New X24

[Andrew harvey]

Had a test ride on the X24 yesterday.
Yes it keeps the 6AH battery for the moment, but it now has a geared front hub, Judgeing by the motor serial No. It's probably an SB but I cann't guarrantee that.
The bike comes in a polished alli finish, looks a treat, the welding, components and general feel is a vast improvement over the Raleigh built frames. You now have a £3/400, 26" wheel hybrid type of bike with quality electric components.
The 24 speed is in truth a bit of an over kill, but it means a really good gear range for those power off trips.
As for power off riding the new motor has no noticable drag from the free wheel, trust me here I tried preety hard to find some, pedalling upto about 20mph out of the saddle, as the kids round here tell you Sick man!
Putting the power on, no variable pedal sensing, just a straight if you pedal the throttle activates control, making it euro compliant, the way it should be, ( my opinion, these are not meant as cheap mopeds ). The throttle has a short action, feathering would demand care but not many people can be bothered to learn to ride effiecently.
Accelleration comes in strong almost as soon as both pedals and throttle are turned, top speed is definetly on the sporty side of road legal, say no more here. The new motor gives a much sharper feel to the bike, some due to the lighter weight (partcularly power of) but mostly due to the smooth relatively quiet power delivery. The motor is by no means silent, particulalry at low speeds were you get the charicteristic resonant hum of electric motors, yet is quieter than most, at speed it wouldn't draw attention.
I cann't comment on range, I never like to kill any battery, but from experience and comments I've heard expect an increase over the old combination, riding fast and furious over undulating roads rather than hilly terrain I would happily set out on a 20+ mile cross country on this new bike, I wouldn't have fancied that with the old motor, ( too slow and not nearly enough fun ). If the battery died 3 to 4 miles from home it wouldn't bother me on this bike.
To sum up Powabyke have now caught up, forget the so called limited range, for most journeys the new combination delivers all your going to need, and you never know what else they have up their sleeve, I got a sneak preveiw yesterday. At the price, a nats ' under a grand with excelent backup, a well deserved recommendation for their hard work.

 

[jbond]

- Could you weigh the battery?

- £299.00 for a 36v-10Ahr liOn seems not so bad by UK prices. This is for the Lithium Battery for Shopper & City. £299 for 36v6Ahr for X6-24 not so much.

- They're quoting £995
X-24 Powabyke : Electric Bikes & Electric Scooters
How did you arrive at £3-400?

- The spec says brushed motor. Surely shome mishtake. Does anyone know what it really is? Bafang QSWXK perhaps? Looks a bit big for that.

I like the idea of mounting the battery on the water bottle mounts. Low and centralised. I wish there were more suppliers that used this position. Vaguely thinking about constructing something to mount a Ping battery here in one of their long thin layouts. The end result of a lightweight hybrid, small light motor and centrally mounted battery with just enough AHr is very appealing.

 

[Patrick]

X-24 Powabyke : Electric Bikes & Electric Scooters[/url]
How did you arrive at £3-400?

- The spec says brushed motor. Surely shome mishtake. Does anyone know what it really is? Bafang QSWXK perhaps? Looks a bit big for that.

I think the £3-400 reffers to the cost of an unassisted bike with a simmilar build, i.e. if you took a £3-400 bike and added a motor etc you would get a Powabyke.

It looks like the Powabyke site hasn't been updated with the new model, the X-24 now looks like this:

and has a brushless motor. See Frank Curran's post for more info:

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/6913-new-x-6-powerbyke.html#post87687

Patrick

 

[flecc]

Thanks for the report Andrew. I know that during the hunt for a replacement motor Powabyke were keen not to lose the advantages they had with the old one, free running and good hill climbing, and the search went on for a long time. I'm not entirely confident that is an SB motor, but it hardly matters if it does the job well.

It's good to hear of the overall improvements since the thought of this long established company disappearing was very discouraging. Let's hope they regain their former high street eminence in the marketplace, the product and pricing sounds right for that to happen.
.

 

[SteveG]

I have to say, I'm really impressed with mine. Handles the hills really well. Just seems to flatten them out really.

Particularly like the 24 gear set up. Without the power it rides faster and smoother than my Raleigh Metro LX.

 

[Andrew harvey]

I think the £3-400 reffers to the cost of an unassisted bike with a simmilar build, i.e. if you took a £3-400 bike and added a motor etc you would get a Powabyke

As PatricK says The £3/400 would be the value of a 24 speed hybrid of simalar quality without the motor and electrics.
Powabyke have even fitted Shimano V brake to maintain the quality image, not the sort of detail you'ld get on the most of the e-bikes now coming in.
My biggest complait with e-bikes was always the low spec of the components fitted, even the Torq 1 was I felt disappointing in this respect.
It wasn't until Kalkoffs arrived that the manufactorers realy upped the anti, now powabyke have joined the quality brigade, with I've been told more to come.

The motors not a QSXWZK, slightly wider more like the old Torq 1 motor, but quieter.

I've bitten the bullet and fitted electrics to my recumbent, a couple of people were interested in how they would perform.
a friend summed it up;
"WAY TO MUCH FUN"
I will have to take a few photos and write something up.

 

[aseb]

Had a test ride on the X24 yesterday.
Yes it keeps the 6AH battery for the moment, but it now has a geared front hub, Judgeing by the motor serial No. It's probably an SB but I cann't guarrantee that.

