Bike turned up on Friday slightly damaged (by TNT?) with a cracked plastic chain guard, hoping to hear back from 50 Cycles on a replacement.
The bike is also missing a rear wheel lock, again hoping 50 Cycles can send this on to me.
The bike was delivered in a huge cardboard box but although its a tight fit it wasn't secured in any way inside.
The tyres were already inflated and I just had to twist and rotate the handlebars and secure them with a 6mm allen key. The pedals also needed screwing on with a pedal crank spanner.
The bike seems huge considering its a small 49cm frame.
The suspension saddle is down as far as it can go (a non-suspension seatpost could probably go down another 2 inches or so) and its just the right height for me (I'm 5 foot 8 inches).
I put the battery on to charge but it already had 3 lights on and I couldn't wait for a full charge before having a quick ride of the bike up and down the street.
It felt really great apart from a mechanical gear whine from the motor which seemed a lot louder than the bike I had test ridden in Cheshire.
Subsequently this whine has almost disappeared after approx. 45 miles that I've ridden since last Friday Night.
The lights seem to be pretty good although I'm not entirely sure how the switches work, you seem to have to press the red button on the rear light to fully turn it off?
Had a couple of rides over the weekend, a 7 mile ride around my home town on Saturday and then another 7 mile ride to the local Supermarket and back.
We had bought some Halfords/bike hut rear panniers on Saturday for £30 odd quid and we put these to good use yesterday as we filled them with shopping and they seem to be good for what they are although of cheap plasticky manufacture.
These rides hadn't caused the battery to lose a single light but I fully charged it last night prior to commuting to work this morning.
I work at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and its around 13.6 miles away (27.2 miles round trip) over a pretty flat route with some long low hills to negotiate.
I found I could easily average 13.6 mph and so was able to manage the distance in an hour without any issues.
I'm not sure of the assistance rate at that speed but I am very unfit and overweight but was able to arrive at work without being sweaty or tired so it worked as I hoped.
I'm looking at commuting by bike at least one day a week to start with and then increasing it as I get fitter.
I found my bum was going to sleep and I had to raise it off the saddle three or four times to get some blood flowing but I found when I got to work that the saddle had come loose on the seatpost and after tightening it the journey home was more comfortable.
The battery lost 1 light on the journey to work and 2 lights on the journey back (the control panel on the bike showed 3 lights after the journey into work and 2 lights after the journey home).
I had considered getting a pro-connect, and at one time a nano-brompton but after riding on the roads to work I'm damned glad I didn't, some of them are bloody awful and even with the suspension the bike was at times vibrating so hard that the bell was ringing!
The roads seemed to have had a cheapo top layer thats just disintegrating and is incredibly knobbly and this is a Dual Carriage-Way with a National Speed limit of 70 mph!
I think I need to tune the suspension better to this type of road though.
I should mention that the handlebar is really comfy, everything is in the right position and the grips have a lovely flat bit that you can rest your palms on and have plenty of room, I didn't feel the need to move my hands off the handlebar at all ie. didn't need to change the position of my hands because they were aching like on other bikes, its that comfortable.
Up the low long hills I found 12 mph was an easy speed to go at and freewheeling down them I was hitting 18-20 mph.
The electric assistance seems to stay on until 16 mph as indicated by a Garmin Etrex H unit that I have attached to the handlebars.
I tended to leave the hub gear in 6th as this seemed to be the most comfortable cadence both on the flat and going up hill, changing into 7th when going down hill. I still leave it in 6th when starting off from a standstill as you get lots of whoosh/assistance from the motor.
As a big bike it was slightly difficult to maneuver when going through tight spaces (between cars/on narrow pavements/locking it up in bicycle racks), but I guess this just takes getting used to.
I've bought a pannier/rucksack called 'the bug' from a Canadian company called Arkel and I can recommend it. Very well built and does just what I need it to (carries a change of clothing, brush, keys, id, purse, make-up, glasses case, helmet, packed lunch, water, waterproofs). Its also 100% guaranteed for life. Expensive at £100 but worth it to me.
Luckily I've had no punctures so far and other than possibly changing my route because of the condition of some of the roads (or tuning the suspension) every-thing's gone fine so far.
Oh, and if anyone is thinking of commuting for the first time in this weather, wear a windproof top or jacket, I didn't and I was bloody freezing!
I'd forgotten that I was going to have a 14 mph wind blowing into me all the way!
I've ordered a Lusso HT50 jacket from Ribble Cycles in Preston, tried one at lunchtime but they didn't have the yellow colour I wanted in stock, so have ordered it.
