[JK1]

Recently decided to get an electric bike and thanks to all here for their thoughts and advice. Despite some concerns mentioned about the Urban Mover, mainly regarding their after sales service, it was one of the few bikes I could try out reasonably locally and found it great to ride. It also has a rear hub which makes it much easier to transport in a hatchback car, just whip off the front wheel like any other bike and straight into the back of the car. No wiring issues to concern one. The dealer offered me that demo UM36X at a good price so bought it there and then!

I have contacted UM regarding their batteries and received good advice so very positive all round.

One of my first trips was to take it along part of the Scarborough - Whitby rail trail. I did a 17 mile run and back (34 total) though with the battery turned off for some of the long downhill sections to see how it ran without power as I thought it would never cope with the whole distance. But it did with power to spare as I did another 7 mile trip into town in the evening, all on the one charge. I have yet to experience the battery running out completely.

It is much easier to keep up a good speed as the bike quickly gets you up to 15 mph plus leaving plenty of energy to maintain that speed and more.

I had considered changing the gearing to a 13/34 tooth Megarange but on using it it really seems fine as it is. I can pedal it up to about 23/24mph before it gets silly and has yet to fail on any of the (quite steep) local hills. The highest speed on a good downhill was over 30mph. It seems lessons from the earlier UM36 have been gleaned regarding the gearing.

The only oddities I have found are a) a couple of times where I have run off a kerb it can cause a 'wobbly' in the hub that sounds like it is crunching a gear and feels like it is momentarily locking up, and b) just occasionally when I am expecting some power assist up a shallow incline it decides to leave it all to me for longer than expected before kicking back in! Probably thinks I am doing OK and can manage... thanks!!

I've yet to use it in awful weather which may cause issues with the control box that some have reported. It does look exposed adjacent to the bottom bracket with that large drain hole which looks like it could cause as much water ingress as it lets out. Not sure whether sealing that hole would be a good thing or a bad thing. Probably best to try and avoid really awful weather use where possible.

All I can say to others who read these pages is that the UM hasn't proved to be too bad so far and no real negatives about it. It is a strange feeling catching up and passing other cyclists who I would never have kept up with before.