Powabyke Commuter Excellent Hill Climber

[TwistNgo]

I've owned my Powabyke for a week now so I've now done a fair bit of hill climbing and I must say the bike has surpassed all expectations, especially hill climbing ! .

I haven't riden any other make of electric bike so I can't compare this model to the ability of others.

All I can say is one very steep hill I've attempted to climb on my old regular mountain bike I only got about 50 yards up and I had to stop !. Now with the Powabyke assisting the motor by pedalling a little bit I got all the way up not even out of breath !.

I know by the poll most owners on here have eZee bikes but have you eZee bike owners tried a Powabyke for hill climbing ? I can't possibly imagine it being any easier on any other bike than mine ! .

I'm just curious to know if the people on here with eZee bikes did like me and just tried the one make of bike and bought it or did you try other makes ? was a Powabyke one of them ?

 

[Ian]

Hi TwistNgo, I'm an Ezee owner but have never tried a Powerbyke, however I do believe the Powerbyke motor has a very high peak output which will certainly contribute towards good hill climbing (Information courtesy of Flecc in another thread). I have an Ezee Torq and an Ezee Sprint and they are totally different machines, a fact borne out by other owners, which shows that different models from the same manufacturer can differ considerably.

The thing that matters is that your bike suits the terrain in which you wish to use it. I guess there would be little point in a Channel Islands dealer selling bikes not suited to hilly terrain.

PS. I did have another bike, not a Powerbyke, but that was a greatly inferior hill climber to either of my Ezees, although I considered it adequate at the time.

 

[TwistNgo]

Hi Ian. Unfortunatley there is no eZee dealer in Guernsey ( there is strangely enough another Powabyke dealer ! ), the dealer I bought mine from sells Sakura bikes as well but I prefered the more rugged and robust qualitys of the the Powabyke. I would have liked to have tried an eZee as well but sadly it wasn't possible for me to do so. But as you have said the Powabyke seems to suit my local terrain. My dealer said that he had tried other makes of electric bikes but reliablity was an issue.

 

[nigel]

Nigel

Hi twistngo
i had 2 powabykes a 24 speed and the 5 speed euro they were my first electric bikes and at the time as you say they do the job fine also every hill i did they made it ok speed was slow on the steepest ones but they kempt on chugging away they are good steady tanks and that is there problem they are to heavy between 35 to 40 kilos i found on the flat it was not to bad but most of the time i needed to use power to keep speed going.
However in there defence they are still quite a well recived bike we have a dealer in southampton and there are lots of powabykes i see on my travels

 

[Ian]

Hi Ian. Unfortunatley there is no eZee dealer in Guernsey

Ezee don't have a dealer network as such, just a single UK distributor who, as it happens, are based 9 miles from my home, but a long way from yours.

From your point of view having 2 dealers on the island is another plus point for the Powerbyke, so it sounds like you've got the right bike.

 

[flecc]

Yes, all model Powabykes are great climbers. They are designed on the principle of customers not needing to contribute if they don't wish to. They do have some limitation though, if faced by the very steepest like longish 1 in 5s it's a bit too much for them, and then the weight of the SLA versions is a bit of a disadvantage when pedalling.

They do often have a megarange very large low sprocket though to make anything possible.

On the Powatrykes, to ensure the "no need to pedal" philosophy holds, they offer 24" and 20" wheel versions, the 24" giving 14 mph with moderate hill climbing and the 20" reduced to a maximum of 11.5 mph but very good hill climbing.

The cheap e-bikes marketed by Thompson Stores follow the same philosophy, to the extent that on most models the pedals are near to useless over 8 mph, but the bikes crawl to 13 mph on a good day and climb reasonable hills.
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