Trek Cytronex - First Impressions.

[Chris_Bike]

Hi Harry,

I'm sure Mark will answer for himself but my understanding is that the Trek was primarily designed with city commuters in mind. I just like riding mine in the country!

I have found the acceleration when you cut the motor in excellent for getting past idiot drivers who chose to pull out just as you are overtaking them though (added later).

 

[Mark/Cytronex]

In Town

Chris is right, I designed Cytronex with the commuter in mind. Myself and Sam were in fact riding the men's and ladies version in central London this week (you can put them straight on a train 2 minutes from our office then it is just under an hour to Waterloo). Although I am of course horribly biased, we had enormous fun and decided this is the only way to travel around London.

But I guess what Harry is asking is how the controls operate in town. Cytronex is designed to be as simple as possible to use so you concentrate on the cycling and traffic. Basically there are just two buttons (in either bar end) one is the "Boost" button (i.e. power on), the other toggles between high speed/full power and slow speed. As long as you are doing more than 5mph you can press the boost button.

So in central London, where there are a lot of traffic lights, it allows you to get away fast. To accelerate away from lights you select the slow speed, get ready to go, then start pedalling as soon as the lights change with your right hand on the bar end, press the "boost" button and you will feel a thrust of power. The rear shifter allows you to shift up through several gears at once to catch up with the speed of the bike. Finally you press the full speed button with your left hand. This all happens very quickly once you get used to it and I am sure it is perplexing for cars who think they are going to overtake you! Basically it keeps you out of harm's way and speeds up your journey.

When you are weaving through heavy traffic in town, mostly you won't want the power and the Cytronex powered bike reverts to a normal hybrid bike, until you need to get away fast again.

We also find on some big busy roundabouts (like the one in Pariament Square) that it comes in very handy to have the power to avoid getting cut-up.

For the longer stretches with uphill gradients and headwinds you just put the power on and forget about it - it will push you on full power whenever you are below the maximum speed. Touching either brake will cut the power instantly if you need to stop fast.

Of course there is also a big benefit in having a light bike in town, which is one reason we got the weight down to 17Kg.

Because Cytronex is designed for commuters there is also a very high specification lighting system, for all year round commuting. The front headlamp is the new 40Lux Busch and Muller LED IQ Fly and the rear is a B&M LED mounted high up below the seat. We added the Cytronex Datalite because anyone who commutes seriously needs to know their speed, the time, distance, etc. I also found the temperature reading on the computer very useful this winter (ice could be on the road at anything under 3 degrees).

So all in all, commuting is exactly what the bike is designed for!

 

[john]

I also found the temperature reading on the computer very useful this winter (ice could be on the road at anything under 3 degrees).

Having come off on ice recently, I got a computer with temperature display. Only a few on the market have this. I've found it very useful, not just for ice, but to help decide what layers of clothing to wear.

 

[Cyclezee]

New Cytronex Web Page

Still temporary, but it is looking cool The Best Electric bike technology on the Planet!

J hn

 

[Cyclezee]

Kickstand

I have gone for a Bontrager Rear Kickstand ATC: Rear Mount Kickstand - Bontrager - Kickstands - Accessories which I am advised will fit a Trek FX73 and being black will look unobtrusive.
If I have a problem with the Bontrager, I will get a Pletscher Multizoom Rear Mount Kickstand Pletscher Multizoom Rear Mount Kickstand - £15.83

J hn

 

[Chris_Bike]

I have gone for a Bontrager Rear Kickstand ATC: Rear Mount Kickstand - Bontrager - Kickstands - Accessories which I am advised will fit a Trek FX73 and being black will look unobtrusive.
If I have a problem with the Bontrager, I will get a Pletscher Multizoom Rear Mount Kickstand Pletscher Multizoom Rear Mount Kickstand - £15.83

J hn

That kick-stand certainly looks the business John. When it comes can you let us know how it attaches to the rear dropouts?

 

[keithhazel]

Having come off on ice recently, I got a computer with temperature display. Only a few on the market have this. I've found it very useful, not just for ice, but to help decide what layers of clothing to wear.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------but that will only work once you are outside, and if your shivering by then you wont need no gadget to tell you to put a jumper on

 

[felix]

That kick-stand certainly looks the business John. When it comes can you let us know how it attaches to the rear dropouts?

I wondered about that too. Found this:

Trek Bikes | Bikes | Urban | Police Bike

cheers,
Mike

 

[Chris_Bike]

I wondered about that too. Found this:

Trek Bikes | Bikes | Urban | Police Bike

cheers,
Mike

Looks like it clamps to both stays - should be stable.

