I promised to report back on the Wisper 905 SE which I bought from Wisper's German dealer who decided to get rid of stock not suited to his market.
The bike arrived yesterday and I spent this morning setting it up - and didn't have much time for a ride so this is initial impressions only.
Set up was probably about three hours altogether. There was quite a bit to do including wiring up the throttle, fitting mudguards and rack and generally checking over and setting things up. I reminded myself of what I keep saying to others, which is that electric bicycles are not a great mail order product for this reason!
Highlights included the wiring being easy, as the German distributor had sent me a picture which clearly showed which bit plugged in where, and removing the back wheel, which is straightforward as there is a connector which allows you to disconnect the wire, making it no harder than on a normal bike.
The brakes were the low point. The front one works well (which is by far the most important thing) but seems to be slightly rubbing. I've no experience of disc brakes so am not too sure what to do. The rear one (v-brake) needed to have the spring tension adjusted so that the two sides sprung back evenly, but unfortuntately the metal around the adjuster screw disintegrated, so I suspect I will need new rear brakes - which is an irritation on an expensive bike but not the end of the world and probably not worth trying to invoke international warranties on - I'll just buy a new one tomorrow.
Apart from that back brake, the components appear to be good quality and the bike is very smooth and light (not weighed it yet).
A slight irritation is that you seem to have to take the seat out to remove the battery. Therefore I expect I will charge it on the bike in my garage - which I can do. But if I was keeping the bike outside this would be a pain.
The controller is rated at 18 amps. Given the 36V battery, that may imply a maximum power output of c650 watts, which I think may be slightly higher than the Torq.
Riding position seems fine. Plenty of additional seat post height for taller riders (I'm 5'7") and an inch or so to come down for smaller riders. Someone under 5'4" may need to ditch the suspension seat post (I may do this anyway out of personal preference). Handlebars have a reasonable amount of adjustment.
As I recalled from my test ride, it is high geared. There is a very large chainwheel with 52 teeth and the rear cluster is a 14-34 megarange, which (I think) gives a gear range of 40 - 98 inches.
I locked the suspension forks when I was setting up the bike. I also pumped up the tyres to the maximum 65psi. That resulted in a hard, responsive ride, which I liked.
I rode it first up and down my street without the battery, and I have to say it is pretty rideable without noticeable motor drag and with gears low enough to be useable should one ever run out of battery power.
Then I put the new, freshly-charged, 500Wh battery in. It really goes! It feels incredibly powerful. It was a wet day, getting dark and I didn't have lights sorted out, so I only went a couple of miles. I sought out the biggest hills near to me (nothing special, probably 1 in 15 for 1/4 mile), and it flew up them. The factory fitted speedo is hard to read but until I eased off it was reading 25-30km/h all the way up the hill. Coming down it felt faster - with plenty of cadence to keep driving it. I've now fitted a proper computer so will have a better idea of speeds when I take it out for a proper ride tomorrow.
Impressions so far are favourable - for the most part a well thought out, designed and executed bike which was exciting to ride, with a couple of niggles. Will say more when I've got to know it properly.
Regards,
Frank