Reviewer:
hihihi
Purchased From:
Kudos
Purchase Price:
£895.00 (including delivery, 12th October, 2011)
however, spent another £342.00 on modifications (= £1237.00 in total)
Time Owned:
Fortnight
Local Terrain:
Moderate Hills = Isle Of Wight
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Likes:
I like the Dutch looks. Including the double crossbars.
Kudos, for a very swift delivery, which is soo important to me = the very next day I had my bicycle! Now that's superb service, eh?!
It had been well packaged and arrived in good condition.
Many thoughtful items included, eg chain guard, front and rear l.e.d. lights, two luggage racks, battery-concealing panniers that were also colour-coordinated with seat and grips, neat cable routing, frame lock, wheel reflectors etc
Pedelec-only function with 3 assist levels (no 'cheating' with throttle override nor cruise control) which together with the 3 hub gears just about make for a fair pedalling effort (except on hilly hills, see below).
Lightswitch integrated with motor control pad.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dislikes:
The on-line buying procedure, because entering personal details is called registering membership and because the Isle Of Wight was not accepted as a valid county nor address.
Despite being told on the phone beforehand of no knowledge of any weight restriction, discovering in the "USER'S MANUAL": "The maximum weight of the rider and load is required to be under 200lb(or90kg)"
Which means, because I had ridden, I had committed: "...breaches the above conditions and in the meanwhile, the warranty will be void automatically."
Legal maximum power = 250W hub motor: might be ok for most, however, not strong enough for above-average sized me. Which means huffing and puffing up quite a few of our hills. I hoped to avoid sweating. Maybe, more gears than just three would've been better after all, hmm.
Silly me, I assumed that their "Quality Control" meant I could use the cycle as soon as the handlebar and pedals were assembled (tyres almost flat, battery needed fully charging, all front and rear wheels' spokes loose, headstock nut loose, rear hub/axle loose, front brakes bindingly tight, steering damper loose, pedal sensor chafing the perforated disc).
My big bum, when placed atop the "Super comfortable saddle" shouted 'OUCH!'.
For a traditional Dutch- or a Grandfather Bicycle I think there is way too much Kudos-advertising and coloured stripes on the frame.
Against telephone assurance, I find the 60cm frame a little too small for my 6'3".
The handlebar stem is mismatched with the much longer seat post: they can not be upwardly adjusted to keep at least level, as they should with a Dutch cycle.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary:
This bike is ideal for the patient person who, after unpacking, carries out basic assembly, walks it to the next bicycle workshop for an all-over check and only then takes it for a spin.
Oh, and reads the enclosed booklet first too.
However, I'm different. And lucky that my local bike shop fixed a lot of the loose items before, well, something worse than buckling happened...hey, also, without the motor noise the bike rolls along silently now which is fab.
Yes, there's a lot of seemingly negative stuff above but that's because it's always much easier to criticize than praise. And anyway, I find positive emotions rather tricky to put into words. I have not even felt the need to tell Kudos about any of this.
Here are my modifications so far:
The Very Best: bought an armchair-comfortable Brooks saddle (B190, their biggest and double-sprung) and let it soak up copious amount of oil ['hydrophane leather dressing' originally bought for a horse saddle] to accelerate breaking-in.
Second best: replaced the handlebar stem with a much longer and adjustable one.
Added a waterproof mobile phone holder, a bugle-horn, a ding-dong bell and computer which, honestly, is too much handlebar clutter. Gotta do something about that...
Spent some on security: a substantial U-lock and chain&padlock.
Attached a lockable top box.
Lastly, had cream tyres fitted.
More changes yet to come...
The Duke comes at a quoted 28.9kg which is quite heavy (wonder how much more it weighs now with all the additions?). Thus the happy owner needs to accept the Dutch style of comfort over speed.
As for riding "The Beast", as it was christened by the bike-shop chap, I am enjoying it. In these first couple of weeks ownership I probably spent more time on improvisations than cycling. Whenever I do go riding, I must say, the experience is fabulous fun. How much of that is due to re-discovering the pleasures of cycling after many years abstinence, and/or this being my first ever pedelec or purely the novelty of this new toy, I'm unsure. Suffice it to say, I really dislike cumulonimbi now...
The main reason I bought the Duke was for the old fashioned gents style - and, of course, the promise of an electric push-along. And I'm very happy to have achieved that.
If you don't hear/read any more about "The Beast" on this forum, then you know I'm just fine with it. So, please ask me about anything you'd like to know, ok?
Oh yeah, how about if I sum up with the three words uttered by a young lad, who jumped out of the way at the sound of the bugle-bulb and exclaimed "aw, cool bike".
