I had a quick go on this bike today. Some people are going to like it a lot. I rode it down to the seafront, and then along it a bit over some gentle undulations. Handling, control and ride comfort were spot on. I was thinking that I liked it better than the very expensive Bosch bikes. It seemed to make pedalling effortless without giving much power. It has both a speed sensor and a torque sensor. The speed sensor gives a basic level of power as soon as you start pedalling, and then there's a variable amount of power that increases with pedal force. The maximum power is adjustable via the levels on the LCD.
When I came to pedal up Pier Hill, which is about 18%, the lack of overall power compared with the Big Bear was noticeable, and with my 100kg on board, it soon started to slow down. I had to pedal quite hard, but I didn't need to stand up, and this showed a slight flaw in the otherwise perfect bike. There's springs between the hub sprocket and hub for the torque sensor, so when you're pedalling hard, you take up all the compression of the springs and hit the stop. You can feel it hitting the stop, and it feels a bit like when you get a loose square taper crank. It isn't a problem, but feels like one. I guess if you owned the bike, you'd get used to it. You only feel it on very steep hills, when you're pedalling slowly. To evaluate this effect a bit more, I went to the very steep hill (about 25%) through the park. I was on the middle front cog, but went right down to bottom gear on the back, and had to stand on the pedals for the steepest bit. Again I could feel the free-play between the tapping as the springs hit the stop, but at least I was expecting it this time, so it didn't feel as bad.
In summary, if you're light and/or you don't have any steep hills, you'll love this bike to bits. It feels classy and makes normal pedalling effortless, whilst allowing you to put in as much effort as you want. To me, the power algorithm is spot on until you get very steep hills and pedal so hard that you bottom out the torque sensor springs. I know that guys on ES run these motors at double the power, so, if it were mine, I'd find a way of increasing the amps to the motor for better climbing, but I'm heavy and lazy.
