I Got My New Bike

[MazB]

Hi Everyone,

I ordered my new bike today Urban Mover 55 with Li-Pol wich claims to do 30 miles per charge. Price £814.

I went and tried it out at Webbs of Warmley - Your local cycle specialist
They had all of the Urban Mover models, they did say this was the only brand they will stock after investigating the eclectric bike market. They where friendly and quite informative. I can highly recommend them. Their website aint much to look at, but deffo worth a visit to the shop.

As for the UM55 its not a bad looking ladies bike, but I have to wait around 10days for delivery, I probs could have taken the NiMh version there and then, but as my hubby was paying he "made" me order the Li-Pol.

I'm so excited about getting a ready made leccy bike, instead of my curry bolt on .

I will of cors post once I have it and let you know how it runs and handles.

Hurry up 10 days !!

Maz.

 

[electric.mike]

congratulations on your purchase, tomorrow it will only be 9 days.
i must admit i liked the um
mike

 

[flecc]

Congratulations Maz, it's been a long search for you which I've followed with interest throughout. After the effort you've put into researching it, I'm sure you'll be over the moon at getting mobile on a new bike.

With best wishes for the weather continuing good for you, enjoy!
.

 

[MazB]

Hi,

Thought I would give you an update - my 10 day wait turned into 12 weeks and still no bike .

I have been more than patient I think - now I am just blinkin annoyed.

I have been in touch with Webbs (where I have paid and ordered from) and with Urban Mover and all I have waiting on is the battery which apparantly was in stock 2wks ago.

I phoned again today and they said they will call me back ..guess what..they havn't .

So I have phoned 50 cycles to see if they had any Choppers left and they sold the last one last week and will be gettin no more in. Nice to see they have the Sparta but its way too big for me othewise I would have ordered it.

I've also called PowaCycle spoke to a nice lady and they said they would call me back...after waiting for the above callback i didnt hold out much hope...but they did twice in fact. I am going to have a try out of the Windsor Li Pol.

So really I am on the look out for another bike coz tomorrow I am going to Webbs and cancelling my order and getting a refund. They don't know that bit yet but I have paid £800+ and they only ever enquire when I phone them up, and they never keep me updated of the progress.
I actually don't mind waiting, but today I have been lied to and that is the final straw. Its been so long that the ink on my reciept is starting to fade !!

Just a final point - since I've been looking for a new bike my Currie bolt on has decided to improve its performance and it feels like new again, so at least I'm happy I'm still mobile.

Soz to rant but I havn't posted anything for ages.

Maz

 

[Ian]

No appology needed for ranting Maz, you're quite justified. My patience would have ran out on the 11th day, I really have no time for retailers that don't do what they say they will. You're quite right to demand your money back, they entered into a contract which they have not completed, and no one could argue they haven't had enough time. If you have any problems have a chat with your local consumer advice centre.

If this is what their pre sales service is like, what will their after sales be like.

 

[Haku]

I hate it when companies say they'll phone you back but they don't, Urban Mover have done that to me 3 times and I didn't get my first problem sorted out until I emailed the founder of the company who sorted things out but now I have a new problem, rain killed my pedal sensor.

On the upside of companies calling you back, Honeyfield Trailers in Gloucester (who I bought the bike from) did call back on the times they said they would, maybe I should go to them instead of direct to UM for my current problem... going direct to UM seemed the easiest solution so I wouldn't have to deal with the delays of a middle man.

About the li-pol battery situation with UM, I put a deposit on my bike at the end of Jan knowing that the li-pol version I orderd wouldn't be available until April, which turned into 1st of May, when I had battery problems and talked to UM they said that they underestimated the demand for the li-pol option, thinking that 10% of sales would be li-pol and the rest NiMH but it turned out 65% were li-pol orders and towards the end of May they had a backlog of 300 orders to fill. Doesn't sound that much but with buying batteries they have to estimate how many they'll need 12 months in advance, and you wouldn't want to over-order on expensive lithium batteries.

 

[flecc]

I've also called PowaCycle spoke to a nice lady and they said they would call me back...after waiting for the above callback i didnt hold out much hope...but they did twice in fact. I am going to have a try out of the Windsor Li Pol.

Maz

I'm not surprised Maz, Powacycle impresses me, my experience is that their service is very good, and there's never been one adverse comment in this forum to my knowledge. That's quite an achievement.
.

 

[MazB]

Hi,

Haku so sorry to hear of your problem, its a pain when something goes wrong...hope you get it sorted if its sortable if you know what I mean.

About my problem ... I understand that the the demand might outweigh the stock, and I have followed the availability on Urban's website but that doesn't give them the right to mess me about. Here's what happened.

I phoned Urban 2wks ago
"yes our shipment is arriving on Monday and will be at the shop by Wednesday" no mention of any backlog of orders and I gave the name of the shop I ordered from, would he not have mentioned this backlog?

