Limited Edition Aurora

[MechaNut]

This popped up on YouTube. Looks like the wheels and tires are 27.5 x 3.0 inch instead of 26 x 3.0. That will make it easier to find tubes and tires when it becomes necessary.

 

[MuttonChops]

Picked mine up today! Rides like a dream, very smooth.
Only have about 12 miles on it so very much in the learning what to expect / how it all works mode.


My human power bike has a NuVinci 360 manual hub. This NuVinci 380 Auto (in manual mode) is a bit different in how in feels and sounds. Feels like it is shifting between higher gears and lower gears {not a smooth change but a jerk like a deraileur}, seems to have a big jump between high & low - - - like it is missing the middle range - - - could be me or that it's new or worse case it needs calibration. Will leave it be for now until it has more miles (both on the hardware and myself). As for sound; it clicks while coasting . . . the 360 manual is dead quiet. Personally I would have liked a manual (cable) control but am sure I'll adjust to the electric one. Do hope it is as bulletproof.

Darn thing does weight a ton! Real effort to lift into bed of Pick-up Truck. Riding in Zero Power Mode (motor off) is OK downhill. On flats and slight uphills can really feel the overall weight and drag of spinning the motor with human power. Most of my 12 miles was in power assist 1 or 2. Did use 5 to climb the last killer hill to my house, climbed the hill at about 5-6 MPH shifting between lowest and mid-range gear ratios. With my human power bike I walk up this hill . . . while my Segway will take it at 6 or 9 or 12 MPH . . . it does not care even with 6+ year old batteries and it weights 30+ pounds more.

 

[smorgasbord]

Looks like the wheels and tires are 27.5 x 3.0 inch instead of 26 x 3.0.

No, they ARE 26 x 3.0, as marked "26 x 3.0 76 - 559"

 

[smorgasbord]

The tires that come with the bike are suitable for smooth pavement only. They have just enough tread to deal with water on asphalt.

Any ideas for 26 x 3" (or just under) tires for off-road use? I was thinking the Maxxis DHF, which comes in a 26 x 2.8 (71-559) size.

 

[smorgasbord]

This NuVinci 380 Auto (in manual mode) is a bit different in how in feels and sounds. Feels like it is shifting between higher gears and lower gears {not a smooth change but a jerk like a deraileur}, seems to have a big jump between high & low - - - like it is missing the middle range - - - could be me or that it's new or worse case it needs calibration. Will leave it be for now until it has more miles (both on the hardware and myself). As for sound; it clicks while coasting . . . the 360 manual is dead quiet.

Shifting is butter smooth on mine, with no big jumps. On Evelo's site they have the NuVinci manuals - download them and follow the calibration procedure, which seemed pretty easy. I wouldn't wait on this if I were you.

Mine does click when coasting, but it's very faint - more faint than the clicking of my Campy drivetrain/Mavic rear wheel analog bike.

 

[MuttonChops]

On Second Day of ownership did about 22 miles. No change in how the NuVinic felt; wrong compared to my human power bike. So at 35 total riding miles did the Harmony calibration. That did the trick! N380 is "shifting" smooth and quiet just like my N360 cable. Rides much better with finer gear selection control (manual mode).

 

[MuttonChops]

On Third Day of ownership (after the Harmony calibration) was discussing E-Bikes with a passer-by and he noticed/commented the Belt Drive was nearly touching the tire. At first I thought maybe switching to 2, 2+ inch tires should be considered . . . however after investigating on my return to home found the Rear Wheel was Out-Of-Alignment ! So at 39 total miles I've got to correct a manufacturing error. { needed a wrench extension to free the axle nuts so believe this was as shipped from factory }

Won't say I am disappointed with Evelo about this BUT am very surprised! Not only does Evelo claim high quality my bike was assembled and tested by Evelo . . . at the Seattle Sales & Service Office . . . and they missed this AND the Harmony being out-of-calibration. Several years ago I purchased my human power NuVinic (about 1/3 $$ of our limited edition e-bike) from REI with REI assembly and it was 100% correct from day one. Also my Segway ( only slightly more $$ than limited edition) with Dealer assembly ( dealer not the main office! ) was 100% correct . . . and has remained so for over 12,000 miles . . .

So yes, very surprised that Evelo has production line quality issues and less than expected assembly / test ride services.

All that said; With the rear wheel aligned and Harmony calibrated today's short ride (after adjusting the rear wheel) was the Quietest / Smoothest yet! 98% of the off noises I've been hearing (and sometimes feeling) seem to be gone, while I only did ~7 miles could feel & hear the difference in performance.

