GenZe 101

[KenM.]

Hi Rich, sorry it took me so long to reply to you, I had a lot to do today.
Yes I like the bike a lot . I weigh 170lbs. The bike weighs around 47lbs. I use pedal assist no.3. I like to still pedal like a regular bike. On 3 it just a little easier than the Schwinn road bike I have. I also do not like to charge the battery up every time I want to ride.
I had it in pedal assist 5 a couple of times, that is fun. It is like having a tail wind all the time. The last time I had it in 5 for about 12 miles. There was a head wind of about 15 to 20mph. And I was still going between 12 and 13mph. And I only had to put just light pressure on the pedals.
If you use number 5 all the time I think you would only get about 25 or 30 miles out of the battery.
The bike is not a fast bike, only goes about 18mph. In pedal assist . It has a 250 watt motor, so it keeps it light weight. The battery only weighs about 1 1/2lbs. Light weight, lets it go so far on the charge.
I did have it up to 21mph. once, but you have to pedal like crazy.
I do not like to pedal real fast. It needs a taller gear up front, then it will be good for higher speeds for me.
Thank you for you post. I will be glad to answer you anything that I can. Thank you , ken.

 

[KenM.]

One of the things I had to do today, was to fix the flat rear tire on the GenZe. My first time to replace a tube on a hub motor wheel. It was very easy to do. Just need a 19mm. wrench to take the axle nuts off. A 5mm. Hex wrench to take off the caliper,( I think it is a lot easier to put the wheel back on without having to lineup the disk and chain too). They even had locktite on the mounting bolts. That is a good thing. And cut the tie rap that holds the motor wire up , and unplug the motor wire.
The wheel came off with no trouble, the tire came off with ease, no tools. Checked the inside of the tire, nothing still in the tire. Checked the rim, and rim strap, all good. Put the tube in, the tire went on just as easy as it came off, no tools.
Aired it up, put the wheel back on. Went on real easy too. Put the caliper back on, new locktite on the mounting bolts . Tighten the axel nuts, plug in the motor wire, ziptie it back up, put the axel end caps back on. And a test ride to make sure the motor and shifting all works well. And it is good to have the GenZe back ( On The Road Again)! Neat huh ! All done in about 1/2 hour , I think. I forgot to check the time. But it was easy to do no trouble at all. But that does not mean that I want this to happen very often! I am not looking forward to pushing it home if it was to go flat any distance from home.
I was blessed this time, I just finished the first 25 mile ride that I had ever did with this bike. Never noticed any trouble with the tire. When I tried to move it in the garage the next day it was flat. I aired it up, thinking it was a so leak. I got about less then a 1/2
mile down the road and it was already half way flat . Ken.

 

[richh963]

Ken, sounds a lot easier than me changing my flat on the rear of my ezip trailz. I bought slime tubes and replaced my front tube also, I hate flats, also it appears the money I was getting I'm not now so I'm going to have hold off on getting a new bike which is a bummer. enjoy your 4th.

 

[KenM.]

Putting on the 13th.charge on the battery now=55 miles this time, the second bar was only just starting to flash for the last mile.
Got a thin pice of wire in the rear tire yesterday , for the second flat in three days. Changed this tube in about 20 mins.
Getting better at this all the time. Keep looking up! Ken.

 

[richh963]

mileage still sounds great Ken, How many total miles do you have on the bike now? Ive been emailing different e-bike companys with questions I have about certain models, and they just don't respond. Energie Bikes being one of them, and Anzio being another. you would think at the price of some of these units they would jump at it, business must be good for these companys.

 

[KenM.]

Hi Rich, I just went out in the garage and looked at the bikes odometer , and you will not believe it. But it is right at 700 miles even! Pretty neat huh. Only two months old , no problems at all so far .

Yes I know what you mean about no customer support. I had that problem with GenZe too at first. But they did fix it up with me, and made it all good now. They were sorry about not getting back to me the way they should have. Now I have all there phone numbers to get intuch with who ever I need to.
You should be able to talk to there sales department with no problem at all, if you want to ask questions . They were very helpful to me when I was looking into the bike, before I got this one. Ken.

 

[KenM.]

Putting on the 14 charge on the battery now =55 miles again. Same thing the second bar just started flashing at 53 miles.
I changed the way I do my rides, now I get 55 miles in three days instead of 52 or 53 in four days. I have to charge more this way, but I get more miles in for Team EBR onThe National bicycle challenge ! You should join us there , it is a lot of fun. Ken. Keep looking up!

 

[KenM.]

Putting on the 15th. charge now =55 miles. Same thing the second bar still flashing . All is good . Keep looking up! Ken

 

[richh963]

Ken, do you know how many charges the battery can handle? some can do about 500 others 1000 or 2000, so you may in a year do 90 charges or so, since you have done 15 in just over two months, so could your battery actually live for 10 years, just thoughts in my head, wonder how long the life of those cells are.

 

[KenM.]

