Limitations and conditions of this review:
I am 186cm tall. I did a bit more than 230 kilometres on the bike. I did not have a chance to cycle under heavy rain. I commute to work daily about 10 kilometres (both ways). I did not try the bike offroad, but it should not be too bad, considering how thick the tiers are. The bike does indicate everything in miles rather than kilometres. I shall do it according to the C system, because everything else is heresy. I was hesitating a bit between two woosh bikes: the kreiger and the Zephyr-B, so the review will contain a bit of a comparison between the two. I am a newbie, and this is a newbie review.
First off – the delivery. I got my bike in a big carton box with some signs of damage (lots of bumps and even holes in it). The manual and the receipt, which were supposed to be glued to the side of the box, were just not there and the pouch, which was supposed to hold them, was totally broken. Upon arrival I have noticed that the plastic bolt cap of the rear wheel had a huge crack – probably was damaged during transit.
Overall my impression of the delivery – bad, really bad. I think one should VERY thoroughly check the bike upon arrival for potential in-transit damage.
I got my bike almost built. You have to attach your pedals, the steering bar, your saddle, and your light. You also have to check all your bolts for if they are tight enough. I did for almost all of them. However, I did loose the plastic safety thingy that makes sure your folding bike will not attempt to fold at the speed of 20 km/h, as the bolt that was holding it was not tightened enough and I forgot to check. Also in the unfolded position there is a visible gap between the two pieces of the frame you can put them together so that there is no gap, but it does have a bit of lea way. Not to the extent that I am scared, the bike will fold under me, but this is just to give you an idea of the build quality. As for the electrics – I once had it that the speed indication kinda froze. It was doing like 20 km/h, then slowed – it was still showing 20. I then speeded up to 25, it did indicate that, but when I slowed down, it was still showing 25km/h. A reboot made it work again.
Overall – the build quality is ok. It could have been better, but I had no critical faults with the mechanical part of the bike, nor with the electrics. So I’d say the build quality is adequate to the moneys you spend to buy the bike.
Ok, now for the bike itself. The suspension is nice. I have it on almost the softest setting. The roads here in Edinburgh are… horrible. Seriously, I don’t know how people could cycle here with small wheels. Basically, the roads are giving some beating to the bike and it seems to survive it so far.
The brakes are really nice! In fact, I think this is one of the strong points about this bike, that adds to the most essential feature – safety. Very easy to control your braking effort, you can stop really fast if you want to. It did take a bit of time to settle down, but now that it did, I just can’t fault it.
The motor is very powerful and has a decent torque. Just to put it into perspective (in case there are people from Edinburgh here) the Royal Mile street in Edinburgh all the way until South Bridge is quite a steep hill. Pedaling up is definitely possible, I even know one poor chap that does it every single day, but it’s not a pleasant ride. This hill is not a problem for the bike, it goes up at 20 km/h with minimal pedaling from your side. So really, I do understand, crank drives are more efficient, but hey, if this hill is not a problem, for the Zephyr’s geared hub, than what’s the point of fiddling with gears to find the perfect one? Zephyr has one gear – 6-th which is right for anything but downhill, where you might want the 7-th.
The battery is small and the battery indication is confusing and difficult to understand. After 20 km it shows “full charge”. But if you try to go uphill, the charge indication falls to minimal level. It seems that it just reads the output voltage, which varies depending on the Amps drawn at any given moment. I have never tried to run the battery until it’s flat. It’s not good for the battery and cycling on a heavy bike with thick profile tiers is not going to be nice
(ok, I am being lazy here). I charge it every 2 days. Perhaps the bike would indeed be able to go about 40 km on a single charge on a flat surface with no headwind. Which for me means that even when the battery ages to half of it’s capacity, it should still do the job just fine for my commute distance. The battery is hidden inside the frame which kinda protects it form rain. I did cycle twice under a bit of rain with no problem, but I am yet to see how it would fare under a heavy rain fall.
