Cytronex bike on Gadget Show Tonight

[NRG]

Just FYI, not sure if the Gadget Show fits with the demographic of posters here but there was a pretty good fun head to head on the show tonight between one of the presenters on a top of the range especially kitted out Cytronex against a professional (can't recall his name) going up the famous Holme Moss gradient in the Penines...

FiveFWD - Episode 16 - Gadget Show Vs by The Gadget Show's Dionne South

 

[Barnowl]

Impressive performance. I noticed a fleeting appearance by Mark of Cytronex fitting the NIMH bottle battery (no doubt nice and warm - the battery that is).
Great looking bike and must be just about as good as it gets at the lightweight/electric/sports/normal bike/legal/ end of the market.

 

[winterdog]

He never had chance against that guy- but he wasn't that far behind. I noticed a fleeting appearance by Mark of Cytronex fitting the NIMH bottle battery (no doubt nice and warm - the battery that is).
Great looking bike and must be just about as good as it gets at the lightweight/electric/sports/normal bike/legal/ end of the market.

thanks Barnowl now there was no need for all this excitement and intrigue any way

 

[Barnowl]

thanks Barnowl now there was no need for all this excitement and intrigue any way

Ooops good point

 

[Mark/Cytronex]

Our inention was to provide Ortis with a nice warm battery which is why we booked accommodation near the hill. Unfortunately the schedule slipped back so far the batteries were cold by the time of the race. Very exciting though, they had a camerman on a motorcycle, in the back of a car and cameras attached to the bikes. All in all they were very professional.

What you don't see is that Ortis did about 3 miles of climbing for different shots before the race. I must say he was a real pro - he insisted on doing the whole hill for the race itself, then after the race he went up several more times without complaining!

Russell Downing was extremely impressive - blasting up and down the second part of the hill in the morning for a "warm up". Amazing.

 

[Patrick]

I was talking a a young colleague (firmly in the Gadget Show demographic) about electric bikes last week, he'd seen an A2B Metro and liked the look of it, then he showed me website of some electric motor bikes (I've forgotten which ones) that he liked even more. I pointed him in the direction of the Cytronex Powered Cannondale Super Six Ultegra Compact on the no-hills site, after a bit a thought to get his head around the idea he was really impressed.

I'm guessing that there's now a lot gadget heads who dreamed of owning a bike like the Cannondale who are now dreaming of owning a Cytronex powered one. I hope this turns into plenty of sales for you Mark.

Patrick

 

[Mark/Cytronex]

Thanks Patrick,

I count about 10 emails that I still haven't dealt with today so can't be bad.

The Gadget Show isn't exactly our demographic, Cytronex is designed for serious transport, but none the less the fun side is important too. If it gets the word out there, that can only be good for electric bikes.

The real reason I wanted to do this challenge though is that I hoped it would do something about the negative image electric bikes have with some hard-core cyclists. We did a lot of calculations before we would take part in the challenge to make sure the presenter would stand a chance. Unexpectedly the experience has inspired us to see what we can achieve in the future.

Regards,

Mark

 

[eddieo]

Thanks Patrick,


The real reason I wanted to do this challenge though is that I hoped it would do something about the negative image electric bikes have with some hard-core cyclists. We did a lot of calculations before we would take part in the challenge to make sure the presenter would stand a chance. Unexpectedly the experience has inspired us to see what we can achieve in the future.
Regards,
Mark

I think you have achieved a first in that respect...Very well done indeed!

 

[themutiny]

Yes, very well done Mark. I shall certainly be pointing some of my unbeliever mates at the link. Would the result have been different with a 190 motor and a warm battery, do you think?

All I have to do now is convince the OH to let me spend 4.5k on another e-bike

 

[flecc]

Saw the repeat tonight. Sorry, but I was just as interested in Jon's photos, he was using the slower version of my Casio Exilim F1 high speed camera. Handy for action shots like this jay flying off at speed after nicking a peanut.

 

[Barnowl]

The real reason I wanted to do this challenge though is that I hoped it would do something about the negative image electric bikes have with some hard-core cyclists.

That's what I thought when I saw the it. You could easily forget Ortis was on an e-bike. The electrical additions looked very stealthy and unassuming on the telly.

That current negative image runs something along the lines of them being 2 wheel mobility scooters so inspired stuff with the Super Six and Ortis.

Also it must be very satisfying to hear and see the name Cytronex on mainstream TV as well.

 

[Mark/Cytronex]

Thanks for the kind words about the Gadget Show, we are very pleased with how it turned out.

It was a bit of a shame about the battery being cold but equally I can see how difficult it must be keeping to a schedule for a shoot like this. The exposure for Cytronex was great and I must say the production company were very professional.

I travelled up with one of our mechanics - Carl, in his van. When the race started we were told to go on ahead to keep out of the way of the other vehicles but I wanted to see how they were getting on so I stuck my head out of the window and was telling Carl what speed to go. We got to the half way point and I could see they were still neck and neck, but Carl's van started to overheat on the severe incline. So in the end we had to go up as fast as we could to avoid breaking down and blocking the route, so I didn't see the second half at all, just the end!

