LaFree Ebike

[Readytoride]

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!

If you don't mind me asking, what kept you off your bike?

I have stopped using my Giant app altogether. It is too buggy, will drop periodically with no notification unless I have it up front on my phone, and sometimes pretends for a minute or two that it doesn't "see" my bike to connect with it when I start the app. Plus I was very disappointed that the update didn't include any odometer for total mileage. That is a real shortcoming of the app since Ride Control 1 is nothing but LED lights, and you have to bring the bike into the LBS for them to use their diagnostic dongle to pull the total mileage off the internal software.

I now use the app only at the end of my ride to see the remaining battery percentage.

I use both RideWithGPS and MapMyRide for total miles.

 

[Marci jo]

@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.

View attachment 54846
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.
View attachment 54850

The bottle holder can securely and easily carry a bottle up to 1 liter in size (see below for example).
View attachment 54851

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
View attachment 54852

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
View attachment 54853

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.

Liking those pink bags. Never thought to look at horse supplies. Might hafta get a set for my pimped-out-in-pink Vado.

 

[PatriciaK]

If you don't mind me asking, what kept you off your bike?

I have stopped using my Giant app altogether. It is too buggy, will drop periodically with no notification unless I have it up front on my phone, and sometimes pretends for a minute or two that it doesn't "see" my bike to connect with it when I start the app. Plus I was very disappointed that the update didn't include any odometer for total mileage. That is a real shortcoming of the app since Ride Control 1 is nothing but LED lights, and you have to bring the bike into the LBS for them to use their diagnostic dongle to pull the total mileage off the internal software.

I now use the app only at the end of my ride to see the remaining battery percentage.

I use both RideWithGPS and MapMyRide for total miles.

I wasn't riding because I was stuck on the east coast for Covid after our normal family visits, and don't have a bike in that location.

 

[PatriciaK]

I

If you don't mind me asking, what kept you off your bike?

I have stopped using my Giant app altogether. It is too buggy, will drop periodically with no notification unless I have it up front on my phone, and sometimes pretends for a minute or two that it doesn't "see" my bike to connect with it when I start the app. Plus I was very disappointed that the update didn't include any odometer for total mileage. That is a real shortcoming of the app since Ride Control 1 is nothing but LED lights, and you have to bring the bike into the LBS for them to use their diagnostic dongle to pull the total mileage off the internal software.

I now use the app only at the end of my ride to see the remaining battery percentage.

I use both RideWithGPS and MapMyRide for total miles.

I need the app to do the firmware update...

 

[PatriciaK]

Asking this here because I haven't seen La Free mentioned specifically in the problems with the recent Giant software/firmware updates threads.

Is anyone else having difficulty installing the update?

If you have installed it, have you noticed any change in auto assist mode?

Going to call my LBS today, because mine won't update, and if there are any specific questions I need to ask or further issues to bring up, I'd like to be aware.

Thanks!

 

[Readytoride]

Mine updated automatically 2 months ago, over the internet through the app. I went to ride the bike one morning, and the app announced that it was updating with new software. So I wandered off looking for something else to do for the next 10 minutes, and when I came back the software had been updated and everything was ready to roll The only difference I saw was that the Ride Control didn't start at Eco assist level when the bike is just turned on. It now starts in Auto Assist.

I think taking your bike to the LBS is a very good idea. Shouldn't take them more than a few minutes to update your bike.

 

[CSH]

Asking this here because I haven't seen La Free mentioned specifically in the problems with the recent Giant software/firmware updates threads.

Is anyone else having difficulty installing the update?

If you have installed it, have you noticed any change in auto assist mode?

Going to call my LBS today, because mine won't update, and if there are any specific questions I need to ask or further issues to bring up, I'd like to be aware.

Thanks!

Im in the same boat.
I tried several times, each time it said it "Connected" and "Pairing", but would not go to the Screen that shows Battery %, nor any other screen. So I tried again, and it eventually said I need to go to the LBS for the update.
Going today.........

Craig

 

[PatriciaK]

My app, when paired with the bike, says it's updating, but then bombs out. Yes, next step is LBS for me

Craig, let us know what your shop says, please!