I phone the shop Thursday "oh yes that bike, well DHL where suppose to deliver on Wednesday, I'll phone you back" no phone call and I didnt really understand the DHL bit, sounded a bit suss
I leave it a week and call today another promised phone call that didn't materialise.

I didnt pay a deposit I paid the full amount only coz my hubby was paying and I didnt want him to change his mind LOL.

Like I said earlier I actually don't mind waiting, but a bit of honesty goes a long way though - if they'd said its going to be another month I would have waited but I'm not prepared to phone them all the time to acutally get no information. By the way the shop has never phoned me to give me any update of delays.

I totally agree with Ian - if this is the experience I am having with trying to buy a bike from them what will the aftersales be like?

On Urbans website it is still saying availability is July does that mean I will get it before Wednesday? Maybe they just forgot to put what year July its meaning LOL.

Oh well fingers crossed I have no problems getting the refund

Maz

 

[MazB]

Hi,

I didn't get my refund..... this was because I decided to give them a couple of more weeks to try and sort things out. I had also calmed down a bit by the time I got to the shop.

It still wasn't sorted so I decide to take the bike the way it was today.

So I now have an UM 55 with Ni-Mh and will get the Li-Pol at a different time if needed.

I have been for a ride Bristol-Bath (well nearly) and back.
The bike is just the right size for me (one factor I decided not to get a refund)
It was strange for me though as I'm not used to the motor kicking in straight away, but the throttle is there if I need it and this then cuts out the Pedelec mode.
On the throttle it has been mentioned that its quite stiff in operation, I didn't find this at all it was quite smooth and not much effort needed, so maybe Urban have corrected this.
The noticable differrence for me was the weight, much lighter than my currie.
One thing I did miss was the suspension, feeling every bump was very weired but I suppose I will get used to it.

So first impressions have been good, its not as powerful as my currie, but it did tackle the hills I will be using daily very easily.

It also only comes with a standard charger, so I will be using Flec's advice on Ni-Mh to get the most out of the battery.

By the way after my ride, the battery indicator was still on full, well I think it is as I'm presuming the lights will go out one by one until it reaches empty. There was very little literature with the bike so if i'm wrong let me know.

Maz.

 

[flecc]

Yes, the lights should gradually go down the scale, but they do tend to be bunched near the end on many bikes, so when they start going down the scale, it could mean not much more left. You will soon get used to them though.
.

 

[coops]

Hi MazB,

Glad to hear you're "moving" again now you've been exceptionally patient. I specifically chose NiMH with my Torq, saving money on the Lithium option into the bargain, and I've been very satisfied with its performance: I believe with NiMH you get a more gradual reduction in power when its nearing empty than with Lithium, so with experience you may be able to tell by the motor power "feel", aswell as interpreting the battery level meter, when its nearing empty.

I find careful choice of tyre pressure to make a huge difference to ride "bumpiness" on the Torq: its recommended tyre pressure range is 50-85lbs or PSI, but I followed flecc's advice and used 50lbs rear and 45lbs on the front, motorised wheel. Even 5 or 10lbs more than that makes the ride very bumpy! Yours is rear motor, so that should be less of a problem, but a more padded saddle may help if adjusting tyre pressure doesn't (I'd be surprised if it doesn't though! - if you want to be accurate, pressure gauges are quite cheap, very widely available & very easy to use, some pumps have them built in ).

Stuart.

 

[MazB]

Cheers Stuart,

I will mess around with the pressure and see if that works, although going over every bump today I was laffin, must of looked strange.

Flecc - thanks for all your info and your knowledge has helped a great deal, I think you have helped so many people with their purchases and probably converted quite a few as well

Maz.

 

[coops]

Your welcome MazB, I forgot to say that at those 45lbs front and 50lbs rear I use on the Torq, its quite comfortable, but just 5 or 10lbs more makes it very bumpy as I said, so the pneumatic suspension makes a big difference, especially on fatter tyres .

Of course, you can always leave be so long as it keeps you laffin!

P.S. Oh, and check the recommended range of pressures for your tyres, written on the sidewall: its only a guideline and there's some tolerance, so you should be okay to safely go a bit lower pressure if you need to, like I do with the Torq tyres at 45lbs where its 50lbs minimum, but too low will make harder work for you & the motor with increased road friction & rolling resistance, aswell as increasing the "pinch"-flat puncture risk I think, so best to keep it high enough to just still feel comfortable .

I shouldn't say this... but if you absolutely want more cushioning, and lower tyre pressure & padded saddle are insufficent, and comfort is more important to you than pedalling efficiency, you could get a suspension seatpost if you don't already have one (don't hit me flecc! ).

All the best with your bike,

Stuart.

 

[flecc]

A pleasure to help Maz, good to know you're in the saddle again with lots of new e-bike experiences to enjoy.
.