I just thought I'd list some of the downs of my X-Byke purchase. It's not meant as a bitching session as I'm quite happy with it, but some things could have been better.
I got one of the first bikes imported into the country in September 2009. First issue- no frame number! Powabyke told me that it was missed off the first container load of bikes imported, but no offer of any kind of marking or help to identify what is a fairly expensive bike. There is the bikeregister.com system so I paid for it, but why couldn't they help? Not even a suggestion from them, I was only told the serial number was forgotten.
From when I first got the bike there was play in the steering head bearings- dealer sorted for me.
There has been a 'clicking' feel through the pedals at one point on every revolution of them coming from the bottom bracket. Again this was mentioned to the dealer- it seemed to be temporarily reduced at the initial service but soon reappeared slowly getting worse, and at 1300 miles is getting worrying (another thread covers this, looking to repair but surely they should last beyond that).
The pedals themselves were not smooth when rotated, cycling through tight to slack. A replacement set from powabyke was rejected-they were worse! I bought some myself to sort this.
The first bikes need an excessive 3 or 4 turns of the pedals before you get power coming in, although I gather this has sensibly been reduced on later versions.
I bought a second battery because of the low capacity of them (4.8Ah on the battery pack, initial information said they were going to be 6Ah)- the second battery only had a range of about 3 or 4 miles from new- it was replaced by powabyke under warranty.
Range is claimed to be 10-15 miles for the bike, very optimistic in my experience unless all of your journeys are downhill- from the 'good' batteries I got 7-10 miles initially, now it's 6-8 miles, and less still in cold weather.
Maybe the reduced range is because the batteries are of a lower capacity than they were originally planned to be where initial releases had the batteries looking like a water bottle. Sadly many sites still misrepresent the bike showing pictures of a water bottle shaped battery (one example is :: X-Byke - Discover the Power to be Free | KickStart Online, Belfast :: -which is not powabykes site).
So, I think things could have been better, but overall I've been happy with the bike. It seems like it may have been a Friday afternoon build when people wanted to go home, Support from Powabyke has always been good but I think things could have been a little better. Range is disappointing and less than claimed and expected, hill climbing is good.
I hope I haven't put anyone off buying, I do like the bike. But .......... buy with your eyes open.
I got one of the first bikes imported into the country in September 2009. First issue- no frame number! Powabyke told me that it was missed off the first container load of bikes imported, but no offer of any kind of marking or help to identify what is a fairly expensive bike. There is the bikeregister.com system so I paid for it, but why couldn't they help? Not even a suggestion from them, I was only told the serial number was forgotten.
From when I first got the bike there was play in the steering head bearings- dealer sorted for me.
There has been a 'clicking' feel through the pedals at one point on every revolution of them coming from the bottom bracket. Again this was mentioned to the dealer- it seemed to be temporarily reduced at the initial service but soon reappeared slowly getting worse, and at 1300 miles is getting worrying (another thread covers this, looking to repair but surely they should last beyond that).
The pedals themselves were not smooth when rotated, cycling through tight to slack. A replacement set from powabyke was rejected-they were worse! I bought some myself to sort this.
The first bikes need an excessive 3 or 4 turns of the pedals before you get power coming in, although I gather this has sensibly been reduced on later versions.
I bought a second battery because of the low capacity of them (4.8Ah on the battery pack, initial information said they were going to be 6Ah)- the second battery only had a range of about 3 or 4 miles from new- it was replaced by powabyke under warranty.
Range is claimed to be 10-15 miles for the bike, very optimistic in my experience unless all of your journeys are downhill- from the 'good' batteries I got 7-10 miles initially, now it's 6-8 miles, and less still in cold weather.
Maybe the reduced range is because the batteries are of a lower capacity than they were originally planned to be where initial releases had the batteries looking like a water bottle. Sadly many sites still misrepresent the bike showing pictures of a water bottle shaped battery (one example is :: X-Byke - Discover the Power to be Free | KickStart Online, Belfast :: -which is not powabykes site).
So, I think things could have been better, but overall I've been happy with the bike. It seems like it may have been a Friday afternoon build when people wanted to go home, Support from Powabyke has always been good but I think things could have been a little better. Range is disappointing and less than claimed and expected, hill climbing is good.
I hope I haven't put anyone off buying, I do like the bike. But .......... buy with your eyes open.
