I passed 2000 miles tonight on my Cytronex so seems a good time to post a review. I started looking into e-bikes last August looking for something quite specific for my need. I wanted something purely for riding to and from work (a round trip of 20 miles), that rode and looked like a normal bike, that would get me fitter, that would give me some help to get up the hills and that would encourage me to not to use the car every day. Eventually I found Cytronex and am generally delighted with what I got.
My starting point in my research was to read the 30+ page thread started by Chris Bike. Chris gave a very honest appraisal of the bike at a time when few others had tried or owned a Cytronex. I would recommend anyone considering buying a Cytronex to search this thread out.
One of the main myths generated on this forum about the Cytronex is that you have to be fit to ride a Cytronex. When I bought the bike I was slightly overweight and walking the dog was about as far as my exercise went. I’ve ridden bikes all my life but in the last few years this has been limited to gentle 5mile rides with the kids in tow. Once I got on the bike I was amazed that I could cycle 15 miles without having to stop and could get up hills that I wouldn’t have contemplated on a normal bike. So I would say you definitely don’t need to be fit to ride a Cytronex, but because of the design it will definitely help get you fitter.
The controls on the bike are very simple to use, once you’re cycling above 5mph hit the on button on the RH bar end and depending on where you’ve left the LH button this will take you into low or high power, with high power taking you to 15mph, very easily and smoothly. I tend now to ride with the LH button always depressed for high speed, cycle to about 9 mph, hit the on button and I’m away at full speed. I rarely use the low speed function. The slightest of touches on the brakes will stop the motor. In terms of speed I average around 16mph.
In terms of the battery, a lot has been written on this forum about the design and it being for show rather than having any function. I would tend to disagree with this. I think it does serve as a functional aspect of the bike, in that it is easy to install and connect up and should I imagine save on some wiring compared to be stored behind the seat or on the rack. Conditioning the battery was easy and I think I got something like 13, 16 and then 20+ miles out of my first 3 rides. As I only use the bike for my 20 mile round trip I couldn’t say for certain how far I would get out of it. However to charge the battery it takes about an hour, so I’m sure there’s another 5-8 miles if I was cycling on similar terrain. Although I think the battery in the bottle cage is a good idea in principle I have suffered with the battery rattling around in the cage. This caused the casing to become worn. Mark at Cytronex is now using a newer design for the cage, which is far better and tighter. I’ve also added some thin padding to the bottom of the battery to stop it getting worn.
The brakes seem good, although the pads on the bike soon became worn, so had to be replaced sooner than expected. As I said above the brake control to switch off the motor is very sensitive and if the brake lever does not return fully into the housing can result in the motor not switching on when the RH button is depressed. A bit of tweaking on the brakes solves this. Bit annoying to start with, but helps to understand how the bike is set up when it does.
The lights on the bike are excellent, one button to turn on/off and the light for the computer is nice touch. I’ve added a cateye and a lenser P7 to the front and a cateye to the back for extra visibility.
The Trek 7.3fx feels like a nice bike, it suits me perfectly. The frame size is just right, I’m 5’10” and have the 20” frame. Although some others don’t like the saddle I find it fine and importantly for me I don’t suffer back ache from riding it, which I have done with other bikes.
So all in all a great buy, I should think I use the bike 90% of the time to get to work. However there have been a few problems. The first came after about three weeks when the cable to the front brake came away from the brake housing. This meant that I had to rely on the back brake to cut out the motor. How it happened I don’t know, the only thing I can think is that it got caught by another bike when parked at work. Then in November I had a fall, I didn’t think much to it at the time, but my thumb and back told me otherwise in the following weeks. The bike seemed fine and continued to work until just before Christmas when I could get no power from the motor and the lights would just flicker. I sent the battery to Mark for investigation who couldn’t find anything wrong with the battery apart from it being battered about a bit due to the looseness of the cage. So in January I took a trip down to Winchester to see about getting it fixed. To his credit Mark did a fantastic job in analysing where the problem was and getting the bike fixed. It seems like a combination of the fall and the constant pounding on some rough roads with a loose battery led to a failure in one of the connector pins. I’ve had the bike back for a few weeks now and everything is working well again. Mark’s support since I bought the bike has been excellent, always willing to answer emails or discuss problems. Just a shame the only support is in Winchester.
When I was without the battery I still continued to ride the bike to work, which of course leads to the question do I need a Cytronex or just a Trek ? Now I have the bike back I know the answer. Psychologically it’s great to have the comfort of going out on a cold, wet and windy morning knowing you’ve got some assistance at hand when needed. I was struggling to do 5 days on the bike without the battery, with it it’s no problem. Without the battery I could average around 14mph, so the battery gives me about an extra 10%, plus some extra saving in using the car less. The Cytronex has really given me the bug for cycling back again and hopefully in the Spring I can swap between the Cytronex and my road bike (or battery less Cytronex) for going to work, now I have the confidence to know I can do the journey and get over the hills.