 

[Yarra]

Anyone fitted 10-speed to a Lafree? I have an XT 10speed shifter and it’s partner derailleur, I am confident a cassette will fit onto the unnamed hub, but would like your help to be sure a 10speed chain is not too narrow for the chainring.

 

[Oldandslowrider]

My Wife & I (both in our mid 60's) have LaFree E+1. We live where there are plenty of Moderate Hills. At our age, and fitness level, those hills are a real burn out on a Conventional bike !
The kind of thing that makes you NOT want to ride again.

That being said, it is the reason we got Ebikes........... The LaFree E+1 climes those same hills so Very Well I never break a sweat.
Mind you, you do have to peddle, and that in itself is a bit of Cardio (and that's a Good thing) but you will feel a little workout.

Yet you can dial in the amount of effort you wish to physically put in.
The Trick is getting familiar with your Gears & Assistance Levels.

Now, I have been a Big Fan of the AUTO MODE from day one, (some people were naysayers about Auto, but I have begun to see a big turn around on that topic). Auto Mode Is SMART, it senses the Slope of the Hill, Your Torque, & Cadence, making it so easy to clime. All you need to do is be smart about which Gear (1 thru 8) is appropriate for the Hill.

Ok, there's my
View attachment 49782 Worth.....................................

Craig

I have a question about my new E+1 bike as I am new to this hub gears, belt drive and electric bike assist. I put the bike in the automode and 5th gear and went up a moderate hill. i figure I could do some work and also get some assist. I could feel and hear a clicking sound and the pedal lurched forward slightly. This happened repeatedly. I called the bike shop where I bought it and they said to bring it in but it's a bit of a drive. I read some forums that said it could need cable adjustment or gears were not aligned or hub gears cannot have an excessive amount of torque applied to them. I experimented and it does not seem to happen when I go up the hill in a lower gear (3). Have other people experienced this and do you have any advice. Thanks.

 

[PatriciaK]

I have a question about my new E+1 bike as I am new to this hub gears, belt drive and electric bike assist. I put the bike in the automode and 5th gear and went up a moderate hill. i figure I could do some work and also get some assist. I could feel and hear a clicking sound and the pedal lurched forward slightly. This happened repeatedly. I called the bike shop where I bought it and they said to bring it in but it's a bit of a drive. I read some forums that said it could need cable adjustment or gears were not aligned or hub gears cannot have an excessive amount of torque applied to them. I experimented and it does not seem to happen when I go up the hill in a lower gear (3). Have other people experienced this and do you have any advice. Thanks.

The La Free is a mid-drive, not a hub drive bike . It does sound like something is out of adjustment... So even though it's a drive, I'd take it back to the dealer and have looked at.

 

[Oldandslowrider]

The La Free is a mid-drive, not a hub drive bike . It does sound like something is out of adjustment... So even though it's a drive, I'd take it back to the dealer and have looked at.

Good advice, I will take it in and have them take a look. Hope they don't give me the "they all do that" line.

 

[PatriciaK]

Good advice, I will take it in and have them take a look. Hope they don't give me the "they all do that" line.

Don't accept that - they do NOT!

 

[PatriciaK]

OK I "fixed" the Ride Control issue for now. I went here:

RideControl update version history for Android - APK Download

Download RideControl old versions Android APK or update to RideControl latest version. Review RideControl release date, changelog and more.

apkpure.com

and downloaded an earlier version of the app (4.1.2). Details of process posted under Known Issues thread, but it worked like a charm! I've got the older version installed and paired to my bike, and all is good once again!

Guy at the LBS in town said the bike has to go to the main store an hour away to be updated, and I'll do that, but it's not critical any more since the older version of the app works just great ☺.

 

[PatriciaK]

OK I "fixed" the Ride Control issue for now. I went here:

RideControl update version history for Android - APK Download

Download RideControl old versions Android APK or update to RideControl latest version. Review RideControl release date, changelog and more.

apkpure.com

and downloaded an earlier version of the app (4.1.2). Details of process posted under Known Issues thread, but it worked like a charm! I've got the older version installed and paired to my bike, and all is good once again!

Guy at the LBS in town said the bike has to go to the main store an hour away to be updated, and I'll do that, but it's not critical any more since the older version of the app works just great ☺.

