First 28 mile trip on a Synergie Mistral

[dazzie]

Hi all,

I did a 28 mile ride today (Bristol to Bath and back again) on my Synergie Mistral and I have to say I'm impressed. At 21 stone the bike had the odds stacked against it but it pulled through with only the odd moan!

There's absolutely no chance I would have been able to do the same ride on a normal bike -there are some really steep or long hills on the trip (especially on the route I took back, sheesh) but I didn't go much below 10mph on any of them (except one which I had to stop and walk up) with the aid of my tree-trunk legs. Not only was it a help getting up the hills but it also aided recovery after a nasty hill because I could take it easy and still tootle along at a decent pace until my breathing was back under control. Fantastic!

The only real issue was suffering from bad pain in my right hand. I think I'm going to replace the grips for some softer ones and see if that resolves the issue. Oh and I need to figure out how to raise the steering stem up a bit!

I used my spare battery for the first time but it died at about the 17 mile mark (not too bad considering I was on full throttle pretty much the whole time) - I was glad I had brought my other battery with me.

Happy? Is the Pope Catholic?!

Daz

 

[flecc]

Well done Daz, that's quite a ride with some very real hills for any e-bike and rider, so a good performance from the Mistral. If the cold weather was anything like here, the battery wouldn't have been working at anything like optimum temperatures, making the run even more creditable.
.

 

[Blew it]

Hi Daz,

That's a great first ride but.....It's gonna hurt in the morning!!.

Try an adjustable ahead stem. Make sure you get the 110 mm length as that will raise the bars to a good height. That's the type you need for a threaded steerer as fitted to the Mistral.

This is the one I used

The reason I used that type on the threadless steerer on the Voyager was to make it easier to adjust for different riders.

All the best and Happy New Year

Bob

 

[IOM]

Just joined the ranks

Hi everyone,
I spend a good part of the year working in China and have seen many different types of E Bikes. Mainly the old lead acid type, but it was enough to get me hooked. Started trawling the net to see what was available and came across this site, which I must say as been very informative.

Only really started looking about a month ago and was initially interested in the Cytronex Trek. However, the general message from this thread was try before you buy.

Living on the Isle of Man, that is not easy. The only dealer listed sold Powabykes and his main business is lawnmowers. When I visited, I found he no longer stocks them, due to lack of interest. Visited the only two cycle shops on the Island and found that one of them had a Powacycle Salisbury in stock.

To be honest his knowledge of the bike was limited, in fact I knew more about it through reading this forum. He was reluctant to let me test it, reason given was he did not want to reduce the life cycle of the battery by charging it. However he did contact a previous buyer, who happened to live in the same village as me, he agreed to let me have the bike for the evening. What a revelation, I did not want to give it back.

From reading this forum, I know it is one of the lower powered bikes, but it certainly didn't feel like it, so next day I bought the bike from the dealer, complete with wireless computer and set of lights. The bike was delivered Monday evening of this week.

I am 47 years old, weigh 14 stone and have never done any road cycling in my life. Am relative fit, but in China I eat and drink to much and don't get much excercise, hence the bike.

Tuesday set off for Ramsey, back to the bike shop to get a bag for the rack. Distance is 10.5 miles with a few long inclines but no serious hills. Did it in 37 minutes and felt great, what a bike. Bought the bag and returned home, took it a little easier, in fact felt like no effort at all, time was 40 minutes. Battery still showing two lights from three. Rode it up and down the village and Glen on throttle only for a further five miles, but could not flatten the battery. So 26 miles and still juice left. Gave it a full charge and decided next day I would do a shopping trip to Peel.

Now this was more of a test, some good hills on this one. On heading to Peel I was free wheeling down hills at 30 miles an hour and thinking I have got to climb these on the way back carrying a few more kilos of shopping. Averaged 14.4 miles per hour.

On the way back, I free wheeled the first hill at 32 miles per hour, had not really noticed that one on the way in, so confidence was high for the rest of the trip. Overall I averaged 14.2 miles per hour for a 17 mile round trip.

Sorry if my ride details are basic, but to me, this is one hell of a bike, giving me a mix of assistance and effort, which I am sure will achieve my fitness goal.

