I was fed up with going nowhere fast in my car during commutes. Inspired by my son who commutes in SF with an e-bike I started plotting and planning to ditch the car most days and bike to work. Now that I’ve hit the 1000 mile mark I feel my review will have more meaning than posting the day after I got setup.
What’s my commute like? Getting to work is 26 miles with 1900 ft of ups and 1700ft of downs, fortunately going home is easier with the extra elevation loss. On the flats I’m pedaling full speed & on the steepest uphills I can still maintain over 17mph. Way way more fun than sitting in my car going nowhere fast.
The Good
- GM Canada. Big help in selecting bike, responsive to questions and requests, even on weekends.
- Power, did I mention power? The black Magic Pie 5 is amazing, not sure I’ll ever be able to go back to riding on human power alone, speed is addicting.
- regen braking. I only gain back 5-7% but I like the way it slows me down when I’m cruising fast, way better than my old school friction brakes. Just have to remember after a recharge of battery regen braking doesn’t really kick in until after I’ve burned a few amps.
- lazy days. Sometimes you just want to go out and not be all hot & sweating from hammering on your bike. Relax and ride like a scooter.
- Cycle Analyst. Worth it just for monitoring and managing the power used so you really know how full or empty your battery is. Still working on setting up for more control on acceleration and braking.
The Bad
- SPOKES. I’ve broken 4 or 5 and it’s a pain to replace.
- flats
The Ugly
- can’t think of anything related to the bike. Just the days I’m sitting in traffic going nowhere.