If you have not done so, do check all the Factory Completed assembly on your new toy.

 

[@AubergeSanDiego]

Mine arrived late yesterday and I assembled it this morning in about 2 hours. Probably could have assembled it quicker, but took lots of pictures in case I need to repackage and return the bike later. Trust me, it’s worth taking a few extra minutes to do this. I ordered the Aurora Fully Loaded a few months ago, paid for “professional” assembly, and ended up returning it. Not having unpacked the bike myself, I kinda had to guess how to wrap it all up the same way to ship it back.

So the Limited Edition (LE) arrived in the same type of cardboard box as the Fully Loaded (FL) did. It’s similar to what a flat screen TV comes in, minus the styrofoam protection. My box showed signs of a stressful ride from Taiwan to Seattle to San Diego, with tears and punctures. The casualty appears to be the rim of the front tire, which got scratched up. Everything else seems to have made the journey OK.

The LE has the same rock hard seat as the FL did. I immediately swapped it out for a Cloud 9. I took the LE out for a 3 mile test ride and bedded in the brakes as suggested. My initial impressions are: ride seems a bit smoother than the FL with the fatter tires, ride is quieter with the belt drive, and I like the ergonomic hand grips better than the FL’s grips. The one downside is the battery charge indicator is a 0-5 bar graphic display rather than the LE display’s exact percentage, but I can live with that.

I will take another ride later and try some of the steep hills in the area. I will post again if I notice any significant difference from the FL.

 

[smorgasbord]

found the Rear Wheel was Out-Of-Alignment !

Clearance of belt to tire is indeed tight. But, what I'd first check is that the wheel is centered within the bike frame.

needed a wrench extension to free the axle nuts so believe this was as shipped from factory

Note that the Aurora Limited has three 5mm hex bolts on each side which can be used to adjust the Gates belt tension as well as angle of wheel within the frame (needed to be sure the belt tracks properly). This adjustment can be made without loosening the 15mm axle nuts. There are two on each side that lock it in place, and one on each side with a locking nut that directly locates the axle fore and aft.

There are a number of things to check when making these adjustments. It's not just wheel within frame and creating as much space as possible between belt and tire, it's alignment of belt to the cogs and alignment of the brake disk within the calipers. I'm not saying you did it wrong, just wanted to be sure everyone who attempts this checks everything out.

 

[MuttonChops]

Clearance of belt to tire is indeed tight. But, what I'd first check is that the wheel is centered within the bike frame.

Good point. A quick check just now (using frame supports to rear hub as reference) suggests the tire is with 2mm of centerline. I will need to look at it in more detail. I did not adjust any of the 3-per-side Belt tension screws. Just acted like I was changing a flat and left the belt as set from factory.

Will review it again . . . might contact Evelo to see if a service appointment should be done to be sure all is OK.
I'm not ready to take on adjusting 6-screws - - - - too many dimensions at play

Do know bike rides even smoothier than as picked-up and there is no belt rubbing + belt distance to tire is very nearly equal for top & bottom . . . again a 1-2 mm delta. (from memory will revisit).

 

[smorgasbord]

I'm not ready to take on adjusting 6-screws - - - - too many dimensions at play

It's just fore and aft position on each side of the axle. Here's a pix of the left-hand side:

The blue screws hold it in place. Loosen those a turn or two. Then the red screw has a locknut - loosen that a few turns. Now you can turn the red screw in to move the axle back, turn the red screw out to move the axle fore. If you loosen the red screw to move the wheel forward, kind of push the wheel that way to be sure it's pressing against the red screw. Tighten the locknut, then tighten the blue screws to hold it in place.

What you did with the 15mm main axle nut should be fine as long as the axle itself is fully seated in the drop-out. If you re-do that again with the "fully seated" criteria and then the wheel isn't right but your belt tension is good, then I'd adjust only the left side (shown above) since the belt is on the right side.

For my bike, the belt was too loose, but the tire was centered just fine in the frame. So I moved both sides towards the back to increase the belt tension. Worked great.

 

[MechaNut]

My Limited Edition Aurora arrived on Thursday. The box and the bike within were in perfect condition when they arrived. Here are my general observations about the "out of box experience".

- The major brand components (fork and brakes most notably) arrived with their own manuals. Big plus in my book.
- The only additional tools that I would recommend for the final assembly are a nice pair of wire cutters (to avoid scratching the paint when removing the packing material/zip ties), some nitrile gloves, and some bicycle grease to lube the pedal threads.
- Assembly was quick and easy as I followed the instructions as shown in the assembly video. I encountered no issues during the assembly.

