2018 Izip E3 path plus low step - review and updates

[Fourknees]

I plan to post updates here on my long term experience with my new e bike.

Above bike with size large frame, class 1, shimano steps mid-drive motor e6000. 418wh battery. Tires are 700x40c, different than manufacturers website specs.

Some background on what led to my purchase:
https://electricbikereview.com/foru...e-commuter-with-climbing-upright-rider.24639/

My bike was delivered from my LBS in August 2018. After two commutes and one errand I'm up to 60 miles.

The bike performs just as expected compared go my 24 hour rental of a prior model year.

My commute is about 24 miles round trip with 2000+ feet of climbing. Battery hasn't dipped down below two bars (of 5) for a round trip commute. Battery has charged in well under 4 hours. Only charged twice so far.

I estimate by commute time (about 50 minutes) I am using eco 50%, norm 30%, and high 20%.

Seat is very firm, but okay for me. Seat angle adjustment is very nice. Has two bolts to adjust tilt forward/backwards. Added mirrycle mirror, water bottle cage (bike mount position only allows for 20oz bottle) and rear light. I have a large frame and with 32 in inseam the seat post mounted rear light is visible above the rear rack.

Tires at max psi of 85 is a firm ride. May need to get wider tires or lower the pressure.

Pictures to come soon.

 

[Fourknees]

As delivered:

Stock photo:

First commute:

 

[Fourknees]

Update: at 100 miles and the few miles prior I kept hearing a squealing and eventually I couldn’t turn the pedals at all.

Here’s what happened. There are two small bolts behind the front chain ring just above the axel that anchor the chain guard. One of those small bolts loosened up and got wedged on an angle between the eyelet and the back of the chainring.

LBS said they had never seen this happen before and this is a screw that is installed by the factory. They replaced with a longer bolt as some of the threads in the eyelet were damaged. They also added lochtite to both bolts. Chainring integrity wasn’t compromised.

I’m now at 210 miles with no problems since. I’ve charged the battery 8 times total. (Basically after each round trip commute - 25 miles/2000 feet of climbing)

I have noticed that the bike motor feels like it responds better in a lower gear. Basically sit and spin in. A low gear (4) vs pushing harder in a just one or two gears higher.(5-6)

 

[Fourknees]

3 Month Update

No issues.
Battery has been charged 34 times.
Odometer is about 850 miles.

I’m really enjoying the bike.

 

[Fourknees]

960 miles - both my pedals broke this week.
One I didn’t notice until locking up. It broke completely through in a corner. The other cracked halfway through when I was standing up from a stop at a stoplight. I heard it.

In other news I was hearing a scraping noise. I thought my brake pads needed replacement, but it turns out the support for the chainguard was rubbing the backside of the chainguard for the front chainring. I will need new brake pads soon though.

 

[RJM1970]

Greetings. Looking to buy 2018 iZip Vibe Plus Step Thru, Size M for my wife. 2 questions - no throttle? How is it holding up?
Thanks
RJM

 

[Fourknees]

Greetings. Looking to buy 2018 iZip Vibe Plus Step Thru, Size M for my wife. 2 questions - no throttle? How is it holding up?
Thanks
RJM

Hi RJM1970,

It's holding up well. My LBS replaced the pedals at no cost. I replaced the disc brake pads myself at 1,000 miles, which went smoothly. I did need to tighten up some of the bolts holding the rack to the frame. I carry two full ortlieb panniers, probably with at least 20 lbs of stuff - often with a laptop in one and two u-locks in the other, plus a lunch and change of clothes, so I put some lochtite on these bolts to prevent future loosening.

At this point, I'm over 1200 miles on the odometer. It's still a hill-climbing champ. I haven't put on quite as much miles on in recent months due to the cold and traveling for work on other days.

This bike does NOT have a throttle. It's a Class 1, pedal assist only up to 20mph.

