Has anybody noticed the new cytronex range on their website? --- The UK's Best Deals on Dental Products As expected they are a bit more expensive than the Trek bikes. Cheapest is the Ridgeback Cyclone at £1195 but I don't like the frame style or the 26 inch wheels. Top of the range is the Cannodale at £1950. At just over 15kg, is this the lightest ebike so far? Seems quite an odd line-up with not one, but two fixed wheel bicycles. I always think that fixed wheels are for the hard core cyclist, there are plenty around London. I am note sure that there is much of a market for an electric version. Shame not to have got one under the £1000 mark. No details of the new controls or the DIY kit though. Kit seems the way to go if you can get a bike on the cycle to work scheme and fit the kit yourself.
New range of Cytronex bikes
- Thread starter HarryB
- Start date
Not that surprising as it doesn't have any gears so that must save a kg or so. Seems to have only a single speed motor as well. Not convinced myself.
Not to mention the 4AH battery. Tiny, tiny, even assuming it's 36 volt. I guess this would be for the serious 'conventional' cyclist, as unless you did a lot of determined pedalling and used the motor minimally the powered range would probably be rather short. Most of those who are in that bracket would probably scorn any sort of motor in any case.
It seems to be a lot of money for rather limited assistance, based purely on the battery size. Most e-bikes can do much better than that. The specs on the web site steer clear of any hard information on what sort of range you might expect under different conditions. Obvious the whole range is pedelec only, though it looks as though it's just an on/off system.
Nice bikes, shame about the electrics....
Rog.
Hi Rog,
Their main website is here: Cytronex - Hidden Power
It's quite well known that the Cytronex range is approx 20 miles.
I am still a bit surprised since it's over 3.4 kilos lighter which is a huge saving, the derailleur not amounting for that much. The bike itself must be very light, but I agree it wouldn't suit many. In the less taxing areas it could be fine, especially given that the Nano motor is quite a good climber, and ok for the keen cyclist who likes high cadences when at speed.
.
It looks like the cytronex website is slowly being updated as it seems to have changed since yesterday. The too many different websites as well so difficult to look up the information about it. However the new controls look much better than the originals. To Rog, the electrics are great, great installation as well so highly recommended. If you want better range you have to get another battery, not ideal but one solution.
Not as bad as that Rog. The range is indeed around 20 miles and sometimes even more. The assistance isn't limited either, the Nano motor geared for 15 mph max and giving a a good climb performance. There's two power level control.
HarryB above commutes with a Cytronex Trek and greatly preferred it to a Kalkhoff Agattu he also had, giving an idea of how competent the Cytronex bikes are. The formula doesn't suit everyone, but those who it suits have nothing but praise for the system.
P.S. Crossed with Harry's post.
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I thought it an odd idea too but there was a poster on here a month or so back who was floating the idea of electrifying his fixed wheel bike, which suggests there could be demand for it.
Fair enough - but I still think to get that you'd need to do quite a lot of work. The amount of fuel you carry (i.e. battery capacity) would need to be used frugally to get 20 miles out of it. In their defence, maybe that's perhaps the point - *some* e-bikes make it too easy. The Wisper would definitely come into that latter category - made for the old and decrepit and the lazy. The Cannondale weighs about 8kg less than a Wisper Sport, but that's not a very significant weight saving unless you're on the right side of 70kg yourself.
Calm down you lot - I've got a Wisper, and all three probably apply to me. I'm very happy with it too. And I am joking.
I'd agree that the Cytronex Cannondale would come mid-way between a proper e-bike and a proper road bike - how's that for compromise? You'd certainly lose some weight in your wallet if you bought one though.
Rog.
I think they are single speed rather than fixed wheel but still a niche market within a niche market. I would have preferred the line up to have a cheap hybrid rather than having the two single speeds. It should be possible to have one at around the £1100 mark. At the moment the cheapest one is £1395 if you discount 26 inch wheels - I suppose it is still competitive against the Pro-connect.
I was very disappointed in the Cytronex line up :
I made a 300 mile round trip to check out and hopefully place a deposit on a Trek with front suspension forks only to find Cytronex don't do these anymore.
The only one I got to try was the Ridgeback but it was a particularily small 15 inch frame and i've never been a fan of the uni-sex frame anyway, I much preferred the Trek which is a terrific bike in it's own right.
Despite the fact that all the other manufacterers appear to be fitting front suspension Cytronex does not offer this on any of it's models.
While I agree that weight is an issue I don't think it is the be all and end all.
I don't see me making a 400 mile round trip to Winchester in the near future so sadly Cytronex is no longer an option for me.
.....Mike
I made a 300 mile round trip to check out and hopefully place a deposit on a Trek with front suspension forks only to find Cytronex don't do these anymore.
The only one I got to try was the Ridgeback but it was a particularily small 15 inch frame and i've never been a fan of the uni-sex frame anyway, I much preferred the Trek which is a terrific bike in it's own right.
Despite the fact that all the other manufacterers appear to be fitting front suspension Cytronex does not offer this on any of it's models.
While I agree that weight is an issue I don't think it is the be all and end all.
I don't see me making a 400 mile round trip to Winchester in the near future so sadly Cytronex is no longer an option for me.
.....Mike
Hi Harry....one good thing to come out of my trip was that I got to try an Urban Mover and I was very impressed :
....It was so comfortable I thought I could sit it for many hours and wished later I had tried it for longer than the 5 minutes I tested it.
