How do you like your Shred?

[cgreer00]

I have been researching e-bikes forever and it has been hard to settle on a bike. My budget is up to $3,000, but I like the idea of a throttle and a bike that I can ride anywhere I want to. The trails here aren't big and rocky, so I don't need to crawl up them. I looked strongly at mid-drives, but there is no throttle and the top speed is only 20 on most of them. So the Shred looks pretty compelling to me.

A couple of questions:

1) If you could start over, would you buy the Shred again?

2) What type of range are you getting out of the battery (either the standard one or the larger one)?

Thanks!

 

[Erev]

Hi cgreer00, I have had my Shred for a little more than a month. We just bought a 2nd one a few weeks ago for my partner. I have been impressed with the bike but I have only ridden a Volt Yukon to compare with. Actually I also liked the Yukon but just didn't see why I would need the fat tires and I liked the torque sensor on the Shred. I bought the bike from a shop located about 150km from me and at the time they were not aware of the battery monitor system glitch. Using the info on this forum I easily made the required modification. I still feel maybe my BMS and the battery are not that well synced on my bike, my partners seems better. Sam from Surface left me a message about that issue but I haven't followed up yet.
I can get 70km no problem on a charge, using mostly pedal assist 1, no throttle. I am hoping to get out soon on some logging roads with some grades to test it out, I will report back if that happens soon.

So would I buy it again? Honestly if I could start over I think I would try out a few more bikes to compare. However one issue bikes in this price range are almost all purchased online so unless you know someone with one how to you try it out? I need to bring it back to the dealer for a free tune up, my derailleur is out, but I think that is pretty normal on new bikes. I think the Shred does all I want it to do, the guys at surface 604 are very responsive so I am happy with them and the bike. I have the 14ah battery.

 

[cgreer00]

Thanks Erev. What size battery do you have?

I am also looking at mid-motor bikes by Easy Motion and Bulls...hardtail not full suspension. The only issue with those bikes is no throttle and only a 20 mph top speed.

Hi cgreer00, I have had my Shred for a little more than a month. We just bought a 2nd one a few weeks ago for my partner. I have been impressed with the bike but I have only ridden a Volt Yukon to compare with. Actually I also liked the Yukon but just didn't see why I would need the fat tires and I liked the torque sensor on the Shred. I bought the bike from a shop located about 150km from me and at the time they were not aware of the battery monitor system glitch. Using the info on this forum I easily made the required modification. I still feel maybe my BMS and the battery are not that well synced on my bike, my partners seems better. Sam from Surface left me a message about that issue but I haven't followed up yet.
I can get 70km no problem on a charge, using mostly pedal assist 1, no throttle. I am hoping to get out soon on some logging roads with some grades to test it out, I will report back if that happens soon.

So would I buy it again? Honestly if I could start over I think I would try out a few more bikes to compare. However one issue bikes in this price range are almost all purchased online so unless you know someone with one how to you try it out? I need to bring it back to the dealer for a free tune up, my derailleur is out, but I think that is pretty normal on new bikes. I think the Shred does all I want it to do, the guys at surface 604 are very responsive so I am happy with them and the bike.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Surface 604 Shred was on my shortlist. It was the only hub drive I considered. I love the idea of the throttle, but in the end I went mid drive for the weight balance.
As I live in Vancouver (604) I was extremely tempted. It really looks like a fantastic bike.
I ended up with a Giant Fathom E+ 2019.

 

[cgreer00]

Did you ride the Shred before purchasing the Giant?

Surface 604 Shred was on my shortlist. It was the only hub drive I considered. I love the idea of the throttle, but in the end I went mid drive for the weight balance.
As I live in Vancouver (604) I was extremely tempted. It really looks like a fantastic bike.
I ended up with a Giant Fathom E+ 2019.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Did you ride the Shred before purchasing the Giant?

Unfortunately no. I went to two stores and they were out of stock. I seriously wanted to try it!

