Recently aquired from a forum member, this five month old Synergie Mistral has now successfully completed the first phase of it's "ruralization".
In the above photo you can clearly see the changes made. A pair of new boots....Specialized crossroads armadillo's, an excellent free-rolling puncture resistant tyre well up to the job of rural off-roading, and a bonus...they blend in nicely with the colour scheme. A Cane Creek "Thudbuster" seat post to ease the passage along Route 45 across the Marlborough Downs. In this photo, fully kitted out for extended riding, the machine weighs 31.7 Kgs. Add to this yours truely....gives a GVW of 109.2 Kgs. And of course, the most vital addition, the Phylion 10ah extender battery.
This battery was kindly supplied by Bob at AlienOcean. Bob will only allow a small amount of batteries to be purchased without a kit, so it might be best to contact him first before ordering. The battery was £210 delivered. If you already own a Mistral, you won't need a charger, just use the one you already have, it's identical to the one supplied with the kits.
The rack battery is fitted with a recessed female EIC socket, ( is that sexist?) the Mistrals power lead won't fit this and it's not long enough to reach anyway. You can make up an extender lead with a pair of EIC C14's and a length of 20 amp twin red 'n' black.
Originally, I had intended making up a sub-carrier that would allow the battery to be quickly locked in position, in fact, I had already started machining the parts when an eureka moment changed my mind. The extender battery is only going to used 5 or 6 times a year, so a pad of thick foam was cut and the battery secured with velcro straps. NOTE!. With a dual battery setup, never leave the key in the unused battery!, it can easily fall out and be lost. Put it safely in your pocket.
Trying to establish the demonstrated range of the machine has proved difficult, with only short weather slots, and never two consecutive days to complete the tests. Wednesday of course was a beautiful day for riding, a bit chilly on the fingers and toes, but long periods of warming sunshine. At 25 miles on the extender battery, all five lights were still on, so I flicked into sport mode and did a fast lap around the block. This included a two mile gentle upslope on route 45, running up this slope at full bore extinguished one light and the second flickering, but it wouldn't give in, slowing to go through an estate, all five lights came back on...at 28 miles I gave up and went home!!. I had hoped to finish it off today, but even before getting my porridge down my neck, it started raining again!.
One thing I now know, the two batteries will easily complete the 35 mile run to Marlborough and back with loads to spare. By the way, the battery is very fresh with a manufacturing date of March 2008.
So, what do I think of the Mistral?.
Love it!!. In the world of hub motored E-bikes, it surely joins the list of all time greats. In one word...INTEGRATED, everything on this machine just works together so well, the brakes, sturdy alloy frame and electrical system just seem made for each other. Don't be put off by the brushed motor, it's powerful, and as you can see from the miserly use of energy above, remarkably efficient.
I suspect when (if) the next batch arrives, they will be a good bit more expensive than before. Perhaps it will become a victim of its own deserved popularity. This is the reason I grabbed this machine quickly, with over 600 miles on the clock it had already proved it's reliability as a working bike. It will now spend the rest of it's life in pampered luxury, as do it's stable mates.
The Synergie Mistral is, quite simply, an absolutely delightful machine to ride.
All the best
Bob
In the above photo you can clearly see the changes made. A pair of new boots....Specialized crossroads armadillo's, an excellent free-rolling puncture resistant tyre well up to the job of rural off-roading, and a bonus...they blend in nicely with the colour scheme. A Cane Creek "Thudbuster" seat post to ease the passage along Route 45 across the Marlborough Downs. In this photo, fully kitted out for extended riding, the machine weighs 31.7 Kgs. Add to this yours truely....gives a GVW of 109.2 Kgs. And of course, the most vital addition, the Phylion 10ah extender battery.
This battery was kindly supplied by Bob at AlienOcean. Bob will only allow a small amount of batteries to be purchased without a kit, so it might be best to contact him first before ordering. The battery was £210 delivered. If you already own a Mistral, you won't need a charger, just use the one you already have, it's identical to the one supplied with the kits.
The rack battery is fitted with a recessed female EIC socket, ( is that sexist?) the Mistrals power lead won't fit this and it's not long enough to reach anyway. You can make up an extender lead with a pair of EIC C14's and a length of 20 amp twin red 'n' black.
Originally, I had intended making up a sub-carrier that would allow the battery to be quickly locked in position, in fact, I had already started machining the parts when an eureka moment changed my mind. The extender battery is only going to used 5 or 6 times a year, so a pad of thick foam was cut and the battery secured with velcro straps. NOTE!. With a dual battery setup, never leave the key in the unused battery!, it can easily fall out and be lost. Put it safely in your pocket.
Trying to establish the demonstrated range of the machine has proved difficult, with only short weather slots, and never two consecutive days to complete the tests. Wednesday of course was a beautiful day for riding, a bit chilly on the fingers and toes, but long periods of warming sunshine. At 25 miles on the extender battery, all five lights were still on, so I flicked into sport mode and did a fast lap around the block. This included a two mile gentle upslope on route 45, running up this slope at full bore extinguished one light and the second flickering, but it wouldn't give in, slowing to go through an estate, all five lights came back on...at 28 miles I gave up and went home!!. I had hoped to finish it off today, but even before getting my porridge down my neck, it started raining again!.
One thing I now know, the two batteries will easily complete the 35 mile run to Marlborough and back with loads to spare. By the way, the battery is very fresh with a manufacturing date of March 2008.
So, what do I think of the Mistral?.
Love it!!. In the world of hub motored E-bikes, it surely joins the list of all time greats. In one word...INTEGRATED, everything on this machine just works together so well, the brakes, sturdy alloy frame and electrical system just seem made for each other. Don't be put off by the brushed motor, it's powerful, and as you can see from the miserly use of energy above, remarkably efficient.
I suspect when (if) the next batch arrives, they will be a good bit more expensive than before. Perhaps it will become a victim of its own deserved popularity. This is the reason I grabbed this machine quickly, with over 600 miles on the clock it had already proved it's reliability as a working bike. It will now spend the rest of it's life in pampered luxury, as do it's stable mates.
The Synergie Mistral is, quite simply, an absolutely delightful machine to ride.
All the best
Bob
