Aventon Pace 350 surging problem..

[hondo8]

Dangerous in close quarters, when you peddle at the lowest setting it takes off with such speed my wife almost crashed into a parked car.
Also you cannot go slower while peddling than about 12 miles per hour...so its hard to get excercise on this bike.
There is supposed to be a fix..my dealer said..new controller..been months waiting on it...and on getting a rack for it.
Such a pretty bike with some good features and an inexpensive price.
I have 3 ebikes..one is a hub motor like this one..have ridden others that do not surge anything like this..
We wish we had never bought the bike..
Just beware..the surge can be dangerous in the wrong place.
My wife has ridden her whole life..so she is not a newby.
And no customer service and very very hard to get parts.
Aventon (chinese)is more concerned with selling bikes than keeping thier customers happy.

 

[WattsUpDude]

The controller on Aventons are really basic. Maybe they make is so fast in PAS1 so that new customers can feel the kick and be blown away without realizing how unusable or potentially dangerous it is if you don't know how to mitigate it. Aventon 500 was my first eBike. I wrote some stuff about it in other related threads.

"The Aventon Pace 500 was my first bike. I believe the level uses the same controller. Fast on flat land but it fell on its face when climbing sustained or steep hills. And the programming was terrible when you need to go slow. Assist level 1 goes to 12MPH. The bike does not like going slow."

"I'll chime in with personal experience on the Aventon. The Pace 500 (shares the controller with the Level, as far as I know) does not like to go slow. Assist level 1 will launch you to 11-12 MPH very quickly. It sucks to ride it anywhere there may be other people or obstacles in the way. And hubdrives "run out of breath" on steep or sustained hills. I will say that the build quality on the frame was really nice for the price point. But I'll never ride a bike with a basic cadence sensor ever again. It's not for me. I like the very natural feel of a torque sensor."

"Having owned the Pace 500, I must say that it does not go slow very well at all. The programming powers the motor to go to 11-12 MPH at level 1 assist. If you want to go slower than that, you have to use the throttle or pedal with the brake lever slightly engaged to initiate motor cutoff. Another catch is that you cannot engage the throttle from a standstill. It requires you to do one full rotation of the cranks before you can use it."

"With the Aventon, you cannot ride it in a slow and controlled manner unless you're off the motor assist altogether. When I rode it on my commute (San Francisco), I'd always have to slightly engage the brake lever to initiate motor cutoff when starting off in traffic."

 

[WattsUpDude]

What do you mean by basic?

Does it have a square wave controller?

Basic as in not user-programmable. Some of the other value brands like Ride1Up have controllers in which you can select the percentage of assist for each PAS level. The controller used in Aventons have a preset speed baked into each assist level. PAS1=12MPH, PAS2=16MPH until you get to PAS5@20MPH or 28MPH.

 

[Brockrock]

I have a Level with the latest controller. The trick is to use the brakes to stop the motor, and you can just use one a little bit without actually braking, and no more lunge forward. It takes getting used to for sure. I have been getting great exercise on my bike doing 25-30 mile rides in hilly areas pretty much daily as of late, and it's been great. I know there are better bikes out there, but as my first eBike, it's a good start.

 

[WattsUpDude]

I have a Level with the latest controller. The trick is to use the brakes to stop the motor, and you can just use one a little bit without actually braking, and no more lunge forward. It takes getting used to for sure. I have been getting great exercise on my bike doing 25-30 mile rides in hilly areas pretty much daily as of late, and it's been great. I know there are better bikes out there, but as my first eBike, it's a good start.

I agree it's a pretty good bike for the price. Really nice build quality and it can go very fast on flat ground. I just wish they went with a different controller like the one used in the Ride1Up bikes. I used the brake motor-cutoff trick a lot while I had it. Ultimately, I had to go with a bike that was better for my riding style.