barrycoll

Hi b4 despite having owned both Bosch (KTM) andYamaha (Haibike) I have experienced no power delivery issues with the C1 on a Trek 3. I couldn't say whether it's cadence or torque sending when actually riding in power On mode the feeling is one of having a pair of top $ legs that have slept well, rather than a pair of 83 year old slightly knackered ones, even in the lowest (yellow) power setting. having + or - of 70% of the battery left after 30 miles, means that for a good chunk of time we were cycling unpowered, as the Trek (although not "light") feels great unpowered, and not too dissimilar to our 9.5 kg Islabikes Janis..... the front wheel motor offers no resistance and you wouldn't know it was there. The hills around Hertfordshire can be steep but usually short, so with the 40x40 gearing on the Trek, a lot can be ridden before using the 'get out of jail free' button. Having just come back from Tuscany, the hills there are a different story, meaning sometimes a 5km+ climbs And old legs (my wife is 81) means a lot of power is needed, but even so a 25mile 500 meter climbing day left 12% in the battery we are just booking for a weeks cycling on the Spanish/Portuguese border, where distances are 35+ miles and 5/600meters of climbing. September should still be warm, but we will carry our very small battery chargers with us as you get 25% in 30 mins coffee stop.....IF there is a coffee shop en route of course! aesthetics of the battery bottle are mmmm, but in frame batteries just wouldn't work either on holiday or at home, so basically "needs must" a pretty bullet proof kit, as all electric connections are made in house, and nothing really exposed to the elements. Even after 1000 miles on the back of the car in foul conditions! cheers Barry C

Review off Cytronex kit My wife and I, have been around and toying with electric conversions for touring bikes for quite some years now. Starting with cheap Chinese front wheel conversions with just a hand throttle, which not unexpectedly,didn't last very long. We then progressed to a pair of KTM E-bikes that were Bosch powered and a bit noisy, but worked quite well, as long as you overlooked the weight and absence of fun when is Cycling with the power off. The problem was solved with these, when they were parked up with quality D locks in central London.....and then stolen. These were replaced by a pair of heavyweight and chunky looking German Haibike MTBs. These again were noisy despite being Yamaha powered, and again no fun to cycle with the power off. The search for renewed Cycling fun, led us to a pair of 9 1/2 kg Islabikes which have worked well for two or three years, as the extra low gearing compensated for the inevitable loss of leg power at 80+ years. So exploring the E bike scene once again showed us that InFrame batteries would not work on holiday, as charging would be a real problem. With rear wheel drive units, the possibility of a puncture was too daunting, and no advantages of being super light But need to bridge the gap between conventional ultra and mid- heavyweight E bikes, and the fun of lightweight touring bikes still existed, and was interestingly solved to some extent, by a subscription to David Henshaw's A2B Magazine David has been a longtime supporter and proponent of the Cytronex conversion from Winchester. I have been aware of this kit for sometime but considered it possibly too fragile for bikes transported on a towbar bike rack down to Spain or Italy I couldn't have been more wrong. After easily fitting two kits to a pair of road, orientated, mountain bikes a Trek 3 and a low step Whyte , we then drove across Europe in some pretty atrocious weather, so at that stage I had my doubts as to whether we would doing any E-biking at all? Once again, I couldn't have been more wrong 1400 kms away, the hills of Italy in the Tuscany region were no place for old folk without some electronic assistance. Unlike the UK, 5 km+ climbs were commonplace, with some gradients putting a big question mark over the wisdom of having front wheel rather than central or rear wheel assistance. Once again, I couldn't have been more wrong. Despite being rained blasted on the back of the car for hundreds of miles, both bikes performed perfectly. We tended to set them up with the yellow lowest power assistance at the minimal setting, and more or less this was good enough for most modest gradients. But definitely not all. Of course, when the road conditions were just give-and-take, the lack of any resistance from the front wheel motor meant that Power Off riding felt just like well sorted touring bikes. So fun was very much restored The only weakness or change that I would like to see, came when we were cycling, ridiculously steep gravel tracks as per our itinerary in northern Italy. Very loose gravel and some sudden increases in incline which meant going rapidly for more power with the left thumb. This on at least three occasions Meant unfortunately, turning the power off rather than increasing it. This in turn meant pushing the bike as restarting on these gradients was not possible. I would like to see the power button turned 90° so that the plus sign is in front of the handlebars, and the minus -is behind the handlebars, and Off is in the middle. The natural movement of the thumb tip when the hand is stationary on the hand grips is a gentle arc, so tracing an easy line from + to - via a central Off position When doing a 30 mile ride around undulating Hertfordshire north of London, we found that 30 miles used about 30% of the battery as per the iPhone app. in the yellow support position, but with lots of total power OFF Cycling. This is the only conversion that supports this possibility, in our experience. So our experiences of the Cytronex conversion is not a gentle commute to work, nor a Sunday fun ride, but some pretty hard-core cycling which would not of been possible for people of our age without some assistance. The conversions came through with flying colours, despite the conditions of travelling on the back of a car and being blasted by motorway, downpours for many hours....then many kms of rock and gravel surfaces not particularly recommended by Mark S of Cytronex These are not the conditions most people would use their bikes for, so this must confirm the possibility of a pretty bullet-proof conversion in even extreme circumstance. Highly recommended. Ps (It would be interesting to use a power meter and assess whether power On plus leg power is using much less effort than power off and a low gear plus leg power, of course at a much lower speed.)

