I've had the bike almost two weeks now, so have had time to get used to it in the 250 miles I've done on it since buying it. I should add that it was bought secondhand, so I can't vouch for the battery's care since new, but it seems OK. It had only c.120 miles on the clock when bought.
It's a very well built bike. It's also very well thought out. That wasn't the case with my previous off-the-shelf e-bike, so this comes as a very pleasant surprise. The saddle is a quality item, as is the Shimano gearing. No Tourney bargain basement stuff here. The one initial qualm I had proved well founded when I got a puncture on an off-road section of bridleway. The Schwalbe Smart Sams having very limited protection in that regard. They were also a little too off-road for my commute. They've been swapped for Schwalbe Land Cruisers, as I mentioned above. So far those have stood up to the same route without incident, although the grip is not as good as the more knobbly Sams.
The power settings are easily adjusted and the display informative and clear. It's easy enough to move up and down the power settings on the move - even in winter gloves, but a change of mode needs more fiddly adjustments. Talking of settings, I seem to have settled on Eco mode, power level 5. That means the motor is on more than off, but not with such a kick as with the Normal or Sport modes. That suits my commute, as the 27-speed gearing gives plenty of choice to find the optimal gearing for a given bit of terrain.
With the caveat of the battery not being in my hands since new, I'm getting 35-40 miles on a charge. That was with a fairly rapid ride on an undulating 8-10-mile commute and me being 90Kg with clothing. I suspect if I stuck to 15.5MPH I would get significantly more range and I may well use that setting if I get round to touring on the machine.
I've made some additions to the bike. As well as the tyres, I've fitted some SKS beavertail mudguards and a disc-specific Tortec rear rack that I had awaiting use for the panniers I use for work gear.
Postives: It's a superbly competent machine on and off road. Despite the weight at the rear it has handled the bridleways I've thrown at it with ease. The ride is comfy and the front suspension fork is very good at soaking up the bumps. The range is very good given the average speed I've achieved. I can now get two days of commuting on one charge where I'd struggle to get one at such speeds out of my converted bike.
Negatives: I'm hard pushed to name any, but the motor is louder than my other machines. Being a RWD machine the noise is behind me though and isn't all that intrusive. The battery level meter isn't very reliable. the first segment (of 5) takes a good while to go out on the meter, but the next few go out rather too quickly for the unwary. Early on I was caught out on one off-road ride when I thought three bars meant I'd plenty of power left.
Potential additions: It's a hardtail machine, so no criticism of it, but I'm contemplating fitting a Suntour NCX seatpost to iron out the inevitable bumps when off-road. That's a compliment to the Oxygen though, as I didn't buy it as an off road machine, but it's proving so good on the trails that I am looking for more to use on my trips out which are now more frequent.