2 things here.
I have an X-Byke with a 6Ah battery- it said on the adverts, but it doesn't say 6Ah on the bike or in the manual. It doesn't say it on the battery either- in fact take it to bits and the pack of batteries says 4.8Ah. It was one of the very first consignment so they 'may' have changed, but I was told that 6Ah was originally based on the water bottle shaped battery that was shown on pre-release pictures (and is still incorrectly shown on some web site pictures) not the production thing. It may be worth getting a written guarantee or assurance of it being a 6Ah battery before buying, .........and personally I would check on delivery......)

Are you sure the new motor is geared? I believe the original motor is geared, and is a brushed one. The new motor is a lot smaller, I was told is brushless, and I thought not geared internally.

 

[Andrew harvey]

Definetly geared, and brushless.
To get a direct drive motor to put out sufficient power for an e-bike it would have to be a lot larger, check out the Bionx, Crystalyte motors, larger diameter and heavier.
Delivery on the bikes and batteries is normally very rapid unless Powabyke are out of stock, that can happen with any supplier.
I've taken a pack apart as well, said 6AH on the cells, but it might vary. The range of 15+ miles on the old bikes was expecting a lot of a 4AH battery with the old motor, but I cann't say what may have been fitted to yours, what range were you getting?

 

[aseb]

Definetly geared, and brushless.
To get a direct drive motor to put out sufficient power for an e-bike it would have to be a lot larger, check out the Bionx, Crystalyte motors, larger diameter and heavier.
Delivery on the bikes and batteries is normally very rapid unless Powabyke are out of stock, that can happen with any supplier.
I've taken a pack apart as well, said 6AH on the cells, but it might vary. The range of 15+ miles on the old bikes was expecting a lot of a 4AH battery with the old motor, but I cann't say what may have been fitted to yours, what range were you getting?

I have 2 packs mainly used battery only, one pack normally got 8-9 miles, longest ever was nearly 12 miles, now 6-7 miles. Second pack only went around 3 miles, replacement was never quite as good as the first giving around 7-8 miles, longest ever was under 10 miles, now around 6 miles. Distances lower when cold.

 

[aseb]

I have 2 packs mainly used battery only, one pack normally got 8-9 miles, longest ever was nearly 12 miles, now 6-7 miles. Second pack only went around 3 miles, replacement was never quite as good as the first giving around 7-8 miles, longest ever was under 10 miles, now around 6 miles. Distances lower when cold.

Took the batteries out of the casings:
Nominal / Charge 36V / 41V
Energy /Capacity 172.8Wh / 4.8Ah
Maximum Charge 4.8A
Maximum Discharge 9.0A
Internal blade fuse rating is 25A.

All 3 batteries had exactly the same ratings.

 

[morphix]

Had a test ride on the X24 yesterday.
Yes it keeps the 6AH battery for the moment, but it now has a geared front hub, Judgeing by the motor serial No. It's probably an SB but I cann't guarrantee that.
The bike comes in a polished alli finish, looks a treat, the welding, components and general feel is a vast improvement over the Raleigh built frames. You now have a £3/400, 26" wheel hybrid type of bike with quality electric components.
The 24 speed is in truth a bit of an over kill, but it means a really good gear range for those power off trips.
As for power off riding the new motor has no noticable drag from the free wheel, trust me here I tried preety hard to find some, pedalling upto about 20mph out of the saddle, as the kids round here tell you Sick man!
Putting the power on, no variable pedal sensing, just a straight if you pedal the throttle activates control, making it euro compliant, the way it should be, ( my opinion, these are not meant as cheap mopeds ). The throttle has a short action, feathering would demand care but not many people can be bothered to learn to ride effiecently.
Accelleration comes in strong almost as soon as both pedals and throttle are turned, top speed is definetly on the sporty side of road legal, say no more here. The new motor gives a much sharper feel to the bike, some due to the lighter weight (partcularly power of) but mostly due to the smooth relatively quiet power delivery. The motor is by no means silent, particulalry at low speeds were you get the charicteristic resonant hum of electric motors, yet is quieter than most, at speed it wouldn't draw attention.
I cann't comment on range, I never like to kill any battery, but from experience and comments I've heard expect an increase over the old combination, riding fast and furious over undulating roads rather than hilly terrain I would happily set out on a 20+ mile cross country on this new bike, I wouldn't have fancied that with the old motor, ( too slow and not nearly enough fun ). If the battery died 3 to 4 miles from home it wouldn't bother me on this bike.
To sum up Powabyke have now caught up, forget the so called limited range, for most journeys the new combination delivers all your going to need, and you never know what else they have up their sleeve, I got a sneak preveiw yesterday. At the price, a nats ' under a grand with excelent backup, a well deserved recommendation for their hard work.

Good review Andrew. What I like about these bikes is they look like normal road bikes and don't look too conspicuous..the smaller batteries look ideal for removing and carrying with you..but the high cost of replacements is a bit off-putting as with a battery this small you might want another one to extend the range.. I wonder if it's possible to supplement with a cheap Chinese imported battery off eBay? Saying that, the range and speed performance of these bikes from what I've seen looks impressive for the price and overall streamlined neatness.

 

[aseb]

Good review Andrew. What I like about these bikes is they look like normal road bikes and don't look too conspicuous..the smaller batteries look ideal for removing and carrying with you..but the high cost of replacements is a bit off-putting as with a battery this small you might want another one to extend the range.. I wonder if it's possible to supplement with a cheap Chinese imported battery off eBay? Saying that, the range and speed performance of these bikes from what I've seen looks impressive for the price and overall streamlined neatness.

That's what I've done because of the very low capacity of the originals. I had been expecting it to be a short range, but it was far less than originally claimed. In retrospect a bike with a larger battery from new (or an X-byke minus battery for a price reduced by something approaching the battery replacement cost. That would have been an attractive proposition)