The last several months have been cold (30-35F) in the morning, maybe only 40F in the afternoon and the battery performance has been good for my roundtrip commute

Depending on how tall your wife is you may want to test ride to compare the M vs L size frames. I'm almost 5-11 with a 32 inch inseam. My wife is about 5-8, with a long torso (we're the same height sitting) and she fits well on the L.

I purchased for $1999, although I saw recently my LBS was carrying it for $1499 which I think is a great value given my experience.

 

[RJM1970]

Dear FourKnees:

Thanks for the thorough feedback. Looks like a good fit for her. Wife is 5'6", but longer torso, so medium should work. I saw one for $880, slightly used on Bike blue on eBay. We live in Blue Ridge Mountains so hill climbing important.
I have a 2013 IZip Express, 750w, but we don't need something that big.
Another note, just had battery rebuilt on IZip. Went from 20ah to 35ah. A guy out of Ohio.
www.netherswholesale.com. Very reasonable if you ever need the service.
Again, thanks
Robert

 

[Marci jo]

Dear FourKnees:

Thanks for the thorough feedback. Looks like a good fit for her. Wife is 5'6", but longer torso, so medium should work. I saw one for $880, slightly used on Bike blue on eBay. We live in Blue Ridge Mountains so hill climbing important.
I have a 2013 IZip Express, 750w, but we don't need something that big.
Another note, just had battery rebuilt on IZip. Went from 20ah to 35ah. A guy out of Ohio.
www.netherswholesale.com. Very reasonable if you ever need the service.
Again, thanks
Robert

Me too. Proportion wise, I’m 5’6 long torso and short legs. Normally a medium frame or 15 - 17 inch frame. That’s why step thu frames and smaller wheels are preferred.
Looking forward to your photos!!

 

[RJM1970]

Thanks. Bike arriving the 22nd.
Here's a picture of IZIP Express battery and bike with modifications.

 

[RJM1970]

Greetings.
The Izip Vibe+ arrived yesterday. My wife loves it !
She said, "it's like it was made for me!"
Since it has been 20+ years since she has ridden a bike, this is a perfect bike to get back into the game.

First thoughts -
1) SUPER Quiet. Maybe it is because of the difference between the sound of my Izip Express, but I really struggled to hear the motor at all when riding.
2) Very well supported step-thru! Did not feel "loose" at all.
3) Easy add-ons. Was able to locate the thumb "Boost" for this bike on ebay for about $50 with shipping. The bike is prewired for it and has a label on the wire instructing you which style boost lever is needed.
4) Easy add-ons, continued. I contacted Izip and since I don't live near a dealer they directed me on what type of lights to purchase. (Very quick reply from Izip). Ordered a front and tail light for around $25 for both. Again, already wired for the lights - awesome sauce.
5) Assembly - Very Easy! About 45 minutes to have road ready.
6) Handle built into seat. The rear sear has a nice hand grab/ handle built in to the underside of the seat. Nice touch to help pick up or load the heavier ebike.
7) Very powerful. I was very impressed with the responsive motor - could not noticed much less help than my 2013 Izip Express on actual assist form the start. 68 nm torque.(96 nm on the 750 Express)
8) Metal chain guard. Nice add on for someone getting back into to biking. Safe and practical.

(Old married couple bike set (-

 

[Fourknees]

1 year Update on my 2018 Izip E3 path plus low step

I have to say, this bike has been a game changer. I absolutely love it.