To be clear, this worked for me because the latest version of the app was unsuccessful in updating the bike. I'm not sure what would happen if the bike had updated and I was unhappy with the new settings.

My situation was, with the latest version of the app, I could no longer use it until the bike updated, so I got a previous version of the app that works with the non-updated bike.

Does that make sense ?

 

[CSH]

I have a question about my new E+1 bike as I am new to this hub gears, belt drive and electric bike assist. I put the bike in the automode and 5th gear and went up a moderate hill. i figure I could do some work and also get some assist. I could feel and hear a clicking sound and the pedal lurched forward slightly. This happened repeatedly. I called the bike shop where I bought it and they said to bring it in but it's a bit of a drive. I read some forums that said it could need cable adjustment or gears were not aligned or hub gears cannot have an excessive amount of torque applied to them. I experimented and it does not seem to happen when I go up the hill in a lower gear (3). Have other people experienced this and do you have any advice. Thanks.

Most Likely your Gear Shift Cable is Too Long or Too Short, if so, super simple fix.

This is the Secret Sauce Right HERE

You'll want to know how to do this anyway, as you may need to make this adjustment from time to time, as cables stretch.
The Video I have attached below should help.

Let us know if this works......
Craig

 

[Readytoride]

@CSH

Thank you so much for posting this. That was an interesting video. Went out to the garage to check my yellow "line" on my hub against the yellow "dot". Bingo. Perfect alignment. Then again, my bike was in for its 1 year checkup a few weeks back, and had the complete 4 star spa treatment package from my wonderful LBS mechanic. Still, it is nice to see that the treatment included making sure my yellow yellow line + dot had perfect alignment.

This video really should be a sticky at the top of the Forum so the people that are new to internally geared hubs can watch it, and learn.

 

[Yarra]

Suspension fork?
Just wondering - is it feasible to replace the front forks with suspension forks?

 

[Black47]

LaFree at 3 months

I bought my LaFree E+ 2 on May 16th and since then have ridden it most every day. After a couple of weeks of mentally trying to keep track of how many miles I was riding, I decided to take my bike computer off my non electric bike and put it on the LaFree. At the time I had calculated that I had ridden about 42 miles, since then I’ve put on an additional 212.9 miles, or about 85 miles a month. I know a lot of you ride a lot more, but it surprised me how much I was riding. In one month I biked more than I had in the last year and a half on my non-electric bike and my knees haven’t complained once and I’ve dropped about 5-10 pounds.

Most days I just ride to the Local Community radio station I ‘work’ at, which is about three miles round trip. Riding a bike saves me half a mile over a car due to dead ends and one way streets. The big selling point for me was the auto mode which I used mostly the first couple of weeks, but then a couple of times I just left it on the PAS 1 level and found it relaxing, plus there is one section of my ride where I go on a sidewalk that quite often has homeless around waiting for services and the low assist level is better in that situation. On a couple of occasions I’ve biked without any assist which is quite doable on this ebike. Lately I’ve been using PAS1 and when I need to speed up to make a light or go uphill I switch to auto.

I see a lot of Rad Power ebikes going by my house, especially since the pandemic hit. A couple of times I’ve seen people pushing them. I suspect because they lost power and as heavy as they are, they are probably not easy to peddle without power. Which makes me happy that I choose the LaFree because I know I can peddle it easily without power.

I’ve been contemplating biking to my daughter’s house about 30 miles away but I haven’t found a good route yet. The ones that I’ve tried seem very unsafe in places, and with large potholes in the bike lane on some routes. I think I need to join the local bicycle club to get some help figuring out how to do it and get some longer riding in.

I’ve had two problems since I got the bike, both were my fault. The first was I was trying to make a light and instead of upping the assist level, I switched to a higher gear like I would on a non-electric bike. When I still missed the light I rapidly downshifted. When the light changed the chain came off and got locked. I had to walk the bike home. I took off the guard but still couldn’t get the chain free, so I ended up taking it to the bike shop I bought it at about an hour away. It took them about 15-20 minutes to fix at no charge. There is a Giant dealer in town just a couple of blocks from the radio station, but they had a fire in April and haven’t reopened. Hopefully they will reopen again. Shortly after my first problem I had run an errand and on the way back I decided to take a short cut over a grassy area in a park. It was very bumpy and it switched to auto from PAS1 for some reason and it didn’t seem to be giving me much power. When I got home I realized that my pannier had come loose and knocked the sensor on one of the spokes sideways. Once I put it back in position it was fine.

