Thanks for the responses - I’ve got a fair bit to update from my last posts.
First, thanks for the idea about mounting the battery on the down tube. It hadn’t even occurred to me . . . looks like I’ll be doing a bit of modding!
Second, I finally heard back from the retailer yesterday about the refund for the manufacturer’s defect part (see my post from 2/25). As discussed above, I asked the retailer to pay for the cost of a new brake ($69) and send him a copy of the invoice ($69 for the parts and another $40 for the labor). Yesterday, a check arrived for $69. I am happy to see the retailer stood behind the product and paid for the replacement part. I noted in my post above that I would give the company a plug if it did the right thing and paid up - I bought my EG Enterprise from MyBike Online (
MyBike Online- Electric Bikes, College Rentals, & Bicycle Advertising). I purchased the bike from LeRoy Watkins, MyBike’s president and I have been dealing with LeRoy to address the manufacturer’s defect issue. It’s worth noting that MyBike’s “policy” is to have its customers send back any defective part for replacement. LeRoy didn’t have to cut me a check for the cost of the new brake, he could have said “send in the bad brake and I will mail you a new one”, but he did the honorable thing and in the interest of keeping his customer happy mailed out a check to help cover the costs. I’ve had a very good experience as a customer of MyBike and working with LeRoy. For people paying close attention, that’s right, MyBike did not cover the $40 for labor in installing the new brake, but as mentioned above, they’re already going beyond their articulated returns policy, so I feel like in the end we wound up splitting the cost of the defect and that I’m being treated fairly.
Third, and most importantly, I got the chance to do a real-world test! We had a brief reprieve from the snow and cold weather (mostly) a few weekends ago and I did a test run of my 12-13 mile commute in to work. This post is already long, so if you don’t want to keep reading, here’s the snapshot: the bike performed about as expected. The power assist was nice, but ultimately a bit underwhelming. The charge on the battery was amazing, although I would happily sacrifice a bit of battery life for a bit more power from the motor.
Now for the details.
Power: As discussed, I traveled most of the way on power assist high. It was a great help and compensated for how out of shape I am. It was also a great help on gradual inclines to take some of the sting out of long low hills. I also faced a 10-15mph headwind that was gusty. Most of my commute is along a river and the wind whipped up across the river and hit me in the face for (best guess) 75% of my ride. The power assist was key in helping me fight the wind. In fact, at one point in my ride when it was particularly windy, I passed a spandex-cowboy type on a fancy road bike who was being beaten up by the wind gusts. In your face spandex cowboy! When I needed a break from peddling, due to hills or wind or just biking for too long, I pulled back on the throttle and went on power-only mode. In the wind it felt really slow, but it gave me a few minutes here and there to rest my legs before switching back to power assist high and muscling through again. Most of my commute is flat, but in the one hilly part having the power boost was nice but this bike is not a hill climber. Not at all. If I had to deal with any significant hills along the way, the bike would not work out. It’s heavy to start with and the motor is not capable of taking over completely on real inclines. Lucky for me, on my commute hills are not an issue. If the bike had a little more power - even just a little more - I feel like riding in on power only mode and maintaining a decent speed would be a reality. For now, I feel like I can go much faster on power assist high and that I can use the power only mode for when I get tired and need a break from peddling.
Speed: I have a mostly-flat 12-13 mile commute to work over a mix of bike path and roads. I was hoping to do the commute in between 50 and 60 minutes. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my GPS with me at the time, so I still don’t have very reliable speed information for when the bike was on power only mode or on power assist high, but I kept my stopwatch running and can do a very rough estimate on average speed for the trip. I got lost two times on my test run, the first time I lost the bike path when it crossed an intersection and had to double back - not much time lost, maybe 5 minutes. The second time, I overshot my exit from the bike path and had to go a fair bit out of my way to correct the mistake, maybe about 15 minutes. The total time of my test run was 79 minutes. Correcting for getting lost, about 60 minutes. By my back-of-the-envelope, completely non-scientific estimate, I went about 12-13 mph as an average speed for the trip. With a bit more practice and better weather (at one point I had to walk my bike over ice for about 200-300 yards on a shaded part of the bike path), I’m sure I can bring my average speed up. Hopefully, next time I’ll take my GPS along for the ride and I’ll be able to figure out how fast the bike goes on power only and on power assist.
Battery: As explained above, when I started out on my test run, the battery had already had about 30-45 minutes of riding around on it. During the ride, the battery indicator on the handlebars showed a full battery the whole time - the manual says that the handlebar meter is better for when the battery is nearly empty. After the ride, the indicator on the battery itself read 2/3 full!!! One of two things is happening here - either the battery is great and the motor is highly efficient, or the indicators on the battery and handlebars are wrong. A few more test-runs will answer this question for sure.
Finally, while not the aluminum stallion I was hoping for, I’m generally happy with the bike’s performance. If the test run is indicative of my average commuting experience, I think riding in by bike will be a viable option in the spring. More info to follow on the next test-run.