Hello all with a Planet X ebike

[nicholas_yiu]

Hello all new to this forum. I joined based on recommendation from a mountain bike forum that I frequently visit.

I bought my first ebike back in February which is a Planet X e urban. I have been a keen cyclist for years and been a fan of Planet X with this being my 4th bike from them. I have to say I knew nothing about ebikes and I bought it just looking at the price and the non ebike components which I have to say is excellent value for money as usual from them. It also benefit from the battery being hidden in the down tube as I dislike the untidy battery bulge on the downtube.

I got into ebikes because I have been wanting to resume my commute by bike to work. I have done 2-3 years in London and another 2 years when I was in Swindon, but I never really managed to sustain a cycle commute since I moved to Sunderland. It's just too much hard work because of how windy it is here. I always ended up wanting a shower even after just 6 miles, it also ruined my weekend rides because I was simply too tired after a full week of commutes.

People would just say I need to get fitter but I don't have the time having a busy work and family life. This is why I bought the ebike and it's been great. I can ride in in my work clothes and my weekend rides are not affected by the commute. It's also great for towing duty. 2 kids in a bike trailer is hard work on a normal bike.

I have to say I have a habit of fiddling around with bikes and I probably spend more time doing that than riding. The forums' been a great help with the problems that I see with the bike and ebikes open up a whole new world of fiddling that I am looking forward to.

I think most of my problems / future fiddling is already covered by old threads but I will post if I come up with something unique.

Obligatory ebike picture doing towing duty:

 

[cyclebuddy]

Welcome Nicholas. I'd not heard of the brand, your picture looks interesting, so I went looking to find out more. The Planet X website seems to hold a couple of redundant/unlinked general e-bike pages, but there aren't any direct links to actual e-bikes from their main site/home page.

Are they still doing e-bikes, or are they just out of stock? Or am I missing something?

 

[sjpt]

eBikes | Planet X

www.planetx.co.uk

 

[Scorpio]

Looks smart, I've bought a few times from Planet X and have always had good service & items (decent prices - even better if it's on of their sales). I've often cycled from Seaburn to Sunderland, a lovely ride along the coast, fairly flat but can be windy.

Enjoy your new bike

 

[cyclebuddy]

Like I said @sjpt, that e-bike page is not linked from the main site, shows nothing, and goes nowhere: It's just a dead header page held in the background. Where are the Planet X e-bikes?

The OP's e-bike looks interesting... it'd be nice to some specs/prices.

 

[nicholas_yiu]

Unfortunately, they don't sell it anymore, can only find it on webarchive.

E Urban

I think the main reason they stopped selling it is because they don't have a clue what they are selling. I asked a few questions pre-purchase and they couldn't answer any of it. It's only because I know their product are always quite good that I took the gamble.

Mine still have a problem with the battery where a warning light flash when it's fully charge but it doesn't affect its function. The battery also seem to behave well other than having a bit more sag than I would like. I think it is just a BMS problem. It's been back with them and they basically offered me a full refund as they don't know what's wrong with it and couldn't get hold of new battery packs.

When I spoke to the mechanic looking at it, it seem like a lot of these were getting returned and they obvious not making any money from them because of that.

It's got 2 years warranty so I will just keep using it and make a decision if I want a full refund just before the 2 years is up.

 

[cyclebuddy]

I think your e-bike looks pretty slick and good value given the kit on offer. It's nice to see any sub-£2000+ e-bike with 10-speed Shimano Deore gearing rather than the (I think) less-precise Altus/Acera. Tektro hydraulic brakes too. I guess the compromise at the price point has to be the use of lower-current cells in the 10.4Ah battery, which is likely why you notice sag... especially towing two little ones in a trailer?

One of my e-bikes has two 10.4Ah batteries using Samsung 26F cells - they're fine when I'm not using higher power up a steep hill when they do sag badly... but recover again when back on flat ground. When the time comes, I guess you could always have ebikebatteries shove some higher capacity/higher current cells into your battery though - which is my plan!

 

[nicholas_yiu]

I really think it's difficult to get close to the value it was offering at the time which is why I decided to keep it even with the battery problem.

Talking about the sag, yesterday, I decided to have a look at what type of controller it has. It's a Lishui Lsw06 which I think is quite common after looking it up. Also realised the pedal sensor is built into the bottom bracket so it must be doing both torque and cadence. I always wonder how I get instant pedal assist assuming it only sense cadence.

However the biggest discovery is they basically stuffed all the cables into a ball and shut the lid so I unplugged everything and had it all tidied up.

On today's commute, the battery sag seemed to have gone. At a point, it lifted up my front wheel which had never happened before. I also got to work and back home in record time. I thought the battery would have taken a hammering but I actually used less than normal after doing a post ride measure. So there must have been a dodgy connection due to their poor cable management that I fixed by unplugging everything and plugging them back in and organising it with some cable ties.