Reviewer:Nigel Kneale
Purchased From
owerPedals
Purchase Price:995
Time Owned: at that time a few days!! Update to follow
Local Terrain: Very Hilly
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Strengths: in email copied below
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Weaknesses:in email copied below
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Summary:
The following is an email I sent to Phil Hughes in April. I'll update the the thread shortly.
Hi Phil, hope you’re well and glad to hear someone else has decided to buy from you. I’m having great time with bike, only real incident was when I pedalled too early while leant over rounding a corner off-road and spat me into the bushes!!! Damaged chain guard and ego!!
Tested bike on a flat ½ mile just on throttle and found motor cut at 14.7 and restarted at 13. I then took the magnet off the rear wheel I got 17.7 one way and 18.3 back with the occasional 19 (possibly a gust of wing).
As for range, now that I’m used to the bikes gearing and when to change, it can get me from Douglas to Peel and back (approx 18 miles) with a couple of lights left (when stopped). (42 mins each way). As for around town it’s absolutely brilliant, the extra couple of mph makes all the difference when coming out of Douglas up hill and equals my times in the car. Taking parking into consideration then easily beats it.
Everywhere I go people are still asking me about it and yesterday afternoon we missed a traffic light sequence while talking to the car driver at the front!.
People I’ve talked to appear to have thought about electric bikes before but didn’t like the vertical battery packs and “garage made” appearance of a lot of them. A lot have asked about re-generation but I’ve had experience as a delivery skipper on catamarans with regen, it doesn’t give you that much and on the cats it mostly still uses as much diesel as an ordinary cat, but technology is moving fast and I’m sure this will change in the near future. Cats are still using heavy lead/acid because of cost as well, so when prices drop or the fuel cell gets going properly I think we’ll see a change in that.
The one thing I might suggest is that the head stock angle adjustment might need a mention in the brochure; mine was loose after a couple of days, (60 miles, 4 charges), and it took me a little while to realise that there was an allen keyed tightening adjustment bolt underneath the headstock. Not a big thing but when I noticed the movement I thought that it had worn in just that short time. 10 minutes later I’d found adjuster and all was well again.
So far I’ve covered approx 115 miles and I’ve changed the seat for a gel one, the original was ok around town but the longer trips to Peel needed something more relaxed for my size of frame J J
I’ve now approached the electricity board and got hold of a key for free recharging at 4 places around the Island, and have to get a 16 amp to 13 amp adapter cable made up for that. They specify that the charging cable must be made by the manufacturer but off the record I was told that as long as it was made and tested by a proper electrician I’d probably be ok but must be weatherproof. A trip to the local marine chandler should solve that!!
Also looking into what benefits my employer can get if he allows re-charging at work. He already allows it in the workshop but there’s no harm in trying for a little extra J
All in all a great machine and I’m extremely happy with it. I think that the reason I’ve waited so long is, like others, the design of the bikes just didn’t seem right and the price of petrol, insurance and road tax has shot up.
My thinking at the moment is towards, do I really need the car?, it costs £160 minimum a month to run, plus servicing tyres cleaning etc and the bike, well, charging at home (rarely) a can of oil, a chain, and tyres once a year. Within 7 months it should have paid for itself and if I can cope with the winter months, use Tesco delivery and can live with the fact I’m slimmer and fitter, why bother? Taxis and busses would be the same expense as I use them now when I go for a drink or meal and seeing my daughter in Portsmouth works out slightly cheaper if I fly down and hire a car, but would lose the ability to drive back through the Lake District. Could be an excuse for a second, walking, holiday though J
Almost forgot, I’m going for a hernia operation shortly, the doctor said I shouldn’t drive the car as braking was going to be a problem but the bike would be ok if I didn’t go stupid on it!!!!
Just had phone call from Electric tram company and bikes travel free north to Ramsey (where there’s a charging point) and a small charge on the steam train to go south to Castletown (another point)
This may have been one of my better purchases!! J
Ah well, sun’s shining, little wind, think I’ll ride down the Prom and buy an ice cream in my t shirt!!
