D
Deleted member 4366
Guest
This bike was lent to me by Woosh so that I could review it for you. I don't owe Woosh any favours, so what I write is how it is.
The bike came in a large carton. The pedals, seat and front wheel are detatched and the handlebars hang by their cables. The instructions are in the charger box.
The first thing to do is get the battery on charge. To remove the battery you need the keys, which are tied to the cables at the handlebars.
Assembly involves screwing on the pedals which are marked left and right, but the instructions don't mention that the left hand pedal has a left-hand thread, so look out for that. To assemble the handlebars, you undo the 4 screws on the stem with the supplied hex key to remove the clamp-plate, put the handlebars in place and screw the clamp-plate back on. Don't tighten the screws until you've adjusted the height of the handlebars for which one screw on the side of the stem has to be loosened right off, otherwise you'll have the levers at the wrong angle. So, you fix the handlebars loosely in place, adjust the height of the handlebars, rotate the handlebars to get the levers at the right angle and tighten the handlebar clamp. The seat just slides in and is clamped in place with the quick-release clamp. All this takes about 5 to 10 minutes.
Now that it's assembled, you can check it out. This is what you get:
- 250w Bafang SWXB motor
- 8.8aH bottle battery with Sansung ICR18650-22F cells with maximum discharege rate of 17.6 amps
- 15 amp controller integrated into the battery holder and is potted so tamper-proof
- independent throttle and PAS
- 18 speed Shimano Tourney SIS gears with 44/14 top gear
- sprung seatpost
- Velo Plush seat
- Top Gun 111SA-CEN suspension forks 50mm (?) travel
- Cheng Shin knobbly tyres
- aluminium alloy frame
- cable disk brakes.
- weight 19.2kg with battery (on my scales)
The frame looked quite small, but with the seat and handlebars up, it fitted me (5ft 10")pretty well.
A quick test showed that everything worked as it should; however, the left pedal just touched the stand, so I pushed the stand back a bit and tightened its fixing bolt. later I found out that like on all bikes with this type of stand (and others) that when you push the bike backwards, the pedal jams under the stand and pulls it out a bit, so you have to make sure that the fixing bolt is very tight or lift the stand before pushing the bike backwards, which is the logical thing to do.
The first test was directly to our short 14% test hill. I could just get up in top gear with hard pedalling. I tried again in 4th gear and it got up with minimal effort from me. Throughout my use of this bike I never needed to change off the biggest chainwheel, so I'll refer to the gears as 1 to 6 even though it has 18. One thing that I did notice was how smooth and quiet the motor is even under high load. It seems that Bafang has improved a lot since my QSWXK5 two and a half years ago.
Next test was a 20 mile trip down Ironbridge Gorge and back. This gave me a chance to fully evaluate comfort, handling, etc. The steering is very precise and good for manoeuvring in tight situations. I guess the lightness of the bike helped too. The cycle paths were covered in leaves, but no problem with grip from the off-road tyres, which also rolled very well on tarmac. I had been riding for more than half an hour before I even thought about the suspension, so it does its job, but you can't expext too much from only two inches of travel. There was no clatter from the front forks like you get on some cheap ones and they contribute to an exceptionally normal all-round ride that's really quiet. Even the knoobbly tyres don't make any noise. I couldn't fault anything. The ride was completely uneventful,. Everything worked perfectly and I just concentrated on having a nice ride.
The PAS on level 2 is really smooth - none of that fierceness that you get on some bikes that give full power as soon as you start pedalling. I had been riding for well over an hour before I even thought of standing up on the pedals to give my back-side a rest. The only negative point was that the front brake doesn't seem very sharp. Maybe it'll improve once it's had a bit of use. The back brake has everything the same, but performs better. For the first 15 miles I only used the default middle power setting, and the PAS system works nicely, so no need to use the throttle, but when I started the final ascent up the gorge, I switched to high power. By now two of the four lights were out on the display, and under full power, the slight voltage sag extinguished another light, so I managed the ascent with only one LED lit using first and second gears with no serious pedal effort. It was a bit worrying wondering if the battery was going to cut out half way up, but it made it easily. Once I levelled out at the top, I decided to throttle a bit to see if I could use up the battery before I got home. With only one LED lit (about 33v) speed and power were noticeably less than when I set off, which is not surprising with 25% less volts, and now top speed was down to about 13.5mph. With 20.5 miles on the meter, and after a short rest, the battery voltage was 35.5v and two LEDs were lit on the display. I later did a couple of laps round the block to take it to exactly 25 miles,when the last LED started flashing. The power was now significantly down, so I called it a day. You have to bear in mind that this journey is very hilly and I'm 100kg, so a 75kg rider on normal roads should be able to do 35 to 40 miles on assist level 2. One thing I did notice on these laps was how well it rolled down the hills. I was free-wheeling at 20mph+ on only slight inclines.
