Ezee Sprint compared to Tonaro Esprit 2

[Geebee]

Disclaimer this is from the view of someone that can maintain maybe 20W and peak output for a short duration of 100w due to Health problems. Please read with that in mind.

I test rode an Ezee Sprint (Australian) today, very impressive bike, ludicously powerful for "250w", acceleration is very impressive, the person that rode it before me was to scared to go above 3 on the controller.
Both bikes have 8 speed hubs and roller rear brake, Ezee has disc front and Tonaro V brakes front, Tonaro is 2 kg heavier but feels the lighter of the 2 when riding probably due to the weight in the front wheel motor of the Ezee.
Both bikes cruise with light pedalling at 32kph, the Tonaro feels more bicycle like most likely due to the drive being through the gears so motor and pedal are always matched, the Ezee can feel almost like a moped you are pedalling (this is very subjective someone else may see it completely differently), it accelerates faster than the Tonaro as you don't have to step through the gears, the Ezee is fairly quiet for a geared hub but a fair bit louder than the Tonaro.
The front wheel drive can be a bit hairy when the motor cuts in as you are turning on gravel, and you can't easily adjust the speed setting without removing you hand from the handle bar, on the Tonaro it can be done with your thumb whilst holding the grip.
If you lived where hills are not to far into the teens gradiant wise it would be very nice and very relaxing to ride as it doesn't care what gear you are in, but when it comes to very steep hills it can not cope unless the rider can put in a decent wattage, I stopped climbing and turned around when it was down to 8 kph and falling rapidly (the bike was a tester and not mine to damage by forcing the issue on climbing) on a hill the Tonaro will climb by itself albeit slowly.
If you are fit and can keep the speed up on hills or live some where it was less steep hills it would be excellent transport, it is a much nicer and more powerful in most circumstances than I expected, but for those of us with health issues and plenty of steep hills I would stick with the Tonaro.
And it answered a question which is why the test ride, I thought with all the praise on the Ezee hub it might be worth getting the kit for my recumbent trike but it will be getting a crank drive not a hub motor as otherwise I will lose access to certain areas.

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi Geebee,

Good to hear that you were impressed with the eZee Sprint.
In bike terms, you might have prefered the eZee Forza GTS with rear motor.

The RWD Forza GTS with diamond frame has been around for 2 years now and we have several happy owners in the UK. A stepthru version is now available, the Forza LTS and although it is a model that we don't yet stock we have had several enquiries about it including a potential customer from France who wants 2 of them.
The LTS version is available with front or rear motor and it has several options for gearing and battery capacity.

eZee kits which share the same eZee V2 motor are growing in popularity in the UK.

 

[alan blake]

hi,m
I am doing a stoke monkey conversion with the ezee motor,
will let you no how it compares.

 

[Cyclezee]

hi,m
I am doing a stoke monkey conversion with the ezee motor,
will let you no how it compares.

Hi Alan,

I look forward to reading about that.

What bike are you going to fit it to?

 

[Geebee]

hi,m
I am doing a stoke monkey conversion with the ezee motor,
will let you no how it compares.

That will be a monster, my Tongxin Stokemonkey can climb like a monkey.

 

[alan blake]

Specialized carbon frame mounted in above the crank, very much in board motor,
Reason weight and power, think like the nano unit that sells over there.

Am just making the brackets up now , the rest is done.

I did a test run with a mock up bracket, gearing 11t to 36 on crank.

It pulled the bracket apart and went chain jumping , so a good start with hope.

 

[mike killay]

Thanks for your evaluation.
I have a Tonaro Enduro and a 20 inch wheeled Woosh Gale.
The Tonaro is my bench mark re hills etc., but I have been surprised by how well the Woosh climbs.
I suspect that the reason is that the Tonaro motor is now dated compared with the Woosh one.
Which leads me to wonder just what a two speed internally geared electric motor would be like.

 

[trex]

on paper, it should give crank drives a run for their money, 80NM maximum torque (it's 8 followed by a zero), easily overvolted, 25% lighter than Bafang BPM etc but I think it will not have the reliability of the Bosch crank or Bafang BPM because it has two clutches for two reduction ratios.
I am coming slowly to concur with d8veh's view, to climb hills fast, you need a big fat motor.

 

[Cyclezee]

Hi again Geebee,

We used to sell the 250w Tonaro and I am wondering if the one you were riding in Oz was the 350w as the ones we had were nowhere near as powerful or torquey as the eZee even when restricted, they also weighed a couple of kilos more than an eZee.

 

[mike killay]

on paper, it should give crank drives a run for their money, 80NM maximum torque (it's 8 followed by a zero), easily overvolted, 25% lighter than Bafang BPM etc but I think it will not have the reliability of the Bosch crank or Bafang BPM because it has two clutches for two reduction ratios.
I am coming slowly to concur with d8veh's view, to climb hills fast, you need a big fat motor.

Surely, reliability is a matter of engineering. After all, a car has far more moving parts.

 

[flecc]

Surely, reliability is a matter of engineering. After all, a car has far more moving parts.

The clutch type commonly used in hub motors do occasionally suffer jamming problems, two of them doubles the chance. And of course hub motors don't have the hundred plus development years of cars.

The electrical solution of using a high torque hub motor should be inherently more reliable, as should using transmission gear reduction on a Bosch type crank drive to increase torque, since that removes potential problems from the drive unit to other components.

 

[alan blake]

I also have a tonaro, I put an old crystlte 48v 35 amp controller on it with throttle, its my bench mark.
1 motor gets hot when used hard for 10kms.
2 whole bike heavy even after upgrades.
3 crank drive on this sucks power just to turn itself, an Asthmatic ant hill is more efficient and sounds better.

