Wisper Tailwind Comfort

[Crazylegs1892]

Hello

It's been a good while now since I purchased my Tailwind via the Halfords C2W scheme.

I'm going to be as honest as I can with my review. First of all, I just want to say this bike is brilliant, my fiancée has a Wayfarer which is a far heavier bike but also more comfortable to ride but nowhere near as agile and manoeuvreable as the Tailwind.

I use this bike literally daily midweek all week and I've been really pleased with it. Now there have been a few issues with it, nothing too major and there are a few things I'd change on it.

Since day one, it had a constant catching noise from the front wheel which despite several back and forth visits back to the LBS, they were unable to find the fault. Anyway it ended up going back to Wisper who diagnosed it was the reflector catching the wheel so they replaced this.

Although the bike is classed as the comfort model, it's very harsh whenever you go over a bump or kerb it goes right through you, it doesn't come with a front fork so in hindsight I'd have gone for a model with a suspension. I wanted to go for the low stepover model hence going for this one, but I'll probably stick a front fork on it in the future.

I'm not a massive fan of the gear change on it to be completely honest. It feels a tad cheap and clunky but appreciate you're not going to get top level Shimano drivetrain at a bike of this cost.

The chain slaps a lot as well when going over any kind of harsh tarmac which is really irritating. A rubber protector on the chainstay would probably help alleviate some of the this.

The bike is seriously rapid, even the LBS said that. You can ride at level 1 most of the time and it's more than enough power. I carry a heavy panier so tend to flit between levels 1 & 2 with level 3 for inclines, level 4 practically shoots you up any hill. It's a really lightweight quick bike.

I also opted for the larger battery which is capable of about 60-70 miles off a charge give or take but I've never had to go too far on it.

Overall I'm very happy with it, just the lack of suspension is a bit annoying but if you live in a smooth surfaced city with very little off road, the bike is great.

 

[saneagle]

You need to put its performance in the context of your size, weight and fitness level. There's no way it's going to shoot me up a hill, and the only way it would do 60 miles without recharging is in the back of my car.. Please spell it out. How much do you weigh, and what's your level of fitness to get the performance characteristics that you described?

 

[guerney]

The chain slaps a lot as well when going over any kind of harsh tarmac which is really irritating. A rubber protector on the chainstay would probably help alleviate some of the this.

Wrap some self-amalgamating rubber tape around the chainstay? Oil degrades rubber though, and it may be abraded away...

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...unless you cover it with anti-abrasion nylon tape aswell, which possibly increases chain slappy noises a bit again.

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[Crazylegs1892]

You need to put its performance in the context of your size, weight and fitness level. There's no way it's going to shoot me up a hill, and the only way it would do 60 miles without recharging is in the back of my car.. Please spell it out. How much do you weigh, and what's your level of fitness to get the performance characteristics that you described?

Calm down for starters, you sound like a deranged lunatic lol.

Firstly, it's up to me what I post up. I don't need to disclose my weight and height to the world, it was just a general review and my opinion. When I say it shoots up most hills in what is essentially turbo mode, it does. Obviously if you apply a bit of common sense, it's not going to get up somewhere like Snowdon as it'll struggle but for most hills and inclines it's absolutely fine. It's a cadence sensor so you still need to pedal regardless but in it's top mode, the motor is doing most of the work uphill for you.

I'm not massively fit at the moment but I play football once a week, walk a lot and cycle in everyday.

Happy with that response?

 

[Nealh]

Tbh reviews of estimated range are a bit useless as there are to many variables , each use is differently in regards to power, fitness, terrain and conditions .

I can quite easily get 34 or more miles from my LG hg2 6ah 44v bottle battery, but the info is of not much use to any one else without knowing all the specs of rider and bike used.

 

[saneagle]

Calm down for starters, you sound like a deranged lunatic lol.

Firstly, it's up to me what I post up. I don't need to disclose my weight and height to the world, it was just a general review and my opinion. When I say it shoots up most hills in what is essentially turbo mode, it does. Obviously if you apply a bit of common sense, it's not going to get up somewhere like Snowdon as it'll struggle but for most hills and inclines it's absolutely fine. It's a cadence sensor so you still need to pedal regardless but in it's top mode, the motor is doing most of the work uphill for you.

I'm not massively fit at the moment but I play football once a week, walk a lot and cycle in everyday.

Happy with that response?

No, not happy, we need to know your weight and steepness of hills that you shoot up in order to make sense of your review.

All I did was ask you to provide context because uninformed people read this forum to get informed. When they see comments, like " level 4 practically shoots you up any hill", they think that if they buy the bike, it'll do the same for them, so they waste their limited and hard-earned money on it, only to find that it's useless for their needs because their circumstances are different.

Pedal assisted bikes don't have a range, so your Wisper doesn't have a capability as such. You could just as easily say it has the capability of 1000 miles between re-charges, because that's what some riders could do. The range depends on the rider's characteristics and how hard they pedal. Some people turn the power right down or off, pedal hard and go a long way before the battery runs out. Others, are heavy and unfit, so don't pedal hard, and get about 20% of the range of the former.

In terms of climbing hills, apart from the power of the motor, there are other important factors: Mass, hill steepness and speed each have a direct relationship on the force needed to get you up. With a crank-motor, you can trade speed for torque. It's torque you need to pull you up a hill.

The Wisper Tailwind is nothing special as a legal ebike regarding climbing and range. Its about average for those characteristics. It's not suitable for heavy people with steep hills to climb, though it will always be better than a non-electric bike.

 

[Waspy]

You mention comfort a lot. There are many things one can do to improve comfort. Suspension forks, suspension seat post, comfort saddle, trekking handlebars. All these things cost money of course. One thing that costs nothing is to lower your tyre pressures. The Tailwind has quite chunky tyres so running them at no more than 40psi would add some comfort.

 

[saneagle]

There are many things one can do to improve comfort. Suspension forks, suspension seat post, comfort saddle, trekking handlebars. All these things cost money of course.

And they add weight. The Tailwind is designed as a lightweight minimalist bike. If you want those things, there are better alternative bikes, but if you already have a Tailwind and are unhappy with the comfort, they're good suggestions.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Thanks for the discussion and review, this kind of feedback helps a lot when we are considering our next year’s models. Re suspension, our trail model has 29” Rock Shox as standard and all models can have suspension forks fitted instead of the blades. All the best, David