The battery is small, but it is light, and that is an advantage for me, as I have to carry my bike onto the second floor. It’s 22 kilos and you feel every single one of them while going up, so I don’t want my bike to be heavier than that. In addition it folds, and as someone said on this forum, the fact that it folds is gold. It is. I do store it just in front of my entry door inside of my small tiny flat. Which means that I fold and unfold it every day, so the mechanism, even though it does not look as the most sturdy one, does work ok so far.
Basically, what I am trying to say is that if you have a not so long commute (10-20km both ways) with no crazy steep hills, Zephyr-B would be perfectly adequate for the job, without the need to thing of the right gear, while being still quite light should you need to carry it up the stairs.
The pedal assist works.. kinda. The problem is that the speed sensor has a huge lag. If you stop, it takes like 2 seconds for 0 to show up on your screen. Which means that if you are on pedal assist 5 (highest), the bike will easily shoot over 23km/h, then the motor will cut off, the bike will slow, but due to speedometer lag, it will slow to like 15km/h before the motor kicks in again. Then the cycle repeats itself. In my opinion it’s annoying. I use pedal assist 4 all the time. What is really great though is that unlike in some other bikes, pedal assist does not override your throttle. So if you feel you need more juice from your motor – just use your throttle. I do that all the time and I find it really cool and useful.
A few words about woosh service. So far so good. They sent me the manuals and the plastic bits (including the one I kinda lost myself) with no problem, very quick. They do respond to e-mails same or next day in a polite and clear way. Their manual does have lots of helpful instructions from how to unpack your bike to basic maintenance.
To summarise:
Build quality is ok for the price, battery is small but the bike is lighter than some alternatives, the motor is totally adequate for the job, the brakes are great.
Would I buy it again? Yes I totally would. In fact, after researching the market – this is the only viable option for me. Kreiger is too heavy, I don’t need a bigger battery nor do I need to squeeze every bit of efficiency out of the motor. Other alternatives with smaller wheels – could be an option but not in Edinburgh, my bud won’t like it.
So there you go, thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions/make suggestions!
PS.
I got this back light with turn indicators for the bike and found it awesome and also this backpack, which is also very nice and sturdy, but I am still looking for the right back mirrors, any suggestions?
I am 186cm tall. I did a bit more than 230 kilometres on the bike. I did not have a chance to cycle under heavy rain. I commute to work daily about 10 kilometres (both ways). I did not try the bike offroad, but it should not be too bad, considering how thick the tiers are. The bike does indicate everything in miles rather than kilometres. I shall do it according to the C system, because everything else is heresy. I was hesitating a bit between two woosh bikes: the kreiger and the Zephyr-B, so the review will contain a bit of a comparison between the two. I am a newbie, and this is a newbie review.
First off – the delivery. I got my bike in a big carton box with some signs of damage (lots of bumps and even holes in it). The manual and the receipt, which were supposed to be glued to the side of the box, were just not there and the pouch, which was supposed to hold them, was totally broken. Upon arrival I have noticed that the plastic bolt cap of the rear wheel had a huge crack – probably was damaged during transit.
Overall my impression of the delivery – bad, really bad. I think one should VERY thoroughly check the bike upon arrival for potential in-transit damage.
I got my bike almost built. You have to attach your pedals, the steering bar, your saddle, and your light. You also have to check all your bolts for if they are tight enough. I did for almost all of them. However, I did loose the plastic safety thingy that makes sure your folding bike will not attempt to fold at the speed of 20 km/h, as the bolt that was holding it was not tightened enough and I forgot to check. Also in the unfolded position there is a visible gap between the two pieces of the frame you can put them together so that there is no gap, but it does have a bit of lea way. Not to the extent that I am scared, the bike will fold under me, but this is just to give you an idea of the build quality. As for the electrics – I once had it that the speed indication kinda froze. It was doing like 20 km/h, then slowed – it was still showing 20. I then speeded up to 25, it did indicate that, but when I slowed down, it was still showing 25km/h. A reboot made it work again.
Overall – the build quality is ok. It could have been better, but I had no critical faults with the mechanical part of the bike, nor with the electrics. So I’d say the build quality is adequate to the moneys you spend to buy the bike.
