Hello from a Mokwheel owner.

[Jerry W]

I am an 85 year old guy new to the forum. For about the last 18 years I have been riding a Vision recumbent, mainly about 10-20 miles once a week for exercise. I spent several months looking at e-bikes and ordered a Mokwheel Basalt ST on Dec 27, 2022. What convinced me to buy the Basalt was that it had a large battery (19 amp-hrs) with BMS, hydraulic brakes and the fact that a lot of accessories were included in a Christmas sale. I am using it for trips to the grocery store, etc. on bumpy, but paved streets. The bike arrived on Feb 7, 2023. No notice that it had been shipped, opened the garage door and there it was. Most of the Christmas package accessories arrived on April 6 and the last 2 items on April 21. The bike was well packed in a heavy duty cardboard box. I needed help to get it out of the box. It was rather easy to assemble, and the manual instructions were good for that, not so clear though in a few places on how to operate the controls. The bike is well built, nice welds, hydraulic brakes, good headlight, brake and tail light. I have about 150 miles on the bike so far. I am fairly certain that it can go 40 miles on a full charge without much pedaling, although I haven't done any tests. I'm in Austin, TX and we have hills here. The fat knobby tires are best for dirt and gravel, but on city streets it eats up the cracks and gaps in the pavement. Tire pressure is 20psi and leak down is slow compared to smaller bike tires. In retrospect, I would order a lighter city style bike with smaller tires, less battery, but I'm not unhappy with the Basalt. The Asphalt ST wasn't introduced until April 2023. I have lowered the seat below the ideal pedaling position so that I don't have to get off the seat at a stop. It's a heavy bike and bit like riding a motorcycle in my imagination as I haven't ridden a motorcycle.

There is one thing though that I hope someone can explain. The bike has 0-5 PAS levels. I think PAS is power or pedal assist sensor. Anyway, each level has a top speed such as 8 mph for level 1, 13 mph for level 2, 18 for level 3, etc. On level ground when I start to pedal the bike just accelerates to the top speed of the PAS level selected. I don't have to be really doing any work other than keeping the pedals rotating. Once top speed is reached, if I pedal hard enough the bike will go faster, but I am doing all the work. Is that the way that most e-bikes with hub motors react? I did talk to Mokwheel about this, but I didn't get a very good answer other than each PAS level has a top speed. Their website has a video that states more force more assist, also "a more natural riding experience". To me, my bike is not giving me a natural riding experience. I have changed some of the menu options but haven't found anything that affects the PAS other than the maximum top speed can be changed. The factory setting is 22 mph. One of the 2 menus has factory reset. I did learn that if you do a factory reset the total mileage resets to zero although the manual said that would not happen.

 

[JGcycle]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

There is one thing though that I hope someone can explain. The bike has 0-5 PAS levels. I think PAS is power or pedal assist sensor. Anyway, each level has a top speed such as 8 mph for level 1, 13 mph for level 2, 18 for level 3, etc. On level ground when I start to pedal the bike just accelerates to the top speed of the PAS level selected. I don't have to be really doing any work other than keeping the pedals rotating. Once top speed is reached, if I pedal hard enough the bike will go faster, but I am doing all the work. Is that the way that most e-bikes with hub motors react? I did talk to Mokwheel about this, but I didn't get a very good answer other than each PAS level has a top speed. Their website has a video that states more force more assist, also "a more natural riding experience". To me, my bike is not giving me a natural riding experience.

Welcome aboard! No, my torque-sensing rear hub-drive ebike delivers motor power in a very natural way that's nothing like what you're describing. Mine feels like it's simply amplifying my own pedaling effort, with greater amplification at progressively higher PAS levels. No level-specific assisted speed limits involved.

Your power delivery sounds very much like that of a simple cadence-sensing ebike. (Confusingly, these ebikes sense only whether the cranks are turning, not how fast they're turning.) Tested 5 of those, and all 5 felt very unnatural to us.

Not sure why yours would act that way, as the Basalt's official web page makes a big fuss over its torque sensor. Something's off here.

 

[Jerry W]

Thanks for the reply. I am thinking something is off too. In the Technical settings menu which is not covered in the manual there is an item "tacho magnets". It is currently set at 6 and the range is 1 to 99. I have no idea exactly what that is or does. A tech guy at Mokwheel said to leave it on 6. I plan to email Mokwheel again about the torque sensing.

 

[indianajo]

Tacho magnets counts the number of magnets on the plastic wheel attached to your crank. Will never change after bike left the factory.
Sounds as if your bike is doing only cadence sense, which is exactly what you have experienced. Once controller senses half a crank turn of magnets have passed, it adds power to make the bike run the fix speed indicated by the PAS level. My bike's cadence sense would start the bike if I was winding the crank backwards for a good takeoff from the top position.
Torque sense is supposed to sense how hard you are pushing on the crank and add a little more force. You have a warranty issue on the torque sense. There is a sensor either in the crank bushing, or on the chain somewhere. Either will have a 2 or 3 wire pickup run from the sensor to the controller. Easiest problem to fix is the sensor has gotten unplugged somehow.

 

[Jerry W]

I removed the left crank and the housing cover, took some photos, unplugged and replugged all the connections there, put everything back together. Didn't change anything, still accelerates to PAS speed level selected. Sent an email and the photos to Mokwheel support. Waiting to see what happens. Thanks for the advice

 

[Jerry W]

After several emails to Mokwheel, it seems that the Basalt ST bike I have is an older generation model that came with cadence sensing rather than torque sensing. At least that is what Mokwheel is telling me, and that there is no practical way to upgrade the bike. Thinking back, when I ordered the bike I cannot remember seeing anything on the website about torque sensing, which is on the bike if you order one now, or about cadence sensing either. I was probably one of the last customers to get a model with cadence sensing. I'm riding it and so far no problems with any of the parts, and it doesn't apply power if the pedals are rotated backwards. Also there is a switch in each brake handle that cuts power to the motor even if a handle is moved just a little bit. Surprised me a couple of times until I figured that out. Thanks for all who posted a reply.