September 30, 20178 yr I have my aerobike x-ride for 3 months now and I would like to share a bit of my experience. Battery: I use aerobike for commute to London city centre. About 13x2=26 miles each day. I used up 20% when I paddle a bit harder. It could use up 80% when I am feeling lazy. Although the battery is small, it is more than enough for my usage. Front wheel drive: This is my first e-bike. I was worried about the front wheel drive could be wobbly at start. After start riding it, I can tell you no problem at all. Maybe it's well design and built, maybe it's because 250W motor isn't powerful enough to cause issue. Either way, it is very good. 2 speed Automatix gear: Compare to single speed e-bike like G-Tech at slightly higher price. 2 gears definitely boost your max speed. However, it comes with a bit of downside. First issue is high gear seems kick in a bit too early automatically. Secondly, it might stay at high gear when you stop at traffic. This make it difficult to start up... It's a bit trade off. Either single speed or slightly funny 2 gears. With a bit of experience, I can manage it fine and still will go for funny 2 gear option if I have to choose again. Electric control: It has delay. You have to paddle half turn to kick in the signal plus the delay. So that's about 1.5 second lag at least. This is definitely a down side for this bike when compare to G-tech which is £250 more. My worst nightmare is stop at uphill traffic light with gear stuck at high ratio and I have to paddle first half turn plus the delay to kick in motor... After all, I think this is the best bike you can get at this price range. I was comparing between 1). G-Tech at £1000 2). Aerobike at £750 3). Ampler bike at £1750 I think I made the good choice on my first e-bike although my next bike will be Ampler bike.
September 30, 20178 yr Author I been thinking how to make my aerobike x-ride better. My plan is to replace SRAM Automatix 2 speed gear hub to: Sturmey Archer SRF5 (W) Internal Gear Hub 5 Speed Specs (for 119mm OLD spacing) Hub Shell Material - 6061 Aluminum Axle Diameter - 13/32” Slotted Axle Length - 175mm Over Locknut Dimension - 119mm Right Axle Protrusion Length - 24mm Left Axle Protrusion Length - 32mm Spoke Holes - 36 Pitch Circle Diameter - 67mm Center to Flange Right - 27.6mm Center to Flange Left - 29.0mm Flange Width - 53mm Spoke Compatibility - 13g or 14g Sprocket Teeth - 13T through 22T Chain Line: 1/8” Flat 45.6mm Chain Line: 1/8” Dished 44mm, 47.4mm Chain Line: 3/32” Flat 45.3mm, 45.9mm Chain Line: 3/32” Dished 43.5mm, 47.7mm Indicator Chain - HSA585 Mark Yellow Weight - 1090g Gear Ratio • Overall Range - 256% • Gear 1 - 62.5% (-)37.5% • Gear 2 - 75% (-)25% (Gear 1 + 20%) • Gear 3 - 100% Direct Drive (Gear 2 + 33%) • Gear 4 - 133.3% (+)33.3% (Gear 3 + 33%) • Gear 5 - 160% (+)60% (Gear 4 + 20%) The SRAM Automatix has gear ratio at 1:1 and 1:1.37. It would great to have more gears to overcome kick in delay at start. It would also speed up even further at higher ratio. One of the trouble I found is aerobike x-ride has 119mm OLD which is a bit rare. Not many budget gear hub can fit. Fortunately, I found Sturmey Archer SRF5(W) can fit 119mm OLD. I don't know if this is possible. Anyone know much about this? Edited September 30, 20178 yr by Random Joe
September 30, 20178 yr Author Here is another review for aerobike x-ride. http://ebiketips.road.cc/content/reviews/electric-city-bikes/aerobike-x-ride-533 It's interesting that he swapped the chainset from the 46-tooth one to a 33-tooth one.
October 1, 20178 yr Author Found this discussion about SA SRF-5 which is killing my desire to change... https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=85275
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