Wisper 905SE - confirmed sighting!

[frank9755]

I managed to get a trial on the long awaited Wisper 905SE yesterday.

It's a nice looking bike, other than some monstrously large suspension forks on the front which look as over the top (in my opinion) as those on the Ezee Cadence. Thankfully they can be locked so need not interfere with rideability. The bike feels light and well balanced. I could lift it pretty easily with one hand on the middle of the crossbar.

Very pleasant to ride. Handles well and certainly seems very powerful. There are three buttons on the handlebars, to control pedelec, throttle and off-road and it wasn't clear exactly which did what, but I fiddled around with them, got the off-road setting, and it took off! I went up a moderate hill that might have been 6-8% and it really didn't seem to be a hill at all. Brakes seemed very good. Altogether a very nice bike to ride.

I didn't count the teeth on the chainwheel, but I inferred it was high geared from the way it handled. Its got a 7-speed megarange, which I think is the right gear set-up for it. There was plenty of cadence going down hill at speed in a high gear. When I turned the power off to see how it felt I could pedal it comfortably on the flat only in second or third gear.

It's got a slightly odd speedometer and battery level indicator on the handlebars, which wasn't to my taste, but I've heard others say they have liked it. I think it said I was doing 30kmh at one point. Its also got a dynamo and front/rear lights.

Altogether I was impressed by it. However, I had been pretty sure it would be impressive with a new, fully charged battery. My big question with it is if the high capacity lithium battery will be up to the job, and there's no way of knowing that for a year or so.

Frank

 

[flecc]

Thanks for the information Frank. The extra capacity of the SE's battery means cut-out problems should at least be considerably reduced and maybe not exist at all. The battery life will also probably be a bit longer, the extra capacity meaning a proportionally smaller discharge before recharging on any given journey.

I'm interested in the dimensions of the contents, to see if they could fit into the space available in the eZee range, though maybe eZee are also planning a bigger battery introduction to keep up with the competition.

I understand the new Wisper battery will probably be dearer than the old one though, so it will be interesting to see what, if any, is the customer resistance to that.
.

 

[c_elder]

I managed to get a trial on the long awaited Wisper 905SE yesterday.

Could you clarify if this was the 905Se City or Sport? Also does the bike suffer from brake judder (the common complaint for Ezee bikes)?

Thanx!

 

[frank9755]

It was a Sport. I understand they are identical other than mudguards and rear carrier.
There was no brake judder. I don't believe this has been found to be a problem on earlier Wisper bikes. They have a disk brake which, in principle, I'm not a great fan of however, in practice, I felt it worked very well.
Frank

 

[Bikerbob]

The SE still isn't offered on the Wisper website. Was anything said about when it will be available?

 

[JohnofCambridge]

I was in touch with Wisper late last week and there are a few arriving this week. I am a bit confused though as to whether both the Sport and the City have an off road switch. I have the impression from another post that only the sport will have one. There also seems to be a difference in the motor size.

John

 

[frank9755]

Bob,
I tried it at the Electric Transport Shop. They have it in stock.
I think David from Wisper said their first container was arriving here a few weeks ago.

Frank

 

[frank9755]

John,
I had previously had that impression too, but the dealer who showed me it assured me the City model had the off-road setting and that the only difference was carrier and mudguards. Worth checking properly before purchase though!
Frank

 

[Bikerbob]

Bob,
I tried it at the Electric Transport Shop. They have it in stock.
I think David from Wisper said their first container was arriving here a few weeks ago.

Frank

Thanks Frank. Confusingly if you go to their home page and click on ' Wisper KR2 905se' you get taken to a page headed '905e'! Just an error I think, they are obviously describing the se at £949.

 

[frank9755]

Yes, its an error. They don't have the SE on their site yet.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

905se Confused? You will be!!

Hi Pedelecers all.

Sorry I have been away from the forum for a while but as I said in my last post, The Sustainability Show took an awful lot of our time. I will be absent for another couple of weeks now as I hear there is a good market for Pedelecs in Cuba and think it would be mean of me not to introduce the people of Havana to the Wisper range! You never know I may even take a few days R and R

Regarding the confusion.

The situation is thus;

The first container of 905se went to Germany about 6 weeks ago in time for the FMA in Cologne. These bikes were essentially Sports. The Citys will be ready for next season. We have had half the German container shipped here to test the market, but are pretty sure they will be enthusiastically received.

Another batch went out to Australia where our Oz Partner achieved 80 kilometers in hilly terrain using assist mode on Sunday so the new 13.8a 36v battery seems to be doing it's job well.

The reason we have produced 4 models is for the world market, for instance our Canadian Partner wants a low entry model, so he is only stocking the basic 905, where as our Dutch Partners want a high end bike with full mudguards and rack hence the 905se City (now without those huge magnesium front forks Frank!) is their bike of choice. For the UK market we will be stocking the 905e and the 905se sport as we believe that they will be the best sellers although the 905 basic and the 905se City will be available to order.

The 705se City, which will have all the power of the 905se but no front suspension and will have caliper brakes instead of disk on the front wheel, will be available in January and will be the only 705 model stocked here in UK.

Prices will be; 905e £997.00 905se Sport £1195.00 and 705se City £1095.00 still wonderful value for money.

We do however have a few of the original 905e left at New Milton at £849.00

(Sorry to sound as if I am pitching, I know it's frowned upon in the lofty halls of the Pedelecs community but I felt I needed to explain what's available now)

Doug and I are off the the Factory in Shanghai at the end of the month to sign of the new range. Whilst in China are meeting Lishen in Beijing to see their new generation Lithium Ion battery packs, I will report back in early December.

The web site and our marketing strategy will be going through a big face lift in December, we will get a bike to David Henshaw at A to B and another to the guys at Extra Energy in Germany to for them to both cast their critical eyes over our babies! (it's just like the 11+ all over again! )

I hope this helps clear up any misunderstanding. I will be back in blighty on Monday week so please forgive me if I take a while in answering your questions.

As always, very best regards David

 

[flecc]

I don't see that as pitching David, just a very welcome explanation of the situation, for which many thanks.

It's good to hear of the rigid fork to order option on a model.
.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Solid forks

Thanks Flecc, and yes the solid forks do feel better, and are far less expensive!

Best regards David

 

[Bikerbob]

Thanks David. I hadn't appreciated that there was a new improved version of the 905e as well as the introduction of the 905se. It would have helped my slowing mental processes if the new model had a different model number than the old one!