All,
Firstly, sorry if this is posted in the wrong place, I am new to electric bikes and to this forum.
So, I have finally taken delivery of my powabyke X-6 which is my first electric bike and my first bike for over 20 years. Just to give you all a heads up, I am grossly unfit, a heavy smoker, inherantly lazy, overweight and I am looking to ease myself into some regular exercise (cycling to work 13 miles away).
I have been out for the last three hours testing my my new powabyke and I am very pleased to say that I found the experience (even given the cold and saddle soreness) an entirely pleasureable one.I went out over various gradients and found that the powabyke coped with them with ease. I used the pedal assist mode for my testing (pure power made it take off like a rocket!). In all, during my test, I covered just about 7 miles and averaged a very pleasing 14 mph (measured by GPS on my iphone). Take into consideration that the weight the powabyke was coping with was only a couple of kilos under it's max permitted weight (according to the handbook).
The good main points I found were:
1) Ease of use of the throttle and the responsiveness of the bike to this
2) The sturdiness and quality of the construction
3) The brakes seem extremely responsive
4) The "Pure Power" mode - the bike just seems to "take off"!
5) The pannier frame and accessories
6) Frank Currans helpfulness and that of the team from Powabyke
The initial bad points:
1) Pedalling without power feels like you have the brakes on (but that may be because I found the throttle so easy)
2) There needs to be some higher gears on it (should it be an X-8?) when applying full throttle my legs couldn't keep up! (I didn't get an X-24 because I need the shorter frame and the X-24 is only available with a 21" frame)
3) Having to leave the key in the ignition when cycling
However, a word of warning. If you are thinking about buying an X-6 (which I thoroughly recommend) please do so through an authorised Powabyke retailer or direct from Powabyke. I purchased mine through the Halfords cycle to work scheme and found their lack of experience (although a quick call from Keith at Powabyke helped no-end) with Powabykes at my local branch a bit of a problem - although I found the staff at Halfords eager and ready to please (and they now know powabykes at my local branch inside out!).
Only other downside is that Halfords have seemed to have lost the manual and all the paperwork for the X-6 (Cheekily directed at Frank - any chance of sending me one through so I can get the book stamped and warranty sorted out please?)
So in summary - if you are considering getting into electric bikes for the first time the Powabyke X-6 (or even X-24 for you taller people) should be on your list of serious contenders.
I'll give it a week and put another report on the site of my experiences!
Regards and happy new year to all
Graeme
Firstly, sorry if this is posted in the wrong place, I am new to electric bikes and to this forum.
So, I have finally taken delivery of my powabyke X-6 which is my first electric bike and my first bike for over 20 years. Just to give you all a heads up, I am grossly unfit, a heavy smoker, inherantly lazy, overweight and I am looking to ease myself into some regular exercise (cycling to work 13 miles away).
I have been out for the last three hours testing my my new powabyke and I am very pleased to say that I found the experience (even given the cold and saddle soreness) an entirely pleasureable one.I went out over various gradients and found that the powabyke coped with them with ease. I used the pedal assist mode for my testing (pure power made it take off like a rocket!). In all, during my test, I covered just about 7 miles and averaged a very pleasing 14 mph (measured by GPS on my iphone). Take into consideration that the weight the powabyke was coping with was only a couple of kilos under it's max permitted weight (according to the handbook).
The good main points I found were:
1) Ease of use of the throttle and the responsiveness of the bike to this
2) The sturdiness and quality of the construction
3) The brakes seem extremely responsive
4) The "Pure Power" mode - the bike just seems to "take off"!
5) The pannier frame and accessories
6) Frank Currans helpfulness and that of the team from Powabyke
The initial bad points:
1) Pedalling without power feels like you have the brakes on (but that may be because I found the throttle so easy)
2) There needs to be some higher gears on it (should it be an X-8?) when applying full throttle my legs couldn't keep up! (I didn't get an X-24 because I need the shorter frame and the X-24 is only available with a 21" frame)
3) Having to leave the key in the ignition when cycling
However, a word of warning. If you are thinking about buying an X-6 (which I thoroughly recommend) please do so through an authorised Powabyke retailer or direct from Powabyke. I purchased mine through the Halfords cycle to work scheme and found their lack of experience (although a quick call from Keith at Powabyke helped no-end) with Powabykes at my local branch a bit of a problem - although I found the staff at Halfords eager and ready to please (and they now know powabykes at my local branch inside out!).
Only other downside is that Halfords have seemed to have lost the manual and all the paperwork for the X-6 (Cheekily directed at Frank - any chance of sending me one through so I can get the book stamped and warranty sorted out please?)
So in summary - if you are considering getting into electric bikes for the first time the Powabyke X-6 (or even X-24 for you taller people) should be on your list of serious contenders.
I'll give it a week and put another report on the site of my experiences!
Regards and happy new year to all
Graeme
Probably the first new bike of the year!
