EVO Toba

Hugh

Active Member
I just put money down on a new evo toba HB1 disc. It has the Bion X 500 WD drive and a 48volt 11.6Ap battery. It is still winter here so I won,t be picking it up for a couple of months and I was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with this e-bike
 
The wait for spring is killing me. So far I,ve bought a New Yorker krytonite U lock and a Kryptonite chain lock and and bought a headlight, taillight, tire irons and pump and am getting the bicycle shop to install full fenders and a rear rack. Also purchased panniers made by EVO and a high visibility light weight jacket for spring time weather.
 
Heres the spec's BionX 500 WD, 48 V 11.6 ah battery. 6061 aluminum frame, schwalbe marathon green guard tires, 3 x 9 Shimano Deore rear derail, rt is Shimano Acera 390 and it has Tektro Auriga HD 500 hydraulic disc brakes. Even though I have had bicycles all my life I never got into the technical specs so I'm posting these hoping/wondering if these components are reasonable good quality
 
Heres the spec's BionX 500 WD, 48 V 11.6 ah battery. 6061 aluminum frame, schwalbe marathon green guard tires, 3 x 9 Shimano Deore rear derail, rt is Shimano Acera 390 and it has Tektro Auriga HD 500 hydraulic disc brakes. Even though I have had bicycles all my life I never got into the technical specs so I'm posting these hoping/wondering if these components are reasonable good quality
I'm assuming this is the bike?
http://evobicycle.com

If so that's a very nice bike! A mix of mid and high level components. BionX makes rock solid ebike kits, added to a lightweight road-hybrid bike, you should be very happy with it. The only criticism I ever hear of Bionx is that they're not very stealth, but BionX seems to get a lot from the larger diameter motor and the wheels with that motor are built better than most hub motor bikes. Have fun with it!
 
Finally got to take it for a ride today, just a few blocks up the street then back to get a feel for it. Level 1, not really noticeable , level 2 I started smiling, by level 4 was grinning from ear to ear. No real effort and 25 kph like right now. then I tried the throttle for a second and well thats gonna have to wait until I can get a nice open stretch of road. I am gonna really like this electric bike thing.
 
I hear you about the grinning from ear to ear. I have the same response whenever I ride my Magnum Ui5.

That Evo does look very nice. How much does it cost?
 
Here in Winnipeg it sells for $3495, our dollar is not great right now, after I put the deposit on it I found a bike shop in Vanc BC selling it for $2600 plus a cpl hundred for shipping but after reading many posts it seemed a good idea to buy locally for any service issues. I wouldn,y mind another e bike in a mountain bike style at some point in the future. One shop had a couple mid drive Raleigh mountain bikes, not sure of the model using the Bion X for $2700. Another had some Giant and Trek rear hub Bion X mtn bikes. all of these have front suspension for $2700 as well. The Evo has the 700 wheels and 27 speeds so its fairly easy to pedal even without power so its a good first choice since I,m looking at a 15 mile round trip to work.
 
20 km ride yesterday. There was a 1 1/2 km stretch on a bike bike where I was using level 3 assist and pedaling in top gear and was able to maintain 32 km's per hour speed. At the end of that stretch I was a bit winded but I am 63 and have not ridden a bicycle for a few years. The path had a few deserted stretches so I got to try the throttle out as well. For a bicycle the acceleration seemed very quick getting up to the 32kph or 20 mph extremely fast and then the power would shut down and cycle on and off so as to not exceed the governed limit. Now I have no problem with that limit , but it would be nicer if Bion X had built some type of control into the system to maintain a steady speed. But the throttle is excellent for getting across intersections when the light changes so I will prob use it mostly for that purpose.
 
Yes, that was one of Court's criticisms of the Bionx system in his review of the OHM Urban XU700 16, that the motor cuts out abruptly when the top speed is reached. In contrast the motor on my Magnum Ui5 cuts out gradually as I approach and then exceed the top speed, so it is a smooth and seamless transition.

I mostly use the throttle when starting up from a dead stop, especially if I am in too high a gear.
 
Hi Hugh... I like the specs on the bike you chose and am narrowing down my choices. Are you continuing to enjoy the bike and have you had a trip where you exhausted the battery and returned on leg power alone? I really like that Bionx has a good reputation over a long period of time and they continue to innovate. Are the wheels and tires the right design for various road conditions? Thanks for any additional comments you may have.
 
I have not been riding enough to exhaust the battery yet. The weather here has been cold and snowy with quite a bit of ice still in patches. However on the rides I have been on it seems that the battery is lasting longer than on the first 20 km ride I managed. I will explain, on the first ride of just a bit over 20 kilometers the battery power level was down to the last 3 bars. Now I had used the throttle and highest power level a lot because it was new and pretty exciting. The next 22 k,ms I rode were mostly on level 2 and 3 and the power level only used 2 bars. Now I,m waiting for the weather to co-operate. As long as I contribute with my pedal power i think the range will come in around the 130 km which is somewhere around 60 miles. My riding has been on a mix of streets, bike paths and some gravel sections and the tires and wheels seem okay for that mix. One thing about the 700 wheels is way less rolling resistance than mountain or fat bike tires.. Once spring kicks in and I get to ride more I'll post up some better info about the distances.
 