 

[john]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------but that will only work once you are outside, and if your shivering by then you wont need no gadget to tell you to put a jumper on

That's a fair point. However, how cold you feel when you go outside is not always a good indication of temperature. Factors such as the temperature of the building you were in, wind speed and sunshine can all affect how cold you feel when you come out. Most of these don't have much affect when you are cycling particularly wind chill which of course is affected by your motion.

Anyway, I find it useful

 

[fishingpaul]

I have a weather station in the house, which tells you the temperature outside,my house being recently built has very good insulation and is always very much warmer than outside,before i had the weather station i was often fooled in to thinking if it was warm indoors with no heating, it would be warm outside, often i went out under dressed and if you come from a too warm enviroment, it can take several minutes before your body temperature starts to drop,and realise just how cold it is outside.

 

[Chris_Bike]

Calling AndyH2 and Mike

I'm stuck in London and can't play with my bike at present. Have you guys got yours yet? I'm itching to hear your first impressions.

 

[felix]

Hi Chris,
collecting mine this afternoon, traveling by car, then going across to visit my daughter at Purley for the weekend. Hope to get chance to try it out there but I won't be able to access t'internet 'till Monday.

All the best
Mike

 

[Cyclezee]

First Ride!

With 6 weeks out of the saddle due to a fractured bone in my right hand, I went out riding today. As I was slightly apprehensive about using brakes, gears and a jarring ride, I went out on my Agattu first as it has suspension to absorb some of the shocks.
My first ride was a gentle 5 or 6 miles and it all went OK.

Spurred on by this I went out for my first ride on the Cytronex to get the feel of it. Quite different from the Agattu as you would expect, no suspension and derailleur gears for a start.
Following Mark's instructions, I pedalled up to 5mph and pressed the right power on/off button and away I went, very smooth and very quiet. There is a slight lag in power delivery, probably no more than half a second, but I soon got used to that. As soon as I reached 11 or 12 mph, I pressed the left button to give max power, and with a little pedal assistance, was doing 20 mph on the flat without too much effort. My first ride didn't last very long as the power died after only 2 miles. I believe Mark fully charged the battery once and test rode it for a number of miles, it had 16 miles on the clock before I started, so it is still in the conditioning phase.
Pedalling home without power was not too difficult. When I got home, I put the battery on to charge and went out again on the Agattu, doing about 15 miles on a quest for gloves, but came home empty handed.
This afternoon I went out on the fully charged, 2nd charge, again visiting local cycle and motor cycle shops on my mission to find gloves. This route was a bit hillier and included city centre riding with a lot of stop go. I'm starting to get the hang of the power cutting out as soon as I touch the brakes, changing down the gears before coming to a standstill, then pedalling away until I get to 5 mph then turning the power on. I find it quite natural to pedal constantly rather than just using battery power as you might do with a throttle bike, so I have not really tried it using power only for more than a few secons. This time I managed 13.5 miles before the battery cut out, hopefully the range will increase once the battery is fully conditioned. This left me having to pedal 4.5 miles home, mostly uphill which did bring me out in a sweat. My wrists and shoulders ache a bit due to the riding posture that means I am leaning on the bars quite a lot, but I think I will soon get used to this.
Being able to use the bar extensions mean you can change the position of your hands and relieve a bit of pressure. I found that with my hands on the extensions I could still reach the brake levers with the tips of my fingers and reach my power buttons too.

It is too early to give a comprehensive report and I need to complete battery conditioning to find what the max range is, but so far, I like it very much.
One addition that I would like to see is a red and green led on the handlebars to let me know when the power is on or off, as you can't tell by looking at the power switch.

J hn

 

[Chris_Bike]

Glad you like the bike John. I suspect that as you hand gets stronger and you ride it more you will enjoy the ride even better. If your battery behaves like ours did, you'll soon be up to 20 miles on a charge.

 

[oldosc]

Hi Aldby,
Some years ago J bought me a pair of Extramits, from a 'Leisure' shop the consist of a leather glove, which fits into a Blue outer of heavy cotton mitts. Bit clumsy, but magic in 0 degrees and very good when falling off the bike
I actually dislocated my shoulder in one off road fall(yes being stupid) but the hands were no problem( if anyone is intrested in how to put back a shoulder..see the movie "two mules for sister mary" It really does work.but chr**t don't it hurt)

 

[Cyclezee]

A bit off thread, so I have responded here http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/electric-bicycles/2287-cycling-gloves.html#post29381

J hn

 

[Matt]

I think it won't be long before they're struggling to keep up with orders for this bike

Only time will tell if there are any issues with reliability, but from what I've seen and heard this could be the bike to bring electric biking into the main stream. Undoubtably the panasonic units will always have fans because, of their ability to take on any size hill with ease which is essential for people with health issues, their build quality and their simplicity of use regarding power delivery but, for something to really take off in this day and age I think it has to appeal to a younger generation as well and I am yet to see an ebike that is anywhere near as cosmetically pleasing as this one.

