BionX (Kit) Owner Reviews

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Reviewer: Nick

Purchased From: NYCE Wheels, New York, USA

Purchase Price: £1,000

Time Owned: 3 Months

Local Terrain: Some Minor Hills


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Strengths:
Enabled me to keep my original bike, a Trek 7300 (hybrid).
Maintains the 'bicycle' feel of my bike, and can be pedalled sans motor although the hub motor makes its presence felt.
Very easy to install and set up, even for mechanical numpties.
Maintenance free so far apart from charging!
Reliable in cold and wet weather.
Quiet.
Variable performance via the console.
Customisable settings - if you have the console codes.
Both methods of assistance work well - variable thumb throttle and assisted pedalling. Latter works well, despite my having one leg very much weaker than the other - power delivery is smooth.
Top speed with 700c wheels is about right.
Range is enough for me - at full assistance on my commute it's a bit less than the 20 miles specified for a flat, windless ride. Probably get 18 miles ish.


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Weaknesses:
None really, as it does what I anted and expected, so just the usual really:
Would be nicer cheaper!
Would be good if available in the UK.
More torque would be good although I do not actually need it on my rides - copes with a half mile 1 in 10 fine.
More range, but again it is sufficient for me, but more is always what we want!


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Summary:
An excellent 'bolt-on' jobbie that does just the job for me. I have a weak leg and dodgy knee and this allows me to get and enjoy some exercise over a decent range, and commute to work. Aside from technical advances, I do not see how it could be improved really.
I'd also recommend NyceWheels.


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Overall Rating (out of 10) : 10

 

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Reviewer: Adam Kim

Purchased From: NYCE Wheels, NY, USA

Purchase Price: not specified

Time Owned: 9 Months

Local Terrain: Some Minor Hills


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Strengths:
Quiet
Light (compared to other systems)
Pedal activated variable assistance
Regenerative braking


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Weaknesses:
Cogging effect (due to regen braking)
Battery takes up bottle holder or rack
Motor not too silent (vibrations) at high torque


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Summary:
This is the best add-on system available. Now if only they can figure out how to freewheel the motor without losing regen braking, it'd be perfect.



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Overall Rating (out of 10) : 9

 

[johnl]

1000 Kilometer Report on Bionx Pl-250

Reviewer: John L

Purchased From: Bird RV, Denver, Colorado

Purchase Price: $1195.00 (US Dollars) A little discount was given to me because I bought the 24 volt 250 watt Lithium-Ion model at a time when most people wanted the 36 volt 350 watt model.

Time Owned: Six months. Now have 622 miles on the unit (1000 kilometers). Used the kit for 800 kilometers on my RANS Formula V2 long wheel base recumbent. I've ridden 200 kilometers with the kit installed on an old mountain bike that I use for winter riding.

Local Terrain: Hilly. My 6.6 mile ride to work includes one thousand feet of climbing and 300 feet of descending. I climb 427 feet in the last mile of my trip to the office which sits at an altitude of 6300 feet overlooking Denver, CO.


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Strengths: Regenerative mode and regerative braking. Ease of use. Reliability. Hub rolls freely when unit not in use. Light weight. Adds about 15 lbs. to total bike weight.



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Weaknesses: Stick on styling highlight strip on battery case needed to be taped back on.



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Summary: This unit does exactly what I wanted it to do. It takes the edge off of the monster hill I have at the end of my ride to work. For the most part I use the electric assist at the lowest level to get up the hill. Then I run the unit in regenerative mode for most of the ride home. When I do this I can go indefinitely without ever using the plug in charger. If I wake up not feeling much like riding, I can always use the assist all the way to work. If I'm late, I can turn the assist up to the second level and get to work pretty quickly and then charge the battery when I get home. After 1000 K, the battery is still strong. I guess I should qualify that by saying that I've used the assist for about 150 K, and the unit as a generator for about 500 K, and the unit as just an odometer/speedometer for 350 K. Having the assist gets me more motivated to use the bike for my work commute.



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Overall Rating (out of 10) : 10

 

[Andrew.r.w]

BionX 236km review

Model/Year/Version:

PL-350 / Aug. 2006 / 2.2

Bike:

20" Mountain bike, hard tail, no shocks.

Rider:

100kg., carrying laptop and change of clothing.

Time Owned:

4 weeks, used 8 times (236km)

Local Terrain:

Hilly. 15km downhill to work, 15km uphill home. About half the trip is 8% grade.

Strengths:

Excellent power and light weight compared to most electric units.
Does not upset the essential character of the bike.
Easy install, great user experience. Simple, sensible, natural.

Weaknesses:

Expensive. You need a good business case to justify the purchase.
When the battery is dead at the bottom of a hill, it's a load. Pretty much limits the use to commuting. For leaving home in the morning and riding around all day it's a drag unless you have time and places to charge it during the outing.
See below for my trouble report (warranty replacement).

Summary:

As others said, it does what I expected of it. It lives up to the expectations as laid out by the promotional material, and the distances and capabilities are accurate. High praise indeed! I really think this is a terrific product.

I would give it a 10 but ... read on:

I bought my kit from a local "dealer" which is a home-based business. I took the kit away and installed it myself. Then after 8 days' use the motor hub died. It stopped pushing and made a rather disturbing grinding/clicking noise.

I called the dealer, who was very helpful; he gave me BionX's phone number.

The number turned out to be a fax so I faxed a letter explaining what happened and describing a few little things that seemed to lead up to the failure. The BionX people were terrific. Each of the 3 people I dealt with were helpful, professional, intelligent, and prompt. They quickly assured me they would take care of things and get me back on the road.

I was asked to take the unit back to the dealer for shipping (he was supposed to handle the whole affair in the first place). I had already packaged it, but they wanted him to be responsible for the packing and shipping. Good! Now it's on the way back to BionX.

No shop bats a thousand, and anything can break down, so I'm not worried or losing confidence in BionX. I just want mine back so I can install it on my new bike!

The one stipulation is they want me to take it to a different dealer for installation. One fellow said it shoud be installed by an authorized dealer. That was the first I'd heard of that. I explained that it was sold to me as a kit, that I figured it was a do-it-yourself thing, and I'd read about lots of people installing their own. They agreed, but still they want me to have a dealer do it.

I don't mind. I understand that after the first one failed they want to make sure it's done right. I know my installation was good. I followed the instructions to the letter and it went on easily. No forcing anything or struggling. It worked first time, and it ran fine for 236km., still I understand their concern.

So now it remains to be seen what comes of this. Will they turn it around quickly? We'll see. I'm betting they will.

I had a couple of other small issues with my system. It was often difficult to get it to start charging. I often had to try several times to get it to go, but it always worked eventually. I don't know if it was the charger or the battery.

Sometimes when powering up a hill the system would just cut out for several seconds. I told the dealer about it and he said I was probably just fading out so the system would back off, but I paid careful attention and it really was just cutting out. This behaviour got worse over the last few days of its life and I think whatever was causing it ultimately caused the death of the system.

Anyway, like I said earlier I still have total faith in the BionX and the people there. They handle this warranty like they have handled things so far and I'll give them a 10/10.

Andrew.r.w
N53° 54' W122° 41'
Canada