Oxydrive Early Review

[robwalley]

Reviewer : Rob Walley

Purchased From : 50Cycles

Purchase Price : £799 + fitting

Time Owned : 1 month

Local Terrain : Flattish, South Bucks/Windsor area

Background : Owned Kalkhoff Pro Connect 2009 model for nearly 4 years. Very happy with performance but never liked the dutch style look. Also older model which only goes up to 1.3 times assistance and had the nexus hub which I replaced with a alfine when I found one cheap. Sold this recently and bought Cube Hooper Pro 11 speed Alfine which seems like an excellent lightweight low maintenance choice for the oxydrive kit. Most cycling is short commute to work and family cycling, unfortunately with emphysema I need electricity to get up hills and keep up with kids.

Strengths : Great performance across 5 levels of assistance on the flat and hills, throttle for those really lazy arrogant moments. Every useful piece of info on an LCD display. Easy software setting to change max speed up to 30kmh(not really). Total additional weight around 6.5kg. Very good design – doesn’t ruin the bikes look. Good balance of weight distribution (with Alfine anyway).
Seemed to take one bar in five in terms of battery life for the first 12 miles although only on level one assist, a good start.

Weaknesses : Expensive, tricky to fit (my bike anyway), a couple of design flaws. 50Cycles fitting.

Summary : Not being mechanical I paid 50cycles, what I think is good money to have this fitted to my Cube. Unfortunately this was not done at all well and I have re-done everything from scratch including a wheel build. In summary the wheel was not aligned, the cabling was done incorrectly and the pedal sensor disc was fitted so badly it was tilted and rubbed on the receiver sensor, this was confirmed by Andrew at Oxygen.

The main job to be done was fitting a longer 127mm bottom bracket instead of the 118mm 50cycles fitted, this was too short for the sensor as it had to fitted mirror image because of the compression fitting bolts of the eccentric bracket being in the way, for future reference horizontal dropouts must be a better method for hub gears.

I am also a little fussy, so rebuilt the motor into the orignal Alex rim, bought 2 matching disc rotors with an centre lock adapter for the Alfine and re-routed all the cabling for a neater less cluttered look, clearly mentioned in the oxydrive manual.

Ignoring all these minor niggles, the design and performance of the oxydrive is excellent and I have the added bonus of being now reasonably knowledgeable about bicycles and have a couple of extra tools for future fiddling.

2 small flaws I have pointed out to Oxygen; the cable to the wheel motor is hard wired and really should be a L shaped plug at the hub, makes it impossible to take the front wheel off without cutting cable ties. Andrew at Oxygen has already thought of this and assures me the next batch includes this improvement, not always good to be first I guess. The second is really software and although Andrew thinks it’s a good idea, might be a little more tricky. Because the LCD display is an all in one unit which has speed and odometer, when the assist is off, so are these functions, as well as 1-5 assistance, I suggested a 0 level for no assistance, but maintaining power for the display.

This is an early review, more in a month or so.

Overall Rating (out of 10) : 8 – hopefully 9 later.

 

[robwalley]

As I’ve done 200km, thought I would update this review with some practical implications of owning an Oxydrive.

This is a very smooth and powerful system that doesn’t affect the look of the bike. The LCD display is clear and gives speed, PAS mode (1-5), wattage draw and battery remaining and allows you to change certain parameters like top speed, backlighting, km or mph and wheel size for the pedometer.
When running is assist modes 1-5 the top assisted speed and maximum assisted wattage increase respectively and when you go over the available amps left in the battery, the system cuts in and out approximately 1 second on and off. Now in strictly street legal mode, this probably isn’t a real issue as wattage will drop off towards the normal 25kmh.

As I run this in maximum speed setting (40kmh, not forgetting gearing actually restricts this to about 34kmh) running along the flat at top speed in a relatively high gear, the average assist is only showing about 120watts, this is perfect and would run a long distance(yet to be ascertained, but maths points towards >80km).

When I do come to the odd hill unless I am fully charged I have to drop down the assist increasingly otherwise I get the cutting out as a warning, this is a tad annoying and requires thought rather than the simplicity of say the Kalkhoff’s. I would have thought the system would just restrict the wattage output, it would protect the system and give the rider a better warning of battery reduction i.e. the bike slows.
I also find this noisy compared to my Kalkhoff but I should point out this is the first bike of this type of motor I have ridden, so I have nothing to compare it with, would be good to hear about other similar systems with this comparison in mind.

I have also just had an un-repairable puncture that requires a new inner tube and as I have the initial hardwired motor version I have 5 or 6 plastic ties to cut and remove before I can remove the wheel, of course I require the same amount of new ones to replace once complete, Oxygen state this design has already been changed, but doesn’t stop it being a real pain for me. Maybe there is something that can be retro-fitted.

I really like this design and performance, but at the same time find it annoying and for me it’s the software design and additional protection that hinders rather than helps.
I feel I haven’t covered everything, so please feel free to ask additional questions regarding my experience of the Oxydrive system.

 

[Rab C Nesbitt]

Hello Rob

Firstly , apologies for not seeing your review earlier - and what a good looking bike you've now got !

Excellent review from you and good that you point out the flaws / and fitting problems as I would eventually like to do something similar as the "new" Cytronex seems to be as far away as ever.

Your original post also caught my eye as you mentioned that you had emphysema and needed a bit of help on the hills and keeping up with the kids. I too fall in to the same category so I read your posts with real interest. Your choice of bike is really good (esp with the Alfine 11) and I would expect that very few people know it's an e-bike given its looks - I know a lot of members are happy to fly the ebike flag but I admit I belong to the "covert" camp !

The Oxydrive seems to be out of stock just now as I ponder getting one - having seen your choice of bike I am swithering as to whether to go down the same route as yourself.

Anyway, if you have any further thoughts on how the bike is doing or review updates, I'd be glad to see them

Best

Rab

 

[robwalley]

I had firstly better return the apology as nearly 11 months is very poor in coming back.

Although my condition has not worsened, after over a year with the oxydrive, I'm fairly certain the direct drive of the Panasonic or Bosch has the advantage and I am considering selling the bike in its entirety.

I test drove the Haibike RC29 the other day and it's far more versatile across the assisted ranges from very little I need for a slow leisurely family ride to nearly 3 x you for quick commute and no cutting out half way up a hill when over-heating or low power. It's also much quieter.

I would say this is a preference rather than a fault, The Oxydrive is very good, has throttle for those lazy moments, is the best design for covert look and is powerful in unrestricted mode with a full battery.

I really think the electronic controls for hub motors should allow exact wattage settings rather than speed, this would then dictate your power input requirements for your condition of fitness and the road conditions rather than top speed cut out which is really just a daft law thing and is no help at all to the cyclist. I realise the restrictions apply to Bosch and Panny's but different sprockets get around that.

Anyway, no hurry yet, the other half has no idea of the cost of the Haibike and the lack of availability.