Orbea Ribble, or C1 conversion as lightweight options The problem with Orbea and Ribble is that the bikes are still “live” when locked up......more stealable than removing battery on C1 or removing display on Bosch/Yamaha The other problem is having the bring the whole bike inside for charging, rather than just the battery Any thoughts,/ideas.....please

has anyone figured out just how to enlarge Haibike LCD LEFT HAND + and - speed/power buttons, to allow using them without having to look down They are so small, and one can feel barely any button to push against The Bosch buttons/paddles are far better, even usable with gloves on. I Araldited some small cable tie pieces to each button.....but they fell off after One use. Any ideas for fixing this folks.........or can I fit a Bosch Purion left hand control unit to a Haibike system????????

Paying the price for less hassle dear Crockers....but if I could have bought these 2 bikes for £1500 each, I would have bitten the vendors arm off. I think that Haibike frame sizes are really on the large size, and that Small is not really that small.....a bit like M&S waist sizes

Price reduced to £1550 each, or £1500 for taking both

You should have resisted, dear Kiwi, as it is not the step through versus fire breathing 70 nms of torque that is the issue, it is just the act of cycling itself I am sure that some folks amongst the readership will find these bikes quite marvelous...........AND, a bargain

Bought just 2 months ago from Cambridge E-bikes, so almost full 2 year warranties, and just 70 miles or so on the odo Basically buying them seemed like a good idea....but was a mistake. At 78 years old, a good pair of walking boots and top of the range back packs would have been a more sensible buy, as cycling now no longer has its attractions (for us) Both bikes are SMALL, but as I am 5’7”, and as the top tube length of Small was 54cms from seat pin to stem, that meant I didn’t need a shorter stem. But I did fit a longer seat pin Both bikes are basically the same spec, with 1X11 Shimano, Air forks etc etc, but my wife like a white frame, aalthough, in principle the geometry is supposed to differ. Riding either bike feels just the same The other reason for Small, is that less metal makes for a lighter bike...in theory anyway! New price was £2145, but will sell for £1600, but no offers please

Having had out KTM MACINA s stolen, I am considering replacing them with Cannondale/Cytronex, in the full knowledge that better priced and better specced donor bikes are available elsewhere, Even Decathlon B’Twin. Lightness, plus excellent Dec 2017 forensic review in A2B mag. are very convincing. Any thoughts from possible ex-users????

Wife and I cycled into London Town this afternoon, and securely chained 2 KTM Machinas to dedicated railings We used one Arbus Granit D Lock plus cable for front wheel and one very chunky cable, plus front wheel extension. One hour later, both stolen, and locks left unbelievably on the ground . ‘Fortunately’ (ha-ha) CCTV footage shows the bloke stealing the bikes, seemingly picking both locks, as both were undamaged, then riding one and steering the other bike away. How on earth can a person pick a top quality D lock in 5 minutes?????? One Machina is KTM white/orange/grey, with battery locked on but no charger or control unit. Chunky tyres replaced with 32 mm road tyres but with silver mudguards and pannier rack The wife’s is (was) a Trekking in Grey/black/ slight orange, but with battery fitted, and control unit also in place as it was dodgy getting it working if removed.........no charger as all at home Any ideas where these might end up, or if seen advertised PLEASE phone Barry on 0208 340 5350 Or barrycollins2@gmail.com would be wonderful Five minutes and £3.5k down the drain, as only insured for basic as always chained “securely”

Hi Kirstin.....I am away from tomorrow for 12 days, doing a cycling trip from Seville down to Cadiz. Unpowered bikes, and luggage transported to next hotel, and interestingly, it was doing these sort of holidays that convinced us that we didn't really need any "assistance" And so, no use for e-Brompton. I dont know how to do a PM, as there doesn't seem to be any link, that I can see

If you are waiting for my reply Kirstin...how about £50

It would be nice if the kit was used rather than gathering dust Kirstin, so make me a reason able offer, and its yours. barry c.

Hi Kirstin... The short answer to clues, is no....I didn't notice anything untoward, other than that the thumb throttle has always been a bit hit and miss.....eg., it wouldn't always rotate fully, and so only half power was available, until that is, I jiggled it with my thumb to find a way past the restriction......this seemed to get worse towards the last few rides. I am pretty sure that the Tongsin wheel is working OK, and that it could also be the controller. The battery got me about 6 miles home from dropping the car off, and some steepish hills (Nth London), but I am a pedellar too! Not very forthcoming, but the best I could say really