I bought my cheap chinese Sunlova for £540 two and a half years ago and did 2000 miles on it before selling it to a friend, who's still using it. The Woosh Sirocco Sport is better than the Sunlova in that the electrics are much better finished and waterproofed and it's better looking and smoother and quieter. I can't see any weak points on this bike, where I'd say you need to keep an eye on other than routine service items like spokes and brakes, so for £599 it has to be good value.
Those of you that know me, know that I like to change things and tinker, but on this bike it's not easy because of the battery and controller arrangement. The controller's sealed in the compartment at the bottom of the battery, and although the battery's stronger than the standard bottle batteries, it's not strong enough to give any significant increase in power, so you'd need a new controller and battery to get more power, in which case you'd be better off starting from scratch with a kit and a bike. I think you have to say that it is what it is, which is adequate for most people. The only sensible improvements would be lights and mudguards, and maybe investigate different brake pads. I hope we see better colours and some Woosh stickers oon future batches and I think I'd be happpier on a bigger frame - although I was comfortable,the frame just looks small with me on it.
Summary:
Strong points are: Smooth, quiet motor; reasonable climbing ability; everything works well to give a neutral ride with reasonable comfort; stealthiness;light weight.
Weak points are: front brake power.
I can't imagine anybody being disappointed with this bike. It does everything that it's supposed to well. You can pay three times as much to get one that climbs better or twice as much to get one with slightly better suspension and better equipment.
The bike came in a large carton. The pedals, seat and front wheel are detatched and the handlebars hang by their cables. The instructions are in the charger box.
The first thing to do is get the battery on charge. To remove the battery you need the keys, which are tied to the cables at the handlebars.
Assembly involves screwing on the pedals which are marked left and right, but the instructions don't mention that the left hand pedal has a left-hand thread, so look out for that. To assemble the handlebars, you undo the 4 screws on the stem with the supplied hex key to remove the clamp-plate, put the handlebars in place and screw the clamp-plate back on. Don't tighten the screws until you've adjusted the height of the handlebars for which one screw on the side of the stem has to be loosened right off, otherwise you'll have the levers at the wrong angle. So, you fix the handlebars loosely in place, adjust the height of the handlebars, rotate the handlebars to get the levers at the right angle and tighten the handlebar clamp. The seat just slides in and is clamped in place with the quick-release clamp. All this takes about 5 to 10 minutes.
Now that it's assembled, you can check it out. This is what you get:
- 250w Bafang SWXB motor
- 8.8aH bottle battery with Sansung ICR18650-22F cells with maximum discharege rate of 17.6 amps
- 15 amp controller integrated into the battery holder and is potted so tamper-proof
- independent throttle and PAS
- 18 speed Shimano Tourney SIS gears with 44/14 top gear
- sprung seatpost
- Velo Plush seat
- Top Gun 111SA-CEN suspension forks 50mm (?) travel
- Cheng Shin knobbly tyres
- aluminium alloy frame
- cable disk brakes.
- weight 19.2kg with battery (on my scales)
The frame looked quite small, but with the seat and handlebars up, it fitted me (5ft 10")pretty well.
A quick test showed that everything worked as it should; however, the left pedal just touched the stand, so I pushed the stand back a bit and tightened its fixing bolt. later I found out that like on all bikes with this type of stand (and others) that when you push the bike backwards, the pedal jams under the stand and pulls it out a bit, so you have to make sure that the fixing bolt is very tight or lift the stand before pushing the bike backwards, which is the logical thing to do.
