Early Stages But Kyle Chittock of Bolton Ebikes is Alright With Me

[Marci jo]

I'm really so tired. 10 hour round trip and the city just eats my lunch. I should go to bed. Well ......

Somehow I summoned the strength ... to cut the plastic wrap. Then I thought, " Well I'll just peak in the box and get to the rest tomorrow".

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I was quite impressed by the sturdiness of this box. I think Kyle adds those corner reinforcements ( really stiff and strong ), bands the box and then wraps the whole shebang with plastic wrap. Nice.

Inside #1:



Inside #2:View attachment 75015View attachment 75016

Tip: Don't even try to dead lift one of these bikes straight up out of their box. They are too heavy and they are stuck in there anyway. Just turn the box on its end, carefully, and tug the box out sideways on it's back wheel. Easy peasy. Even for one so tired as myself.

Strangely enough I somehow felt the strength to continue: Foam forever. Mountains of the stuff.View attachment 75017


Oh, what the heck. We'll just put these bars on here. That's easy enough:

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Oh look! A multi-tool. A unique one at that. Got a little wrench on it. Sturdy:
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Dang. Check this rack out. Hope it's as solid as it looks. I like it. Wait. Fender? I didn't order no fender. Not a bad fender though, as fenders go.
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OOOPPS! Front wheel got on there somehow. Probably did that in my sleep. I'm really so tired.

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I seem to remember dreaming about this thing. What is it? Oh yeah. That's the little thingy stuck in your front brake so your pads don't get mashed together during shipment.

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And as a parting reminder before I crawl off to bed where I will surely sleep in till at least noon tomorrow even though my battery will have charged all night .... If you have a bike coming in the mail buy a pair of these. Side dykes. Most important tool needed to get one of these girls out of her clothes. Forget knives. You will cut yourself and scratch your bike. Heavy duty toenail clippers would be a second choice.

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Aaannndddd, one more thing: If you are unwrapping a Frey bike ... one of the front wheel spacers will almost surely stick to the big plastic dish-like protector when you pull it off.

Congrats & Merry Christmas!
Like a little kid opening presents

 

[reed scott]

Unpleasant Surprise ! NO SEAT ! This odd torture device installed in lieu of a seat. There's always a downside. ( I knew this would happen ) Kyle must have thought only young

skinny nimble navigators would use this bike. Kyle Kyle Kyle Kyle ....Kyle.

Kyle is still quite all right with me but I WAS expecting a notification before the bike got put on the truck. I would have asked about buying an actual bike seat and a spare battery to be slipped into the box. I suppose Kyle was pretty busy getting a bunch of bikes shipped out though. And I DID get my bike for Christmas so I won't focus on one little downside.

 

[reed scott]

And now there remains only THIS holding me back from actually trying to ride my new bike. Terrifying device. My monumental noobness now comes raging to the forefront. I know nothing. Nothing! I am a babe in the woods. Less than a worm. The horror !



Melodramatic ? Who me ? Luckily I went to you tube and watched a couple good demo videos. I can do this. Just have to watch the vids about 25 more times. They go so fast through those button presses though. I downloaded the manual from Kyle. Hoo boy. Useless. Terror inducing to say the least.

 

[hotspace]

Hey Reed - Fully assembled on my side. I will note that the wire bundle coming from the handlebars....there was one wire that was not connected and required it to be plugged in before the bike would power on.

 

[reed scott]

Hey Reed - Fully assembled on my side. I will note that the wire bundle coming from the handlebars....there was one wire that was not connected and required it to be plugged in before the bike would power on.

Yes. Here too. I figured it was a wire needing to be plugged in. Thanks.

 

[reed scott]

Hey Reed - Fully assembled on my side. I will note that the wire bundle coming from the handlebars....there was one wire that was not connected and required it to be plugged in before the bike would power on.

Hey hospice: You got throttle? I don't. Not yet anyway.

 

[reed scott]

Spoke too soon. Was trying to use throttle off the kickstand just to test. No worky that way. Must be rolling/wheel spinning. ( duh ) Throttle works great. Bike is awesome. Either they've done some program refinements or the genesis of complaints on the Ultra are just beyond my ability to sense/comprehend. She pulls even and like a racehorse.

 

[hotspace]

Hey hospice: You got throttle? I don't. Not yet anyway.