...one point you raised..."If you discount 26" wheels"
The Urban mover has 26" wheels....What's wrong with 26" wheels ?
.....Mike
....It was so comfortable I thought I could sit it for many hours and wished later I had tried it for longer than the 5 minutes I tested it.
...one point you raised..."If you discount 26" wheels"
The Urban mover has 26" wheels....What's wrong with 26" wheels ?
.....Mike
I'd love one of these bikes and they are probably ideal for my terrain, most of it is flat with a few nasty hills. Problem is the road quality, I only see people riding road bikes on certain routes and I enjoy my choice of paths too much to give up the mountain bike style. I saw the Ridgeback on there but I can't see a USP for it and it doesn't interest me.
The Cytronex setup works well on a fast bike, a 26" mountain bike has a more limited top speed so a lighweight setup with negligable drag is not so important. There's a good choice if you want an electric mountain bike with 26" wheels with bigger batteries at lower prices.
There's more than one point here Rog. They don't use Lithium batteries which tend to have actual capacities under load well short of the nominal figure. One 10 Ah that A to B tested recently had an actual capacity in high load conditions not much over 6 Ah. Cytronex turned down that route after finding that failure and use very high spec NiMh cells which really give the 4.3 Ah under working conditions once conditioned.
The other thing is the two stage power system which doesn't waste as much power in the acceleration phase in the way all the other hub motor bike designs do.
The best test though is that of someone who the bike isn't suited to. Aldby (John) who I think would agree that he is the average utility cyclist bought one of these and eventually got rid of it, much preferring his Agattu. He followed the conditioning instructions and the range quickly rose to the 18/20 miles region. Any effect of the small capacity for him was probably in the average speeds he got of around 12 mph, given that he wasn't putting in sport rider effort. Others get higher average speeds, and I think Harry does on his commute.
The genuine 20 miles from 4.3 Ah is good, given that a number of e-bikes with a nominal 10 Ah of lithium can struggle to get more than 15 miles in average hands.
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But if you do run out of juice then it's not really a problem with a Cytronex. Whereas on most other ebikes you're left with no option but to get off and push it up the hills.
There's also the option to carry a 2nd battery in a small backpack.
I suspect if I had a Cytronex then I would only need the battery on the hills. On my Wisper I use the battery on the flat AND the hills.
As a user of a Cytronex I think it is a brilliant ebike. The merits of the design have been discussed numerous times on this forum but I just have doubts about the line up. I wonder if there is something of the 'Tony Castle' syndrome where Mark at Cytronex would rather spend time developing electric bikes rather than selling them. It is understandable, but as a user I need to know that they are going to be around in a years time for spares/batteries etc. They aren't going to around if they don't sell the ruddy things!
I really think the line-up could be better. Lack of a base model, lack of one with front suspension fork, unisex rather than step through are just a few omissions.
Mike63 - no problem with 26 inch wheel per se but there is no info about what motor is in use (should be 190 rpm) and I always think they look a little small with some riders so won't suit all. So the 'base' model is £1400, add mudguards and a rack and it becomes very expensive.
I really think the line-up could be better. Lack of a base model, lack of one with front suspension fork, unisex rather than step through are just a few omissions.
Mike63 - no problem with 26 inch wheel per se but there is no info about what motor is in use (should be 190 rpm) and I always think they look a little small with some riders so won't suit all. So the 'base' model is £1400, add mudguards and a rack and it becomes very expensive.
I can vouch for the 20 mile assisted range. This week I've been frugal with the power to see how many miles I can get on a single charge. I've mostly just used the power on hills but also avoided struggling or breaking out into a sweat. I'm up to 41 mles so far and still have charge left. Terrain has been mixed and obviously I've put most of the effort in.
I tried 3 of the bikes out at Presteigne. I thought they were excellent rides. Driving home I had similar thoughts to those of Harryb and some doubts about the very surprising line up. However Cytronex are in the market to sell bikes for people that want a "normal" bike with assistance for when the going gets tough.
This lineup does seem to be aimed mostly at the more up market city commuter rider (with somewhere nice & secure to lock his bike up!). The choice of strong lightweight quality bikes, carbon forks, flat bars, fixed gear, dropped handlebars, steel frames, and a very discreet electric system was fantasy stuff, I'm sure, for some of us sad people - it was for me. I also like the way the motor kicks in automatically at 5mph now.
Anyway I think they'll sell well enough for Cytronex to stay in business.
PS: The kit itself has changed very little and the bikes are from large and reputable companies like Trek and Cannondale. I don't see future support and availability of parts being much of an issue.
I tried 3 of the bikes out at Presteigne. I thought they were excellent rides. Driving home I had similar thoughts to those of Harryb and some doubts about the very surprising line up. However Cytronex are in the market to sell bikes for people that want a "normal" bike with assistance for when the going gets tough.
This lineup does seem to be aimed mostly at the more up market city commuter rider (with somewhere nice & secure to lock his bike up!). The choice of strong lightweight quality bikes, carbon forks, flat bars, fixed gear, dropped handlebars, steel frames, and a very discreet electric system was fantasy stuff, I'm sure, for some of us sad people - it was for me. I also like the way the motor kicks in automatically at 5mph now.
Anyway I think they'll sell well enough for Cytronex to stay in business.
PS: The kit itself has changed very little and the bikes are from large and reputable companies like Trek and Cannondale. I don't see future support and availability of parts being much of an issue.
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