Trek Fx+ test ride

[nab]

Hi all

This is my first post here. I've been looking for an electric bike for a little while now and have tested a powabyke x-6, giant twist and wisper 905se. I haven't seen much info on the Treks and I have been reading this forum a fair bit so I thought it was time I contributed something.

To put it into perspective; I am 33 years old, quite an experienced cyclist (although out of condition and nursing an achilles injury) and living in Cornwall and looking for a bike to do a 12 mile journey (each way). I am surrounded by large coastal hills so hill climbing would be important for me.

Please bear in mind that I am not a techie, mechanic type, a relative newcomer to electric bikes and don't know much about batteries etc but here goes.....

To begin with, the FX+ bike looks better in the flesh than in the photos on the net, the silver finish being rather attractive. The first thing I noticed (I started out with no assist) is that it is a quick rolling bike; the standard FX bike being a commuter bike with slick tyres. It is definitely a step up in this respect from my Dawes horizon in this respect. It certainly outdid the powabyke and giant in this respect. It also really did feel just like a normal bike with extra power and less like a specifically electric bike; much like the others that I have tried. One of the main contributory factors to this was that the motor was extremely quiet. I don't think I actually heard it once. The powabyke in comparison was like a jet taking off with the wisper somewhere in between.

There are four levels of assist on this bike. On 1 I didn't really notice any assitance at all. On 2 you can just about feel the assistance. On 3, ok now it feels like you're getting somewhere and on 4 the assistance feels quite pronounced. 200% of the effort put in.

I took it down to the coast from the shop, a distance of three miles without hardly ever dropping below 15mph. So now came the big test; cycling out of a cornish cove.... I put the assist to level 4 and dropped down into a low gear. Wow, I flew up the hill no problems, averaging around 10mph. What really impressed me in comparison to the other bikes I have tried was how responsive the assist was. This giving it a very sporty feel.


I left the assistance in 4 most of the time. I know that normally you would probably cycle at 2 or 3 but I wanted to see what I would be getting from it in high mode as that is what I want out of an electric bike. In terms of battery life the results weren't too impressive for what I want. Hilly though the route was, it wasn't long (7 miles ish) and half of it was downhill, when I got back to the shop I had used more than half of the battery which wasn't encouraging for someone who wants to be able to do 24 miles a day. (obviously recharging at work would be an option but I would like not to have to do that). The guy in the shop did say that you would get 12-15 miles out of it at level 4 assist (40-50 miles at level 2) so what I did is probably in line with that. There is no option to buy a larger capacity battery and the replacement battery he said would probably be somewhere between £450 and £500.

One of the gripes I had was that the middle chain ring was quite undergeared when you get up to cruising speed (15-18mph) which meant that I had to keep moving onto the front chainring. Thinking about it I suppose that you could stay in this higher chainring most of the time but as I didn;t think of this at the time I can't really say how succesful that would be to only use that.

Overall I was impressed by the bike and I think would be a great option for a sporty rider who wanted to go quickly for a long way and was happy to put in the work to extend the battery life and only really wanted assistance on hills and headwinds. However, if the battery had a little more capacity i think i might be tempted. I don't know if there are any other pure pedelec bikes with larger batteries available so that might be a good option.

I did find that I was constantly wishing that the mph assistance was a little higher though (I'm sure that's not uncommon)!! As my house backs onto the Portreath/Devoran cycle path (off road from north coast of cornwall to the south coast) a destricted speed option is very attractive. I see that is easy on the wisper. nice addition. I am quite pulled to the wisper (36V 14Ah)but if there are other pure pedelecs that can also be restricted and have larger capacity batteries I might be swayed towards that. I am also concerned that the hub motor of the wisper may not be up to the cornish hills and from what I read here (thanks for all your contributions) the panasonic crank drives are the business in this regard.

Not easy deciding on an electric bike is it?

That was quite a long first post!

Neil

Bridge, Cornwall

 

[flecc]

The BionX motor in the Trek is one of the best, but on highest power mode it will be greedy, especially in a hilly area.

A crank drive bike with the Panasonic motor will have a big enough range for you if it's gearing is left as standard. If you change it's rear sprocket it will then assist to higher speeds, depending on the degree of change, but that reduces the range. The largest change enabling assist as far as 20 mph leaves the range as low as 18 miles in average territory.

Before buying a crank drive bike it's essential you try one, they are radically different and not everyone likes them.
.

 

[nab]

hi flecc

so the trek isn't a crank drive then?

I don't really understand how altering the gearing changes the point at which the motor stops giving you assist.

Does the motor not measure your actual speed and then cut out accordingly?

 

[flecc]

hi flecc

so the trek isn't a crank drive then?

I don't really understand how altering the gearing changes the point at which the motor stops giving you assist.

Does the motor not measure your actual speed and then cut out accordingly?

The Trek's BionX motor is a hub motor so it only has it's one gearing ratio, in this case one to one and it's speed limit is fixed by design.