The first test was directly to our short 14% test hill. I could just get up in top gear with hard pedalling. I tried again in 4th gear and it got up with minimal effort from me. Throughout my use of this bike I never needed to change off the biggest chainwheel, so I'll refer to the gears as 1 to 6 even though it has 18. One thing that I did notice was how smooth and quiet the motor is even under high load. It seems that Bafang has improved a lot since my QSWXK5 two and a half years ago.
Next test was a 20 mile trip down Ironbridge Gorge and back. This gave me a chance to fully evaluate comfort, handling, etc. The steering is very precise and good for manoeuvring in tight situations. I guess the lightness of the bike helped too. The cycle paths were covered in leaves, but no problem with grip from the off-road tyres, which also rolled very well on tarmac. I had been riding for more than half an hour before I even thought about the suspension, so it does its job, but you can't expext too much from only two inches of travel. There was no clatter from the front forks like you get on some cheap ones and they contribute to an exceptionally normal all-round ride that's really quiet. Even the knoobbly tyres don't make any noise. I couldn't fault anything. The ride was completely uneventful,. Everything worked perfectly and I just concentrated on having a nice ride.
The PAS on level 2 is really smooth - none of that fierceness that you get on some bikes that give full power as soon as you start pedalling. I had been riding for well over an hour before I even thought of standing up on the pedals to give my back-side a rest. The only negative point was that the front brake doesn't seem very sharp. Maybe it'll improve once it's had a bit of use. The back brake has everything the same, but performs better. For the first 15 miles I only used the default middle power setting, and the PAS system works nicely, so no need to use the throttle, but when I started the final ascent up the gorge, I switched to high power. By now two of the four lights were out on the display, and under full power, the slight voltage sag extinguished another light, so I managed the ascent with only one LED lit using first and second gears with no serious pedal effort. It was a bit worrying wondering if the battery was going to cut out half way up, but it made it easily. Once I levelled out at the top, I decided to throttle a bit to see if I could use up the battery before I got home. With only one LED lit (about 33v) speed and power were noticeably less than when I set off, which is not surprising with 25% less volts, and now top speed was down to about 13.5mph. With 20.5 miles on the meter, and after a short rest, the battery voltage was 35.5v and two LEDs were lit on the display. I later did a couple of laps round the block to take it to exactly 25 miles,when the last LED started flashing. The power was now significantly down, so I called it a day. You have to bear in mind that this journey is very hilly and I'm 100kg, so a 75kg rider on normal roads should be able to do 35 to 40 miles on assist level 2. One thing I did notice on these laps was how well it rolled down the hills. I was free-wheeling at 20mph+ on only slight inclines.
I bought my cheap chinese Sunlova for £540 two and a half years ago and did 2000 miles on it before selling it to a friend, who's still using it. The Woosh Sirocco Sport is better than the Sunlova in that the electrics are much better finished and waterproofed and it's better looking and smoother and quieter. I can't see any weak points on this bike, where I'd say you need to keep an eye on other than routine service items like spokes and brakes, so for £599 it has to be good value.
Those of you that know me, know that I like to change things and tinker, but on this bike it's not easy because of the battery and controller arrangement. The controller's sealed in the compartment at the bottom of the battery, and although the battery's stronger than the standard bottle batteries, it's not strong enough to give any significant increase in power, so you'd need a new controller and battery to get more power, in which case you'd be better off starting from scratch with a kit and a bike. I think you have to say that it is what it is, which is adequate for most people. The only sensible improvements would be lights and mudguards, and maybe investigate different brake pads. I hope we see better colours and some Woosh stickers oon future batches and I think I'd be happpier on a bigger frame - although I was comfortable,the frame just looks small with me on it.
Summary:
Strong points are: Smooth, quiet motor; reasonable climbing ability; everything works well to give a neutral ride with reasonable comfort; stealthiness;light weight.
Weak points are: front brake power.
I can't imagine anybody being disappointed with this bike. It does everything that it's supposed to well. You can pay three times as much to get one that climbs better or twice as much to get one with slightly better suspension and better equipment.
