Lunchtime, and my new bike has arrived at work. OK, lets get it out of the box and start the unwrapping and assembly process. First objective find the charger and keys, get the battery off the bike and charge it ready for the 6.5 mile ride home. Ah, have an issue with charging, the mains lead has a continental plug and no sign of a UK three pin lead. It is not a standard kettle fitting so I could not nick one from one of the computers that were not being used. I did however, manage to fing a spare lead and "borrow" the plug, cut the continental plug off the new lead and fit the three pin plug. Yeh, charger working.
The bike was well packaged with all vunerable parts protected. Assembly required the handle bars, peddles an front wheel to be fitted and the seat to be set at the required height. Front whl wa easily sorted using the quick release skewer. handle bars next, oh another issue none of the supplied allen keys fit the hex bolts on the stem. Luckily, there is one the correct size in the tool kit at work, problem solved. Once I had the front brake cable in the right place the handle bars went straight on. Peddles next, easy, tightened with on of the supplied spanners and I even remembered "left hand thread left side". Next adjust the seat and inflate the tyres (keep a pump in my bag) quick check over everything else and then a short ride around the warehouse. It feels great to ride unpowered so much better than my £100 full suspension MTB but I have to go back to work.
Home time, quick read of the instructions, fit the battery and off we go. It would not be fair to give an opinion on the merits or otherwise at this early stage since I have never ridden an E-bike before but unpowered it is easier to ride than my old bike. I did feel that it was not giving me any assistance at all and I arrived home soaked in sweat as usual. I then took it out this evening and discovered that it was my riding style that was at fault and not the bike, Phew! I am used to peddling hard, getting up to speed as fast as possible and then working hard to maintain that speed. What I need to do is to peddle less vigorously in a higher gear and let the motor do some of the work.
I fully intend to use this bike for my daily commute which includes a couple of moderate hills and several stretches where I am often subjected to head winds. I will use it for a few weeks and then post an update.
The bike was well packaged with all vunerable parts protected. Assembly required the handle bars, peddles an front wheel to be fitted and the seat to be set at the required height. Front whl wa easily sorted using the quick release skewer. handle bars next, oh another issue none of the supplied allen keys fit the hex bolts on the stem. Luckily, there is one the correct size in the tool kit at work, problem solved. Once I had the front brake cable in the right place the handle bars went straight on. Peddles next, easy, tightened with on of the supplied spanners and I even remembered "left hand thread left side". Next adjust the seat and inflate the tyres (keep a pump in my bag) quick check over everything else and then a short ride around the warehouse. It feels great to ride unpowered so much better than my £100 full suspension MTB but I have to go back to work.
Home time, quick read of the instructions, fit the battery and off we go. It would not be fair to give an opinion on the merits or otherwise at this early stage since I have never ridden an E-bike before but unpowered it is easier to ride than my old bike. I did feel that it was not giving me any assistance at all and I arrived home soaked in sweat as usual. I then took it out this evening and discovered that it was my riding style that was at fault and not the bike, Phew! I am used to peddling hard, getting up to speed as fast as possible and then working hard to maintain that speed. What I need to do is to peddle less vigorously in a higher gear and let the motor do some of the work.
I fully intend to use this bike for my daily commute which includes a couple of moderate hills and several stretches where I am often subjected to head winds. I will use it for a few weeks and then post an update.