I love riding this bike, I can just cruise around, or if I need to go fast I can. I can tell that my legs have gotten stronger. When I first got my bike and used the auto mode I could feel the power, now when I use it, I feel like I’m on a rocket on flat ground trying to make a light. Since my wife and I were sharing a vehicle before, now I don’t have to worry about keeping her from doing her errands and I can go when I need to. I would like to especially thank PatriciaK and browneye for their thoughtful comments and advice in helping me decide what ebike to get. I would also like to thank ElectricBikeReview for providing all the reviews and the forums that helped me get educated on ebikes. Biking is fun again!

 

[PatriciaK]

LaFree at 3 months

I bought my LaFree E+ 2 on May 16th and since then have ridden it most every day. After a couple of weeks of mentally trying to keep track of how many miles I was riding, I decided to take my bike computer off my non electric bike and put it on the LaFree. At the time I had calculated that I had ridden about 42 miles, since then I’ve put on an additional 212.9 miles, or about 85 miles a month. I know a lot of you ride a lot more, but it surprised me how much I was riding. In one month I biked more than I had in the last year and a half on my non-electric bike and my knees haven’t complained once and I’ve dropped about 5-10 pounds.

Most days I just ride to the Local Community radio station I ‘work’ at, which is about three miles round trip. Riding a bike saves me half a mile over a car due to dead ends and one way streets. The big selling point for me was the auto mode which I used mostly the first couple of weeks, but then a couple of times I just left it on the PAS 1 level and found it relaxing, plus there is one section of my ride where I go on a sidewalk that quite often has homeless around waiting for services and the low assist level is better in that situation. On a couple of occasions I’ve biked without any assist which is quite doable on this ebike. Lately I’ve been using PAS1 and when I need to speed up to make a light or go uphill I switch to auto.

I see a lot of Rad Power ebikes going by my house, especially since the pandemic hit. A couple of times I’ve seen people pushing them. I suspect because they lost power and as heavy as they are, they are probably not easy to peddle without power. Which makes me happy that I choose the LaFree because I know I can peddle it easily without power.

I’ve been contemplating biking to my daughter’s house about 30 miles away but I haven’t found a good route yet. The ones that I’ve tried seem very unsafe in places, and with large potholes in the bike lane on some routes. I think I need to join the local bicycle club to get some help figuring out how to do it and get some longer riding in.

I’ve had two problems since I got the bike, both were my fault. The first was I was trying to make a light and instead of upping the assist level, I switched to a higher gear like I would on a non-electric bike. When I still missed the light I rapidly downshifted. When the light changed the chain came off and got locked. I had to walk the bike home. I took off the guard but still couldn’t get the chain free, so I ended up taking it to the bike shop I bought it at about an hour away. It took them about 15-20 minutes to fix at no charge. There is a Giant dealer in town just a couple of blocks from the radio station, but they had a fire in April and haven’t reopened. Hopefully they will reopen again. Shortly after my first problem I had run an errand and on the way back I decided to take a short cut over a grassy area in a park. It was very bumpy and it switched to auto from PAS1 for some reason and it didn’t seem to be giving me much power. When I got home I realized that my pannier had come loose and knocked the sensor on one of the spokes sideways. Once I put it back in position it was fine.

I love riding this bike, I can just cruise around, or if I need to go fast I can. I can tell that my legs have gotten stronger. When I first got my bike and used the auto mode I could feel the power, now when I use it, I feel like I’m on a rocket on flat ground trying to make a light. Since my wife and I were sharing a vehicle before, now I don’t have to worry about keeping her from doing her errands and I can go when I need to. I would like to especially thank PatriciaK and browneye for their thoughtful comments and advice in helping me decide what ebike to get. I would also like to thank ElectricBikeReview for providing all the reviews and the forums that helped me get educated on ebikes. Biking is fun again!

I'm so happy you love your bike!

I knocked my sensor sideways the other day too - probably while it was in the car with my husband's bike .