All in all it was very exciting and I've only got another 600 miles to go with the longevity test on my old Trek before I get my Super Six!

Mark

 

[rustic]

Thanks for the kind words about the Gadget Show, we are very pleased with how it turned out.

It was a bit of a shame about the battery being cold but equally I can see how difficult it must be keeping to a schedule for a shoot like this. The exposure for Cytronex was great and I must say the production company were very professional.

I travelled up with one of our mechanics - Carl, in his van. When the race started we were told to go on ahead to keep out of the way of the other vehicles but I wanted to see how they were getting on so I stuck my head out of the window and was telling Carl what speed to go. We got to the half way point and I could see they were still neck and neck, but Carl's van started to overheat on the severe incline. So in the end we had to go up as fast as we could to avoid breaking down and blocking the route, so I didn't see the second half at all, just the end!

All in all it was very exciting and I've only got another 600 miles to go with the longevity test on my old Trek before I get my Super Six!

Mark

Great feature, I don't normally watch that particular programme but I thought that was a really good, balanced piece that will help win over some doubters out there - congrats to all involved, the bike looked fantastic.

I don't know how much heat you needed on the battery, or how you went about trying to warm the battery up in your car, but I remember when my daughter was younger she had some kind of plastic & velcro wrap which went around her milk bottles & could be plugged into the car cigarette lighter to provide fairly instant heat & really made her milk drink nice & hot within a few minutes - might come in handy if a rematch is on the cards!

 

[Pedalo]

Thanks for the kind words about the Gadget Show, we are very pleased with how it turned out.

It was a bit of a shame about the battery being cold but equally I can see how difficult it must be keeping to a schedule for a shoot like this. The exposure for Cytronex was great and I must say the production company were very professional.

I travelled up with one of our mechanics - Carl, in his van. When the race started we were told to go on ahead to keep out of the way of the other vehicles but I wanted to see how they were getting on so I stuck my head out of the window and was telling Carl what speed to go. We got to the half way point and I could see they were still neck and neck, but Carl's van started to overheat on the severe incline. So in the end we had to go up as fast as we could to avoid breaking down and blocking the route, so I didn't see the second half at all, just the end!

All in all it was very exciting and I've only got another 600 miles to go with the longevity test on my old Trek before I get my Super Six!

Mark

So how many miles will this extra 600 take it to? Mine's at about 1300 but I suspect yours is considerably more...

 

[HarryB]

So how many miles will this extra 600 take it to? Mine's at about 1300 but I suspect yours is considerably more...

I suspect mark is going to change his at 5000 miles - I have only managed 2500ish.

 

[jerrysimon]

Mine is up to 1850 miles about 300 since I purchased it s/h.

Jerry

 

[SEATALTEA]

That was a great bit of TV and a fantastic ad for electric bikes.

It was a cold March morning when a lycra clad foe on a lightweight Trek road bike was passed by an Aldi clad fool on a Mistral commuter up the 'hill of death' on my daily ride.

Currently I remain powered only by bananas and bacon sandwiches.

 

[Mark/Cytronex]

Yes I'm running it up to 5,000 miles, it is one of the two original prototypes. Would have finished some time ago but have been testing other bikes on my way to work.

I must admit that the gears are getting a bit ropey and the lads have got fed up with adjusting them because I should have replaced the whole drive train some time ago, but I'm determined not to change anything until I get to 5,000 miles.

Mark

 

[Pedalo]

Is that 5000 miles still on the original battery? If so how's it holding up?

Has anyone noticed any drop off in Cytronex battery performance? They are rated at 250 charge cycles so I guess some users should be starting to notice.

I bought mine second hand so I don't know how it compares to new. I do know that it never takes more than 1 hour 20 mins to charge and sometimes charges in as little as 1 hour even when the battery was fully used up on the previous ride - so I wonder if it's on the decline. It does still cover my 15 mile round trip so I'm not bothered yet. I did do the deep discharge a couple of humdred miles ago but am not sure it made a lot of difference.

BTW I just noticed that the cable isn't very well secured on the charger connector that attaches to the battery and there could be a concern it could eventually pull out. Basically the cable is too narrow and the grommet doesn't tighten around it enough when the connector is screwed together. This can be remidied by unscrewing the connector housing and wrapping a small piece of rubber around the cable (I used 2 puncture repair patches stuck back to back!) and tightening it up again.

 

[Barnowl]

Hi Pedalo

Yes. I only charged 1 hour 5 mins this morning - though the battery was used up yesterday. I've done about 1900 miles. I've neglected to do the full discharge though I always intended and I'm not sure whether I should now.

In terms of range I can't really pin it down. Sometimes I think my range is a few miles less and sometimes it's normal. As you say not an issue. I get the impression from the forum that the range starts declining after about 100 full recharges but Marks going to be the expert on the Cytronex battery.

Generally though non issue at the moment.

No problems with the grommet. I take it that's where the power cable exits the down tube?