Schwinn Premise

[tillson]

My sister-in-law who lives in Newfoundland is in the market for an electric bike. I don't think it will be getting heavy use for commuting, just mainly leisure. She has seen this Schwinn model. Does anyone have any thoughts on it or Schwinn in general?

The other bike she is looking at is a Bionx. Will this be a Bionx kit fitted to another bike by a re-seller or do they make their own fully assembled bike? Apparently it is twice the price of the Schwinn, which comes in at $1000 Canadian. (About £500).

Any thoughts / advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Tom

(Are Wisper, Kalkhoff and the other quality makes in Canada? She is not aware of them in Newfoundland)

 

[flecc]

Schwinn use the Tongxin motor but were unsuccessful with their first controllers which suffered many failures. Since then they solved that but have been prone to gimmicks like the unsuitable SCiB battery type, seemingly now dropped for this model.

This looks perfectly standard and should be ok, but the battery is a li-ion older technology type, not the currently preferred lithium polymer type, and the warranty on it is a miserable 90 days. Three months just doesn't cut it, six months had always been the minimum battery warranty in the past and today one or two years is more common.

BionX do not make bikes but some manufacturers use them. They are a very good system, expensive but with some of the best batteries available. They are ideal for Newfoundland since BionX is a Canadian product widely used there, so local support will probably be better than for any other make.

I don't know of any other makes represented in Canada or Newfoundland, but Justin at www.ebikes.ca Homepage of the revolution based at Vancouver knows as much about e-bikes as just about anyone else worldwide, so contacting them will provide good advice.
.

 

[tillson]

Thanks Flecc. She has made three visits to the store to try out the Schwinn. The first time she visited the battery was flat, the second time she vistied the battery had been connected to the charger but not switched on, and on the third visit, she found that the battery had been charged but no one knew how to operate the bike.

This does not give you any confidence that they will be able to provide any support in the event of a technical issue. The 90 day assurance on the battery suggests that the manufacturer thinks it is a load of rubbish too.

She has decided to go for the Bionx from a specialist dealer in the end

Thanks for your input.

 

[eddieo]

She has decided to go for the Bionx from a specialist dealer in the end

Thanks for your input.

And I am green with envy.........A wise choice

 

[tillson]

My sister-in-law ended up buying a Trek Navigator with the Bionx system already fitted to it by one of their distributers. She chose this over the Schwinn. Here are some pictures she emailed to me.

As she lives in Newfoundland, I don't think I will be having a go anytime soon.

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/images/attach/jpg.gif

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/images/attach/jpg.gif

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/images/attach/jpg.gif

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/images/attach/jpg.gif


Edit

 

[carpetbagger]

i don't think the pics have worked

 

[rog_london]

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/images/attach/jpg.gif


Edit

Hee hee - I was thinking that perhaps it was a very small bike - my eyesight's not what it was....

Rog.