This micro review is based on about 1 hour of riding and about 17 miles.
A friend of mine has recently fitted a front wheel EZee kit to his bike (Giant Escape R8). He had previously owned a Panasonic crank driven Giant Lafree, sold that about 4 years ago, bought the Escape R8 and used that un-assisted until recently fitting the EZee kit. He only has good things to say about the conversion. Like me, he had only ever known or owned a crank driven bike, so I was curious to have a go and see how it compares.
My experience of electric bikes is limited to about 11000 miles / 4 years of Kalkhoff Pro Connect ownership and a test ride on gahstly Giant Twist 2 at the time of buying the Pro Connect.
The test ride on the hub motored Giant Twist 2 put me off hub motors. The experience was how I would imagine it to be if one tried to traverse a lake of treacle on a pedalo whilst being pelted with shards of broken glass on a day when it was raining Tabasco sauce. Hateful.
The EZee powered Giant arrived last night at about 7:30 and we set off along a nearby flat cycle route. The kit has a 36v 10Ah battery mounted on a rear rack, a rotary power control and a thing called a Cycle-Analyst. The Cycle-Analyst (CA) was quite impressive giving speed, power consumption, max Amps, min Volts, speed and a few other functions too.
The first thing that struck me was how powerful and smooth the motor was. On half power, the thing pulled away very quickly until it reached max assist speed, which seemed to be about 19 mph. It was like being catapulted from a standing start. Cruising at 19 MPH on the flat, the CA said the motor was using 10Watts.
The handling was nimble and I didn't notice the battery on the rack affecting the ride in any way.
We came to a rather long and steep hill, I don't know the gradient, but it's a, "good un" as they say in Derbyshire. This was what I was waiting for. This would be where my friend on my Pro Connect would pass me because crank drive are better at hill climbing and I would be panting my way to the top on the inferior hub motor machine. I whacked the power up to max and prepared for the onslaught to the top. The thing just accelerated up the hill with me struggling to keep pace on the pedals. The CA said I was doing 18 MPH and the motor drawing 620 Watts! It left the Pro Connect in its wake.
The remainder of the ride followed a similar pattern. The EZee was very powerful, very fast and a very good hill climber. It was also smooth and quiet. The components had a feel of robustness and quality too. I was impressed.
I can't say if it was better or worse than my Pro Connect. It was different and what you want from the bike will determine which is best. You definitely work harder in a more natural way on the Pro Connect and that is what I want, so I would stick with it. But if you want a bike that will give you a good, "shove" up hill with a bit of quality thrown in, this kit is worth considering. It's powerful and fast.
This was only a short ride, so don't read too much into it. These are more or less first impressions.
A friend of mine has recently fitted a front wheel EZee kit to his bike (Giant Escape R8). He had previously owned a Panasonic crank driven Giant Lafree, sold that about 4 years ago, bought the Escape R8 and used that un-assisted until recently fitting the EZee kit. He only has good things to say about the conversion. Like me, he had only ever known or owned a crank driven bike, so I was curious to have a go and see how it compares.
My experience of electric bikes is limited to about 11000 miles / 4 years of Kalkhoff Pro Connect ownership and a test ride on gahstly Giant Twist 2 at the time of buying the Pro Connect.
The test ride on the hub motored Giant Twist 2 put me off hub motors. The experience was how I would imagine it to be if one tried to traverse a lake of treacle on a pedalo whilst being pelted with shards of broken glass on a day when it was raining Tabasco sauce. Hateful.
The EZee powered Giant arrived last night at about 7:30 and we set off along a nearby flat cycle route. The kit has a 36v 10Ah battery mounted on a rear rack, a rotary power control and a thing called a Cycle-Analyst. The Cycle-Analyst (CA) was quite impressive giving speed, power consumption, max Amps, min Volts, speed and a few other functions too.
The first thing that struck me was how powerful and smooth the motor was. On half power, the thing pulled away very quickly until it reached max assist speed, which seemed to be about 19 mph. It was like being catapulted from a standing start. Cruising at 19 MPH on the flat, the CA said the motor was using 10Watts.
The handling was nimble and I didn't notice the battery on the rack affecting the ride in any way.
We came to a rather long and steep hill, I don't know the gradient, but it's a, "good un" as they say in Derbyshire. This was what I was waiting for. This would be where my friend on my Pro Connect would pass me because crank drive are better at hill climbing and I would be panting my way to the top on the inferior hub motor machine. I whacked the power up to max and prepared for the onslaught to the top. The thing just accelerated up the hill with me struggling to keep pace on the pedals. The CA said I was doing 18 MPH and the motor drawing 620 Watts! It left the Pro Connect in its wake.
The remainder of the ride followed a similar pattern. The EZee was very powerful, very fast and a very good hill climber. It was also smooth and quiet. The components had a feel of robustness and quality too. I was impressed.
I can't say if it was better or worse than my Pro Connect. It was different and what you want from the bike will determine which is best. You definitely work harder in a more natural way on the Pro Connect and that is what I want, so I would stick with it. But if you want a bike that will give you a good, "shove" up hill with a bit of quality thrown in, this kit is worth considering. It's powerful and fast.
This was only a short ride, so don't read too much into it. These are more or less first impressions.
