PatriciaK
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Pacific Northwest and Piedmont Triad
FABulous! You're going to love this bike - enjoy!
LaFree Ebike
- Thread starter Rox
- Start date
I certainly paid attention to your posts, thank you.
CSH
Active Member
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Yes, it followed you home so now you have to keep it!
I often think of my ebikes as favorite pets.
Congrats!
I test rode a seafoam green one and decided I preferred the blue without actually seeing one. The blue is beautiful. Just fairly short rides so far to get the feel of it and I love it. Actually prefer not having a display, just enjoying the ride.
PatriciaK
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Pacific Northwest and Piedmont Triad
I fooled around with assist levels for awhile but finally just set it on automatic - it's very intuitive, and one less thing for me to have to think about 
. Some folks like to manually adjust as they ride - this way turned out to fit better for me.
. Some folks like to manually adjust as they ride - this way turned out to fit better for me.
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PatriciaK
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Pacific Northwest and Piedmont Triad
There's a short Velcro strap that goes around the front bar of the rack, and 3 longer straps that go from one side of the bottom of the bag through the top rack bar, and through a loop on the other side of the bottom of the bag. There is just enough room for the battery - I took it out to attach the bag, then put it back in. I never take the bag off the bike, and it's a nice, secure fit.
It's this bag, from Amazon, which was recommended by Tara, another La Free owner here:
Amazon.com : Allnice Bike Trunk Bag 11L Bicycle Panniers Pack Cycling Luggage Accessories Water Resistant Rear Seat Pannier Bag Shoulder Handbag Bag Pannier Black : Sports & Outdoors
Amazon.com : Allnice Bike Trunk Bag 11L Bicycle Panniers Pack Cycling Luggage Accessories Water Resistant Rear Seat Pannier Bag Shoulder Handbag Bag Pannier Black : Sports & Outdoors
www.amazon.com
It's just right - I'm very happy with it.
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Now that I've been riding for three weeks, I usually just leave it in PAS 1 as most of my riding is on city streets that are mostly flat. When I do need extra I just press the minus button twice and have it go to auto. I find even for some smaller hills I don't really need to do anything other than PAS 1. The battery seems to last forever this way as I've only charged it once when I was using higher assist levels when I first got it and it still had three lights on. This is very encouraging as my next goal is to bike to my daughter's house which is just under 30 miles away. There are some hills at about the 5 to 10 mile mark but mostly it is flat country roads. This bike is fun and easy to use, I'm glad I finally switched to an ebike.I fooled around with assist levels for awhile but finally just set it on automatic - it's very intuitive, and one less thing for me to have to think about
Readytoride
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Virginia
@Black47
So glad to hear you are enjoying your LaFree. Mine (May 2019 LaFree E+1) already has over 2,000 miles on it.
I had it out for a 33 mile ride today (elevation changes of 2,500+ feet) in assists 3 and 5 for the entire way. (My knee demands, I comply) Came home with 10% of battery left, which meant I could have easily done 40-45 miles in middle to high assist in my rolling countryside before my battery was exhausted.
If you are planning more than just one ride to your daughter's house, like maybe once or twice a month, you might want to invest in a second battery. If this is just a one-off ride, as PatriciaK says: take your charger with you. Be prepared to visit for a few hours at least so you have a decent charge for going home, just in case you need the extra juice.
So glad to hear you are enjoying your LaFree. Mine (May 2019 LaFree E+1) already has over 2,000 miles on it.
I had it out for a 33 mile ride today (elevation changes of 2,500+ feet) in assists 3 and 5 for the entire way. (My knee demands, I comply) Came home with 10% of battery left, which meant I could have easily done 40-45 miles in middle to high assist in my rolling countryside before my battery was exhausted.
If you are planning more than just one ride to your daughter's house, like maybe once or twice a month, you might want to invest in a second battery. If this is just a one-off ride, as PatriciaK says: take your charger with you. Be prepared to visit for a few hours at least so you have a decent charge for going home, just in case you need the extra juice.
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CSH
Active Member
Hello !
What Bags do you have on the back of your LaFree ?
They look like what I am looking for.....
Do they interfere at all with the Battery ?
Craig
Readytoride
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Virginia
@CSH
They are Tough 1 saddle bags for horseback riding. $29. Amazingly enough they fit the LaFree perfectly (they also fit my Vado which has a pink set). Just toss them over the battery on the rack, and use double sided velcro to "strap" them to your bike frame via their sewn-in loops on the back and sides of each pocket. They have two really nice and deep insulated bottle holders that are easy to access while you are riding and hold up to a 1 liter bottle, and two outside "slip into" pockets to put stuff that you want to retrieve more often than once on your ride, rather than opening the zippered pockets all the time. The saddle pack also has adjustable straps - one on each side - that clips together on the same side, or can be crossed across the back of the battery to clip on the opposite side for any bigger item you want to carry, such as a heavy rain coat, a sleeping bag, etc.
The side bags are strong enough to carry a second battery. They aren't quite tall enough for the zipper to be closed, but I have a secondary cloth bag my battery is enclosed in, and that bag fits nice and snug in the pocket with the strap crossed over on top to keep the secondary battery securely held against the bike and in the pocket while riding.