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Rating (out of 10) : 7
hihihi
Purchased From:
Kudos
Purchase Price:
£895.00 (including delivery, 12th October, 2011)
however, spent another £342.00 on modifications (= £1237.00 in total)
Time Owned:
Fortnight
Local Terrain:
Moderate Hills = Isle Of Wight
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Likes:
I like the Dutch looks. Including the double crossbars.
Kudos, for a very swift delivery, which is soo important to me = the very next day I had my bicycle! Now that's superb service, eh?!
It had been well packaged and arrived in good condition.
Many thoughtful items included, eg chain guard, front and rear l.e.d. lights, two luggage racks, battery-concealing panniers that were also colour-coordinated with seat and grips, neat cable routing, frame lock, wheel reflectors etc
Pedelec-only function with 3 assist levels (no 'cheating' with throttle override nor cruise control) which together with the 3 hub gears just about make for a fair pedalling effort (except on hilly hills, see below).
Lightswitch integrated with motor control pad.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dislikes:
The on-line buying procedure, because entering personal details is called registering membership and because the Isle Of Wight was not accepted as a valid county nor address.
Despite being told on the phone beforehand of no knowledge of any weight restriction, discovering in the "USER'S MANUAL": "The maximum weight of the rider and load is required to be under 200lb(or90kg)"
Which means, because I had ridden, I had committed: "...breaches the above conditions and in the meanwhile, the warranty will be void automatically."
Legal maximum power = 250W hub motor: might be ok for most, however, not strong enough for above-average sized me. Which means huffing and puffing up quite a few of our hills. I hoped to avoid sweating. Maybe, more gears than just three would've been better after all, hmm.
Silly me, I assumed that their "Quality Control" meant I could use the cycle as soon as the handlebar and pedals were assembled (tyres almost flat, battery needed fully charging, all front and rear wheels' spokes loose, headstock nut loose, rear hub/axle loose, front brakes bindingly tight, steering damper loose, pedal sensor chafing the perforated disc).
My big bum, when placed atop the "Super comfortable saddle" shouted 'OUCH!'.
For a traditional Dutch- or a Grandfather Bicycle I think there is way too much Kudos-advertising and coloured stripes on the frame.
Against telephone assurance, I find the 60cm frame a little too small for my 6'3".
The handlebar stem is mismatched with the much longer seat post: they can not be upwardly adjusted to keep at least level, as they should with a Dutch cycle.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Summary:
This bike is ideal for the patient person who, after unpacking, carries out basic assembly, walks it to the next bicycle workshop for an all-over check and only then takes it for a spin.
Oh, and reads the enclosed booklet first too.
However, I'm different. And lucky that my local bike shop fixed a lot of the loose items before, well, something worse than buckling happened...hey, also, without the motor noise the bike rolls along silently now which is fab.
Yes, there's a lot of seemingly negative stuff above but that's because it's always much easier to criticize than praise. And anyway, I find positive emotions rather tricky to put into words. I have not even felt the need to tell Kudos about any of this.
Here are my modifications so far:
The Very Best: bought an armchair-comfortable Brooks saddle (B190, their biggest and double-sprung) and let it soak up copious amount of oil ['hydrophane leather dressing' originally bought for a horse saddle] to accelerate breaking-in.
Second best: replaced the handlebar stem with a much longer and adjustable one.
Added a waterproof mobile phone holder, a bugle-horn, a ding-dong bell and computer which, honestly, is too much handlebar clutter. Gotta do something about that...
Spent some on security: a substantial U-lock and chain&padlock.
Attached a lockable top box.
Lastly, had cream tyres fitted.
More changes yet to come...
The Duke comes at a quoted 28.9kg which is quite heavy (wonder how much more it weighs now with all the additions?). Thus the happy owner needs to accept the Dutch style of comfort over speed.
As for riding "The Beast", as it was christened by the bike-shop chap, I am enjoying it. In these first couple of weeks ownership I probably spent more time on improvisations than cycling. Whenever I do go riding, I must say, the experience is fabulous fun. How much of that is due to re-discovering the pleasures of cycling after many years abstinence, and/or this being my first ever pedelec or purely the novelty of this new toy, I'm unsure. Suffice it to say, I really dislike cumulonimbi now...
The main reason I bought the Duke was for the old fashioned gents style - and, of course, the promise of an electric push-along. And I'm very happy to have achieved that.
If you don't hear/read any more about "The Beast" on this forum, then you know I'm just fine with it. So, please ask me about anything you'd like to know, ok?
Oh yeah, how about if I sum up with the three words uttered by a young lad, who jumped out of the way at the sound of the bugle-bulb and exclaimed "aw, cool bike".
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall Rating (out of 10) : 7