Ok, now for the bike itself. The suspension is nice. I have it on almost the softest setting. The roads here in Edinburgh are… horrible. Seriously, I don’t know how people could cycle here with small wheels. Basically, the roads are giving some beating to the bike and it seems to survive it so far.
The brakes are really nice! In fact, I think this is one of the strong points about this bike, that adds to the most essential feature – safety. Very easy to control your braking effort, you can stop really fast if you want to. It did take a bit of time to settle down, but now that it did, I just can’t fault it.
The motor is very powerful and has a decent torque. Just to put it into perspective (in case there are people from Edinburgh here) the Royal Mile street in Edinburgh all the way until South Bridge is quite a steep hill. Pedaling up is definitely possible, I even know one poor chap that does it every single day, but it’s not a pleasant ride. This hill is not a problem for the bike, it goes up at 20 km/h with minimal pedaling from your side. So really, I do understand, crank drives are more efficient, but hey, if this hill is not a problem, for the Zephyr’s geared hub, than what’s the point of fiddling with gears to find the perfect one? Zephyr has one gear – 6-th which is right for anything but downhill, where you might want the 7-th.
The battery is small and the battery indication is confusing and difficult to understand. After 20 km it shows “full charge”. But if you try to go uphill, the charge indication falls to minimal level. It seems that it just reads the output voltage, which varies depending on the Amps drawn at any given moment. I have never tried to run the battery until it’s flat. It’s not good for the battery and cycling on a heavy bike with thick profile tiers is not going to be nice
(ok, I am being lazy here). I charge it every 2 days. Perhaps the bike would indeed be able to go about 40 km on a single charge on a flat surface with no headwind. Which for me means that even when the battery ages to half of it’s capacity, it should still do the job just fine for my commute distance. The battery is hidden inside the frame which kinda protects it form rain. I did cycle twice under a bit of rain with no problem, but I am yet to see how it would fare under a heavy rain fall.The battery is small, but it is light, and that is an advantage for me, as I have to carry my bike onto the second floor. It’s 22 kilos and you feel every single one of them while going up, so I don’t want my bike to be heavier than that. In addition it folds, and as someone said on this forum, the fact that it folds is gold. It is. I do store it just in front of my entry door inside of my small tiny flat. Which means that I fold and unfold it every day, so the mechanism, even though it does not look as the most sturdy one, does work ok so far.
Basically, what I am trying to say is that if you have a not so long commute (10-20km both ways) with no crazy steep hills, Zephyr-B would be perfectly adequate for the job, without the need to thing of the right gear, while being still quite light should you need to carry it up the stairs.
The pedal assist works.. kinda. The problem is that the speed sensor has a huge lag. If you stop, it takes like 2 seconds for 0 to show up on your screen. Which means that if you are on pedal assist 5 (highest), the bike will easily shoot over 23km/h, then the motor will cut off, the bike will slow, but due to speedometer lag, it will slow to like 15km/h before the motor kicks in again. Then the cycle repeats itself. In my opinion it’s annoying. I use pedal assist 4 all the time. What is really great though is that unlike in some other bikes, pedal assist does not override your throttle. So if you feel you need more juice from your motor – just use your throttle. I do that all the time and I find it really cool and useful.
A few words about woosh service. So far so good. They sent me the manuals and the plastic bits (including the one I kinda lost myself) with no problem, very quick. They do respond to e-mails same or next day in a polite and clear way. Their manual does have lots of helpful instructions from how to unpack your bike to basic maintenance.
To summarise:
Build quality is ok for the price, battery is small but the bike is lighter than some alternatives, the motor is totally adequate for the job, the brakes are great.
Would I buy it again? Yes I totally would. In fact, after researching the market – this is the only viable option for me. Kreiger is too heavy, I don’t need a bigger battery nor do I need to squeeze every bit of efficiency out of the motor. Other alternatives with smaller wheels – could be an option but not in Edinburgh, my bud won’t like it.
So there you go, thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions/make suggestions!
PS.
I got this back light with turn indicators for the bike and found it awesome and also this backpack, which is also very nice and sturdy, but I am still looking for the right back mirrors, any suggestions?