I have five sets in various colors - pink, blue, purple, black, and red - I use the blue, black, and pink for the bikes, and the purple and red for the horses.
Here are two of the saddlebags on the bikes. The pink one on the Vado was modified slightly by folding over the part that goes across the rack and sewing that fold together so that the bags sit higher on the Vado. I did that because the Vado battery is in the downtube, and I'll be carrying the second battery in a cloth case strapped on top of the rack. It won't fit into the pockets because it is too long. The LaFree second battery sits in the saddle bag side pocket and just protrudes from the top of the pocket by a few inches.
The bottle holder can securely and easily carry a bottle up to 1 liter in size (see below for example).
I sewed two pieces of polyester webbing on the back of each pack for my clip on lights. There are tabs on the back of the bags, but they weren't quite big enough for my light clips
Profile from the front. The bags are very slim when empty, so the bike looks sleek and not like a donkey carrying a load whether it is or not
And best of all they're relatively inexpensive at $29 a set from horseloverz.com, and comes in tons of colors.
The Velcro I use is the One-Wrap Double Sided that fastens to itself. The bags don't interfere with the bike in any way, are super easy to take off, and have a waterproof coating on the inside so that things in the bags stay dry.
A very useful set of panniers that are fun, colorful, FIT like they were made for the bike, and super affordable.
They are Tough 1 saddle bags for horseback riding. $29. Amazingly enough they fit the LaFree perfectly (they also fit my Vado which has a pink set). Just toss them over the battery on the rack, and use double sided velcro to "strap" them to your bike frame via their sewn-in loops on the back and sides of each pocket. They have two really nice and deep insulated bottle holders that are easy to access while you are riding and hold up to a 1 liter bottle, and two outside "slip into" pockets to put stuff that you want to retrieve more often than once on your ride, rather than opening the zippered pockets all the time. The saddle pack also has adjustable straps - one on each side - that clips together on the same side, or can be crossed across the back of the battery to clip on the opposite side for any bigger item you want to carry, such as a heavy rain coat, a sleeping bag, etc.
The side bags are strong enough to carry a second battery. They aren't quite tall enough for the zipper to be closed, but I have a secondary cloth bag my battery is enclosed in, and that bag fits nice and snug in the pocket with the strap crossed over on top to keep the secondary battery securely held against the bike and in the pocket while riding.
I have five sets in various colors - pink, blue, purple, black, and red - I use the blue, black, and pink for the bikes, and the purple and red for the horses.
Here are two of the saddlebags on the bikes. The pink one on the Vado was modified slightly by folding over the part that goes across the rack and sewing that fold together so that the bags sit higher on the Vado. I did that because the Vado battery is in the downtube, and I'll be carrying the second battery in a cloth case strapped on top of the rack. It won't fit into the pockets because it is too long. The LaFree second battery sits in the saddle bag side pocket and just protrudes from the top of the pocket by a few inches.
The bottle holder can securely and easily carry a bottle up to 1 liter in size (see below for example).
I sewed two pieces of polyester webbing on the back of each pack for my clip on lights. There are tabs on the back of the bags, but they weren't quite big enough for my light clips
Profile from the front. The bags are very slim when empty, so the bike looks sleek and not like a donkey carrying a load whether it is or not
And best of all they're relatively inexpensive at $29 a set from horseloverz.com, and comes in tons of colors.
The Velcro I use is the One-Wrap Double Sided that fastens to itself. The bags don't interfere with the bike in any way, are super easy to take off, and have a waterproof coating on the inside so that things in the bags stay dry.
A very useful set of panniers that are fun, colorful, FIT like they were made for the bike, and super affordable.
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PatriciaK
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Pacific Northwest and Piedmont Triad
Back home on Whidbey and back on my bike! Had to squeeze my first ride in between rain showers, but that's ok because, after 4 months of nothing, I'm "butt limited" to about 8 miles (and that last one was painful!)
.The only issue was there was a firmware update to Ride Control while I was gone, and the update failed, so I couldn't use the app. Bike itself worked like a dream!
I'll check the thread about firmware update issues, troubleshoot a bit, and take it to my LBS next week if I can't figure it out.
Great to be back in the saddle!
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
At last! ❤
View attachment 55343
Back home on Whidbey and back on my bike! Had to squeeze my first ride in between rain showers, but that's ok because, after 4 months of nothing, I'm "butt limited" to about 8 miles (and that last one was painful!)
The only issue was there was a firmware update to Ride Control while I was gone, and the update failed, so I couldn't use the app. Bike itself worked like a dream!
I'll check the thread about firmware update issues, troubleshoot a bit, and take it to my LBS next week if I can't figure it out.
Great to be back in the saddle!
Interesting LaFree story:
About a month ago I was in my lbs looking to buy some bike stuff that I probably didn’t need.
So as I walk in, there is a couple, maybe in their 50s, and they were buying two LaFrees. How cool is that, matching his & hers ebikes!!
It would be great to see them on the the trail and have an “ebike chat”.
Readytoride
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Virginia
Neat!! It is fabulous that nowadays couples can ride together no matter what their levels of fitness using a quiet electric assist to ensure they can stay together. Electric bikes rule!
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