I recently took the plunge and bought a Pedelec. I decided that if I was going to do it I had better do it properly. I spent several months researching it and in the end pitched for Kalkhoff. Ok - they were not the cheapest by a long shot but I felt that for my requirements they had the best fit. I bought the street legal Agattu C11 Premium from 50cycles (£2675).
In three weeks I have done 800km on the bike and have to say that once I'd changed the tyres (too puncture susceptible for Scotland), the handlebars (too continental!), the pedals (needs SPDs) and the seatpost (I'm too heavy for it to work effectively) I was happy with the mechanical components. None of these changes bothered me.
However I was (and am) slightly concerned about the Impulse drive. From day 1 the readings from the LCD display have frustrated me and mostly that has to do with a distinct and un-Kalkhoff like lack of explanation. Why? Well Kalkhoff advertise the C11 battery units (540Ah) as having a range of 180 km. So I followed the instructions and low and behold when I installed the fully charged the battery for the first time the range indicator said 180kms.
Then I started pedaling and it immediately said 70kms. Now I had calculated that given the formula Kalkhoff helpfully provide that in perfect conditions the battery range would be about 70kms for me. Hurrah I thought. However after the next full recharge I thought that the range would once again be 180kms. No it said 65Km - ok now I was worried and wrote to Matt at 50cycles seeking an explanation as I was concerned the £600 battery might be dud. He explained the Impulse controllers were relatively new and would seek clarification from Kalkhoff on how the actual range worked.
In the meantime I delved into the logic of the LCD display in an attempt to see if there was a software setting that explained how the controller worked. I should say as well as being a heavy (occasionally fat), bike snob I have worked in IT for over twenty years so I was quite interested to see how the software configuration controls the electric motor.
What's becoming clear is that actually there are a number of problems with the software controlling the motor(I should say at least the English version I haven't done any testing of any other language versions). While none of them stop the bike working they do lead me to doubt that the software is controlling the battery as effectively as it might.
The software dates and releases I have are C64.1.105 (Dec16 2011) and M18.1.166 (Aug18 2011). If these are Kalkhoff's production releases there appears to be a problem with them which prevents customers restoring factory settings and a number of other elements
Anyway Matt had finally heard from Kalkhoff who have supplied him with a device to update the controller. Unfortunately it appears that its proprietary and in order to get my bike software updated I need to send the bike back to Loughborough...
This frustrates the living daylights out of me! Kalkhoff's business model is predicated on the existence of the Internet (they do not maintain local dealerships), they advertise the fact that the software is upgradeable, they make brilliant bikes but then they develop software that needs proprietary hardware to upgrade it. Sure I'll just pop my bike in the post and send it 315 miles for a software upgrade! Once that's done we'll send it 315miles back. Those 630miles will completely offset any carbon benefit you may have gained by riding the bike! And guess who has to pick up the cost of transporting the bike for the software upgrade. Aggghhhhh.
Finally just to truly frustrate me Kalkhoff still haven't explained how the controller calculates the bike's range (although I think it is an equation that reads something like (Amp Hours available) divided by (average miles per Amp hour to date). Anyway my advice would be if you intend to buy one of the impulse drives ask 50cycles to guarantee there are no additional costs for you in keeping the control software up to date.
So in short. Fantastic bike, great concept
In three weeks I have done 800km on the bike and have to say that once I'd changed the tyres (too puncture susceptible for Scotland), the handlebars (too continental!), the pedals (needs SPDs) and the seatpost (I'm too heavy for it to work effectively) I was happy with the mechanical components. None of these changes bothered me.
However I was (and am) slightly concerned about the Impulse drive. From day 1 the readings from the LCD display have frustrated me and mostly that has to do with a distinct and un-Kalkhoff like lack of explanation. Why? Well Kalkhoff advertise the C11 battery units (540Ah) as having a range of 180 km. So I followed the instructions and low and behold when I installed the fully charged the battery for the first time the range indicator said 180kms.
Then I started pedaling and it immediately said 70kms. Now I had calculated that given the formula Kalkhoff helpfully provide that in perfect conditions the battery range would be about 70kms for me. Hurrah I thought. However after the next full recharge I thought that the range would once again be 180kms. No it said 65Km - ok now I was worried and wrote to Matt at 50cycles seeking an explanation as I was concerned the £600 battery might be dud. He explained the Impulse controllers were relatively new and would seek clarification from Kalkhoff on how the actual range worked.
In the meantime I delved into the logic of the LCD display in an attempt to see if there was a software setting that explained how the controller worked. I should say as well as being a heavy (occasionally fat), bike snob I have worked in IT for over twenty years so I was quite interested to see how the software configuration controls the electric motor.
What's becoming clear is that actually there are a number of problems with the software controlling the motor(I should say at least the English version I haven't done any testing of any other language versions). While none of them stop the bike working they do lead me to doubt that the software is controlling the battery as effectively as it might.
The software dates and releases I have are C64.1.105 (Dec16 2011) and M18.1.166 (Aug18 2011). If these are Kalkhoff's production releases there appears to be a problem with them which prevents customers restoring factory settings and a number of other elements
Anyway Matt had finally heard from Kalkhoff who have supplied him with a device to update the controller. Unfortunately it appears that its proprietary and in order to get my bike software updated I need to send the bike back to Loughborough...
This frustrates the living daylights out of me! Kalkhoff's business model is predicated on the existence of the Internet (they do not maintain local dealerships), they advertise the fact that the software is upgradeable, they make brilliant bikes but then they develop software that needs proprietary hardware to upgrade it. Sure I'll just pop my bike in the post and send it 315 miles for a software upgrade! Once that's done we'll send it 315miles back. Those 630miles will completely offset any carbon benefit you may have gained by riding the bike! And guess who has to pick up the cost of transporting the bike for the software upgrade. Aggghhhhh.
Finally just to truly frustrate me Kalkhoff still haven't explained how the controller calculates the bike's range (although I think it is an equation that reads something like (Amp Hours available) divided by (average miles per Amp hour to date). Anyway my advice would be if you intend to buy one of the impulse drives ask 50cycles to guarantee there are no additional costs for you in keeping the control software up to date.
So in short. Fantastic bike, great concept