Because a crank drive motor has the road speed limit decided by how fast it's turning in the bike's top gear, changing the sprocket on the rear hub for a smaller one means the motor is fooled into thinking it's doing 15 mph when in fact it's fixed turning speed is driving the back wheel faster.
.

 

[nab]

Because a crank drive motor has the road speed limit decided by how fast it's turning in the bike's top gear, changing the sprocket on the rear hub for a smaller one means the motor is fooled into thinking it's doing 15 mph when in fact it's fixed turning speed is driving the back wheel faster.
.

ahh cheeky.... that's an interesting option although I can see how that would eat up more battery. I suppose that by knocking down the level of assist would even things out a bit over a journey as you're not putting in that extra effort above 15mph.

 

[nab]

would a crank motor be at all similar to the Giant Twist that I tried?

 

[nab]

....which I found to be quite a nice bike but wasn;t overwhelmed with it.

 

[HarryB]

Your thoughts on the FX+ are similar to mine in terms of the riding experience. I think the motor is great - very powerful, quiet and reasonable to ride unassisted. I thought the battery design together with the motor made the back of the bike far too heavy. I noticed this on the bumps when the bike jumped all over the place. In the end I was put off by the battery size and I think you will find that the replacement costs given are a bit optimistic. A bit of research shows that it is the same cost to buy as the 10Ah version and more like £700-800 (although there are no exact prices in the UK they are nearly $1000). All this for a 6Ah battery - unless Trek are going to offer a discount.

I loved the Bionx so much I even considered buying a kit, but at £1700 it is very over priced. I think you should try the Wisper Alpino, and one of the Panasonics. If you are prepared to charge at work even the Cytronex might work for you although 12 miles is pushing it if you use the motor all the time. I think you will find like me there is no perfect ebike and you will end up with some sort of compromise.

 

[HarryB]

....which I found to be quite a nice bike but wasn;t overwhelmed with it.

No not the new version as that is a hub motor and not very powerful at that.

 

[eddieo]

Seeing as you are an experienced cyclist, have you a bike you are happy with? if yes why not fit the BionX kit? as fitted to the Trek but with the higher capacity batteries and HT (high torque) version as well. it has the option of 2 capacity batteries both bigger then the Trek I think and positioning is better as well IMO.....pic attached

But as Flecc says, you need to try a crank system bike from the likes of E motion and Kalkhoff as well, both use the Panasonic system. or Gepida use another crank system from Yamaha

but this is the Rolls Royce of e bike kits

Oop's! crossed with Harrys.....

 

[nab]

and I think you will find that the replacement costs given are a bit optimistic. A bit of research shows that it is the same cost to buy as the 10Ah version and more like £700-800 (although there are no exact prices in the UK they are nearly $1000). All this for a 6Ah battery - unless Trek are going to offer a discount.

QUOTE]

jeez. well that puts that one out of the picture then!

 

[nab]

Seeing as you are an experienced cyclist, have you a bike you are happy with?

funny you should mention it....one option is to convert my dawes horizon tourer as it has 501 reynolds tube and 531 forks. I have looked at the alien kits and the ezee kits online but I am not sure whether the pre-made wheels would fit between the forks as they taper in at the top (around 5.1 cm width between forks whether the brakes are).

the advantages of converting this bike to me seem to be that it's a double butted steel frame (designed for touring), it's got 21 speed alivio gears on it and it is at present missing the front wheel (my missus backed into it in the car!). It seemed to me that this set-up might offer a better bike in general than some of the available chinese options; but they are optimised to carry the extra weight no? However, the tourer is optimised for carrying heavy loads too. Maybe the forks are too thin to handle a motor on the front?

One of the best features would be that, as it's 15 years old now, it isn;t such a desirable looking thing to nick.

I have e-mailed on-bike about the ezee kit (expensive though!) and with the details of my bike and am waiting to hear back from them. I would also like the ability to be able to get over 15mph assist with it.

BTW I am planning on adding straight handlebars to it anyway so that would help with a conversion kit i think.....

 

[eddieo]

Ezee kit makes sense as cheaper...

But! if you can wait Wisper Kit due Autumn, and this has the Dapush motor and controls ( see Mussels review of new wisper 906 alpino) also a choice of 2 battery capacity and battery within frame triangle......if you could wait I am sure it willl be excellent and competitive bit of kit

 

[nab]

yes that does sound good although it is a long time to wait. it's gotta be cheaper than an ezee kit for £900 hasn't it?! it doesn't make sense to me why the kits are so expensive. maybe it's just because it's a niche market. i think i read that ezee are selling the larger 36V14Ah battery option with their kits now so that does make a conversion kit interesting.

 

[eddieo]

yes that does sound good although it is a long time to wait. it's gotta be cheaper than an ezee kit for £900 hasn't it?! it doesn't make sense to me why the kits are so expensive. maybe it's just because it's a niche market. i think i read that ezee are selling the larger 36V14Ah battery option with their kits now so that does make a conversion kit interesting.

