2014 Easy Motion Neo Jumper 650B

[Admin]

There are very few gripes with any of the Neo bikes. The battery thing is just to say that if you put the battery on and didn't even insert the key it might appear that it was locked on but it would not be and could fall off. If there was a sort of plastic latch or something to temporarily secure it, that might be a nice addition. At present, it seems to stay secured just by the electric plug and the metal bar that slides up when you lock it. I'd call it a 90% solution, never personally had a problem but I put it in the reviews as a call out so maybe people will notice and be careful, also to be critical as I am with all bikes to call out any possible areas of improvement

 

[Scott]

Ravi,

The sidewalks and trails in Palm Coast are pretty bumpy and taking a toll on my 50 year old body. I spoke with Len and he is willing to let me upgrade to the NEO Jumper 650 (as you know, he is an absolutely great guy!). It sounds like you are enjoying your bike, but I wanted to touch base with you again and get your thoughts on how it smooths out the ride in bumpy conditions. Also, I was wondering whether you, Court or anyone else had any thoughts on how to raise or extend the handlebars to make it where I can sit in more of an upright position when riding. When I bend over, my hands/wrists get numb after a long ride.

As an aside, Palm Coast is bike enthusiast country with all of its trails. You see people on bikes everywhere. As far as I know, we're the only ones with BH Easy motions. I cannot tell you how many people try to track me down and stop me, my wife and son to ask about these Easy Motion bikes and where we bought them. I need to get some business cards from Len. People are really drawn to the looks and performance of these bikes. Oh, and one other quick question, we would like to take our bikes to St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Orlando, etc., and ride. Do you know of a bike rack that can carry two NEO Citys and a Jumper? Thanks!

Scott

 

[Admin]

Hey Scott, you can definitely change the ride position offered by your bike by getting a different stem (the piece that holds the handlebars and sticks up and out) and also considering a different handlebar setup. The longer and more "swept back" your bars are the more vibration will be dampened and also the less you'll have to lean forward which saves your back and neck from strain.

Cruiser bikes often use gigantic handlebars like this and you can see what they look like in this review for the Pedego 24" Step-Thru Cruiser. I talk about it at 2:40 and show some riding positions around 6:20 in the video. I'm not suggesting that you go quite this far. You can always consider a seat post shock, larger softer seat and handlebars together. Hope that helps!

As far as bike racks that can accommodate two heavier bikes, you might have to get a tray style rack where you load the bikes on to a big flat surface that hangs off the back of your car (like a tray) and mounts into the hitch receiver. Thule makes a rack like this and I wrote about it in 2012 after Interbike. This thing is cool because it has a ramp to help get the bikes up (I think they sell it in the US now).

 

[JoePah]

Some pictures from my weekend ride to D.C.
It took me 45 minutes from my house to Lincoln Memorial. Google biking maps predicted it would take me 1 hour 5 mins but I think I saved 20 minutes easily.
I predominantly used Eco mode and at the end of 30 mile ride overall, I had used only 2 bars on the battery. So I guess the remaining three bars would be sufficient for 30 more miles.
Anyhow, so many people at the traffic signs stopped and started at my bike and many bikers gave affectionate nod (no dreadful faces at all)

I took some pics in front of historic places like Lincoln Memorial, WW2 and Washington memorial.

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Hi Ravi, i have never seen the NEO650Jumper before but it looks like a great choice... A full suspension is a huge advantage, and its only 50 lbs. For the money it seems like one of the best choices .

Do you know what your avg speed is on a straight bike trip? congrats!

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Ravi,

The sidewalks and trails in Palm Coast are pretty bumpy and taking a toll on my 50 year old body. I spoke with Len and he is willing to let me upgrade to the NEO Jumper 650 (as you know, he is an absolutely great guy!). It sounds like you are enjoying your bike, but I wanted to touch base with you again and get your thoughts on how it smooths out the ride in bumpy conditions. Also, I was wondering whether you, Court or anyone else had any thoughts on how to raise or extend the handlebars to make it where I can sit in more of an upright position when riding. When I bend over, my hands/wrists get numb after a long ride.

Oh, and one other quick question, we would like to take our bikes to St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, Orlando, etc., and ride. Do you know of a bike rack that can carry two NEO Citys and a Jumper? Thanks!

