Commuter Recommendation: iZip Protour

[dean1]

In case you may have missed it, iZip is closing out their E3 Protour. Closeout price is $1599. I cancelled my Juiced Bike order ($1699 - 6-8 week wait) and picked one up today at my LBS for $1543 with a lifetime transferable warranty and lifetime free adjustments. I don't know of any major brand Class 3 mid-drive at a lower price, especially with a euro-style frame.

Here are the specs: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx97UDuOAWgDTGk2R0hDWFQzSFE/view

Check out Court's review here:

I've rode it only a few miles so far and it performs brilliantly. If you like high-tech gadgets you'll love the COBI system (not as difficult to set up as Court's experience).

I'll post more in the iZip section after some more serious riding

 

[Barry S]

Thanks for the heads up. I completely missed this review. I found the bike at Lone Star Bikes for $1599 but no mention of the model year, so I've sent them an email. They also list only $14.99 for shipping to Honolulu, which I feel pretty confident is wrong so I've asked them to confirm that as well. My experience is that a lot of retailers fail to test their online shipping calculators. Magnum is one that had a shipping rate of $0 to Honolulu. I brought it to their attention and they confirmed it was wrong. As of this writing, it still offers free shipping.

 

[dean1]

Thanks for the heads up. I completely missed this review. I found the bike at Lone Star Bikes for $1599 but no mention of the model year, so I've sent them an email. They also list only $14.99 for shipping to Honolulu, which I feel pretty confident is wrong so I've asked them to confirm that as well. My experience is that a lot of retailers fail to test their online shipping calculators. Magnum is one that had a shipping rate of $0 to Honolulu. I brought it to their attention and they confirmed it was wrong. As of this writing, it still offers free shipping.

Lonestar offers a nice discount based on total value of shopping cart. It comes to 3.5% for the bike alone. My LBS matched their price. I don't think there is a difference in year.
Perhaps you can capitalize on that shipping calculation

 

[Barry S]

They confirmed it's the 2018 model, but they're having to check on the shipping cost.

 

[Barry S]

I went onto iZIP's site and they will deliver it free to my local dealer, and I selected my LBS in Honolulu. Unfortunately, the website lists they're out of the Large frame and the LBS doesn't carry this model. I'll check back.

Looking forward to hearing more about the bike after you've taken it out for longer rides. Court commented that the shifting felt "clunky", and I'm wondering if you agree or perhaps the gears just needed to be indexed.

 

[dean1]

I went onto iZIP's site and they will deliver it free to my local dealer, and I selected my LBS in Honolulu. Unfortunately, the website lists they're out of the Large frame and the LBS doesn't carry this model. I'll check back.

Looking forward to hearing more about the bike after you've taken it out for longer rides. Court commented that the shifting felt "clunky", and I'm wondering if you agree or perhaps the gears just needed to be indexed.

You may also want to check out the Haibike SDURO Urban Plus. It looks like the same bike with 27.5 x 2.4 wheels and maybe a bigger battery. I saw it on the iZip site for $1699 but its gone for now. Seen it at dealers for $1699, but strangely lonestar is charging 1749. This is it at my LBS: https://wheelworld.com/product/haib...Fvu3EQuW_o1qkC5O3lniPj3kofPOC0G4aAishEALw_wcB

There is sometimes a "clunkiness" when shifting up, but its just the usual sound, just louder; its not a feeling, just a sound. Haven't played with it much but maybe it can be mitigated via cadence. If you are not listening for its no big deal.

 

[Barry S]

Yeah, my LBS (also carries iZIP) has it for $2,500. The only time you see something at his shop come off of full MSRP is if it's demo, used rental or a consignment bike from a customer. The only other ebike dealers here are Pedego, Trek and Specialized all of which are WAY outside my budget.

We have a very reputable sporting goods/bike shop in town that had a couple of Giant ebikes on the sales floor during my last visit a few months ago. Their mainstay is non e-bikes, so I think these were just to keep Giant happy. One of them was the Explore E+3 at $2500, but the salesperson was willing to take 10% off. I didn't have time for a test ride that day and I still had a rather long list of bikes I was researching. I emailed them a couple of weeks ago after confirming that they were an authorized Giant dealer and the bike was still there. I may go back this weekend for a test ride. If I like it I'll ask if they're willing to come down on that price even more, and we'll go from there.