My Kudos King review.
I am in my 68th year 5ft 8-9 tall with a BMI index of 31. Pulse at rest 57 and when pushing hard 164.
You can see the type of area in which I live if you input HD7 5QQ into Streetmap.UK and select the magnification that shows the topography lines showing height in metres.
I have now had my Kudos King for 11 weeks and done over 700 miles. The bike rides like a heavy 25kg normal bike would when not under power.
The Bikes computer has 5 settings and these settings control the speed at which point the motor cuts out. I normally ride the bike on level 2 which cuts in when I need some assist at about 8-9mph and cuts out when I don’t allowing me to take advantage of the ‘Kings’ free running qualities. I ride the bike without power at every opportunity usually at all speeds up to the maximum that I can achieve under my own power of 25mph but usually at the more sedate 10-12mph.
I did 47 miles on one hilly trip and 58 miles on another with a 45 minute recharge mid way thanks to Ken at the Fairhomes visitor centre at Ladybower Derbyshire. I did 34 miles before the battery complained on another trip which included 3 stiff climbs one of which at 24miles was the Woodhead to Holme Moss climb. I needed all of the ‘kings’ 24 gears on that one and have frequently had to drop down to the lowest gears that I have got.
If I have ever been lucky in my life it was buying an ebike with a triple cog front drive. I wouldn’t like to think of running out of battery power in the terrain and on the trips that I undertake with anything less. I hate pushing. I don’t plan I just set off.
As an experiment I set the bike to level 5 and bombed around my hilly area as fast as I could go. This clobbered me and halved the batteries mileage to about 24. Level 5 on really steep hills doesn’t make all that much difference to the speed that gets you to the top but it does make a difference to battery life. My motto is steady but sure.
Downsides.
After 7 weeks the bottom bracket bearings collapsed. Luckily the race did not appear to be damaged so I put new bearings in and repacked with Castrol LS grease which is water resistance.
The Pedals appeared to be going the same way and on inspection found there were more iron filings in what remained of the grease than the local fireworks manufacturer put in their Sparklers. Swapped them for some higher quality cheapo ones.
This is not something that I had expected to have to do so soon on a £1000 bike which is two and a half times more than I have ever paid for a car and I expect to get at least five years out of them, disappointing to say the least, You might wonder why I haven’t taken advantage of the Warranty but what good is a warranty if all it does is replace one inadequacy for another. I want my bike to be on the road not in the cycle garage.
As Kudos has tried hard to keep the bike cost below the £1000 point I think I have discovered where the cost saving strategy has been applied on this bike! But I am still not dismayed. As long as the battery lasts and the motor keeps turning which from what Mr Flecc says is highly likely I can fix the rest, Sheldon Brown’s site is a big help.
And that’s it.
Yours sincerely
Linfitter.
What is it that Caesar said “I came, I saw, I conquered” yea I know how he felt. Roll on summer!
I am in my 68th year 5ft 8-9 tall with a BMI index of 31. Pulse at rest 57 and when pushing hard 164.
You can see the type of area in which I live if you input HD7 5QQ into Streetmap.UK and select the magnification that shows the topography lines showing height in metres.
I have now had my Kudos King for 11 weeks and done over 700 miles. The bike rides like a heavy 25kg normal bike would when not under power.
The Bikes computer has 5 settings and these settings control the speed at which point the motor cuts out. I normally ride the bike on level 2 which cuts in when I need some assist at about 8-9mph and cuts out when I don’t allowing me to take advantage of the ‘Kings’ free running qualities. I ride the bike without power at every opportunity usually at all speeds up to the maximum that I can achieve under my own power of 25mph but usually at the more sedate 10-12mph.
I did 47 miles on one hilly trip and 58 miles on another with a 45 minute recharge mid way thanks to Ken at the Fairhomes visitor centre at Ladybower Derbyshire. I did 34 miles before the battery complained on another trip which included 3 stiff climbs one of which at 24miles was the Woodhead to Holme Moss climb. I needed all of the ‘kings’ 24 gears on that one and have frequently had to drop down to the lowest gears that I have got.
If I have ever been lucky in my life it was buying an ebike with a triple cog front drive. I wouldn’t like to think of running out of battery power in the terrain and on the trips that I undertake with anything less. I hate pushing. I don’t plan I just set off.
As an experiment I set the bike to level 5 and bombed around my hilly area as fast as I could go. This clobbered me and halved the batteries mileage to about 24. Level 5 on really steep hills doesn’t make all that much difference to the speed that gets you to the top but it does make a difference to battery life. My motto is steady but sure.
Downsides.
After 7 weeks the bottom bracket bearings collapsed. Luckily the race did not appear to be damaged so I put new bearings in and repacked with Castrol LS grease which is water resistance.
The Pedals appeared to be going the same way and on inspection found there were more iron filings in what remained of the grease than the local fireworks manufacturer put in their Sparklers. Swapped them for some higher quality cheapo ones.
This is not something that I had expected to have to do so soon on a £1000 bike which is two and a half times more than I have ever paid for a car and I expect to get at least five years out of them, disappointing to say the least, You might wonder why I haven’t taken advantage of the Warranty but what good is a warranty if all it does is replace one inadequacy for another. I want my bike to be on the road not in the cycle garage.
As Kudos has tried hard to keep the bike cost below the £1000 point I think I have discovered where the cost saving strategy has been applied on this bike! But I am still not dismayed. As long as the battery lasts and the motor keeps turning which from what Mr Flecc says is highly likely I can fix the rest, Sheldon Brown’s site is a big help.
And that’s it.
Yours sincerely
Linfitter.
What is it that Caesar said “I came, I saw, I conquered” yea I know how he felt. Roll on summer!