Next day I did a long climb up to Cronky Voddy, 5 miles, in an effort to flatten the battery, but no, still two lights. Free wheeled back to the village and road up and down on throttle only until I had flattened it.
I now fully intend to use the bike for my 10.5 mile journey to work, whenever I am not in China obviously.

Sorry to hijack this thread, but only joined a couple a days ago, so don't know how to set a new one up.

 

[flecc]

Welcome to the forum IOM, please don't worry about posting in this thread since we are quite informal here.

Your performance and average speeds were excellent for the Salisbury and indicate that you are a more capable rider than you give yourself credit for, though letting the bike have it's head down hills does help a lot.

To my knowledge you are the second Isle of Man member, the other being BikerBob who rides a Giant Suede bike, again because there is a Giant dealer on the island. Maybe you'll trip over each other one day.

In future when you want to start a new thread, have a look at the top of the threads listing page of this Electric Bicycles forum and you'll see a rectangular blue button at the left, marked "New Thread". Clicking that will present you with the thread title box and text input box. Take care with typing the thread title since that cannot be edited afterwards, though the main text can.
.

 

[IOM]

Thanks for the welcome Flecc,
You must get yourself and your e bike over here. What I forgot to mention was the scenery here in the IOM, you really appreciate it when riding a bike.

 

[flecc]

Thanks for the welcome Flecc,
You must get yourself and your e bike over here. What I forgot to mention was the scenery here in the IOM, you really appreciate it when riding a bike.

I know how great it is from my motorcycling days of many years ago, but I'm afraid I'd need lots of batteries to e-bike there from Surrey.

Maybe one day I'll drive over there though for old times sake, carrying one of my e-bikes.
.

 

[dazzie]

Thanks both, much appreciated. Thanks for the link too Bob. I was hoping to just lift the steering post up a bit to see if that works?

Congrats on your bike IOM, it sounds like it is doing you proud (and you yourself!). I would love to visit the IOM one day (or even live there... very er favourable tax levels!). Welcome to the forum!

Daz

 

[Blew it]

Hi Daz,

Yes, you can lift the quill a little, but it's very short and will only give you about an inch before reaching the maximum marks.

There is another way to lift the Ahead stem with one these.

The problem is the Mistral has a threaded steerer, the type shown above is designed for use with threadless headsets...hence the spacers supplied with it.

I tried using one of these on a Synergie Extreme, but ran into problems with the large washer against which the wedge expander bolt sits. Trying to use one on the Mistral might work, on the other hand it could prove to be wasted cash. The only surefire way of raising the bars on the Mistral is with the adjustable ahead stem I first mentioned.

Have a look at the late and great Sheldon Brown's words on the subject.

HERE

All the best

Bob

 

[Cyclezee]

IOM,

There is another e-biker on the Island that bought my beloved Champagne Giant Lafree earlier in the year. He lives in Douglas, give him my regards if you see him out and about. Curiously, I believe he spends some time in China too.

J hn

 

[Bikerbob]

Digressing to the mark 2 section of this thread, I've send a private message to welcome our second member from this part of the world. If two ebikes are seen standing outside The Manx Arms then that's where we will be! (Just click on the 'private messages' link at the top right corner if you've not done it before IOM). You can have your thread back now, dazzie, thanks!

 

[IOM]

Thanks Bob,
I have mailed a reply.

 

[IOM]

Cadence

Having read reports on this subject from Flecc and Danny-K, I thought I would give it a try. Must say it seems to suit me. Found it strange / uncomfortable at first, but once I had got into a rythym, my speeds are better and with less effort. Early days yet, intend doing a 21 mile run tomorrow. Will let you know how I got on.

 

[dazzie]

Good luck with the trip IOM and no problems Bikerbob !

 

[frank9755]

Hi Daz,

Yes, you can lift the quill a little, but it's very short and will only give you about an inch before reaching the maximum marks.

There is another way to lift the Ahead stem with one these.

The problem is the Mistral has a threaded steerer, the type shown above is designed for use with threadless headsets...hence the spacers supplied with it.

Daz,
Sounds like you need one of these:

Frank