Scott

Hi Scott,

Glad that you’re enjoying your bike. I am certainly having a great time on mine.

In regards to Jumper, you really need to ride a Jumper to appreciate the quality of ride it offers. Hard tail electric bikes of any brand, due to the weight of battery and motor, will result in a slightly stiffer ride. When I am on my Jumper and unlock the suspensions, I simply glide over everything.

I am 155lbs and keep my rear shock at 145 psi. While shipping, I think they keep the air pressure at 100 psi. I didn’t realize this and for the first few days, it was too soft and saggy. If you are over 150lbs, I strongly suggest you to pump it upto 145-150 psi and this makes the bike to have optimal softness/stiffness.

Coming back,

Modifying the handlebar is very commonly done on all sorts of bikes. Any local REI or LBS store should be able to do it for you. Once you find what kind of style works for you, it’s very simple. It has been done before on Jumper, for a specific customer by longisland electric bikes. They even added a dropper seat for hardcore trail riding.



In this article you can find more detailed descriptions of how to enhance riding comfort.

Basically you’re swapping the existing handlebar for a more swept back one to add comfort. This is done by adding a riser stem as shown in this diagram. Based on your preference, you can add different handlebars.



You can find a ton of different styled handlebars here.
Riser handlebar would look something like this.

As you can see, you can add varieties of different stuff to Jumper. (More pics here)



And copyright info and more details: https://www.endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=50526

This person LTZ470 owns a Jumper and his wife rides a Prodeco stride. In another post, he had a picture of his car rack carrying 50 lbs Jumper and 55 lbs prodeco stride. I think he had removed the battery. If you remove the battery and seatpost, you would decrease the weight substantially. On the City, since it doesn't have a top tube, something like this might work. Thule makes some great racks and you can check with local REI or LBS to see the exact specifications of each rack.

Cheers

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Hi Ravi, i have never seen the NEO650Jumper before but it looks like a great choice... A full suspension is a huge advantage, and its only 50 lbs. For the money it seems like one of the best choices .

Do you know what your avg speed is on a straight bike trip? congrats!

Hi Joe,
It certainly is a great bike. Loving it.

I have only put 175 miles on it and most of it was around local trails, errands and trips to D.C.
So, I never crossed 27 mph. I have consistently maintained ~18 mph for over 8 miles. I normally ride in eco or standard assist mode. If I put it on sport or boost mode, I can certainly cross 20mph but I would also drain the battery much quicker.

 

[Chris Nolte]

Keep in mind anything more than the raised stem will require you to lengthen the front hydraulic disc brake line. We had to do that on the bike Ravi mentioned in the post above. If you want to do that it might make sense to bring it to a local bike shop for them to do, as it can get a bit tricky and require some special tools. We used this stem extender, and a different stem.

I would avoid using cruiser style bars if you plan to do any trail riding as you will give up a lot of maneuvering control, if you're riding mostly on the street it won't be a big deal, but I think it's important to be aware of.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Thanks for explaining that Chris.

Scott,
Once you get the Jumper, you may ride for 20-30 miles and see how you feel. As is, the bike is very comfortable because the 650B jumper is slightly bigger due its wheel size and if you keep the seat post slightly lowered, it almost makes it feel like upright or 65'-70' degree inclination.

Also, for longer rides, having ergo grips helps reducing the pressure points on the wrist. Since more of your palm area is resting on it, you would be very comfortable. I am going to get one of these soon.

Here are some really nice collection of ergon grips.

 

[Scott]

Many thanks, all!!!!

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

There was an entire 4 page thread dedicated to discussing sprung Vs unsprung mass on bikes. Super interesting and very detailed discussion about what's happening in the suspension when you add more mass.
I'm copying a post by a guy who explained this simply and beautifully.
There are more posts by him that might be of help to anyone who wants to understand "Sprung Vs Unsprung" discussion.

"One must first understand the reason why "unsprung mass" is often called such a bad place to carry weight.
It has nothing to do with the actual total mass, and everything and exclusively to do with the moment of inertia to cause the suspension to move through it's stroke.

This means, for a rigid bicycle with no stroke, the entire frame/hub system is linked, and it doesn't really matter where you're carrying the weight with respect to what is sprung or unsprung.

