Cube Reaction Hybrid SL 500

[RobF]

If you have the large, Intuvia display it's always worth cleaning the contacts.

You can get electrical contact cleaner, but a firm wipe with a dry cloth or paper towel would do it.

 

[Nev]

If you have the large, Intuvia display it's always worth cleaning the contacts.

You can get electrical contact cleaner, but a firm wipe with a dry cloth or paper towel would do it.

No I've got the Purion display unfortunately.

 

[Trevormonty]

Looking more like faulty sensor or connection.

I did this today, seemed to be working fine. Went out for a ride around 10 miles, made sure I used all gears and all the modes, worked perfectly. Then on the way home I was doing around 14 to 15 mph in tour mode on the flat, not putting much pressure on the pedals it suddenly started playing up again. Speedo stopped working and error code re appeared, happed three times over a distance of about a mile. So looks like its an intermittent fault which is probably going to be difficult for the shop to locate. I shall take it in to them Tuesday morning.

 

[Nev]

Looking more like faulty sensor or connection.

The bike has gone in today to have a new speed sensor and Purion display unit fitted. The shop had tried adjusting the magnet and re-installing the software but it was the same as before. It would work fine for a while but then suddenly start playing up.

I used my unassisted mountain bike today, and did a short 5 mile ride on it. Not used it since buying the ebike. Was expecting to really struggle with it, but was very surprised to do the ride without much effort. I am really impressed with how much my cycling fitness has improved, even though I will always switch up a mode on the Cube if I start to find it starting to get difficult.

I'm surprised how much fitter I am even though I don't think I have ever been out of breath on the Cube. Its almost like your getting fitter without having to put much effort in, which suits me just fine.

 

[Parky]

The bike has gone in today to have a new speed sensor and Purion display unit fitted. The shop had tried adjusting the magnet and re-installing the software but it was the same as before. It would work fine for a while but then suddenly start playing up.

I used my unassisted mountain bike today, and did a short 5 mile ride on it. Not used it since buying the ebike. Was expecting to really struggle with it, but was very surprised to do the ride without much effort. I am really impressed with how much my cycling fitness has improved, even though I will always switch up a mode on the Cube if I start to find it starting to get difficult.

I'm surprised how much fitter I am even though I don't think I have ever been out of breath on the Cube. Its almost like your getting fitter without having to put much effort in, which suits me just fine.

I’ve wondered about having a go on the ol’ unassisted chariot - perhaps I will, now you’ve said

 

[Nev]

I had the bike back from the shop yesterday with a new sensor, cable and display unit fitted. Did around a dozen miles on it last night and it worked perfectly so (touch wood) it is now sorted. I have been using an unassisted bike for the last week or so, and had virtually forgotten how much easier it is using an electric one.

As mentioned in this thread previously I have been extremely and pleasantly surprised at how ones cycling fitness improves when using an electrically assisted bike, even though one does not seem to be putting in much effort.

Last night I used eco and tour mode most of the time and it was just like having a nice tail wind all the time. Only needed turbo a couple of times on the steeper hills. A few weeks back I would have been in turbo mode for almost the entire ride.

 

[Nev]

Did my first longish ride yesterday, and was really impressed with battery longevity. We did 51 miles on a mixture of cycle tracks and small back roads, decent surfaces but a lot of hills. One of my mates had one of those garmin devices that give the amount of climbing we did. It was just over 2000 ft.

I still had two bars left on the battery charge indicator, and one of the lads who has a similar bike to mine had 3 bars remaining, he is however a bit fitter than I am and was usually always one mode below the one I was in whenever we checked.

I'm really pleased with the performance of the battery, 50 odd miles is about as much as I want to do on one ride, and that fact that it did this with capacity to spare is fantastic.

 

[Nev]

I took my bike in for its free first service the other day and they gave me a print out of the data the computer stores. I was surprised to see how many miles I had done with no assistance from the battery. Here are the stats:

Turbo mode 58.7 ml
Sport (EMTB) mode 73.1 ml
Tour mode 62.9 ml
Eco mode 40.6 ml
No assistance 151.2 ml

When I am going down hill I do sometimes switch the assistance level to off, but not often enough to have clocked up over 150 miles. I therefore assume that no matter what mode I have the bike set to, when the assist cuts off due to speed limit exceeded, the computer will record this as miles done without assistance. Is my thinking correct here?

 

[Nev]

Thinking about this some more. I wonder if no matter what mode you are in, if the motor is not assisting (either because max speed has been reached) or because you are free wheeling at any speed then the computer will log that as No Assistance.

 

[Fat Rat]

Thinking about this some more. I wonder if no matter what mode you are in, if the motor is not assisting (either because max speed has been reached) or because you are free wheeling at any speed then the computer will log that as No Assistance.

Correct that’s exactly it
No motor assistance no mater what the circumstances means that’s what it logs

 

[Nev]

I've just bought a suspension seat post for the bike. Only done one ride with it so far and that was on fairly smooth surfaces, but I liked the extra comfort the post offers. I will go up into the hills in the next day or two and try it out on some rough terrain and see how it performs.

The only down side so far is that I wasn't able to fit my small under saddle bag that I keep a spare tube and multi tool in. I might have to buy one of those corner frame type bags to hold the above rather than keep them in my pockets.

 

[Trevormonty]

I've just bought a suspension seat post for the bike. Only done one ride with it so far and that was on fairly smooth surfaces, but I liked the extra comfort the post offers. I will go up into the hills in the next day or two and try it out on some rough terrain and see how it performs.

The only down side so far is that I wasn't able to fit my small under saddle bag that I keep a spare tube and multi tool in. I might have to buy one of those corner frame type bags to hold the above rather than keep them in my pockets.

USD 5.60 from aliexpress

 

[Nev]

USD 5.60 from aliexpress

That looks ideal. It looks like you have your phone in the top of it too, if so do you use that for off road navigation?

 

[soundwave]

i would get some sort of frame protector as the straps will rub on the paint work if you want to use it all the time.

 

[Nev]

i would get some sort of frame protector as the straps will rub on the paint work if you want to use it all the time.

I hadn't thought of that, what kind of things are suitable for protecting the frame?

 

[soundwave]

 

[Gadfly]

I hadn't thought of that, what kind of things are suitable for protecting the frame?

Do a search on E Bay for "helicopter tape".

 

[Trevormonty]

i would get some sort of frame protector as the straps will rub on the paint work if you want to use it all the time.

Good point.

The bag means my, wallet, keys are at hand, plus I can use phone as is, mainly for google maps. Still need to stop to access it but easier than digging out of a pocket. Also comes with raincover, blue thing in side pocket.

 

[Nev]

That's a fascinating question.
Mainstream EMTBs use torque and cadence sensing, so you need to be able to spin your legs, and you need to be able to produce force onto the pedals.
If there is something disabling you from doing that sufficiently like a medical condition or advanced old age, then you might have a problem, however I would go out on a limb and say that for most people, if you were 'fit' just 20 years ago, then a few weeks getting back into the swing of things to shake out the cobwebs would mean that you'll be able to drive the ebike with enough initial power to get it to drive maximally, and then pretty much obliterate even world class athletes when doing a hill climb in turbo!

You yourself probably won't be able to recover as fast from the workout as you did before, but in terms of pure 'performance', the 'old you' wouldn't stand a chance compared to the new 'Turbo you'

Just been reading through this thread again, because someone had a similar problem to mine when the speed sensor started working intermittedly.

Got to say GLJoe everything you put in this post was spot on. I've now done nearly 700 miles on my bike, and I can get up all the hills I did 20 years ago, but I get up them much quicker than I used to do due to the excellent CX motor.