First e-bike, Yamaha XPC - any hints/tips?

[Karl Rowlands]

After a long absence, I'm hoping to break back into cycling with my lastest purchase, a Yamaha XPC26. Sold as Spares/repair, I can see a few mild defects, nothing I can't fix. The battery had a refresh cycle and a normal charge, no errors shown on the charger. When it's connected, the crossbar switch lights all the LEDs, so it looks like death was prematurely announced!

Never had an e-bike before..so...advise me. What are the do/do nots? Are they safe to store outside, or should they be sheltered? The reason I've gone e-bike is because 2 years ago I dislocated my knee, and have had extensive leg surgery in the past (am classified as disabled) - I no longer think I could get on my MTB, much less give it the oomph on the hills etc to manage.

I'm hoping the XPC being a step-though will mean I can use it, and the PAS system will make it possible for me to do more than ride on the flat without hurting things..heh.

I know it's an old one..but hopefully it'll do what I need. I have no manuals or anything, so I'm having to guess some things..heh.

Thanks all.

 

[flecc]

The waterproofing of electrical parts on these Yamaha e-bikes was far better than most, but keeping it outside will still expose all the bicycle parts to the usual corrosion problems, so try to protect against that. You could use a bike cover to give protection from direct rain.

Your battery is an NiMh one, long lived, but you will probably find the range short, perhaps very short due to it's age. Replacement batteries are often available on German ebay.

 

[Karl Rowlands]

Well, I took it for a first run last night - I'm impressed. Used it as I would my old MTB - lots of welly to go up my drive from a standing start, then the PAS catapulted me across the road.

Did a couple of miles on it to the local shop, wobbling madly (very out of practise) - all the gears work, the PAS went from 3 to 2 LEDs, so the pack (which is actually NiCad) is a bit tired..but then I do live in a hilly part of Telford.

The neighbourhood kids thought it was hysterical.."wow, that's a REALLY OLD bike.", "Cool bike, mister" etc. Bless 'em. I grant you, the XPC does indeed look a little retro, especially in custard yellow...haha!

Overall, I like it..felt like a gentle ride, if a bit bouncy. Comfy, relaxed, quick enough..just need to tidy it up a bit.

Question though, for anyone familiar with Yahama PAS drives (or similar) - should it sound like an asthmatic sheep when providing assist? Very "Whirr"-y. Worked fine, but I wonder if it needs greasing..and if so, how on earth do I do that?

 

[Erik]

The moaning is characteristic for the Yamaha.
I have used mine in the forest where the only other bicyclist were on MTB's.
It pulls like a beast up hills with the batteries I use.
I actually own two, and have gutted the battery case and put Lithium-ion-Polymer (LiPo) batteries inside, giving more than twice the capacity at half the weight..
I use 2 7-cell 5800MAh Lipo batteries in parallel.
The use of Lipo batteries demands a special balancing charger, which charges each cell to within 1/100th Volt of the others to an end voltage of 4.20V
During use, allowing any cell to drop below preferably 3.3V and absolutely 3.0V, will ruin that cell and thereby the whole battery.
LiPo's can be charged with several C, which is the current measured in Amperes divided by the capacity i Ampere-hours.
A 10 Ah battery can be fully charged in less than a half hour.

 

[flecc]

Yours is an old one then, I think most XPC's had NiMh batteries, NiCads on their earlier models like the PAS originally. They are good e-bikes and were well ahead of their time.

It's hard to judge the noise without actually hearing it, but they weren't silent even when new. I've never taken one apart for greasing so can't advise anything special on that.

N.B. Crossed with Erik's post.