Categories
Ebikes

Coming and Going…

This week brought these two bikes past the workbench, one is heading out, the other just coming in.

A2B and Radwagon

On the way out is the black A2B Galvani, it came out in 2015, so it is old as far as ebikes go. Here is Electric Bike Review’s take on the Galvani. A quality ebike for the day, it has a gearless 350Watt motor (think longevity), front shocks, fenders, hydraulic disk brakes, build-in lights and rack. It needed a new inner tube, some chain lubrication, a brake adjustment, and shift indexing, and the deraileur was stuck/rusted in place. Its battery was dead, but I was able to find a factory original that was used, but in good shape, and now it is ready to ride again!

The orange RadWagon just came into the shop, it after 3 years, something went wrong on the electrical side of things. I tested the battery, it was putting out plenty of volts. Then I disconnected the motor, and reconnected it to my RadWagon, and the motor worked fine. As the display had been recently replaced, it seems most logical that the controller went bad (the display gave a variety of errors, then just turned off). So it has been ordered, and is on the way, I am confidant that it will cure the problem, but I am not sure. There can be mulitiple points of failure in any system, and the best way to figure it out is to fix one after the other till it works!

About Ebike Warranty Service I’ve found that many support techs at the major brands want you to start with the cheapest possibility, then work from there, company policy, even when the solution seems obvious to me (I’m looking at you Lectric). I did the full monty with the great folks at Vela (Brazilian commuter style), all the diaganostics were for naught, and after several internationl work sessions, they sent a new bike, and paid for all my labor besides, a good company!

I now judge ebike brands not so much on their level of quality, but rather on how they fix their problems when they occur. Different quality levels are needed as many folks have budget constraints, so no judgement on $1000 ebikes. So an inexpensive brand with good service can be preferable to a more expensive brand with poor or non-exitant service except in major cities, (I am looking at you Van Moof)!

Categories
Ebikes

Looking at Lectrics

Lectric XP2
Lectric XP2

This Lectric XP 2 came into the shop this week for assembly, the cargo/rack package makes it an especially useful and fun ebike. This one will be riding the trails in Lawrence county next week, so keep an eye out for it! Lectric come through the shop almost as often as RadPower models, so they are very popular in the $1000 price range.

I am been impressed that this brand is inexpensive, yet well designed and put together. Lectric sells only folding ebikes, and thus have gotten quite a few details right over the years.

Here is a rundown of their current line-up. I excluded their XP Long Range as it was the same as the XP 2.0 with a 14 Ah battery, which is an option on the XP 2.0 for the same price. Marketing, I guess.

Lectric XP lite Video Review
18 lighter than the XP 2.0, with a smaller drive train & 2.6″ tires
Price: $800
Drivetrain: 36V/300W/7.8Ah
Weights: Bike 46# Cap: 275# Rack: 55#

XP 2.0 & XP 2.0 Step-Thru Video Review
Current best seller, best combo of price, power, battery, & weight
Price: $1000
Drivetrain: 48V/500W/9.6 Ah or 14 Ah (+$200)
Weights: Bike 64# Capacity: 330# Rack: 75#

XPremiumVideo Review
MidDrive Torque sensing + throttle, hydraulic brakes suspension fork, dual battery, 4″ fat tires
Price: $1900
Drivetrain: 48V/500W/ double 10.4Ah battery
Weights: Bike 75# Cap: 330# Rack: 55#

The XPremium, the only middrive, torque sensing model they make, is very unusual for the fat tire folding ebike catagory. (Also, most middrive/torque ebikes start at >$2000)