 

[AltaShred]

Just got my Shred earlier in the week and today was the second ride and first chance to see how far the battery would go.
First some background. Wanted to get ebikes for me and my wife. We are both over 50 and not in the best of shape. We always enjoyed biking but have limited the amount we have gone due to some large hills into the valley in Calgary where we live. Not a lot of fun at the end of the ride trying to get back up from the river bottom. Calgary has great trails down there though. Especially the fish creek area.

After finally talking my wife into the concept, she was concerned that the bike were only for old people!, I looked around at the dealers in town as well as on line. There are a lot of high end available with mid drives. I felt the hub drive was simpler for us as we really only wanted some pedal assist for ride the paths. We ended up selecting the colt and the rook from 604. Our local deal is Power in Motion. Ken and his team were very good to deal with and answered all our questions. They even let my wife test drive the rook in the mall they are located in!. I was looking at buying the colt for myself but while we were discussing the bikes a customer came in with a shred to get some adjustments done. He had just purchased it the day before. I liked the look of it so went with the shred instead. I had to wait for a few days to get it as he didn't have stock on the large frame.

Took it out today and down into the valley. I got about 26 miles on it with 1 bar left. I think I could have got to 30 miles before the battery was out. I have the 10.4 Ah battery.The ride out of the valley really taxes the battery, it goes down 2 bars but then comes back up one if you let it rest. Through most of the ride I kept the bike at level 3 assist and that gives me around 15 mph. I have adjusted the max speed down to 20 mph from 28 and it seems that this lowers the RPM each assist level gets you to.

Bike worked very well, at times I wished it was a soft tail but will get use to that. Had no issues other than needing some minor adjustments in the gearing as well as lining the handle bar up with the front wheel properly. I found that I was in the highest gear most of the time and will look into changing the front gear to one with a higher tooth count.

I have ordered the 14 Ah battery to get a bit more range. All in all I am very happy with the bike and would purchase it again.

 

[DaveS]

I like mine, and would buy again. I have the 10.4 Ah battery and I usually get better than 35 miles on it. I am mostly in PAS 1 and sometimes I'll turn the motor off and pedal myself. Last time I took it out, I was up for a challenge and turned the motor off at the beginning of a big hill. I just wanted to see if I could pedal the bike up it in case my power system ever died and I needed to pedal myself home. It was hard, but do-able.

Anyway back to your questions, every time I hop on it to go for a ride, I find myself marveling at the performance and the precision of it. I have taken a lot of time to tune it up perfectly and it is really a pleasure to ride. Also, make sure you check every screw and bolt for the correct tightness. Just as an example, I noticed a squeaking noise about a month ago. Mostly whenever I would go over a bump. It sounded like it was coming from the back wheel. I put up with it for a little while, but it kept getting worse, so I began trouble shooting. I cleaned and oiled every moving part back there, and nothing seemed to fix it. Do you know what it eventually was? I thought it might be a loose spoke, so I checked them all, but as I was checking them I noticed the reflectors were a little askew. The screws holding them on were loose and under a bouncing load, the reflectors would creak and moan and move around a bit. Well after tightening them up it's whisper quiet again. Great bike.

 

[Wolfeman]

I have my Shred for a couple of weeks now and have a total of 140 miles on it. I bought a Rook at the same time for my wife. I like both of them, but really like the Shred for me. It looks good, it’s well built and just feels solid. I did a lot of research before buying as these were our first ebikes. I seriously looked at the Magnum and Rad bikes as they were in the same relative price range. I decided on the Surface604 bikes based upon reviews and features. I ordered online and bought with the 10.4a batteries. Assembly was straight forward with only minor tuning to the indexing and limits required. I did swap the location of the throttle and remote for the controller to make sure the throttle works as described. Like DaveS, I’ll get 30-45 miles on a charge depending upon terrain and PAS level. I’m fine with the 10.4 ah battery because I usually don’t do long distances at one time and there is no range anxiety because I know I can always pedal home. I really like the adjustable neck and automatic light. The SRAM shifting system is real positive. The motor is quiet, responsive and plenty powerful. I can really lean into a corner without scraping pedals which is a great feeling. I added a mirror and tail light for safety. I’m happy with Surface604- the bikes are well engineered and they have been responsive with questions and the couple of problems that I’ve had.