I'm not a fashion obsessed teenager, but I am ashamed to say that I would still feel a little bit silly arriving to college on one of the panasonic range or even a Wisper, even with their relative good looks for an ebike and rather embarrassed if I had to relay the cost of one to anyone that asked, but I don't think I would have any issues whatsoever with the Trek.



Just thought I would post my unasked opinion as I'm sure the EB market has been begging for something like this to arrive on the scene. I know I have.

 

[Cyclezee]

I think it won't be long before they're struggling to keep up with orders for this bike

Only time will tell if there are any issues with reliability, but from what I've seen and heard this could be the bike to bring electric biking into the main stream. Undoubtably the panasonic units will always have fans because, of their ability to take on any size hill with ease which is essential for people with health issues, their build quality and their simplicity of use regarding power delivery but, for something to really take off in this day and age I think it has to appeal to a younger generation as well and I am yet to see an ebike that is anywhere near as cosmetically pleasing as this one.

I'm not a fashion obsessed teenager, but I am ashamed to say that I would still feel a little bit silly arriving to college on one of the panasonic range or even a Wisper, even with their relative good looks for an ebike and rather embarrassed if I had to relay the cost of one to anyone that asked, but I don't think I would have any issues whatsoever with the Trek.



Just thought I would post my unasked opinion as I'm sure the EB market has been begging for something like this to arrive on the scene. I know I have.

That is an interesting point about feeling silly riding an electric bike and embarrassed by the cost.
The first point doesn't bother me in the slightest, I would feel even sillier arriving somewhere exhausted, gasping for breath and sweating profusely.
When people ask about the cost, my reply is usually met by a sharp intake of breath and "how much". As a leisure cyclist who does the occasional errand on a bike, I really can't justify the cost in pure financial terms, whereas a commuter could quite easily.
About 4 years ago, I bought a Specialized MTB at a car boot sale for £30, it was a real bargain and looked the business. Problem was, I only ever rode it 3 times and probably did no more than 10 miles on it. The rest of the time, it sat at the back of my garage gathering dust. In contrast, my electric bikes get lots of use and I have covered thousands of miles since owning one.

J hn

 

[Mark/Cytronex]

Feedback

I am very pleased to see Matt's comments because he has identified exactly what we want to achieve with Cytronex. Whilst there is a core of enthusiasts who see the huge potential of electric bikes for transport (many of whom contribute to this forum) there are a great many others who have yet to see the light. My feeling in developing Cytronex was that for ebikes to be accepted into the mainstream they need to look exactly like an unassisted bike, and have minimal impact on the ride - until the assistance is used.

I love cycling and want others to share the same experience. As a reasonably fit cyclist, for me Cytronex gets me there faster than ever before, allows me to go further and without arriving sweaty (we don't have a shower at work). But for all those who don't believe they are fit enough, Cytronex is designed to give them all the fun of cycling, but without the bits they don't like (the hills and head winds).

Sadly many people from their late teens to their 40’s drive everywhere even though they could easily cycle. We believe that an electric bike that looks and rides like a proper bike has a real chance of changing attitudes. It is early days yet (we haven’t started promoting the system yet, and don’t even get me started on the unfinished web sites …) but we have found the younger age groups are keen to try the bike, and are bursting with enthusiasm when they do.

Regarding John’s first rides:

We test all bikes before shipping for three reasons: firstly to make sure everything is operating correctly, secondly to do the first cycle of the battery (this only lasts about 7 miles so we don't want customers to think this is normal!) and thirdly so we can readjust the gears before despatch.

We deliver the battery almost empty and it needs to be charged before first use. This is because the maximum power and range is achieved by charging the battery just before use (which is also why we have such a fast charge). Personally I put my battery on to charge when I get up, then when the fast charge has finished (usually about an hour and 15 minutes for my 15 miles) I am ready to go.

The maximum power and capacity is not achieved until 3 to 5 cycles of the battery (we do the first one). Conditioning should be done by using the bike until assistance expires then fully recharging. John’s ride of 13.5 miles is what I would expect at this stage.

There is indeed a slight lag in power delivery, this gives time to prepare for changing gear when using the bike to accelerate.

We did experiment with an LED light in the boost button to show when the motor is on because, as John says, the system is very quiet. However, we found the light quite distracting - particularly at night, and it detracts from the “hidden power” ethos. Also as I was testing the prototype with the LED indicator I soon realised that I had stopped looking at it altogether because I had got the feel for when the power is on.