2009 Cytronex Ridgeback Cyclone

Reviewer: carima (John)

Purchased From: no-hills

Purchase Price: £1235 (Including uprated motor)

Time Owned: < 1 week

Local Terrain: Moderate Hills

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Strengths:

Very well engineered;

All the benefits of normal bike (Nicely geared for fast unassisted speeds);

Very small battery;

Doesn't look like a e-bike (If that is what you want);

Rides very well when not powered (limited rolling resistance, light nice geometry);

Nice control system, no throttle to constantly twist.

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Weaknesses:

Slightly limited ground clearance (No pedalling around corners);

Quite limited range (Yet to fully condition battery);

No battery level indicator.

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Summary:

This is very early days for me with the bike, but at the moment it is living up to expectations. The power assist is very subtle, but in a positive sense, there is very little jerking into and out of power, partically around the top end of the speed assistance. My bike has the 190rpm motor and even with the very new (unconditioned) battery was able to pull me along on the flat at around 17mph with little or no effort on the pedalling.

The bike itself is very nice. I love the road-bike gearing that allows you to maintain a comparatively low cadence at high speeds. I was able to achieve a 45mph while still keeping up with the pedalling (Not contributing much to the gravity effect mind you) on what was admitadly a fairly steep and long hill.

On the subject of being a good road bike, on my return trip up the aforementioned hill, with only 10% of it climbed, the battery ran out leaving me to finish the climb unassisted. I was surprised by the bike (and myself a little) that I was able to complete this without standing out of the saddle and shaking the bike all over the place. This really gives you the confidence to stretch the range as the ride home won't be all that bad!

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Overall Rating (out of 10) : 8.5 (Could go down if I don't see the range increase as much as I hope)