Wisper kit will be competitive I would think

quality kits are expensive as most of the cost is in the battery

I just dont like the Ezee battery where you have no choice but to carry it high on pannier. The others are pulling away now in design, and not treating battery placement as an afterthought ,

 

[Chief eZee Power]

eZee Conversion KIT

Wisper kit will be competitive I would think

quality kits are expensive as most of the cost is in the battery

I just dont like the Ezee battery where you have no choice but to carry it high on pannier. The others are pulling away now in design, and the treating of battery placement as an afterthought ,

It is entirely your choice if you simply don't like eZee, but please don't make false informations, there are several well designed choices for the eZee Batteries and specifically design City type and MTB type carrier, and panniers For those interested please check out website eZee electric bicycles: index

Thank you

 

[eddieo]

Your usual arrogant nonsense.......Your link does not seem? to have info re battery placement. as I said on a rack or in a bag it just don't cut it any more....

Can you stop accusing me of being anti Ezee bikes, and trying to discredit my opinion based on this? I have never even tried one.....your fault for making that impossibly inconvenient

How much is the T1 again? was it at Prestigne?

 

[flecc]

yes that does sound good although it is a long time to wait. it's gotta be cheaper than an ezee kit for £900 hasn't it?! it doesn't make sense to me why the kits are so expensive. maybe it's just because it's a niche market. i think i read that ezee are selling the larger 36V14Ah battery option with their kits now so that does make a conversion kit interesting.

Yes, the 14 Ah is standard in the kit at £895. Since that battery alone from either eZee or Wisper is some £500 the remainder isn't so expensive. You can also opt for the 10 Ah kit at £100 less.

As said by our eZeebike member, there are several battery and battery mounting options, the widest range by far of any kit announced to date, and the eZee motor is definitely the most powerful of the legal motors.

This link takes you direct to the battery and rack page on the eZee website, together with performance option.
.

 

[nab]

as a newcomer to the world of electric bikes i don't really get why the kit prices seem relatively high in comparison to the finished article e-bikes. for instance i see the ezee battery kit for £900 at onbike but then see the range of ezee bikes beginning at £1000 upwards. I also see the alien battery kits something like only £120-130 quid cheaper than the gents special bike.

is it....

economies of scale in the production process?

or

the addition of batteries and motors to cheap bikes? (please don't take offence mr ezee, i am commenting on how the market looks to a newcomer). it does make you wonder how good the bike itself is going to be if it's only just above the price of the battery.

if i had a really fancy bike then adding a kit seems like an easy decision. My bike however is good / middling quality......but not amazing. So straight away it starts to make the option of a completely new electric bike seem like more economic sense.

however, the immediate thought of a newbie is certainly that the DIY route should be significantly cheaper. but then again things don't always work like this within the structure of the modern world. a parrallel might be with computers where the price of upgrading a computer and buying a new one reach parity quickly.

looking at conversion kits from a resource use point of view; most people have bikes sitting in their shed's/attics/garages that would get used a hell of lot more if they were electrified; and electrification is the very thing that would get most people cycling. So it seems a shame that most, if they were to become interested in buying an electric bike, would be economically driven to buy new when their old can be improved with the addition of a conversion kit. Less waste in landfill, less resource use. Go to Holland and see people happily riding around on bikes that are 50 years old!

I'm not knocking at all the freedom of companies to build a brand new quality product and make a profit (people will always need bikes) but with 6 billion people on the planet (and rising), soaring petrol prices and resource problems the idea of retrofitting bikes at a reasonable price point makes a lot of sense in terms of sustainable development and the ability of mankind to make the most of what they've got. BTW I'm not promoting a stagnating economic / hippy utopian future here; just common sense resource use...and I am aware that in and of themselves, new electric bikes, that is practical and useable electric bikes, are quite an eco development; which is why I feel excited to know that they have finally 'come of age'.

unfortunately though, the UK's answer to economic problems in the car industry was to PROMOTE scrappage. I undestand why they did this but attempting to maintain the peak output of an industry that has been based on the provision of false credit seems a little odd. The cycle to work scheme is great in that is stimulates people to use a more sustainable form of transport and supports the bike industry, but again it's based on people buying new bikes. How many of the people who buy a bike on the scheme probably already have a bike that they think isn't up to the job? I would venture, quite a few. With a battery added, it may well be.

i don't usually rant on! it's just i saw kevin mccloud's program on the Daravi slum in Bombay the other night where, although driven to it by sheer poverty, they recycle 80% of bombay's waste! pretty much every last scrap of plastic is re-used down to the disposed of medical syringes.

so when, the next day, whilst mulling over which fancy new electric bike i should get, i went to the tip and saw a chap throwing an entire bike away, it made me keen to avoid profligacy and do my best to convert my own bike....

as long as it doesn't cost me too much arf arf...

 

[nab]

Yes, the 14 Ah is standard in the kit at £895.


.

that's good i rode the wisper with a 36v 14Ah battery and liked the pep.