Hi Rich. Yes I wonder about the battery sometimes too.
The battery comes with a two year warranty . It is supposed to be able to take 1,000 charge cycles. So as long as you do not over discharge it, or over charge it . The battery should last 6 to 10 years or so, the way I figure . Ken.

 

[KenM.]

Did the 800 mile oil change and chassis lube. All looks good.
Adjusted the shift cable a little. Shifting like new again.
Cleaned the bike some still looks good. Cleaned the hand grips they did not look dirty but now they grip onto my hands so nice. The more I use these grips,( bell ergo grips fromWalmart) the more I like them. Ken. Keep looking up.

 

[KenM.]

Putting on the 16th. charge now=40 miles. Had to charge it up early this time. I have to put on 33 miles tonight, to get 63 miles for my birthday . One mile, one year. This getting old is no fun. Ken.

 

[KenM.]

Ok, got the 33 mile ride in last night. The longest ride all at one time, so far. The batteries third bar started flashing at 31 miles.
Put 20 miles on tonight. Second bar still flashing. , but almost down to just the last bar. I think all the wind I had to fight and the 90+ temps drained the battery a little more than usual.
Putting the 17th. Charge now =53 miles. Ken.

 

[richh963]

happy belated birthday Ken, those head winds can help drain a battery and so do temps. Here in Michigan my SLA battery's hates cold weather, never noticed if they don't like heat, I know I hate really warm temps more than the cold, I dress for cold and really hard to dress for the heat. keep peddling love checking in and hearing the results of your bike. mileage is great. oh I was going to ask if your handle bars are the straight line across style or the cruiser type. I noticed on one site they had the cruiser style model for $1399. could have been a closeout .

 

[KenM.]

Hi Rich. Thank you for the birthday wish.
I have the flat stile bars. You lean forward pretty much with them.
I did get an email from GenZe that they are doing a give away.
You write it about your worst commute story . And they will pick the story they like the best and you will win a new bike.
It goes through now to 9/13/15. And you can write in as often as you want to. You can find out about it on their web site and find out more about it.
Who knows, maybe you could WIN one! Keep looking up! Ken

 

[KenM.]

Putting on the 18th. charge on the battery now=55 miles. Same thing second bar flashing.
Did a lot of riding in pedal assist 4 and 5 on these miles.
Had rain storms on two of the nights, and they did not stop till 7:30 at night. So I had to go like the wind to get the 15 miles in before the Boogie Men come out!
I did pedal real hard myself, so I do not think I would get this many miles if I had let the motor do more of the work. All is good. Keep looking up! Ken !

 

[richh963]

I don't know if I could ride in fla. the bugs are big, they may be worse than the boogie man, Ken I hate rain and riding my bike, I carry a big plastic stadium poncho that covers me and part of my bike. then dry the bike off when I get home, I keep my bike in the house all year long, to easy for someone to steal it in a garage , plus in the house it stays at a nice temp all year long. I was looking at the Energie Bike on there site they have a 36v 16 amp battery good for 2000 charges. they have one bike that's almost same price has yours, but yours gets such good mileage, and I haven't heard anyone really online talk about their bike. except Court, and its a different setup than he reviewed and he really doesn't review the distance he gets.

 

[KenM.]

Hi Rich, it is not so much the big bugs that are a bother. It is the little nats! When they are out there are thousands of them!
I only started to ride in the afternoon since the bike challenge started. The nats are never out in the morring, but around 5 and 6 o clock. Man it is terrible.
I try not to ride in the rain. But know how that goes. But I am like you, dry it off as soon as I get home.
I do not think my wife would like it if I were to keep the GenZe and the Schwinn in the house.
I put fenders on the GenZe, now it is nice to go out after a rain storm , no streak on your back, no wind, nice and cool. It sure is a lot nicer to ride at 73* then 93*!

I do not know anything about other bikes. The GenZe is the only e bike I have ever been on.
I an sure the reason it gets good milage is because it only has a 250 watt motor. Plus it only weighs 47lbs. And I am only 170 lbs. Plus I do like to pedal myself too. Keep looking up! Ken.

 

[KenM.]

Put on 15 miles tonight in number 5 pedal assist, without pedaling hard. Just about just let the weight of my leg and foot put the pressure on the pedals.
The forth bar is still up, but started flashing at 13 miles.
I guess this is why people really buy these e bikes. Did not sweat at all. A person could get used to this. But it would make riding the Schwinn very hard on my legs.
I will ride in no. 5 this whole battery cycle to see how many miles I get with it in no.5 , without pedaling very hard. Ken.

 

[KenM.]

Putting on the 19th. charge on the battery=31 miles in no. 5 pedal assist, and just light pedaling. I put on 15 miles yesterday , and 16 today. The second bar only just started to flash. I got a late start tonight, and I just did not want to ride any farther.
I know it could go at least 35 to 40 miles , on no.5 pedal assist.
I like the way it is so easy this way, not a drop of sweat today either. But I do not like charging all the time. I will go back to using no.3 and pedal it like a regular bike, with a tail wind all the time. Keep looking up! Ken.