Hi folks
Just taken delivery of my very first eBike and thought I would just jot down my initial thoughts having completed a commute to/from work totalling >50km. This is by far the furthest I've cycled in any one day. My legs are kind of feeling it now but nowhere near like they would be if I had been riding my usual mountain bike!
That said I did ride with a colleague on his road bike, he's fairly keen and with the assist cutting out at 25kph he was just hitting his stride so even up hills I was struggling to keep up! Hopefully that will improve over the next few weeks as my legs (and arse!) get used to cycling again!
I won't go into the tech specs, these are available for all to see if they care to look up, but I will say that :
- it comes with a 400Wh battery
- it is the Bosch Performance line (not the CX which I really wanted though not sure what I would be missing since it's relatively flat here)
- I had the Bosch Nyon computer thingy fitted as a replacement for the Intuvia
First impressions
I loved the boost you get when you first start off. Traffic lights I don't mind stopping at now!
I love the gadgetry of the Nyon and all the STUFF it can show you! Quite distracting!
I hate how complex the Nyon is to connect to various devices!
I hate that the Smartphone Nyon app and PC browser-based ebike-connect are sometimes mutually exclusive!
I hate that you can't add hidden WLANs to Nyon
I hate that the motor cuts out at 25kph
Anyway, enough about that. The bike is great fun, it may look a bit like a boring tourer for someone on holiday (especially next to co-workers road bikes!) but being able to stay in the seat when gliding up a hill is great fun. What I would say is that although the saddle looks comfy my ass certainly didn't think so after completing nearly 30k on the way back home from work today (scenic route gone wrong!). I think some of this is to do with my body not being used to cycling (too much too soon?!) and some of this to do with the extremely unforgiving tyres (Schwalbe efficiency I think). Even with the front suspension unlocked it is pretty harsh over even slightly bumpy ground.
The Nyon device is great to use, very clear text and graphix. The joystick takes a bit of getting used to and when you are riding it can be quite hard to not double / triple press. Got used to just brushing it and getting to whichever screen I needed. I understand why it wasn't made as a touch screen but considering the sensitivity of the joystick I was more distracted trying to select something whilst riding. Maybe I shouldn't have been but why else put the joystick on the control unit!?!
I liked the custom screens that you can set from your smartphone and I have paid for the topographical upgrade to show how far your current battery charge would take you. This seems quite useful if only to reassure myself that I would be able to use TURBO for the last few km's home!
Here is my biggest gripe... the 25kph cutoff. I now see why there is such a big market for 'dongles'. Once you get going, even on ECO assist mode I was easily up to 25kph after which it is my legs propelling the bike. If there are lots of hills en route then this is where the payoff is but on a fairly flat run I can't see the battery being used too much. That said I got into work today not feeling tired at all. A little bit sweaty but I've ridden less than half the distance on my old Ridgeback and have been in pieces!
On the route home trying to keep up with my colleague was impossible, he was ticking along at a lick of 28kph and there I was puffing away as the assist had run out! I guess there may be something to be said for weight and thin wheels! (not to mention conditioned legs!)
In short, I love the bike, especially love the nyon but need Bosch to be on the ball with updates to both the nyon device and the mobile app. So far it seems they are, lets hope another model doesn't come along and this version gets left behind.
Just need to build up the conditioning on the old behind!
Hope this is of help and interest to some of you!
Chris
Just taken delivery of my very first eBike and thought I would just jot down my initial thoughts having completed a commute to/from work totalling >50km. This is by far the furthest I've cycled in any one day. My legs are kind of feeling it now but nowhere near like they would be if I had been riding my usual mountain bike!
That said I did ride with a colleague on his road bike, he's fairly keen and with the assist cutting out at 25kph he was just hitting his stride so even up hills I was struggling to keep up! Hopefully that will improve over the next few weeks as my legs (and arse!) get used to cycling again!
I won't go into the tech specs, these are available for all to see if they care to look up, but I will say that :
- it comes with a 400Wh battery
- it is the Bosch Performance line (not the CX which I really wanted though not sure what I would be missing since it's relatively flat here)
- I had the Bosch Nyon computer thingy fitted as a replacement for the Intuvia
First impressions
I loved the boost you get when you first start off. Traffic lights I don't mind stopping at now!
I love the gadgetry of the Nyon and all the STUFF it can show you! Quite distracting!
I hate how complex the Nyon is to connect to various devices!
I hate that the Smartphone Nyon app and PC browser-based ebike-connect are sometimes mutually exclusive!
I hate that you can't add hidden WLANs to Nyon
I hate that the motor cuts out at 25kph
Anyway, enough about that. The bike is great fun, it may look a bit like a boring tourer for someone on holiday (especially next to co-workers road bikes!) but being able to stay in the seat when gliding up a hill is great fun. What I would say is that although the saddle looks comfy my ass certainly didn't think so after completing nearly 30k on the way back home from work today (scenic route gone wrong!). I think some of this is to do with my body not being used to cycling (too much too soon?!) and some of this to do with the extremely unforgiving tyres (Schwalbe efficiency I think). Even with the front suspension unlocked it is pretty harsh over even slightly bumpy ground.
The Nyon device is great to use, very clear text and graphix. The joystick takes a bit of getting used to and when you are riding it can be quite hard to not double / triple press. Got used to just brushing it and getting to whichever screen I needed. I understand why it wasn't made as a touch screen but considering the sensitivity of the joystick I was more distracted trying to select something whilst riding. Maybe I shouldn't have been but why else put the joystick on the control unit!?!
I liked the custom screens that you can set from your smartphone and I have paid for the topographical upgrade to show how far your current battery charge would take you. This seems quite useful if only to reassure myself that I would be able to use TURBO for the last few km's home!
Here is my biggest gripe... the 25kph cutoff. I now see why there is such a big market for 'dongles'. Once you get going, even on ECO assist mode I was easily up to 25kph after which it is my legs propelling the bike. If there are lots of hills en route then this is where the payoff is but on a fairly flat run I can't see the battery being used too much. That said I got into work today not feeling tired at all. A little bit sweaty but I've ridden less than half the distance on my old Ridgeback and have been in pieces!
On the route home trying to keep up with my colleague was impossible, he was ticking along at a lick of 28kph and there I was puffing away as the assist had run out! I guess there may be something to be said for weight and thin wheels! (not to mention conditioned legs!)
In short, I love the bike, especially love the nyon but need Bosch to be on the ball with updates to both the nyon device and the mobile app. So far it seems they are, lets hope another model doesn't come along and this version gets left behind.
Just need to build up the conditioning on the old behind!
Hope this is of help and interest to some of you!
Chris