Oh yeah, I’m 56 by the way, and I come off trying to go too fast on a track????? Funny how some things make you feel a lot younger J
Cheers again
Nigel
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Overall Rating (out of 10) :10
Purchased From
owerPedalsPurchase Price:995
Time Owned: at that time a few days!! Update to follow
Local Terrain: Very Hilly
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Strengths: in email copied below
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Weaknesses:in email copied below
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary:
The following is an email I sent to Phil Hughes in April. I'll update the the thread shortly.
Hi Phil, hope you’re well and glad to hear someone else has decided to buy from you. I’m having great time with bike, only real incident was when I pedalled too early while leant over rounding a corner off-road and spat me into the bushes!!! Damaged chain guard and ego!!
Tested bike on a flat ½ mile just on throttle and found motor cut at 14.7 and restarted at 13. I then took the magnet off the rear wheel I got 17.7 one way and 18.3 back with the occasional 19 (possibly a gust of wing).
As for range, now that I’m used to the bikes gearing and when to change, it can get me from Douglas to Peel and back (approx 18 miles) with a couple of lights left (when stopped). (42 mins each way). As for around town it’s absolutely brilliant, the extra couple of mph makes all the difference when coming out of Douglas up hill and equals my times in the car. Taking parking into consideration then easily beats it.
Everywhere I go people are still asking me about it and yesterday afternoon we missed a traffic light sequence while talking to the car driver at the front!.
People I’ve talked to appear to have thought about electric bikes before but didn’t like the vertical battery packs and “garage made” appearance of a lot of them. A lot have asked about re-generation but I’ve had experience as a delivery skipper on catamarans with regen, it doesn’t give you that much and on the cats it mostly still uses as much diesel as an ordinary cat, but technology is moving fast and I’m sure this will change in the near future. Cats are still using heavy lead/acid because of cost as well, so when prices drop or the fuel cell gets going properly I think we’ll see a change in that.
The one thing I might suggest is that the head stock angle adjustment might need a mention in the brochure; mine was loose after a couple of days, (60 miles, 4 charges), and it took me a little while to realise that there was an allen keyed tightening adjustment bolt underneath the headstock. Not a big thing but when I noticed the movement I thought that it had worn in just that short time. 10 minutes later I’d found adjuster and all was well again.
So far I’ve covered approx 115 miles and I’ve changed the seat for a gel one, the original was ok around town but the longer trips to Peel needed something more relaxed for my size of frame J J
I’ve now approached the electricity board and got hold of a key for free recharging at 4 places around the Island, and have to get a 16 amp to 13 amp adapter cable made up for that. They specify that the charging cable must be made by the manufacturer but off the record I was told that as long as it was made and tested by a proper electrician I’d probably be ok but must be weatherproof. A trip to the local marine chandler should solve that!!
Also looking into what benefits my employer can get if he allows re-charging at work. He already allows it in the workshop but there’s no harm in trying for a little extra J
All in all a great machine and I’m extremely happy with it. I think that the reason I’ve waited so long is, like others, the design of the bikes just didn’t seem right and the price of petrol, insurance and road tax has shot up.
My thinking at the moment is towards, do I really need the car?, it costs £160 minimum a month to run, plus servicing tyres cleaning etc and the bike, well, charging at home (rarely) a can of oil, a chain, and tyres once a year. Within 7 months it should have paid for itself and if I can cope with the winter months, use Tesco delivery and can live with the fact I’m slimmer and fitter, why bother? Taxis and busses would be the same expense as I use them now when I go for a drink or meal and seeing my daughter in Portsmouth works out slightly cheaper if I fly down and hire a car, but would lose the ability to drive back through the Lake District. Could be an excuse for a second, walking, holiday though J
Almost forgot, I’m going for a hernia operation shortly, the doctor said I shouldn’t drive the car as braking was going to be a problem but the bike would be ok if I didn’t go stupid on it!!!!
Just had phone call from Electric tram company and bikes travel free north to Ramsey (where there’s a charging point) and a small charge on the steam train to go south to Castletown (another point)
This may have been one of my better purchases!! J
Ah well, sun’s shining, little wind, think I’ll ride down the Prom and buy an ice cream in my t shirt!!
Oh yeah, I’m 56 by the way, and I come off trying to go too fast on a track????? Funny how some things make you feel a lot younger J
Cheers again
Nigel
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Overall Rating (out of 10) :10
