Paws

I ordered a Connex 17 and 19 teeth sprockets and decided to start with the 17 one. My stock was actually 15 teeth. From my POV the +2 teeth translate to 3-5 kph greater speed on the smallest rear sprocket with same-ish effort (measured with HRM). I'm still not in the 50s speed but so far I am pleased. Thanks for your help

I was wondering if any of you noticed an increase in battery rattling when riding the bumps? It's been a 1500 km / Active 2014 / Abus lock and I seem to be more aware of any unusual sounds than ever before. Anything to tighten or duct tape?

Thank you all, but @ EddiePJ, the SUV is an oldie one (mk 2014) with 10 speed cassette (http://www.tweekscycles.com/bikes/electric-e-bikes/cube-suv-hybrid-29-e-bike-2014). I love (her) so much, nevertheless I surely don't want to completely mess my current shifting experience, but as RobF said - need my fastest speed to be a little more fast I had a real tough time counting the existing teeth, and am quite convinced that there are 16 of those buggers (could be 15 though), so, as I am waiting for your kind further answer/enlightment, 18 seems like maybe okay-ish. I found even 17 and 19 ones @ ebay, so even one tooth seems to really make a difference. I wonder if a bike service guy could change it without that quite expensive spider tool...there aren't many pedelecs (nor hub motor e-bikes) where I come from.

After about 1 yr and around 1500 km on my Cube SUV, Bosch Active 2014 engine (dongled almost all the way) I am beginning to notice some serious improvements in my fitness. The logical question for me now is what kind of bigger front chainring do I need to get past my usual 40-42 kph road speed without 'spin out' - if that's the right expression? What would be the sideffect on lower speeds by that change? Looking for some infos to know where to start... As one can see, I'm not very into bike mechanics (nor physics) Thanks, I know there are guys here who did this on their badassed bikes

Well, after my first commute of 40 km the battery was on 3/5 (I'd say around 50%) wich made me so happy. Used mostly tour mode and less sport. The average speed increase is very noticeable - around 7-8 kph which made my trip about 10 minutes shorter. From my point of view, the full potential of (Bosch) pedelec is seen only when you derestrict it. But, if the legal assisted speed would ever be upped to 30-35 kph, that would be enough. Again, IMO.

After some time of waiting I finally got my paws on typ3.2 and after only an afternoon of testing all I can say is...wow - completely different feel of the bike. Did manage to go around 27 mph on flat (sport) for some time which seemed so fast comparing to the "ordinary" speed. The wind resistance is certainly an issue in these kind of speeds. My current bad shape and disrupted health don't allow me to maintain such speed for long time but I hope to improve them as my kilometers stack up. As of battery drain, it's too early to judge, but my first feel is that minumum required range of 40 km should be easily achievable on tour/sport modes. And for the downside - it certainly crossed my mind that any kind of accident would be much more severe with 1,5x the legal assisted speed.

As a Cube SUV owner I can share some thoughts about the bike after 300 km of usage. - I can't compare the engines since this is my first pedelec, but I can tell that for commuting with no steep hills the active engine is more than enough....actually I got some infos from GER forums that somewhat increased torque on performance engine is not noticeable for above usage. And it seems that active shuts down on 26.5 km/h (like on my bike) vs 25 km/h with performance...It's not a biggie but it's nice. - About the range...on eco/tour modes which are powerful enough for me for the flat roads I get 70-100 km which I find quite good - The bike in whole is very well made. I had some faint squeaking sound coming from the frame which lasted for 50 km or so but it's gone now - The Deore M615 brakes are very very good, with nice stopping power and modulation - The tires are not so important since can be changed of course, but stock Big Apples 2'' are comfortable when inflated 2-2,5 bar with relatively good rolling features (although that 25 km/h comes too fast) - Selle Italia X1 was too hard for me so I switched it for Man Gel Flow which is so far superb - There aren't holes for the bottle cage mount so I had to improvise with the seatpost mount - When riding it above assisted level the speeds of around 30 km/h can be maintained even for relatively unfit lad like me - I'm not a forks expert but my XCR air works nicely absorbing usual road bumps and such - Not that the aesthetic matters but the KTM battery is somewhat uglier, although KTM bikes in general are quite appealing for me And as a final thought KTM Panasonic bikes were also in my considerations, but the presumed quality of the Bosch systems and much bigger market share (coupled with ok-ish price) made it for me. So far the bike gets 9/10 from me (1/10 will be dealt when the bada** comes)

About locking the front wheel...cables are of course not strong enough, chains are but being heavy and bulky - IMO the most elegant way is to use pitlock skewer - so you only have to worry about the frame and the rear wheel (and the seatpost if there is a knickable saddle). Does any of you use some kind of "advanced" types of gadgets like trackers (Bikespike and such), or vibration/PIR/GSM alarms? I have an idea about something, but in my current locking setup so far it wasn't very successful. @Frankie that Cubie looks cool, just like it was supposed to. Going for badass myself these days so I could write something when I install it...

@[mention=2339]Artstu[/mention] 23 mph on tour is a really nice speed I'd like to be able to achieve too...I presume u have slick tires on that KTM of yours...say, what's your estimate in increase on your average speed comparing to restricted engine? Commuting being my main deal, now I average 13-14 mph according to HMI. The bike is Cube SUV Hybrid (Active engine). @[mention=6825]RobF[/mention] Thnx, your real time infos are invaluable to me. As of now I think I decided to go for a dongle and if battery performance starts to drop rapidly on my commute I could always remove the dongle (or go sub 25 km/h).

Could you badass owners please write something about increase in power consumption when going >20 mph? Currently I am able to go around 100 km on eco/tour (Active engine) on one charge and would like to know what's the worst case scenario if I'd opt for the tuning. A -50% in range would deter me of buying it, but anything less...who knows.

There seem to also be a problem with Cube bikes due to Bosch motor delivery problems. At least in my country with local Cube dealers. The bike was ordered on Nov with delivery estimated on early Feb. Needless to say it was postponed and my local dealer doesn't have the slightest idea until when.... Starting to regret for not ordering it earlier through some of the bigger German online sellers....

I went through exactly the same dilemma KTM vs Cube (vs Haibike) when I was thinking about buying my first pedelec which would be used mostly for commuting. I certainly wouldn't be calling KTM pedelecs much "higher end". Maybe just a bit overpriced. But that's just me. I opted for Cube because the price difference of comparable models is quite big in favor of German brand and I really didn't think that slight spec. downsides of Cube would matter for me. With Haibike that was even more in favour of Cube. Additionaly there was a discount I managed to procure which was notably higher for Cube. Only thing which I noticed is somewhat lower availabilty of these bikes in general which is due to demand for Bosch's engines (as I was told) and should be sorted out in early spring.

The way I see it a MTB style ebike with quality components and versatility of being able to switch slick to MTB tires for commuting or trailing is a better option than some other types of bikes being discussed here. The lighter the better of course. That is certainly not snobbish.

I'm really looking forward to see that data mr. KTM as my ebike will be arriving soon and I'm trying to figure out my average commuting time needed. Now my calculations estimate that the ebike driven with average of 22-25 km/h could match (or even beat) car's time in peak hours. That would be astounding for me. And there's that excercise thingy... One question for you: how hard you need to pedal on +20 kg bike when going >25 km/h? Considering you're fit unlike me, I can't see myself going beyond the motor assistance limit for longer periods.

I opted for this one: http://www.cube.eu/en/bikes/hybrid/suv-hybrid/suv-hybrid-29/ With some discount included maybe it could fit your budget. I still wait for mine to arrive so can't share any real life experience.