 6' 4". I'd take this with a pinch of salt. I'm just under 5' 11" and I need the seat post up very high in order to get into the proper pedalling position, virtually to feet off the floor position. For an inexperienced cyclist this would be scary, so note that the frame is a little cramped for those who are tall. If you're short however, it may well be ideal.
I hope you don't take this criticism as meaning it is no good. That is certainly NOT the case. Practically every bike made has faults, or items that won't suit all. I do like this bike, and with the modifications I have made, it suits me right down to the ground.


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Overall Rating (out of 10): 8 (but sort out brakes, and instructions and I'd give it a 9. Go for the altered gearing and we'd be nudging a 10, - and I'm a harsh marker!).



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