Here's where the bike is at this point:

• Mileage/Battery
  • Just over 2,500 miles
  • 100 round trips commuting, which means I've recharged the battery about this many times, (probably about 105-110 times total)
  • Average ride distance before recharging is about 25 miles/2500 feet of climbing roundtrip.
  • Longest ride I've done is 40 miles, which including climbing about 2,000 feet and about 10 miles of gravel. I still had one bar left on the battery display.
  • No issues with battery through the winter (RAINY) months, other than slightly reduced capacity. (I'd have two battery bars left, instead of three on the display) Once the temperature warmed up again the battery didn't seem to get used as quickly.
  • Weight - I'm normally riding with two Ortlieb Backroller pannier with about 10 pounds of weight. (two u locks, small repair kit/tube/pump, laptop, lunch, change of clothes, etc.) + me at about 165 lbs.
• Pedals
  • New pedals I received from my LBS have been working well - everything else on the bike still remains as when purchased.
• Brake Pads
  • Replaced both brake pads (front and rear) at about 1,150 miles. (This was probably slightly premature.
  • More recently I replaced just the rear brake pads again at 2,400 miles (I probably have another 100-200 miles before the front pads are needed).
  • Replacing seems very easy and exercising the pistons/cleaning was easy too.
• Tires
  • I've had two major flats with stock tires - small thorn in the front wheel and a giant nail in the rear wheel. Other than that tires have held up well though lots of roadside debris.
  • I'm guessing that I have another 2500+ miles in these tires, unless I start to get flats more frequently from minor debris.
  • I usually run the tires at the max psi rating (85 psi ?)
• Chain
  • Still in good shape. My chain wear for 75%/50% wear still indicates it's good.
  • I expect it to be changed in the next 500-1500+ miles?
• Bolts holding on rack/fenders
  • Had to tighten these up. Ended up putting lochtite on several of them. My commute can be bumpy in spots.

The most interesting thing is that I still like getting on my "normal" bike. It doesn't feel any slower (except maybe hills), but I think it's also because my "normal" bikes weigh less and I don't have all my commuting things with.

 

[Robertchouinard]

Hello Fourknees,
I am very happy to hear that your IZIP E3 path plus is still holding very well!!!
I just traded a Raleigh Sprite Ebike for a 2018 Izip E3 path plus.
The Raleigh bike was new and under warranty and I end up with so many troubles
And very bad customer services by Raleigh. It's the dealer who offer me to trade it for the Izip and I am glad I
Went with it. I am pretty impressed with all the features! It is brand new out of the box so I will have to put some miles to it!!!! A question concerning the ranges. Sometime the range in eco mode show 130km and then at other time it show 118km, and this, after charging fully the battery. Do you know anything about that?
Thanks and good riding!
Robert

 

[Fourknees]

A question concerning the ranges. Sometime the range in eco mode show 130km and then at other time it show 118km, and this, after charging fully the battery. Do you know anything about that?
Thanks and good riding!
Robert

My LBS said the range is calculated based on the past two miles you’ve ridden. So it you rode uphill in High, the range will be lower then if you coasted down hill in Eco the previous two miles.

I just keep an eye on the number of bars on the battery and don’t every look at the range. This has given me a good sense of how the battery life lasts.

 

[Fourknees]

5 year update!

I didn’t ride at the same rate during the pandemic (no commute!) but am back commuting and recently hit 5000 miles on this bike!!!

Everything thing has continued working great.
Tires - surprisingly still on the original tires. I did rotate them as the rear tire was starting to get flat in the middle, probably as the result of my weight, battery and two full panniers with 2 u-locks, a cable, some bike tools/spare tube, laptop, lunch and a change of clothes. I can’t recall any flats in quite sometime. I think I had bad luck early on regardless of tire.

Brake pads seem to need changing every 500-1000 miles.
I did replace both brake discs with the same as stock.
I have some long, winding down hills (I gain/lose 2000ft of elevation on each 24ish mile commute)

I’m just now about to change my chain for the first time.

My riding with pedal assist level has for sometime now about 60% Eco, 40% Norm. I basically never use High mode.
I’ve noticed no changes to battery life or charge time. I do always keep the battery inside. Only consistent is the battery is used up a little bit more when it is cold (30s) vs when 50F+.
Battery life after my commute as described is 2 and sometimes 3 bars left during warmer weather and 2 bars normally I’m the winter/colder weather.

This may be one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.