Powacycle Infineum electric bike
- Thread starter UrbanPuma
- Start date
Thats good to hear - I'll be looking forward to it. Thanks.
Hang on a min....I'm a bit perplexed as i've noticed Zippy hasnt posted anything in the forum yet, so my question is, how do you know he has purchased one Flecc - is he/she a friend of yours?
Hang on a min....I'm a bit perplexed as i've noticed Zippy hasnt posted anything in the forum yet, so my question is, how do you know he has purchased one Flecc - is he/she a friend of yours?
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I too would be very interested. My local store just got their first one in stock last week. I've not seen it yet though.Has anyone bought or had a test ride on the new infineum? A review would be much appreciated?
Zippy, could you share your first impressions?
I've only just seen this, hence no previous answer UrbanPuma. I think you might have edited in the query after I'd read your initial comment.
No, he's not known to me, he PM'd me and mentioned the Infineum details at the same time. The PM is long gone since I get so many and have to clear them, but I think the PM might have been about a posting or site access problem.
New member PMs usually are.
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A bit early to push him for a full review, he'd only contacted me just before this thread which is why it was fresh in my memory when you inquired. That was just over two weeks ago.
I'll ask him to post some impressions here though, but whether he responds depends on whether he visits the forum meanwhile.
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I'll ask him to post some impressions here though, but whether he responds depends on whether he visits the forum meanwhile.
.
I bought an infineum Extreme about a month ago - great bike but it went wrong (no power) after about 20 miles. Replaced with a new one that also went wrong (battery started to burn/melt at one of the terminals) - this time after about 12 miles. So I paid £70 to send it back (I was outside the 7 day period as I'd been in the US on business). That was about 10 days ago and I'm now waiting for a refund (which to be fair I have been promised). So, overall, not what you'd call a resounding endorsement - but I guess I was unlucky. I'm now waiting for one of the new Cytronex models...
Sorry to hear of your problems Simon. You'd think they'd have sorted out these things by now what with their one year delay in launching it.
I hope they are refunding your £70!
I hope they are refunding your £70!
Infineum
Hi,
It was a news report about the Infineum which first shed any light on electric bikes for me. I rode one in Long Eaton back in April just before Presteigne. They were having a few problems with the battery system. The battery lock mechanism had too much play and therefore would cut the power randomly. A wedge of wood did the trick but not really the ideal solution.
I was impressed by the bike, however, it was only the 4th electric bike I'd ridden, so was still a buzz. The battery system does look quite neat, if a little flawed. I struggle to see how stacking them could ever work with that much play.
Since then I have ridden the Emotion and Cytronex ranges. Both feel a league above, but with a cost to match.
Matt
Hi,
It was a news report about the Infineum which first shed any light on electric bikes for me. I rode one in Long Eaton back in April just before Presteigne. They were having a few problems with the battery system. The battery lock mechanism had too much play and therefore would cut the power randomly. A wedge of wood did the trick but not really the ideal solution.
I was impressed by the bike, however, it was only the 4th electric bike I'd ridden, so was still a buzz. The battery system does look quite neat, if a little flawed. I struggle to see how stacking them could ever work with that much play.
Since then I have ridden the Emotion and Cytronex ranges. Both feel a league above, but with a cost to match.
Matt
i haven't even had the bike refund yet! Patience is fortunately one of my few virtues
although i've let my hardware skills get rusty I can immediately see how this poor contact on a high current connection is bound to go pear shaped..
TBH as much as I think the Salisbury/Windsor is a good bike and the Infineum is innovative I think they've missed their window to market and Wisper has stolen their thunder at its price point, and its more of a shame the problems couldn't be solved in the delay...
at the moment for just a bit more you could get a Wisper with much more range and a tried and tested design - although looking at earlier discussions about the Wisper it did take about two years to refine it, so maybe the Infineum will be "ready" by 2011
IMO Powacycle should have made something like a "super-Salisbury" with a 36v system or longer range or some other enhancement which would have also saved them loads of R & D costs...