Hello, I purchased an Evo hb1 Disc earlier this year and am delighted with all aspects of this bike. I live in a hilly area of Southern Ontario, Canada, making a regular bike riding "heavy sleddin' " for someone of my age and ability. The Bionx drive system is truly amazing and provides lots of torque when required. Operating the drive in level one, the power input is seamless and hard to detect that is until you swap back to a regular bike! The higher assist levels help me up the sleeper slopes. So far, I have only made ~20 ish km trips and at the end of each, the battery charge indicator has hardly moved. Maybe I will never need more charge capacity, will have to see? Speed, well maybe I'm a chicken but 32km is plenty fast enough for me! I wear contacts and at anything close to this speed, I'm finding that they tend to dry out and make the navigation pot holes more of a challenge than I prefer!

Regarding the EVO bike itself; it's first class, I tend to use the full range of the 27 speed transmission and it is smooth and precise to operate, the hydraulic brakes certainly work well and the overall finish of the bike is top rate and higher end hardware has been used in the assembly. The handlebars, grips and saddle are of good quality, as well.

Overall, I find the package to be everything that I wanted. I bought the bike in Toronto and including a bunch of extras and tax, paid something close to $Cdn. 3k. Good value when I see the prices being asked for other models and drive systems.
 
Nice to hear your enjoying your EVO HB1 disc. I,ve got almost 800 km,s on mine and its still works great. i did get a flat on my way to work one day, the rear tire picked up a small stiff wire about 3/8ths inch long. So now in the panniers there is a 15mm wrench, a park multitool for all the allen fasteners, spare tube, small pliers, cpl zip ties and a small hand pump. So no more worries about flats. We had a huge thunderstorm yesterday and that was the first time in 3 weeks the truck had any use. Since the bike gets used 5 days a week for commuting it,s level 2 assist on the way to work unless the wind is really blowing and in the approx 14 km's the power level indicator drops 1 bar. On the way home level 3 is nice and it's now easy to maintain around 33 or 34 km's per hour. By the time I get home the battery shows about 50%. Since our summers are so short I figure our riding season might stretch out to maybe 7 months which if you add up the number of charges and consider the Bion X battery came with a 3 year warranty as long as you registered with Bion X and it's supposed to be good for 800 to 1000 charge cycles , might as well get our moneys worth. Side note, while waiting at a rail crossing the other day I waved to another cyclist behind me so we spoke for 10 minutes. he had tried to keep up with me a couple of times on the ride home but couldn't quite manage. First thing i said was I,m a cheater, it's an electric bike, I,m in my 60's but i want to ride to work on a bike instead of a car. He smiled and said good for you,
 
Nice to hear your enjoying your EVO HB1 disc. I,ve got almost 800 km,s on mine and its still works great. i did get a flat on my way to work one day, the rear tire picked up a small stiff wire about 3/8ths inch long. So now in the panniers there is a 15mm wrench, a park multitool for all the allen fasteners, spare tube, small pliers, cpl zip ties and a small hand pump. So no more worries about flats. We had a huge thunderstorm yesterday and that was the first time in 3 weeks the truck had any use. Since the bike gets used 5 days a week for commuting it,s level 2 assist on the way to work unless the wind is really blowing and in the approx 14 km's the power level indicator drops 1 bar. On the way home level 3 is nice and it's now easy to maintain around 33 or 34 km's per hour. By the time I get home the battery shows about 50%. Since our summers are so short I figure our riding season might stretch out to maybe 7 months which if you add up the number of charges and consider the Bion X battery came with a 3 year warranty as long as you registered with Bion X and it's supposed to be good for 800 to 1000 charge cycles , might as well get our moneys worth. Side note, while waiting at a rail crossing the other day I waved to another cyclist behind me so we spoke for 10 minutes. he had tried to keep up with me a couple of times on the ride home but couldn't quite manage. First thing i said was I,m a cheater, it's an electric bike, I,m in my 60's but i want to ride to work on a bike instead of a car. He smiled and said good for you,
Hugh,
It's sounds like you are going to be the Evo / Bionx test bed and I will be sure to read your posts so that I know what problems to expect! I'm a retiree and have little pressure to build the kilometers like you do. Happy riding buddy.
 
I am supposed to be a retiree as well but decided not to stop and got a part time job with Stats Can, at least it was initially said to be part time, has turned out to be 5 days a week for a few years now. I am planning to retire for good either early this winter or next spring. The fellow that sold me the EVO told me it was the cadillac of road e bikes and while he was trying to make a sale I sure do enjoy the bike. These electric bikes are great for going out and getting some exercise without having to worry about wind, etc Even going up overpasses the motor will keep you at a steady 32 km's hour.
 
Hello Hugh, how did you make out for the balance of the year with your EVO? I topped out at ~540km for the season, so not as far as you travelled, so I'm interested to hear of your experiences.
I have had no problems with either the bike or the drive system and must say that I am still delighted with the whole package. I have taken a few longer trips of 50k or so and returned home with a decent charge still remaining, however on one occasion, I pretty much let everything out for speed and after close to 50k my battery was nearly drained; really no surprise however as "we" tackled quite a few short but steep hills.
 
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