Hope that was rambling enough!
Cheers,
Jen.
The bike is also missing a rear wheel lock, again hoping 50 Cycles can send this on to me.
The bike was delivered in a huge cardboard box but although its a tight fit it wasn't secured in any way inside.
The tyres were already inflated and I just had to twist and rotate the handlebars and secure them with a 6mm allen key. The pedals also needed screwing on with a pedal crank spanner.
The bike seems huge considering its a small 49cm frame.
The suspension saddle is down as far as it can go (a non-suspension seatpost could probably go down another 2 inches or so) and its just the right height for me (I'm 5 foot 8 inches).
I put the battery on to charge but it already had 3 lights on and I couldn't wait for a full charge before having a quick ride of the bike up and down the street.
It felt really great apart from a mechanical gear whine from the motor which seemed a lot louder than the bike I had test ridden in Cheshire.
Subsequently this whine has almost disappeared after approx. 45 miles that I've ridden since last Friday Night.
The lights seem to be pretty good although I'm not entirely sure how the switches work, you seem to have to press the red button on the rear light to fully turn it off?
Had a couple of rides over the weekend, a 7 mile ride around my home town on Saturday and then another 7 mile ride to the local Supermarket and back.
We had bought some Halfords/bike hut rear panniers on Saturday for £30 odd quid and we put these to good use yesterday as we filled them with shopping and they seem to be good for what they are although of cheap plasticky manufacture.
These rides hadn't caused the battery to lose a single light but I fully charged it last night prior to commuting to work this morning.
I work at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and its around 13.6 miles away (27.2 miles round trip) over a pretty flat route with some long low hills to negotiate.
I found I could easily average 13.6 mph and so was able to manage the distance in an hour without any issues.
I'm not sure of the assistance rate at that speed but I am very unfit and overweight but was able to arrive at work without being sweaty or tired so it worked as I hoped.
I'm looking at commuting by bike at least one day a week to start with and then increasing it as I get fitter.
I found my bum was going to sleep and I had to raise it off the saddle three or four times to get some blood flowing but I found when I got to work that the saddle had come loose on the seatpost and after tightening it the journey home was more comfortable.
The battery lost 1 light on the journey to work and 2 lights on the journey back (the control panel on the bike showed 3 lights after the journey into work and 2 lights after the journey home).
I had considered getting a pro-connect, and at one time a nano-brompton but after riding on the roads to work I'm damned glad I didn't, some of them are bloody awful and even with the suspension the bike was at times vibrating so hard that the bell was ringing!
The roads seemed to have had a cheapo top layer thats just disintegrating and is incredibly knobbly and this is a Dual Carriage-Way with a National Speed limit of 70 mph!
I think I need to tune the suspension better to this type of road though.
I should mention that the handlebar is really comfy, everything is in the right position and the grips have a lovely flat bit that you can rest your palms on and have plenty of room, I didn't feel the need to move my hands off the handlebar at all ie. didn't need to change the position of my hands because they were aching like on other bikes, its that comfortable.
Up the low long hills I found 12 mph was an easy speed to go at and freewheeling down them I was hitting 18-20 mph.
The electric assistance seems to stay on until 16 mph as indicated by a Garmin Etrex H unit that I have attached to the handlebars.
I tended to leave the hub gear in 6th as this seemed to be the most comfortable cadence both on the flat and going up hill, changing into 7th when going down hill. I still leave it in 6th when starting off from a standstill as you get lots of whoosh/assistance from the motor.
As a big bike it was slightly difficult to maneuver when going through tight spaces (between cars/on narrow pavements/locking it up in bicycle racks), but I guess this just takes getting used to.
I've bought a pannier/rucksack called 'the bug' from a Canadian company called Arkel and I can recommend it. Very well built and does just what I need it to (carries a change of clothing, brush, keys, id, purse, make-up, glasses case, helmet, packed lunch, water, waterproofs). Its also 100% guaranteed for life. Expensive at £100 but worth it to me.
Luckily I've had no punctures so far and other than possibly changing my route because of the condition of some of the roads (or tuning the suspension) every-thing's gone fine so far.
Oh, and if anyone is thinking of commuting for the first time in this weather, wear a windproof top or jacket, I didn't and I was bloody freezing!
I'd forgotten that I was going to have a 14 mph wind blowing into me all the way!
I've ordered a Lusso HT50 jacket from Ribble Cycles in Preston, tried one at lunchtime but they didn't have the yellow colour I wanted in stock, so have ordered it.
Hope that was rambling enough!
Cheers,
Jen.