Well, it ain't pretty. A nasty purple many hands down low rent mountain bike with a TV mounted on the handlebars.
I bought the bike second hand when at uni and before my son was born and he's 25 now...I gave the bike to my son for a few years and he lent it out to his makes in Bristol and it's had quite a few drunken scrapes....
Anyway, cost of living crisis and make do and mend and all that (and I don't want to leave an expensive bike kicking about). Kit arrived midday, and after a senior moment whilst trying to check the parts and conduct a work conf call I decided the battery connection extension was wrong - had not used Anderson connections before and both sides look the same...anyway, sent an email to Whoosh before I realized I was being an idiot and had to sheepishly email back and explain my stupidity. Anyway, lunch break gave me some time to focus a bit.
The kit was very easy to install. My BB is slightly weird in that the front derailleur mount extends around the BB. Removing the BB and front derailleur results in a weird length shell. No worries, I had predicted this and bought a spacer. All fitted snug as a bug after that.
Still have some tidy up to do but wanted to have a quick test. Did 24 miles with a couple of runs at a very steep hill with about 800 foot of ascent each time. I have an 11t-28t 7 speed cassette which could do with replacing and I wanted to know if I should go to 32t or 34t (which would also mean a new rear derailleur or a derailleur extender as mine is mss 28t - there were limited options when dinosaurs roamed the earth and my bike was made.
Long story short, the killer hill required some grunt from me but was quite manageable. The hill in question is Deer's leap in the Mendip hills - straight up from Wookey Hole to top of the Mendip's. In reality a 32t may have helped.
Ok, about the kit itself (very early impressions). It's a whoosh TSDZ2 250w 48v with 10ah bag battery. I tried the throttle and found it quite pointless. I'm quite happy peddling all the time and want some exercise, not a moped. When I was on the steepest sections I tried the throttle and it didn't add any more power. I found that I could do the steepest sections on tour mode and going up to speed or turbo made little difference. speed was useful when the incline relaxed from super steep as it gave me more assistance and chance for a breather. I did sometimes find I was peddling at too high a cadence for the motor and slacking off a bit or changing up a gear actually got more assistance - will take some getting used to but I already have an idea about what speeds I should be moving at in each gear to get good assistance.
I was often cycling faster than the cutoff and not too much drag. I found that I had more to give in the easier sections having not exhausted myself on the harder bits. I do want to do a GPS speed test as I think the display is over stating the speed. I went through an electronic speed sign that said I was doing 17mph when the display said I was doing 19mph (but not sure the signs are super accurate). This was not assisted before anybody wags a finger - the assistance had long since faded out.
I'm or 2 bars down on the battery out of maybe 6 or 8 bars? I suspect that the bars will not be linear - otherwise that's crazy range given the terrain and my tardy input.
The bag battery look well put together and fits the supplied bag remarkably well. However, I'm not convinced the bag will last very long...I kind of expected this and anticipated having to find a different solution. I have a cunning plan for the battery...
Now, that stupid display. It's like having a TV screen mounted to the handlebars. I will have to live with it. Knowing what I know now I would have asked for a 6 pin motor and got one of the much more compact displays. Still, it's a minor gripe.
Summary is torque sensing mid drive was the correct choice for me. Just hope it is reliable. I know I will need to change the blue cog from time to time and can live with that.
C
I bought the bike second hand when at uni and before my son was born and he's 25 now...I gave the bike to my son for a few years and he lent it out to his makes in Bristol and it's had quite a few drunken scrapes....
Anyway, cost of living crisis and make do and mend and all that (and I don't want to leave an expensive bike kicking about). Kit arrived midday, and after a senior moment whilst trying to check the parts and conduct a work conf call I decided the battery connection extension was wrong - had not used Anderson connections before and both sides look the same...anyway, sent an email to Whoosh before I realized I was being an idiot and had to sheepishly email back and explain my stupidity. Anyway, lunch break gave me some time to focus a bit.
The kit was very easy to install. My BB is slightly weird in that the front derailleur mount extends around the BB. Removing the BB and front derailleur results in a weird length shell. No worries, I had predicted this and bought a spacer. All fitted snug as a bug after that.
Still have some tidy up to do but wanted to have a quick test. Did 24 miles with a couple of runs at a very steep hill with about 800 foot of ascent each time. I have an 11t-28t 7 speed cassette which could do with replacing and I wanted to know if I should go to 32t or 34t (which would also mean a new rear derailleur or a derailleur extender as mine is mss 28t - there were limited options when dinosaurs roamed the earth and my bike was made.
Long story short, the killer hill required some grunt from me but was quite manageable. The hill in question is Deer's leap in the Mendip hills - straight up from Wookey Hole to top of the Mendip's. In reality a 32t may have helped.
Ok, about the kit itself (very early impressions). It's a whoosh TSDZ2 250w 48v with 10ah bag battery. I tried the throttle and found it quite pointless. I'm quite happy peddling all the time and want some exercise, not a moped. When I was on the steepest sections I tried the throttle and it didn't add any more power. I found that I could do the steepest sections on tour mode and going up to speed or turbo made little difference. speed was useful when the incline relaxed from super steep as it gave me more assistance and chance for a breather. I did sometimes find I was peddling at too high a cadence for the motor and slacking off a bit or changing up a gear actually got more assistance - will take some getting used to but I already have an idea about what speeds I should be moving at in each gear to get good assistance.
I was often cycling faster than the cutoff and not too much drag. I found that I had more to give in the easier sections having not exhausted myself on the harder bits. I do want to do a GPS speed test as I think the display is over stating the speed. I went through an electronic speed sign that said I was doing 17mph when the display said I was doing 19mph (but not sure the signs are super accurate). This was not assisted before anybody wags a finger - the assistance had long since faded out.
I'm or 2 bars down on the battery out of maybe 6 or 8 bars? I suspect that the bars will not be linear - otherwise that's crazy range given the terrain and my tardy input.
The bag battery look well put together and fits the supplied bag remarkably well. However, I'm not convinced the bag will last very long...I kind of expected this and anticipated having to find a different solution. I have a cunning plan for the battery...
Now, that stupid display. It's like having a TV screen mounted to the handlebars. I will have to live with it. Knowing what I know now I would have asked for a 6 pin motor and got one of the much more compact displays. Still, it's a minor gripe.
Summary is torque sensing mid drive was the correct choice for me. Just hope it is reliable. I know I will need to change the blue cog from time to time and can live with that.
C
