just got my alation 500

[chrispy]

Hello.This is my first e-bike I have owned.It is my primary means of transportation for my son and I.I first and foremost checked over the bike and put the child seat on the back.needed a change in bracket configuration due to wider frame. I got the speed increase done and we put about 15 miles on the bike between rai showers today.I am extremely pleased with the power and well comeon....help with the hills woohoo.big smile here.I will be using the bike and will post back with a real assessment after a bunch of miles.I will post the milage we getto battery ratio when I know for sure.We live in the Taconic hills of ny so a lot of hills and terrain so far very impressed.We lost 2 of 5 battery bars with throttle bursts and still trying ti figure out how to run efficiently and yes just having fun too.lol

 

[Tara D.]

Hey that's great! I'm glad you guys are out there enjoying yourselves! And teaching your little guy to love bicycling and the outdoors at the same time Would love to see the bike set up with the child seat!

 

[Bike_On]

Nice post Chrispy. You are the first I have seen with a child seat on the back of an ebike - on this forum anyway. Safe rides.

 

[chrispy]

well.got 44 miles on the bike so far.darn rain!!!lol.When to a job today 14 miles from home and yup still waiting for tire repair kit and handlebar bag from amazon and flat tire!!!Picked up an half inch roofing nail off the road.Was able to call around and found some tubes.Now call me silly but who was the genius who started putting those dumb a$$ valve stems on tubes.Of course the only bike shop I called sorta near by didn't have that type.Had lots of regular 29 inch tubes tho.So after talking to him which I suspected anyways.I drilled out the rim a little bit to accommodate a regular car valve stem and on the road again.I got 3 more tubes and will drill out the front rim tomarrow.But on to the bike.I will post a pic real soon of the bike seat on the back!!Chris loves it and all I hear is go faster daddy!!The bike has been great so far.The only issues I have are not really the bikes fault but lack of proper set-up from a shop I got the bike from.Not happy I have never had a e-bike and when asking questions or info I knew more than he did.wow...Was told by him the "boys took care of everything" and its all good.After he left I found loose pedal and after 7 miles the crankset loosened up enough to start hitting kickstand.I retightened all fasteners now and now the spokes are loose hear and there which I noticed on delivery.gotta learn how to do that job and "true my own rims too.Any help there would be appreciated good tutorialetc.The rear caliper was installed wrong with the washer spacers on wrong side.Moved them back to other side and know more squeak...squeak...squeak.lol.A lot of that could be attributed to the wheel wobble from loose spokes.Good job boys.lol.The battery with me cranking running the bike hard seems to be cosistant at 2 bars about 14 miles.Probally would be better if turned down a little as I culd use a few more gears on top to try to maintain the higher speeds.

 

[chrispy]

posted pic but it disappeared.lol???

 

[Tara D.]

Looks like fun! What type of seat are you using and did you need to use an adapter to get it on the ebike?

 

[chrispy]

It is a topeak brand seat.Real easy to adapt also.It says not to be used with disc brakes but I do not know why.All I dad to do was move the rack mounting brackets to the outside to accommodate the wider volton frame.The frame came with 2 sets of mounting holes on frame at rear wheel.And had the mounts below the seat of frame.Really like this seat,Just pull mounting clip in back and undo Velcro strap and it turns into bike rack.It has very good functioning suspension for little chris 2.Good harness and foot straps,he is always falling asleep back there.lol.Oh yeah and I got it for my favorite word: FREE,NADA,NOTHING.LOL.Nice lady I caretake for gave it to me.Tightened spokes on rear wheel and it is great.Heading out shortly for a nice ride together.Got 190 miles so far and happy to report troublefree.The bike flies,I loved it the other day when we blew away 2 "extreme" road bikers in full gear with me and little chris in shorts and flip flops.haha.I can only imagine what they were thinking with us cruising by with little chris saying"bye bye,have a nice day"Lol

 

[chrispy]

*UPDATE*
We have got 393 miles on the bike so far.Was reading the review about the 48 volt mid-drive.Seems to bad most of the issues he spoke about I do not see on this bike, Ie. the headlight not adjustable etc.Not sure but it seems perhaps they used different components on that one? not sure...too bad.I can say I haven't had one issue yet in the bike AFTER I went thru it tightening things etc.I was able to adapt an old spoke wrench from the early 70's. that dad had at his house.lol. The spokes on these e- bikes are huge.lol. I tightened the loose spokes(I guess normal for e-bikes?).That got rid of the annoying squeeking from loose spokes.LOL.Did it real quick before a ride made myself a little bit of wheel wobble but i'll spend some more time on that to true it up.Gonna start looking into a bigger sprocket for the crankset as I am mostly only using 2 to 3 gears most of the time.I would like to maintain the high speed capabilities but would like to help the battery draw (got a little usage meter on lcd) down a little bit as I can not turn the pedals fast enough to really help it enough.Needs to crank harder.Been caught in 3 rain storms so far, was really worried as electric and water don't mix to well lol,no problems associated with that thankfully.Have had 2 problems so far, the bell handlebarbag I bought would not fit, the handlebars are way to fat and two I just lost all my repair gear!!I had a small hunting bag strapped on the back of chris' seat with spare tube,co2 filler and some tools in it.Went to the lake with chris and noticed there were only 2 straps left on seat.lol, the bag must of ripped off somewhere!!All in all we love ths bike so far and have not had the problems I have seen discussed on here so far.I am sorta biased tho as I have never rode anything else to compare with.On a side note was headed out for a ride the other day and some people stopped to talk to us.They were from the harlem valley rail ride and were looking for alternative route around a bridge recently took down for rebuild down the road from my house.Looks to be a cool ride if anybody interested on July 26th.Chris and I might be around so if you go look for the white volton with the child seat and say hello.Would be awesome to see some other bikes for real.

 

[Doker44]

Thanks for the review. Can I ask you how hard it was to put together? I know nothing about bikes and I am afraid not to buy from a local bike dealer but they only carry $3000+ bikes.