I've now gotten it on the road so I can report a bit more about how the bike actually works.
Good parts:
I haven't ridden gravel bikes before - I expected it to be like my old Fisher hybrid, & it was, to an extent, but after inflating the tires to 40 psi (recommended range is 30-50 psi) I can say I think I now "get" the gravel bike concept. The tires really do make a difference. So, most of the good things about the old hybrid (quick steering, fast, harder-cornering) with a bit less vibration. I also haven't ridden an internal shift bike in 40 yrs, & that part was also mostly nice. The Discover LE has no quick-release anywhere, so you'd want to keep wrenches with you for a while at least until you're sure everything's set up; that said, I honestly found adjusting the seat height with an allen wrench was easier than quick-release. Belt drive is another thing I've previously never used, & that seemed really nice -- it just felt like the connection between pedaling & going was very direct, for lack of better language. The bundled porteur rack was super easy to install & feels solid, though I haven't yet carried anything on it. It does look like there are standard mount points for a rear fender or rack, if you ride on wet surfaces. Seat is very basic but after almost an hour in the saddle I honestly didn't feel too bad. The bike is light enough that I didn't find it at all difficult to ride hard without power assist (which is good, because assist didn't work, see below).
Bad parts:
Altogether, getting it on the road was around 4 hours of work, the bulk of that trying different things to get the front wheel to fit on the bike.
The setup instructions are abysmal. First, they require you to print them yourself - they don't even send a hard copy, they just email you a link to the PDF. They'll be fine for people who get a perfect build; if (like mine) one's build is a bit off, they could quickly become worse than useless. E.g. the instructions for putting on the front wheel were basically (to borrow a phrase from someone on their FB group) 'put on front wheel.' By comparison the printable instructions for their wheel kits go into detail about the order & orientation of flat washers & the keyed washer that functions to lock the axle in place. That difference in detail matters because if you go to those instructions looking for more, you're liable to end up seriously confused.
Then there's the fact that the front dropouts were irregularly sized & too small for the axle. This is often an unavoidable problem when putting a Hilltopper wheel on a conventional bike, but this is their own wheel on their own bike - it should just fit, right? Nope. In order to get the front wheel to fit I had to file at least a millimeter off the inside of one of the front dropouts. This was easier than it might've been because the fork is aluminum (which is worth mentioning because the company recommends steel forks for their upgrade kits). Both the dropouts were too small, but one was a lot smaller than the other -- so, I guess that means build quality isn't great. (Aside on that note, the battery doesn't seat perfectly flush in its recess, even when fully locked in place.) Front brakes were cranked so tight I could barely force the disc between them when trying to mount the wheel; I had to loosen them. I'll need to adjust both brake sets because the rear rubs & now the front is too loose (the latter's on me, I was eager to get it on the road).
The crank is very stiff - it doesn't spin freely. On the last 5 bikes I rode regularly, going back about 30 years, I could easily kick the pedal back around to a better starting position - on this bike, I need to push the crank around with my foot. I dont' know whether that's due to the belt tension or the crank not being installed correctly.
Shifting (especially downshifting, & particularly 4th to 3rd) is sluggish. There's often a slight lag (1-2 seconds) between actuating the shifter & the shift actually happening. Given the general sloppiness of the build I wonder if this might be due to low lube levels in the shifter, so I'll be checking that as soon as I look up how.
Power assist: Cannot review that, as I have not yet gotten it to work. While I was out riding, neither throttle nor power assist would work, though the display seemed to be functioning normally. (Display has very small print. If you're nearsighted or have had cataract surgery / are getting old (like me), it may be quite difficult to read.) When I got back, I found it could not be switched off. I had to unseat the battery to power cycle it. After that, the throttle seemed to work, but I was too tired to go out & test the assist. Will test that tomorrow, but based on comments I've seen elsewhere I wouldn't be surprised to find the controller needs to be replaced.
Final verdict is that I'm probably going to take this to a bike shop in a neighboring town that sells Hilltopper conversions, & have them at least rebuild the crank or retension the belt, whichever turns out to be the problem. (Crank rebuilding & belt tensioning are a bit above my skill level at this point. One really nice thing about this bike is it's actually light & small enough that I CAN take it to a farther-off shop in the back of my car. Either my Volt Bravo or my Trek Globe would be really challenging to do that with.)
Just took delivery of a Discover LE this afternnon, & so far cannot recommend it. I'm dead in the water getting it put together because the front wheel won't fit onto the bike. Brake calipers shipped VERY tight -- they rub loudly on the back wheel & were almost too tight to fit the disc into on the front. It looks very much as though either the dropout on the left side of the front fork is irregular, or the front fork is bent, not sure which yet. The pedals are cheap plastic & have no bearings -- you'll need to lubricate them & may need to replace them at some point.
It doesn't come with printed assembly instructions; they expect you to print out the PDF. The instructions are extremely high-level -- front wheel instructions mention nothing at all about the orientation of the tab washer, which is kind of critical & is something their wheel kit instructions go into great detail on.
I can't give you a ride review yet because I haven't managed to get it working.