But it proves for hills gears is the way.

 

[Geebee]

Hi again Geebee,

We used to sell the 250w Tonaro and I am wondering if the one you were riding in Oz was the 350w as the ones we had were nowhere near as powerful or torquey as the eZee even when restricted, they also weighed a couple of kilos more than an eZee.

I t was sold here as a 200w but is the 250 watt spec 36v 17amp.
If you had both bikes in top gear at take off the Ezee would thrash the Tonaro to 30 ish km but obviously you cant test this as you cant turn the pedals to activate the PAS.

On the topic of PAS, it was one of the reasons theTonaro feels more bike like, if you come up upon traffic you just drop down trough the gears, on the Ezee you have to brake let go of the handle bar and turn the PAS down go back to the handle bar and drop down through the gears and repeat as speed changes.

The Tonaro maybe dated but it will climb just about anything and if you havent over volted it the motor will at worst get warm, 48v at 35 AMPS I surprised it hasn't melted down 48v at 20 amps would be vastly more realistic/appropriate.

There is couple of problems with a big fat hub as a solution, weight and its illegal. plus how far watts wise would it have to go to climb ~ 20% grades with little help?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

...on the Ezee you have to brake let go of the handle bar and turn the PAS down go back to the handle bar and drop down through the gears and repeat as speed changes.

I never had to do that when I rode an Ezee bike. I just set the power level and got on with riding it, choosing the appropriate gear. they have a throttle too that you can use at any time if you want a bit of a speed or power boost. Why would you want to reduce the PAS levels to slow down?

 

[Geebee]

On the test ride I came up behind a couple riding slowly up a small incline and it wasn't safe to overtake.
Often when riding in town I end up riding behind cars at low speed and just shift down and then backup when speed increases.
I dont use throttles on any of my bikes and the new UK rules supposedly outlaw them, I thought.

 

[alan blake]

Yes weight to power ratio is really where its at,
Unsprung mass off road is the killer,
On road much less of a problem,
Will let you know how the ezee monkey goes, I have great hopes in this, I really hope it works,

 

[Cyclezee]

On the test ride I came up behind a couple riding slowly up a small incline and it wasn't safe to overtake.
Often when riding in town I end up riding behind cars at low speed and just shift down and then backup when speed increases.
I dont use throttles on any of my bikes and the new UK rules supposedly outlaw them, I thought.

Hi Geebee,

Did the

I t was sold here as a 200w but is the 250 watt spec 36v 17amp.
If you had both bikes in top gear at take off the Ezee would thrash the Tonaro to 30 ish km but obviously you cant test this as you cant turn the pedals to activate the PAS.

On the topic of PAS, it was one of the reasons theTonaro feels more bike like, if you come up upon traffic you just drop down trough the gears, on the Ezee you have to brake let go of the handle bar and turn the PAS down go back to the handle bar and drop down through the gears and repeat as speed changes.

The Tonaro maybe dated but it will climb just about anything and if you havent over volted it the motor will at worst get warm, 48v at 35 AMPS I surprised it hasn't melted down 48v at 20 amps would be vastly more realistic/appropriate.

There is couple of problems with a big fat hub as a solution, weight and its illegal. plus how far watts wise would it have to go to climb ~ 20% grades with little help?

Hi Geebee,

Did the eZee that you rode not have a throttle?

All eZee bikes sold worldwide are dual mode with throttle and PAS.
With the handlebar console that is fitted to every eZee bike and kit since 2012 there are several modes that can be set by the owner and some that can only be altered by a dealer. The following modes that can be set by the owner are as follows:

• Mode 1 (Default): Pedelec / EBike: Power Led Bar shows the assist power level. When using the throttle it switches to EBike mode.

• Mode 2: Pedelec (EU): Power Led Bar shows the assist power level. Throttle limit will be to 6 Km/h EBike mode.
• Mode 3: Not in used. For future development.
• Mode 4: Pedelec (EAF): Responds to throttle/EAF. Power Led Bar Bar shows the current (amps) level.
• Mode 5: EBike (Cruise): Responds to throttle (from gauge). Power Led Bar shows the current (amps) level. ‘Up▲’ button set cruise. ‘Down▼’ button turn off cruise. EBrake will also disengage cruise.

It is not illegal in the UK, but it is in the rest of the EU except for assistance to 6 Km/h i.e. walking pace.

 

[Geebee]

Yep it had a throttle but I don't use throttles.

I almost fitted one to my Tonaro but discovered that if I was to ill to turn the pedals for the PAS I could not handle the effort required to keep the bike upright without making myself worse.

I will have to check how Australia interpret the rules for 250w I know they must have PAS and cut out at 25 kph.
Edit: Found it throttle in Oz can only assist to 6kph, so would not help for traffic.

 

[Cyclezee]

I almost fitted one to my Tonaro but discovered that if I was to ill to turn the pedals for the PAS I could not handle the effort required to keep the bike upright without making myself worse.

Sorry to hear that Geebee, kind of explains your reasons for being a triker.......not sure if that is real word and hope it is not offensive, non intended

You just brought back memories of fitting throttles to Tonaros, somewhat akin to keyhole surgery in the dark.

 

[Geebee]

Not at all offensive, the trikes dont have a high enough assist to use ATM so if I continue to be able to ride the Tonaro I will upgrade the assist on one of them down the track.
If you haven't ridden a low recumbent trike, its worth doing they are great fun especially with hills and corners