Thanks,
Ian
My starting point in my research was to read the 30+ page thread started by Chris Bike. Chris gave a very honest appraisal of the bike at a time when few others had tried or owned a Cytronex. I would recommend anyone considering buying a Cytronex to search this thread out.
One of the main myths generated on this forum about the Cytronex is that you have to be fit to ride a Cytronex. When I bought the bike I was slightly overweight and walking the dog was about as far as my exercise went. I’ve ridden bikes all my life but in the last few years this has been limited to gentle 5mile rides with the kids in tow. Once I got on the bike I was amazed that I could cycle 15 miles without having to stop and could get up hills that I wouldn’t have contemplated on a normal bike. So I would say you definitely don’t need to be fit to ride a Cytronex, but because of the design it will definitely help get you fitter.
The controls on the bike are very simple to use, once you’re cycling above 5mph hit the on button on the RH bar end and depending on where you’ve left the LH button this will take you into low or high power, with high power taking you to 15mph, very easily and smoothly. I tend now to ride with the LH button always depressed for high speed, cycle to about 9 mph, hit the on button and I’m away at full speed. I rarely use the low speed function. The slightest of touches on the brakes will stop the motor. In terms of speed I average around 16mph.
In terms of the battery, a lot has been written on this forum about the design and it being for show rather than having any function. I would tend to disagree with this. I think it does serve as a functional aspect of the bike, in that it is easy to install and connect up and should I imagine save on some wiring compared to be stored behind the seat or on the rack. Conditioning the battery was easy and I think I got something like 13, 16 and then 20+ miles out of my first 3 rides. As I only use the bike for my 20 mile round trip I couldn’t say for certain how far I would get out of it. However to charge the battery it takes about an hour, so I’m sure there’s another 5-8 miles if I was cycling on similar terrain. Although I think the battery in the bottle cage is a good idea in principle I have suffered with the battery rattling around in the cage. This caused the casing to become worn. Mark at Cytronex is now using a newer design for the cage, which is far better and tighter. I’ve also added some thin padding to the bottom of the battery to stop it getting worn.
The brakes seem good, although the pads on the bike soon became worn, so had to be replaced sooner than expected. As I said above the brake control to switch off the motor is very sensitive and if the brake lever does not return fully into the housing can result in the motor not switching on when the RH button is depressed. A bit of tweaking on the brakes solves this. Bit annoying to start with, but helps to understand how the bike is set up when it does.
The lights on the bike are excellent, one button to turn on/off and the light for the computer is nice touch. I’ve added a cateye and a lenser P7 to the front and a cateye to the back for extra visibility.
The Trek 7.3fx feels like a nice bike, it suits me perfectly. The frame size is just right, I’m 5’10” and have the 20” frame. Although some others don’t like the saddle I find it fine and importantly for me I don’t suffer back ache from riding it, which I have done with other bikes.
So all in all a great buy, I should think I use the bike 90% of the time to get to work. However there have been a few problems. The first came after about three weeks when the cable to the front brake came away from the brake housing. This meant that I had to rely on the back brake to cut out the motor. How it happened I don’t know, the only thing I can think is that it got caught by another bike when parked at work. Then in November I had a fall, I didn’t think much to it at the time, but my thumb and back told me otherwise in the following weeks. The bike seemed fine and continued to work until just before Christmas when I could get no power from the motor and the lights would just flicker. I sent the battery to Mark for investigation who couldn’t find anything wrong with the battery apart from it being battered about a bit due to the looseness of the cage. So in January I took a trip down to Winchester to see about getting it fixed. To his credit Mark did a fantastic job in analysing where the problem was and getting the bike fixed. It seems like a combination of the fall and the constant pounding on some rough roads with a loose battery led to a failure in one of the connector pins. I’ve had the bike back for a few weeks now and everything is working well again. Mark’s support since I bought the bike has been excellent, always willing to answer emails or discuss problems. Just a shame the only support is in Winchester.
When I was without the battery I still continued to ride the bike to work, which of course leads to the question do I need a Cytronex or just a Trek ? Now I have the bike back I know the answer. Psychologically it’s great to have the comfort of going out on a cold, wet and windy morning knowing you’ve got some assistance at hand when needed. I was struggling to do 5 days on the bike without the battery, with it it’s no problem. Without the battery I could average around 14mph, so the battery gives me about an extra 10%, plus some extra saving in using the car less. The Cytronex has really given me the bug for cycling back again and hopefully in the Spring I can swap between the Cytronex and my road bike (or battery less Cytronex) for going to work, now I have the confidence to know I can do the journey and get over the hills.
Thanks,
Ian
