Back in the saddle

[DBCohen]

Today I got to ride my eZee Cadence in to work for the first time in 10 months - and it was nice to be back on it!! Unfortunately, a combination of ill health, bad weather (what a terrible summer) and a very flexible work schedule has kept me from using the bike this year until now.

It has been somewhat disconcerting to come back to the forum after a time and see that the e-bike landscape is somewhat changed. eZee has parted company from the UK distributor I bought mine from, and their bikes are getting savaged in terms of battery performance from what I can see.

Having read the battery stuff I was a little worried that the long inactivity might have affected mine - but it performed the same as always on my (admittedly short range 7 mile) commute. It has been kept in an unheated conservatory that is well ventilated and does not 'bake up' in the summer, and I never deep discharge it, so it looks like I have lucked out there.

So whither eZee? A supplier of alternative product at a trade show I spoke to recently was dismissive of both eZee and their new UK distributor, comparing them with the cheap Chinese bikes found on eBay and saying the UK supplier is very hard to get hold of. Has eZee's reputation really fallen that far? And if so, what is considered best in the e-bike class nowadays?

David.

 

[Conal]

Cyclepoint Ezee distributors

David

Cyclepoint, the main Ezee cycles retailer/distributer is located in Brighton, and I understand that they have some contacts in London.

web address

cyclepoint@googlemail.com
info@cyclepoint.net

I just googled them and found

Cyclepoint, Cycle Shops in Brighton - ThomsonLocal.com

gives

Cyclepoint
37 Ship St, Brighton, BN1 1AB

Tel:01273 710784

with a map.

They are moving to a new showroom/store/workshop at the moment so that they can have all their services in one place, so you may have to be a little patient. I rang them a number of times last week and had no problems contacting them. I left a mesage today on their answerphone.

I met Rhys recently during a 100 miles plus ride that a number of Ezee bike owners took part in with the manufacturer Mr WW Ching (see Tour of Britain ToB threads on this forum). CyclePoint supplied spare batteries, and acted as one of the support vehicles during the ride, for which I and others are very grateful. He even gave me and my bike a lift back to Chard (Somerset) at the end of the day.

I have made purchases from Cyclepoint, they are sourcing a missing suspension spring for me at the moment.

Conal

 

[flecc]

Their website is:

Cyclepoint

Batteries have been changed to new designs which are more reliable, and I've had one on test since the start of this year. You can see a half year report on it here.
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[DBCohen]

Cyclepoint, the main Ezee cycles retailer/distributer is located in Brighton, and I understand that they have some contacts in London.

Yes, spotted them. I presume that is who the bloke at the trade show was talking about. The move will explain some of the issues, I suppose.

But flipping heck, £350 for new batteries? And the Liv has gone up £200 as well? Yikes. At least Flecc's testing shows that these are better value than the older ones.

But, as I have access to Cyclescheme through work (giving me tax relief and interest free payments over 12 months) if my Cadence battery shows stress I will be better taking a new Liv on Cyclescheme than buying a new battery - it will cost me the same!

But, as I asked above, has eZee's star fallen in the e-bike world?

David.

 

[flecc]

But, as I asked above, has eZee's star fallen in the e-bike world?

David.

The whole of the Chinese e-bike world has fallen in the estimation of the UK market, experienced users and large parts of the trade, this resulting from the much wider availability of European made better quality bikes like Kalkhoff, Raleigh.de, Sparta, Gazelle et al. This switch has in part resulted from the shift in exchange rates.

But of all the Chinese e-bikes, eZee have suffered the most from the image change as a result of the failure of the Phylion manufactured batteries that were made in 2006 and much of the first half of 2007. There were other problems such as broken spokes and brake judder which the battery issue tended to highlight, and some frame breakages on the Sprint model didn't help of course.

The quality and battery problems were not confined to eZee by any means, but since that brand was so strongly represented in the forum, the problems stood out as being principally theirs, which was a little unfair. It's often forgotten or not known that the eZee bikes are built using many of the same components as their rivals, so it's impossible that they alone were entirely at fault.

I'm still grateful for the fact that eZee broke the Chinese shopper e-bike mould in giving us some much more powerful and capable bikes like the Quando, Sprint and Torq 1, which made the competition look dull and slow. Pioneers often suffer problems, so I remain tolerant towards the matter of those earlier problems.

The battery problems seem to have been solved, so if they can prove they've prevented repeats of the other problems, they should with time recover to a good position in the market. It will be a hard fight though, reputations take long to build but can be instantly destroyed.
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[DBCohen]

But of all the Chinese e-bikes, eZee have suffered the most from the image change as a result of the failure of the Phylion manufactured batteries that were made in 2006 and much of the first half of 2007.

Thanks as ever for a succinct summary, Flecc.

My bike arrived in late July 2007, putting me on the cusp of the resolution of the Phylion problems. How can I tell if my battery is potentially duff? Do I have to email eZee in China?

David.

 

[flecc]

If you can let me have the battery alpha-numeric serial number complete, starting with a J, I can say when it was manufactured and give an opinion on it.

That's not the type number starting with an X.

 

[DBCohen]

The serial is JGJEAB100002.

Very cool that you can decipher that...

 

[flecc]

It was the second battery of that type made on 12th May 2007.

This was part of the program of improvements to these batteries by Phylion following the 2006 debacle, but I don't know just how close that is to those produced late in the year. Most from that time do seem to be performing quite well still though.
.

 

[DBCohen]

Thanks, Flecc. I am reassured, and hopefully I will not be having to drop cash on a new one for a while.

David.