In any topology (sprung or unsprung) putting the most possible mass as centralized in the vehicle as possible gives you the lowest polar moment of rotation, and hence a vehicle with less resistance to making the angle changes required to keep the tires contacting the road.

So, why is unsprung mass on suspended vehicles detrimental? When you strike any high-spot in terrain that causes the wheel to go "bump", you've got a situation where your wheel/swingarm assembly is now in rapid motion upwards swinging through it's suspension travel. So, so far having it heavier doesn't really matter yet, if you hit that 1" bump in the road, your wheel IS going to move out of the way and clear it irregardless of it's mass.

The big thing that changes in your suspension action with increased unsprung mass is the energy the wheel has to continue traveling upward after hitting that bump. It is the roll of the shock/damping system to absorb this energy into heating the damping fluid inside it by squirting it through little needle-orifices at high speeds.

If the mass at the wheel that is moving up away from the road when you hit a bump is 40lbs, the shock needs to damp ~4x the energy of a system with only a 10lbs mass that requires slowing-down and pushing back down against the road to get your tire touching again.

If your roads don't have any bumps, it doesn't matter much at all. If you've got a shock with the ability to damp 40lbs of wheel motion with good performance and precision, it will work better than a 10lbs mass being suspended/damped by something that doesn't control wheel motion with good performance and precision.

Keep in mind, it's not just a mass quantity that automatically makes you have poor handling or something, it's simply a matter of scaling the shock/damping system to match the mass of the load it's got to control. Think of an exotic Ferrari or something, it has more unsprung mass than your wildly powerful hubmonster bicycles, but it still hugs the road and keeps the tire in contact with excellent precision and control, because it's using suspension setup for damping/controlling that amount of mass.

No amount of counter-balancing sprung/unsprung mass can do anything but add additional momentum to the system, even if balanced so that the net-weight of the swing-arm wheel was balanced perfectly with the motor, because it's not the mass the matters, it's the entirely about the inertial forces to control high-speed motion of the system."

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Just noticed another review by Sandiego flyrides. Another piece of info to this thread.

 

[Scott]

Ravi,

I bought the 2014 NEO Jumper 650B (I know, I know, at 4 NEO bikes, I am practically a dealer). At any rate, I'm around 195 lbs, 5' 10" tall. I have the bike assembled. Given my height, weight and given that I will be riding on light trails and/or, at times, rough or slightly bumpy pavement/sidewalks, how should I set up the suspension for maximum comfort and are their any instructions out there to do so?

As I recall from a prior post, you said that the rear shock/suspension should be set at 155 or 160, but I'm not sure what you are referencing. The multi-position valve just says "slow" or "fast". I wish these bikes came with more comprehensive instructions. Thanks, pal!

Scott

 

[Scott]

Ravi/Court,

I just rode my new NEO Jumper 650B. Wow! Court, seriously, you need to rate this bike 5+ out of 5. It is a super, super smooth ride, which brings me to my bone to pick with Ravi. Next time, Ravi, just tell me to, "Shut up, and listen!" ;-) You said the Jumper ride is unsurpassed and it is. It is sooooo smooth and comfortable for 50 year old bones. Everyone tries to stop me to ask about it. BH will owe me a commission for the referrals! ;-)

I now need to find a kick-stand. The local bike shop didn't have one. I seem to recall you guys having a discussion on it so I'll go back and see if I can find it [edited to add link]. Also, a guy at the bike shop said Walmart had one that might extend that long. At any rate, I absolutely love this bike and just wanted to say thanks!

Scott

 

[JoePah]

Ravi/Court,

I just rode my new NEO Jumper 650B. Wow! Court, seriously, you need to rate this bike 5+ out of 5. It is a super, super smooth ride, which brings me to my bone to pick with Ravi. Next time, Ravi, just tell me to, "Shut up, and listen!" ;-) You said the Jumper ride is unsurpassed and it is. It is sooooo smooth and comfortable for 50 year old bones. Everyone tries to stop me to ask about it. BH will owe me a commission for the referrals! ;-) I now need to find a kick-stand. The local bike shop didn't have one. I seem to recall you guys having a discussion on it so I'll go back and see if I can find it. Also, a guy at the bike shop said Walmart had one that might extend that long. At any rate, I absolutely love this bike and just wanted to say thanks!