I haven't been outside to test it yet, too much snow, but I think the throttle is designed to be used once underway. I've read about it somewhere.... Please let me know your results.

 

[reed scott]

I haven't been outside to test it yet, too much snow, but I think the throttle is designed to be used once underway. I've read about it somewhere.... Please let me know your results.

Exactly. No throttle from stop with present programming. Can be reversed with reprogramming. They do this to stop folks from mashing the throttle from stop in a high gear which will damage drive train components.

 

[reed scott]

Hey Reed - Fully assembled on my side. I will note that the wire bundle coming from the handlebars....there was one wire that was not connected and required it to be plugged in before the bike would power on.

This is crazy. I did not see the "BOLTON" insignia on the battery tube till I just looked at your pic. Went outside and looked at mine. Yep. It's there. Talk about subtle.

 

[reed scott]

First flat tire. Less than five miles on the bike. Tiny little needle like mesquite thorn. Slow leak. Just put about 5 oz of slime in it, pumped it up and rode it half a mile down the road and back at 30mph. Hope it holds.

 

[TomD]

Congrats on your bike. Now that you have it can we poke a little fun at the Bolton livery?

The Dictionary of Mountain Bike Slang

 

[reed scott]

Congrats on your bike. Now that you have it can we poke a little fun at the Bolton livery?

The Dictionary of Mountain Bike Slang

Feel free. I am.

 

[reed scott]

First flat tire. Less than five miles on the bike. Tiny little needle-like mesquite thorn. Slow leak. Just put about 5 oz of slime in it, pumped it up and rode it half a mile down the road and back at 30mph. Hope it holds.

Well seems the slime treatment worked. Tire is holding air for over five hours now. Happy.

 

[reed scott]

My take on the 'heavy' aspect of these sorts of bikes: Yeah, it comes home to you the minute you grab the seat while off the bike to maneuver that back wheel a bit. Oooff! But there is no heaviness once that great motor takes over. I suppose if technical single track is your thing then yeah, these bikes are too heavy. For the rest of us however the heavy part is no big deal. I have to mount four steps to get the bike in the house. Walk mode roles it right up them no problem. I am so in love with the power and suspension of this girl ... her noticeable heft just does not matter at all.

 

[reed scott]

Now with this new bike I find myself mystified by all the reports of 'jerky' power delivery. There is absolutely nothing jerky about my bike's motor. Either those reporting such were far far more discriminating than I ( surely they had no axe to grind ) or Bafang or Frey have improved the controller/motor. I eagerly await reports from others who have very recently received Ultra powered bikes from whatever supplier/maker.

 

[TomD]

Have you ridden a refined mid-drive? Guessing you don't have a baseline to compare against. Once you ride something more refined (or upgrade the controller) you'll probably notice the lag/jerkiness and power oscillation more.

 

[reed scott]

Have you ridden a refined mid-drive? Guessing you don't have a baseline to compare against. Once you ride something more refined (or upgrade the controller) you'll probably notice the lag/jerkiness and power oscillation more.

You could be right. It could be as well that somewhere, of late, either Bafang or Frey has made improvements. So hard to know. I wish I lived in your neck of the woods so you could ride this bike and tell me what you think.

 

[reed scott]

I haven't been outside to test it yet, too much snow, but I think the throttle is designed to be used once underway. I've read about it somewhere.... Please let me know your results.

hotspace, I hope you can get out on your bike soon. I eagerly await your report. Personally it was a hope/dream of mine that I would be happy with the performance of the Bafang Ultra on this bike contrary to so many reports of less than optimal performance, jerky power delivery etc.. And wonder of wonders that seems to be exactly what I got. I'm hoping to hear the same from you but don't hold back. Tell us what you really feel about the bike please.

 

[AHicks]

First, congrats on the new bike!

Speaking for my initial unhappy Ultra comments, I thought the throttle, when you first touch it to get the bike rolling, was a bit much. Since fixed (easily). The rest of the time, not experiencing anything I would call jerky either. My other issues were all related to low speed control. The kind of stuff you might run into on single track.

It would appear your bike is not able to be throttled until the bike is moving? Same story with pedal assist?
A new Frey owner is sharing that his new bike is set up the same way.

If the bike has to be moving for the throttle to work, that would explain why you aren't running into the same "a bit too much" throttle response from the start to me.

You're OK with not being able to use the throttle to get the bike rolling from a stop? Maybe an up hill start from a stop sign?