Review from a first time e-bike rider.
First a brief introduction so you can see the context in which the review is given. I regularly ride my MTB bike with road tires to work with a 12 mile round trip. Sometimes for giggles I also commute on my
36" road unicycle
I've had little experience with e-bikes but have recently ridden a Whisper 905 Sport, a Smart bike and a custom kit fitted to a Scott hard tail. I can only make comparisons based on those other e-bikes.
Apart from the custom kit bike I didn't really get on with the other e-bikes. The Whisper reeks of quality but for me it didn't feel like a bike. It felt like ridding a tank.
With that in mind I decided to take a risk and purchase the Burisch. It arrived last Friday and after putting it together and a few commutes to work here is what I think.
- It's light. It feels like a bike to ride without the battery turned on. This was the big thing for me. I wanted to be able to ride the bike without power assist if needed. Easily ridden at 15mph without switching on the power (this is what I average on my normal bike).
- It looks nice.
- I will have to replace the back brake as it's made of cheese. So that's another £14 for a better avid brake. Update: After a few tweaks with the brake I have got it working better so will now only replace it when the pads have worn out.
- The front light was a nice addition and I have tried it in the dark and works well.
- The 42t front chain wheel is far far to small (for me). Have ordered a 48t one.
- Don't know what the range is yet but I have so far done 14 miles on the battery and only 2 lights (out of 6) have gone. I suspect I might be charging it every other day, or maybe every 3 days if lucky.
- Controller: No way near as refined as the whisper. It has off, on, or throttle. The power kicks in after 3 seconds and doesn't stop until you brake or stop peddling.
- Power: Seems pretty good. If you forget to attached a little white wire that is sticking out of the controller (opps) then just on throttle it pushes you alone at 20mph. I had my GPS watch on and recorded this over 1 mile. If you attach the wire as you should then it's limited to 14/15mph. When
pedalling assisted it is easy to ride at 20mph. Even easier if they had supplied a bigger front cog.
In time I suspect like with any bike I will be replacing some of the cheaper parts (with upgrades) but they are more than fine until they wear out. I have so far added a seat post rack and some better pinned pedals. The front forks I've seen on £500 MTB and seem good quality.
After commuting with my GPS watch (as I always do) on I now have some comparisons over a 5.5 mile one way commute.
Unicycle : 28 mins, average speed 11.5mph
MTB Bike: 22 mins, average speed 14.5mph
Burisch : 16 mins, average speed 19.8mph
Oh and I love this bike, it's fast and fun to ride. I might limit it to dry day commutes and use the normal bike for the wetter months.
Hope this helps someone
Neil