Raleigh Velo Trail anyone?

[Farleymarley]

After trying as many bikes as I could actually find to try, I have decided to hopefully get (applying via Cyclescheme) the Raleigh Velo Trail bike. I prefer the feel of this bike, its a lot more natural, after all I do like cycling, just dont have the stamina I used to. The way that the torque assist works is much more natural to me and doesnt make me feel that I dont have total control of the bike.

Its a really local dealer, he said he would change the tyres to hybrid ones and will probably swap the stock saddle for my Brookes.

So I do have some questions:
Ive tried to find some reviews on the Raleigh Velo Trail and have only come upon one, which is mainly about the Velo Citi version. Can anyone give me any links to any ones on the Trail.

With the torque sensor, does this need any special care?

Are there any known problems with this bike?

With the battery being on the rack are there any special considerations with this placement ie do these sorts of batteries need some sort of protection from the rain?

Anyone else got one?

Ta muchly

Have now got to go off and find the best type of security for it, although that might have to be a different thread.

 

[flecc]

With the torque sensor, does this need any special care?

Are there any known problems with this bike?

With the battery being on the rack are there any special considerations with this placement ie do these sorts of batteries need some sort of protection from the rain?

I don't know what torque sensor they use, but judging from your very favourable comments It could well be the excellent rear mounted TMM sensor. In any event, torque sensors need no maintenance.

I've never seen any reports of problem with the Velo series, in this forum or elsewhere. Given the source factory, Derby Cycles in Germany who make among others the Kalkhoff e-bikes, and it's high reputation for quality, that's not surprising.

Rack mounted batteries need no special protection from rain.

Here is a thread about bicycle locks, and here's another one, and yet another one.

Hope that's some help pending a possible owner coming in.

 

[Orraman]

Might help?

Dave

electricbikemag.co.uk::Review: Raleigh Velo-Cité Xbar (early 2012)

 

[flecc]

Thanks Dave, that is the TMM sensor, excellent.

 

[BrianP]

My wife has one and she loves it. It seems to be quite a bit quicker than my Kona Electric Ute on the same settiing. On level three it feels like a moped. She flies along, thinking of putting up warning signs in the village!

Good to swap the tyres, they do seems a bit too knobbly for the tarmac. I am thinking of putting on some Continental Citycontact tyres which seems very puncture resistant when riding on gravel paths in the New Forest. I have had a lot of punctures on my bikes with other tyre makes.

Two small problems. The main drive cable is cable tied to the forks. It needs care so that as the forks move up and down, it does not form a loop which can then rub against the tyre tread. A couple of goes sorted that. I think we actually cut off one of the two cable ties. Perhaps they were only there for shipping and should have been removed.

Sometimes if my wife forgets to turn it off at the key, the screen shuts down and Anne senses the bike has no electric power. Anne once rode home with no power thinking something was wrong. Just turning the key off and on sorts it.

In addition to the quick nature of the bike, it also seems to have a good range. Anne can use it all week, 4 times back and forth to work each day, about 2 miles each way, and only charges up at the weekend.

Our two electric bikes have brought us a lot of fun and we ride more together than we ever did before.

Brian

 

[Farleymarley]

Two small problems. The main drive cable is cable tied to the forks. It needs care so that as the forks move up and down, it does not form a loop which can then rub against the tyre tread. A couple of goes sorted that. I think we actually cut off one of the two cable ties. Perhaps they were only there for shipping and should have been removed.

Sometimes if my wife forgets to turn it off at the key, the screen shuts down and Anne senses the bike has no electric power. Anne once rode home with no power thinking something was wrong. Just turning the key off and on sorts it.

Brian

Thank you for that info Flecc, today I went for another quite a long ride on it and have now requested my Cyclescheme certificate for that bike, as I work for Cheshire East they have a pretty good system all set up and Ive had a phone call to say that it all looks okay and should get the certificate shortly

Interesting about the TMM sensor, there is an absolutely seamless transition on the motor kicking in, you dont get that woosh that almost shoots you forward as in some of the other bikes. Extremely quiet and strange that this time after having spent most of the weekend trying out different bikes it didnt seem half as 'top heavy' as it did last week when I tried it first.

Brian Im not sure what you mean about the key. On the model I saw today, the key wasnt used to turn anything off or on, it was just to lock the battery to the frame, there was a small black on/off switch for power on the battery casing. There was a seperate on/off switch on the controller on the handlebar for the display.

Im hoping that I will be able to go out with my friend who is an avid cyclist just for pleasure rides as well as my commute....work is 1 mile away lol However that mile is down a busy A road and as its a rural primary school where I work with barely a pavement let alone a cycle path, its quite a challenging route safety wise.

 

[BrianP]

Quite right. Getting mixed up with my bike which has a key for on and off and Anne's bike which, as you say, has a switch for on and off.

Brian

 

[jackhandy]

As, I suspect, most of us, I try to avoid the busiest roads ; but, yesterday, I needed to go into town to pick up a package from the gpo.

2 cars pulled straight accross my bows on the Tesco roundabout & 1 bloke pulled out 2 ft. From a side road, before his missus stopped him . I' was able to swerve round him.

Funny enough, the package I was collecting was a bullet camera, which is now on my helmet .

They might still not see me, but at least I'll have proof that I really was there

Take care & keep your eyes peeled.