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I had to go to Southend today to get a generator that I won on Ebay. My sister lives nearby, and I already had a visit planned, so I was able to bid on the generator. This gave me the chance to visit Woosh Bikes to see the and try their latest offerings. Top of my list was the the Big Bear because it has a high torque motor to drag fatties like me up hills. If you've tried a few bikes and found them a bit short of climbing power, this one might well be the one for you.
There's nothing special about it. You can read all the specs on the website. It was all standard Chinese stuff, and everything worked as expected. It had big knobbly puncture resistant tyres, but seemed very sure-footed on the wet, leaf-strewn roads. The motor was relatively noisy; however, I have several of these motors, and none of them make as much noise, so I'm not sure if it's something to do with the controller, or whether it needs a bit of running in. One of mine was a little noisy, but quietened right down after a couple of hundred miles.
The 15mph speed limit was set in the display software, so you get an on/off switch effect each time you go below/above the speed limit. It was a code 13 BPM motor, so you could increase the speed limit to 20mph to get the more natural ramping down of the power at its maximum speed, which would make it feel a lot better at the expense of less range.
I did a return run to Leigh-on-Sea to get some crabs for my tea, which was about 8 miles with a surprising amount of hills along the way considering I was more or less running along the Seafront. There's a 16% climb back out of Leigh and one about 25% up from the Seafront to the Woosh shop. I didn't go higher than level 4 on the display, and was able to drag my 100kg up the Leigh hill in second gear, but had to go down to first for the steepest (25%) part of the final climb up to Woosh still on level 4 without having to pedal too hard. So, it has plenty of climbing ability. If I'm honest, "Bear" is a perfect name for it, because it was a bit of a brute. It wasn't very subtle in it's power delivery unless you turn the power down. It just gets the job done with no fuss.
There was one thing that I'd like to see improved: The forks on this one are on the soft side, which gives a really comfy ride on flattish roads and small bumps, but they bottom out on big bumps. Woosh say that they will be addressing the problem.
The only other thing that I didn't like was that the gearing for me was a bit low. It's the same as many bikes with something like 14T/44T gearing, which I could pedal comfortably to 19mph, but when I went downhill faster than that, I had to free-wheel and wait for it to slow back down.
So, to summarise: It's a no nonsense common or garden Chinese electric bike with great climbing power that is very appealing to heavy guys like me. I don't think the noise and the gearing would bother anybody. They're hardly enough to mention, but one or two might not like the soft forks.
There's nothing special about it. You can read all the specs on the website. It was all standard Chinese stuff, and everything worked as expected. It had big knobbly puncture resistant tyres, but seemed very sure-footed on the wet, leaf-strewn roads. The motor was relatively noisy; however, I have several of these motors, and none of them make as much noise, so I'm not sure if it's something to do with the controller, or whether it needs a bit of running in. One of mine was a little noisy, but quietened right down after a couple of hundred miles.
The 15mph speed limit was set in the display software, so you get an on/off switch effect each time you go below/above the speed limit. It was a code 13 BPM motor, so you could increase the speed limit to 20mph to get the more natural ramping down of the power at its maximum speed, which would make it feel a lot better at the expense of less range.
I did a return run to Leigh-on-Sea to get some crabs for my tea, which was about 8 miles with a surprising amount of hills along the way considering I was more or less running along the Seafront. There's a 16% climb back out of Leigh and one about 25% up from the Seafront to the Woosh shop. I didn't go higher than level 4 on the display, and was able to drag my 100kg up the Leigh hill in second gear, but had to go down to first for the steepest (25%) part of the final climb up to Woosh still on level 4 without having to pedal too hard. So, it has plenty of climbing ability. If I'm honest, "Bear" is a perfect name for it, because it was a bit of a brute. It wasn't very subtle in it's power delivery unless you turn the power down. It just gets the job done with no fuss.
There was one thing that I'd like to see improved: The forks on this one are on the soft side, which gives a really comfy ride on flattish roads and small bumps, but they bottom out on big bumps. Woosh say that they will be addressing the problem.
The only other thing that I didn't like was that the gearing for me was a bit low. It's the same as many bikes with something like 14T/44T gearing, which I could pedal comfortably to 19mph, but when I went downhill faster than that, I had to free-wheel and wait for it to slow back down.
So, to summarise: It's a no nonsense common or garden Chinese electric bike with great climbing power that is very appealing to heavy guys like me. I don't think the noise and the gearing would bother anybody. They're hardly enough to mention, but one or two might not like the soft forks.
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