I bought this to ride to work. My workplace is about 30 mins ride from home on my unpowered bike - fine, but when it gets late and I am tired I would prefer to not be getting so much “exercise” which is where this bike comes in.
From what I can find, it is completely road legal in NSW. It is pedal assist (you still need to pedal) and the motor is 250 watts and it is speed limited to about 25 KM/H.
I added a bell and a tail light to get it to road legal day or night – the headlight was already on the bike.
Although the front forks have suspension the rear does not so I bought a Suntour spring seat post which cost over $100 but it is well worth it. The solid tail on the bike means you can fit a carrier, which I have on order along with mudguards.
I also fitted a rear view mirror that fits on the end of the handlebars. This is a very useful item as it means you can see traffic coming behind you – I don't know why it is not a regulation.
At $1300, it is very good value compared to the assisted e-bikes for sale in other stores. It also a fat bike, that is it has big tyres and I wanted this because it makes the bike better for any offroad or rough surfaces. Oh, yes, it also looks awesome too.
You don't think it's such a good deal? Check out the common assisted bikes – they start around $4000.
I won't even mention the top prices, they are just crazy.
If you are good with spanners and wrenches it is easy to assemble and all the tools you need are supplied.
The only thing I did other than that was grease the chain.
I took it out for a 20 km ride today. Most of the trip was flat but there was a very steep hill at the far end – I could not have pedalled up that hill on my old 21 speed alu frame bike. Ever. The electric assist did it just fine.
There is one area of the bike that did give me slight reason for concern: the cables under the bike seem exposed and might get damaged during offroad riding – I might make a metal crashguard to fit there later on once my workshop is set up – but I am not expecting to go offroad so it is not a big deal for now. The front chain sprocket also protrudes well past this so in most cases it should protect the wires.
I also considered adding turn indicators and the switch for them: chopping into the wiring loom is a serious matter and I am not in a hurry to do this - well, maybe later. It is still better than waving hands.
A special thanks to TDR Moto for the bike. No, they did not pay me for this, it's just a good product.
If you want me, I'll be out every weekend, riding the city's bike trails . . . .
