Hi all,
I thought it's time to note my experiences after my first month of E-Biking on my Freego Eagle. So far, I've been very impressed. It's a 2011, 17.5 amp version with 7 speed gears (includes the 'Megarange' extra low gear) and the 48T chain wheel. Its the Mountain bike version, very nice!
To put some perspective on matters, I'm 55 years old, around 90 kilos in weight and have been an avid motorcyclist all my life. My cycling has been fairly low key for some years since a Knee injury around 5 years ago during a major downhill pile up involving a tree, some brambles and a not inconsiderable amount of personal stupidity.
My first brief was to condition the battery as I have learned on this forum, so I set off to begin 'The Testing'.
The bike is a good deal heavier than my unpowered 11 kg Raleigh M-Trax, but this does provide a smooth and stable ride. The first stage of 'assist' in pedelec mode provides a gentle push and appears to reduce assistance as speed rises to 8.5 mph. "That's good" I thought to myself. After a couple of minutes, I felt I deserved a reward for my efforts so went for stage 2 assist. At once the bike accelerated to around 11.5 mph and with top gear selected and some pretty mediocre pedalling included, I was maintaining a steady 11 to 12 mph+ with very little (if any) effort from me.
But then, there was "Level 3 assist"! I was enjoying myself that much that I'd almost forgotten about a full bore run. On the flat I hit the button, the bike accelerated briskly to 17.5 mph and absolutely flew down the road. A little pedalling effort (hardly any really) 20 mph was easy. Level 3 is quite a jump from level 2 it seems.
I live on top of a 330 ft hill so wherever I go, it's always a long climb back home. I decided to do a proper test on the steepest of the local hills. Selected 3rd gear, pedalled fairly hard and went up the hill so easily I had a giggling fit at the top. Marvellous.
You can probably guess that I'm thoroughly enjoying this electric bike lark and I'm probably still in the euphoric 'honeymoon period' so its all very exciting.
I rode 30 miles that day on a mixture of medium and high assist. The battery was still showing 3 out of 4 lights, so in order to condition the battery I set about flattening it. I rode throttle only around my village, including some fair hills for what seemed like ages, that pesky battery just would not run out. Eventually, only one light remained, and although there was a noticeable drop in power available, it still did 14-15 mph on the flat, throttle only.
The controller cut the power (I assume for low voltage protection) for the first time at 41.4 miles and cut out altogether at 41.8. I switched the battery off and pedalled the 1 mile home for a 6 hour 10 minute recharge.
I haven't ridden 40 miles in one go for at least 5 years, and it was wonderful. And my bad knee was barely complaining at all although I could feel some slight discomfort. The Eagle is powerful, great at hill climbing, reasonably comfortable, nicely painted and finished off, and generally is a hoot to ride. The second charge, with less throttle only but a fair bit of medium and high assist did 46 miles. For my weight and comparatively poor fitness, that's a good range, and I estimate that on medium assist only, over 50 miles could be easily achieved, even for a fat lump like me. Hopefully thats enough conditioning of the battery, so I will now revert to topping up each trip.
Overall I am very pleased with the Freego. To date everything has worked as it should with no problems. I tried a homebuilt starter motor based bike, quite quick but very noisy and it tore a bit off my trousers! certainly not legal. I also rode a Powercycle, a Wisper and the Freego before making the decision to get the Eagle. It just seemed to have a little bit more grunt than the Wisper (that could have been down to charge state??) at hill climbing and with the 2 year warranty and being a tad less expensive, thats the way it went.
Sorry for going on a bit, but I have been inexorably smitten by E-Bikes, and I am looking forward to lengthy and enjoyable time on them.
I'll update again when further testing is complete, which might take some time!!
I thought it's time to note my experiences after my first month of E-Biking on my Freego Eagle. So far, I've been very impressed. It's a 2011, 17.5 amp version with 7 speed gears (includes the 'Megarange' extra low gear) and the 48T chain wheel. Its the Mountain bike version, very nice!
To put some perspective on matters, I'm 55 years old, around 90 kilos in weight and have been an avid motorcyclist all my life. My cycling has been fairly low key for some years since a Knee injury around 5 years ago during a major downhill pile up involving a tree, some brambles and a not inconsiderable amount of personal stupidity.
My first brief was to condition the battery as I have learned on this forum, so I set off to begin 'The Testing'.
The bike is a good deal heavier than my unpowered 11 kg Raleigh M-Trax, but this does provide a smooth and stable ride. The first stage of 'assist' in pedelec mode provides a gentle push and appears to reduce assistance as speed rises to 8.5 mph. "That's good" I thought to myself. After a couple of minutes, I felt I deserved a reward for my efforts so went for stage 2 assist. At once the bike accelerated to around 11.5 mph and with top gear selected and some pretty mediocre pedalling included, I was maintaining a steady 11 to 12 mph+ with very little (if any) effort from me.
But then, there was "Level 3 assist"! I was enjoying myself that much that I'd almost forgotten about a full bore run. On the flat I hit the button, the bike accelerated briskly to 17.5 mph and absolutely flew down the road. A little pedalling effort (hardly any really) 20 mph was easy. Level 3 is quite a jump from level 2 it seems.
I live on top of a 330 ft hill so wherever I go, it's always a long climb back home. I decided to do a proper test on the steepest of the local hills. Selected 3rd gear, pedalled fairly hard and went up the hill so easily I had a giggling fit at the top. Marvellous.
You can probably guess that I'm thoroughly enjoying this electric bike lark and I'm probably still in the euphoric 'honeymoon period' so its all very exciting.
I rode 30 miles that day on a mixture of medium and high assist. The battery was still showing 3 out of 4 lights, so in order to condition the battery I set about flattening it. I rode throttle only around my village, including some fair hills for what seemed like ages, that pesky battery just would not run out. Eventually, only one light remained, and although there was a noticeable drop in power available, it still did 14-15 mph on the flat, throttle only.
The controller cut the power (I assume for low voltage protection) for the first time at 41.4 miles and cut out altogether at 41.8. I switched the battery off and pedalled the 1 mile home for a 6 hour 10 minute recharge.
I haven't ridden 40 miles in one go for at least 5 years, and it was wonderful. And my bad knee was barely complaining at all although I could feel some slight discomfort. The Eagle is powerful, great at hill climbing, reasonably comfortable, nicely painted and finished off, and generally is a hoot to ride. The second charge, with less throttle only but a fair bit of medium and high assist did 46 miles. For my weight and comparatively poor fitness, that's a good range, and I estimate that on medium assist only, over 50 miles could be easily achieved, even for a fat lump like me. Hopefully thats enough conditioning of the battery, so I will now revert to topping up each trip.
Overall I am very pleased with the Freego. To date everything has worked as it should with no problems. I tried a homebuilt starter motor based bike, quite quick but very noisy and it tore a bit off my trousers! certainly not legal. I also rode a Powercycle, a Wisper and the Freego before making the decision to get the Eagle. It just seemed to have a little bit more grunt than the Wisper (that could have been down to charge state??) at hill climbing and with the 2 year warranty and being a tad less expensive, thats the way it went.
Sorry for going on a bit, but I have been inexorably smitten by E-Bikes, and I am looking forward to lengthy and enjoyable time on them.
I'll update again when further testing is complete, which might take some time!!