Infineum review
Hi, Sorry I haven't done the review sooner but had some problems with the bike. Got the bike on the 9th of April, broke down after 130 miles, think it had somethink to do with the hub motor but not sure, there was resistance when I spun the wheel with the bikes electrics switched off. Sent it back at a cost of £90, but I did get a refund after I said that under the consumer act the bike was not "fit for purpose", so reasonable happy that Powacycle didn't argue the point. Got the second bike a couple of days later, that broke down after about a 160 miles, bike just stopped. This time it looked like it was electrical. Powacycle arranged to have it picked up at their expence. The 3rd bike arrived Friday 22 May. I was going on holiday the following day so I didn't get to use it until May 31st. So far I've done 480 miles in all kinds ot weather without any problems. Not much in the way of hills on my way to work but I am doing the 8 miles in about 37 minutes, I don't drop below 20th gear now I've got a bit fitter and I'm 55 and 80 kgs so pretty impressed with the bike providing it keeps going. I have rode it to work and back without charging the bike at work, but I did notice that it would loose power due to it only being a 6.5 amp battery. When I charge it at work, it's fine. It is pretty nippy from a standing start to, the lads at work love it, a couple of them have said that they will get one if the price comes down and I don't have any more trouble with this one. Hope my review has helped, will let you all know from time to time how I'm getting on.
Regards.
Zippy
PS, I have stuck velcro to the battery and covered it with a piece of thin rubber, helps hide it and keeps the weather out.
Hi, Sorry I haven't done the review sooner but had some problems with the bike. Got the bike on the 9th of April, broke down after 130 miles, think it had somethink to do with the hub motor but not sure, there was resistance when I spun the wheel with the bikes electrics switched off. Sent it back at a cost of £90, but I did get a refund after I said that under the consumer act the bike was not "fit for purpose", so reasonable happy that Powacycle didn't argue the point. Got the second bike a couple of days later, that broke down after about a 160 miles, bike just stopped. This time it looked like it was electrical. Powacycle arranged to have it picked up at their expence. The 3rd bike arrived Friday 22 May. I was going on holiday the following day so I didn't get to use it until May 31st. So far I've done 480 miles in all kinds ot weather without any problems. Not much in the way of hills on my way to work but I am doing the 8 miles in about 37 minutes, I don't drop below 20th gear now I've got a bit fitter and I'm 55 and 80 kgs so pretty impressed with the bike providing it keeps going. I have rode it to work and back without charging the bike at work, but I did notice that it would loose power due to it only being a 6.5 amp battery. When I charge it at work, it's fine. It is pretty nippy from a standing start to, the lads at work love it, a couple of them have said that they will get one if the price comes down and I don't have any more trouble with this one. Hope my review has helped, will let you all know from time to time how I'm getting on.
Regards.
Zippy
PS, I have stuck velcro to the battery and covered it with a piece of thin rubber, helps hide it and keeps the weather out.
Thanks Zippy, I thought we'd lost you!
Sorry to hear of your troubles, it seems the Infineon should have had more testing before release and the quality control in manufacture improved.
This is the third bike to step back in time to a small battery, joining the Cytronex and Powabyke X bikes, but at least with the Infineon you can double up on batteries in the rack.
It's going to be interesting to see which trend wins in the market, larger long range battery or smaller short range one. My betting is on long range, or possibly the multi-battery system like your rack one and the pannier systems on the Giant and some Currie models.
.
Sorry to hear of your troubles, it seems the Infineon should have had more testing before release and the quality control in manufacture improved.
This is the third bike to step back in time to a small battery, joining the Cytronex and Powabyke X bikes, but at least with the Infineon you can double up on batteries in the rack.
It's going to be interesting to see which trend wins in the market, larger long range battery or smaller short range one. My betting is on long range, or possibly the multi-battery system like your rack one and the pannier systems on the Giant and some Currie models.
.
Well it's ok up to now but only time will tell. But at least it has the 2 year warranty. I'ts Ideal for what I need it for though.
Zippy
If the lads at work are serious,they could try to get your company to sign up for the cycle to work scheme.They can save up to about 40% off rrp
Cycle to Work Scheme implementation guidance
Here’s my ONE THOUSAND mile review on this particular bike, taking into account the first two broke down shortly after I received them.