Scott

This Pletscher Two-Leg kickstand worked great on my Fuji mountain bike.. Very long kickstand.. Just cut it to suit!

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Hi Scott,

It is great to hear your experience with the Neo Jumper 650B. The more you ride it, more you’ll love it. Every weekend, I look forward to my rides to D.C. You know, every time I touch the bike I have the same sense of awe. Simply a great joy!

Coming back, any full-suspension MTB’s need more care than hardtails but they are so much more comfortable and fun to ride. If I am going on rides longer than 10 miles, I check the tire pressure, battery charge, clean fork stanchions and brake adjustment. All of this shouldn't take more than two minutes.

Suspension forks

Entry level bikes use metal springs inside the fork tubes to absorb shocks but coil springs adds weight and they don’t provide dynamic response. Forks with air (being a compressible Newtonian fluid) provide much better damping and weighs next to nothing. There are many advanced forks with fancy electronics built into them that control the setting automatically but they cost $1000

Neo Jumper 650B has Rockshox Xc30 Solo air with 120 mm travel and it is more than enough for trail riding. The right side has a remote lockout lever and left side has a preload adjustment. Open the left side fork cap (has AIR written on it) and use a pump like this to set the preload to 100 or 110 psi (refer the chart attached). You don’t want to make it too stiff or too soft. Start from 100 psi and see what suits you best. Your local shop/REI will have one of these pumps.



The same thing goes for the rear shock. Look at this page for more details.

Open the metallic cap shown in red and pump the preload pressure upto 150 psi. The rear shock should have minimal sag (~10%) when you are completely seated and not moving. This specific model can take upto 300 PSI but if you do then you’ll blow the O-ring so better not to cross 180 or 200 psi. The protrusion on the metallic cap can be used to release air if you think it is too stiff. First when I received the bike, I didn't check the pressure and it was too soft and after pumping it to 150 psi, I find it provides optimal dampening and stiffness.



The multi-position valve is used to adjust response for different terrains. I normally keep the valve fast response.

Also, the stock saddles are not very comfortable for long rides (unless you wear biking shorts), so you may want to replace it with something like this.

Kickstand

I have searched extensively to find a suitable kickstand that doesn’t compromise the aesthetics of this bike but to my utter dismay I haven’t found anything. Len offered me to get one custom made kickstand but both of us agreed that it looked god awful ugly on this beautiful bike. Pletscher kickstands are awesome but none of them fit this bike. The chain stay tubing is too thick and as people have mentioned, you might want to try one of these click stands. At home, I use this stand and it has served me well.

Would love to see your 4 Neo's, post some pics when you can and here's mine from recent ride to DC.



Cheers,
Ravi

 

[Brambor]

Wow, Ravi, those blooming trees! Are those cherry blossoms? You are lucky to live close to a trail to this scenery. I love it.

 

[EddieJ]

Brambor, the trees look like Magnolia.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Wow, Ravi, those blooming trees! Are those cherry blossoms? You are lucky to live close to a trail to this scenery. I love it.

Hi Brambor,

I feel very lucky to be able to visit DC very often. I live 11 miles away from the Capitol building and DC is probably my favorite place in US. Bike tour of DC, especially on an electric bike is the best way to go around. The first picture was taken near Dupont circle and I have attached a pic of Magnolia trees taken in Enid Haupt garden.

The Cherry blossom festival is going on right now and since this winter has been long and brutal, the cherries are yet to bloom completely but next week should be better. I hope you're able to start commuting next week and perhaps you could explore Acadia on your Turbo this Spring

 

[Scott]

Thanks, Ravi!

 

[Brambor]

Hi Brambor,
I feel very lucky to be able to visit DC very often. I live 11 miles away from the Capitol building and DC is probably my favorite place in US. Bike tour of DC, especially on an electric bike is the best way to go around. The first picture was taken near Dupont circle and I have attached a pic of Magnolia trees taken in Enid Haupt garden.

The Cherry blossom festival is going on right now and since this winter has been long and brutal, the cherries are yet to bloom completely but next week should be better. I hope you're able to start commuting next week and perhaps you could explore Acadia on your Turbo this Spring
View attachment 791

Ravi I have commuted 4workdays last week. It's happening