Another Prodigy Review - Prodigy XC

I'm going to add my 2 cents here. I currently have three bikes - two Ride1Up bikes and a Brose equipped mountain bike from BH/EasyMotion.

The Ride1Up 700 came with a cadence sensor based on speed, which I later converted to a power based controller. This made it much more rideable in my opinion. As purchased, the pedal sensing in this bike is okay, but nothing to write home about. It takes a second or more for the motor to kick in after you start pedaling, and it continues to push you for a complete second after you've stopped pedaling. The brake cut-offs are helpful but not absolutely necessary. The rear sensor failed a while ago and I haven't bothered to replace it yet - I just squeeze the brake a little harder to overcome the motor. With the new controller it behaves the same way (one second delays), but does not cut off the power so dramatically once you've hit a certain speed for each PAS level.

The Ride1Up Limited is a rear hub motor/torque sensor bike. The torque sensing is delayed, but somewhat natural feeling. But it continues to push for a second or so after I've stopped pedaling, just like the 700. It has no brake cut off sensors, but somehow I still manage to come to a quick stop when I need to. I really appreciate that it is 8-10 pounds lighter than the 700.

The BH mountain bike (its a mid drive) is used exclusively on single track trails cut through the woods designed for bike use. The trails were made by the local mountain bike club and are used mostly by bikes, with a few hikers mixed in. These are NOT paved multi use trails, nor pea gravel graded trails like rails-to-trails pathways. The torque sensing on this bike is sublime and you hardly ever feel it kick in. As soon as I stop pedaling it stops. There is no need whatsoever for brake/motor cut off because the motor stops as quickly as you stop pedaling. Also, being a mid drive, the force from the motor goes through the chain so it stops propelling you as soon as you stop pedaling. There is no way I would ever use a bike with the delays starting and stopping pedaling the the 700 and LMTD on these trails. The delays are just not acceptable. They are completely fine on streets but wouldn't be on a tight single track trail.

So, owning two R1U bikes as well as a Brose powered mid drive bike, I would be absolutely amazed if there was any need at all for brake cut offs on the Ride1Up Prodigy. In my opinion, the only things that should change about the bike are to make the city bike with a suspension fork. As it stands right now, there appear to be two different frames (the city/step-thru has a different head tube from the cross country bike), and adding a fork to the city bike would make it like a chopper. I would also like to see a throttle, but I doubt it would ever happen with the Brose motor.. As to the "expensive" battery - really??!! $449 is dirt cheap compared to other batteries for this motor.

If your only experience is with off the shelf component Chinese bikes, you really should ride a quality European or Japanese designed bike. Its just a whole different ride. Otherwise you are just doing the spreadsheet thing comparing numbers and it doesn't reflect the overall product/experience.
 
Simply not true.
This made to my comment earlier:
"So, if you had ever ridden a PAS only powered bike, you would realize just how much rubbish this line of thought really is. THEY shut down the power as soon as you stop pedaling as well."

I have built 2 PAS based bikes, sold 2 others, and currently own 4 more (by way of explanation my wife and I are snowbirds with bikes at each end). This in addition to bikes I've demoed and ridden that I didn't own. All stopped supplying power when the crank isn't turning, assuming only that the throttle isn't in use.

I also own and spend a lot of time riding a Bafang Ultra based bike (my 5th bike) with torque sensing AND throttle. So VERY familiar with mid drives and torque sensing.

So the idea that the conventional PAS type systems don't shut the power down when you stop pedaling isn't worth arguing. Pretty sure they do.

Are you riding only using throttle? I am trying to understand why the hate about pedal-assist bikes?
Now you come up with this? What in the world makes you think I hate pedal assisted bikes? The fact that I won't own a bike that doesn't have a throttle? Really, I don't get why you might ask me that?

For 99.9% of my rides (daily) I use the throttle to get the bike moving (just a slight bump for maybe 3-4') and to cross busy roads. Point being, that throttle uses a lot of power (2 of my 3 bikes are over 1000w due to my size and the fact I spend a lot of time in a pretty hilly coastal area). The 3rd bike is a 500w bike ridden in a mostly level area only. It's been converted with an aftermarket KT controller able to supply it with just shy of 1000w for short periods of time - like long enough to cross a busy road for instance. Note that the 500w bike, at 55lbs, can be pretty "sporty" on 1000w....
 
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The Ride1Up 700 came with a cadence sensor based on speed, which I later converted to a power based controller. This made it much more rideable in my opinion. As purchased, the pedal sensing in this bike is okay, but nothing to write home about. It takes a second or more for the motor to kick in after you start pedaling, and it continues to push you for a complete second after you've stopped pedaling.
There's an even longer delay if you are riding along pedaling in PAS 0 and decide to kick up the PAS level as you are already pedaling. It's more like 3 seconds before power engages. It's annoying, but I got used to it and anticipate by changing it a little earlier. And then there's that delay when stepping down the PAS level as well.
 
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