Since I last wrote I have changed the tyres to ones more suitable for road use and also because I had two punctures in the first month or so of use.. I have changed to Schwalbe Marathons at a cost of £40 a pair, no punctures since and a lot less road resistance. I bought them from my local cycle exchange, this particular shop has been selling bikes since I was a kid and probably along time before. I had taken the bike into the shop a few weeks earlier for their impression of it, they said that the Infinium Extreme was the best looking electric bike they had seen so far and was a good spec for the price, they said it was better than the Powabyke X models although to be fair the Powabyke was cheaper. Two of the guys asked if they could have a ride, they were impressed.
The Infinium on the hole has done its job remarkably well, as I said in the last review there isn’t much in the way of hills on my way to work but there are gradual climbs and it seems as if I have had a head-wind on my journey home almost every night, we have had some real heavy down-pours too, but the bike hasn’t faulted.
The bike with battery and some gear I carry on the rack weighs 24kgs and you know it when you switch off the electrics, it’s the difference between 21 gear with motor engaged and 12 gear when not, with a lot less speed..I have done 20 miles on one charge with a little still left in the tank, but normally charge the battery after each outing, no matter how short the journey, doesn’t do it any harm because there is no memory effect with this type of battery, (Li-Pol). I estimate that a full charge/ discharge cycle takes me 1.5 days to complete, and if the battery is good for 1000 cycles then it should last me around 250 weeks of use, thats close to five years.
“I’ll settle for that”, The cost of the bike + delivery was £1200, to date I have recouped £400 of that in savings on commuting too and from work. The bike should pay for its self in 14 months of use. I have not used it “off road” so can’t comment on how good or bad it is at that particular task, but as for it’s use as a city bike I have found it more than capable of copping with my commuting needs
I have had no problem with the reported battery lock fault at all, but do have a couple of small gripes, No.1 is the trip meter and speed is -30% out and I can’t see any way of callibrating it, No.2, the the plug on the charger the one that plugs into the battery has a faulty clamp, ie: the clamp is fully closed but it doesn’t clamp the cable so I have had to use tape to protect it from being yanked out of the plug.
Conclusion: If Powacycle sort out or have sorted out the earlier problems, then I would have no hesitation in recommending the Infinium Extreme as a capable electric city bike.
Zippy
Since I last wrote I have changed the tyres to ones more suitable for road use and also because I had two punctures in the first month or so of use.. I have changed to Schwalbe Marathons at a cost of £40 a pair, no punctures since and a lot less road resistance. I bought them from my local cycle exchange, this particular shop has been selling bikes since I was a kid and probably along time before. I had taken the bike into the shop a few weeks earlier for their impression of it, they said that the Infinium Extreme was the best looking electric bike they had seen so far and was a good spec for the price, they said it was better than the Powabyke X models although to be fair the Powabyke was cheaper. Two of the guys asked if they could have a ride, they were impressed.
The Infinium on the hole has done its job remarkably well, as I said in the last review there isn’t much in the way of hills on my way to work but there are gradual climbs and it seems as if I have had a head-wind on my journey home almost every night, we have had some real heavy down-pours too, but the bike hasn’t faulted.
The bike with battery and some gear I carry on the rack weighs 24kgs and you know it when you switch off the electrics, it’s the difference between 21 gear with motor engaged and 12 gear when not, with a lot less speed..I have done 20 miles on one charge with a little still left in the tank, but normally charge the battery after each outing, no matter how short the journey, doesn’t do it any harm because there is no memory effect with this type of battery, (Li-Pol). I estimate that a full charge/ discharge cycle takes me 1.5 days to complete, and if the battery is good for 1000 cycles then it should last me around 250 weeks of use, thats close to five years.
“I’ll settle for that”, The cost of the bike + delivery was £1200, to date I have recouped £400 of that in savings on commuting too and from work. The bike should pay for its self in 14 months of use. I have not used it “off road” so can’t comment on how good or bad it is at that particular task, but as for it’s use as a city bike I have found it more than capable of copping with my commuting needs
I have had no problem with the reported battery lock fault at all, but do have a couple of small gripes, No.1 is the trip meter and speed is -30% out and I can’t see any way of callibrating it, No.2, the the plug on the charger the one that plugs into the battery has a faulty clamp, ie: the clamp is fully closed but it doesn’t clamp the cable so I have had to use tape to protect it from being yanked out of the plug.
Conclusion: If Powacycle sort out or have sorted out the earlier problems, then I would have no hesitation in recommending the Infinium Extreme as a capable electric city bike.
Zippy
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