Oxygen S-Cross CB MKII

[Jips1971]

Had a notification that this was available on Friday. Facebook has its uses!
I have been after the original one for months, with a 16MaH battery, but to no avail.

Anyway, as soon as I saw it was available, I rang the dealer in Bristol, and he had one left, with the larger battery.
Didn't take me long to buy it

Picked it up today and drove back to South Wales, so haven't had much time to try it out yet.

Major plus, living on a hill, is the 24 gears. Much better for the final 2 miles of any ride I ever do.
Brakes need bedding in a bit, so I took it for a 8k ride with my son on my old Greenedge CS/2 (6 years old and still going)

Ride is quite nice, and power is smooth delivery.

I miss the throttle function I had on my old bike, and it can't be derestricted on this version of the display by the looks of it.

Need to play a little more, and hopefully weather dependant I may take it for a longer ride tomorrow morning.

One thing I will be looking at is some chunkier tyres, but not yet.

 

[vfr400]

Most bicycle hydraulic brakes are self-bleeding. The only way air gets in is when you turn the bike upside down, but a few pumps of the lever when you get the bike up the right way should clear it. The only exception is when the hose loops up and back down again so the air gets trapped at the highest point. In that case, tilt the bike so that the bubbles have a path upwards back to the reservoir.

 

[Jips1971]

Just a quick update, finished a 33 mile run from Neath to Mumbles Pier and back.
Bike was fantastic. The 16 MaH battery only lost one bar, despite 2 very steep hills. In comparison, my wife on the Greenedge CS/2 went through 1.5 batteries, but they are only 9MaH each.

Very smooth, the extra gears make a big difference.
Very happy with my purchase

 

[Benjahmin]

Ahh ! A modern bike, victorian railings, Welsh mist and Italian ice cream - what's not to love?

 

[vfr400]

Ahh ! A modern bike, victorian railings, Welsh mist and Italian ice cream - what's not to love?

I'd give all those up for a nice woman to love.

 

[Jips1971]

Another update, and it’s not good.
Now done just over 100k on the bike, and I took it up in the mountains behind me on a 40k ride, with some very steep hills. Ground was not tarmac, but not overly rough.
The bike handles pretty well considering it’s not a MTB but more of a commuter.
I have changed the tyres for some with a little more knobbles on, to aid grip in wet/mud/uneven ground.

Anyway, after about 35k, on the last steep hill, the chain snapped as I set off.

Never had a chain snap before, and on a bike less than a month old I was less than impressed. I lugged it manually up the hill, and then used the hub motor to get me closer to home. Thankfully my son was home so he came and picked me up in his Citroen C3. Managed to get it in.

I have bought a new chain, and a breaker, and some spare links just in case it happens again.

Never mind, car is in for a service next week, so I’ll be on it again on a 15mile trip home after drop off, and then next day back again to pick up ( if it passes MoT)

Still love it. Need to get it in for it’s first service next week.

 

[mike killay]

Another update, and it’s not good.
Now done just over 100k on the bike, and I took it up in the mountains behind me on a 40k ride, with some very steep hills. Ground was not tarmac, but not overly rough.
The bike handles pretty well considering it’s not a MTB but more of a commuter.
I have changed the tyres for some with a little more knobbles on, to aid grip in wet/mud/uneven ground.

Anyway, after about 35k, on the last steep hill, the chain snapped as I set off.

Never had a chain snap before, and on a bike less than a month old I was less than impressed. I lugged it manually up the hill, and then used the hub motor to get me closer to home. Thankfully my son was home so he came and picked me up in his Citroen C3. Managed to get it in.

I have bought a new chain, and a breaker, and some spare links just in case it happens again.

Never mind, car is in for a service next week, so I’ll be on it again on a 15mile trip home after drop off, and then next day back again to pick up ( if it passes MoT)

Still love it. Need to get it in for it’s first service next week.

Regarding a previous thread, can you tell us exactly what broke on your chain. Photo would help.

 

[egroover]

Chain snapping on a rear hub drive, that sounds unusual and unlucky, especially a 8 speed chain...4.5k miles on my rear hub crossfire-e on original chain, still going strong (KMC chain)

 

[Jips1971]

As I said, I have never had a chain snap before, even in my younger days on normal bikes.
I don’t have any pictures, but it was the outside of the link that came away from the pin that goes through the inner link.
I did try and fix it, but decided to buy a new chain anyway, and keep the old one for emergencies.

 

[Jips1971]

On going saga... I think I am cursed.
New chain doing well. Kept the old one as a spare in my pannier.
So took the car in for a service and MOT. Only about 15 miles away. Load the bike up on the Thule roof rack, and off I go. No issues so far, cycled home. Plenty of charge in the battery.
About 4pm, get a call, cars ok and ready for pickup, so off I toddle. Reach the garage, pay my £400 bill, and load the bike back on the car, as I have done many times.
Driving home, and on the last roundabout, the bake comes off its vertical bar, and hangs off the car by my drivers window. Scared the life out of me.
Thankfully it didn’t come off completely, so stopped the car, and put it back up again. Could have been really nasty as I was on the motorway 10 mins earlier.
Result
One buckled front wheel, fixed @Halfords for £10
One broken pedal, Amazon replaced easily
Four dirty dents on the roofline and edge of my car. Cost £380 to fix

Remedy
I have bought a couple of the locking straps from Amazon, and cut them down to 50cm each so I can lash it to the upright, should it ever come loose again.

An expensive week, but lesson learnt. Don’t rely on the Thule upright clamp.

 

[vfr400]

I had something similar with a Cykell bike carrier. I went ove a speed bump and saw my bike dissappear. I got out to investigate, and found that the bike was lying horizontal, just attached by its wheel straps. Luckily, there was no damage done. After that, I always added a seperate velcro strap from the crossbar to the rack hoop as security.