So far I have one criticism. I found the headlight to be inadequate for night time riding at speed. It might be fine in an urban environment with lots of street lights, but I live on the edge of the burbs/country and street lights are pretty much just at intersections. The light is better than nothing, but not really bright enough. I have found the bike to be otherwise very comfortable and very quiet. I would like to upgrade the integrated light to something more suitable for night riding in my area but I'm not having much luck so far.

 

[MuttonChops]

It's just fore and aft position on each side of the axle. Here's a pix of the left-hand side:
- deleted -
The blue screws hold it in place. Loosen those a turn or two. Then the red screw has a locknut - loosen that a few turns. Now you can turn the red screw in to move the axle back, turn the red screw out to move the axle fore. If you loosen the red screw to move the wheel forward, kind of push the wheel that way to be sure it's pressing against the red screw. Tighten the locknut, then tighten the blue screws to hold it in place.

Redid the rear wheel alignment today; loosened all six screws and axle nuts to do a clean sheet redo. {My early attempt without touching six screws had issues - - - axle was not correctly seated in the belt side drop-out}

All looks correct now, runs smooth, belt -2-tire clearance looks good, belt tension good, and the adjustment screws (red) have more of an even number of threads showing . . . which was not the case as delivered.

 

[MuttonChops]

New Issue at 50 Miles Usage [edited 10/08/19]

H8 C800 Display / Controller.

[1] Powers-Off by itself. Has happened several times while standing still and when moving (not a fun event).

[2] Speed-o and Odometer has stopped working. All other H8 C800 functions seem to be OK. And I did confirm sensor was still in position and did some different "cold starts" by removing battery. disconnecting LCD Display. No change.

Have submitted to Service Request on the web-site.

 

[smorgasbord]

Powers-Off by itself. Has happened several times while standing still and when moving (not a fun event).

Speed-o and Odometer has stopped working. All other H8 functions seem to be OK.

The wheel sensor not working would affect speedometer and odometer, but not the random powering off, unless it was some kind of timer thing where the bike thought nothing was happening and shut down to conserve battery. Might be worth trying to time the period between shutdowns.

I know you've probably checked all the connectors, but have you tried simply moving wires around, especially those 2 going into the back of the display? You might have a flaky connection that is position dependent, so handlebars turning might affect it, for instance.

(BTW, Evelo told me the axle nuts should be about 45Nm tight. NuVinci says 40Nm, so pretty much in the same ballpark. I have no idea what the 5mm hex screws should be torqued to, but I have a 2" long stubby ratchet, which helps prevent me from over-tightening things).

 

[smorgasbord]

I didn't feel like my adjustments resulted in quite the right setup so I put the bike on a stand and dug in to see what was going on.

What I found was that there's a minor problem with how Evelo is building these bikes that makes adjusting the drop out for belt tension problematic. Luckily, it's pretty easily fixed.

First, here's a close-up of the left side drop-out, with the axle in place:

In that photo, the axle is all the way into the drop out, which is good, and ready for the axle locking piece and 15mm nut.

Here's the same view with the wheel removed:

The shiny black is the frame, the matte black is the adjustable drop-out piece. If you loosen the two screws, the adjustable piece should slide to the front or back. What I found was that these pieces don't slide well. What's going is a combination of the screws deforming the frame a bit, and also the paint creating an interference fit.

I ended up removing the drop out pieces completely and gently filing the oval opening so that the drop out piece can more easily slide:

Then I reinstalled the drop-out pieces, installed the wheel axle nuts, and then was able to adjust the belt tension and wheel centering within the frame.


My recommendation is that if you need to adjust the belt tension or wheel centering, that you first remove the wheel completely, then loosen the drop out 5mm hex bolts (blue arrows in earlier posts). Then see if the drop out piece will slide to the rear with hand pressure. If it won't then remove it completely and clean up the paint inside the oval until the pieces fit well and slide pretty easily. Then reassemble and adjust. BTW, the frame hanger appears to be steel while the movable drop-out piece seems to be aluminum.

What happened to me on the other side was that the drop-out piece didn't re-seat flush against the frame. I didn't do any real damage to the bike, but things just weren't lining up right. It's aligned much better now.

I had to adjust because my belt tension wasn't high enough and at very low speeds standing on the pedals to get going would make the belt skip a tooth at the rear. It's maybe too early to tell for sure, but it hasn't happened again since I tightened up the belt. I may invest in a real tension gauge.

 

[MuttonChops]

I didn't feel like my adjustments resulted in quite the right setup so I put the bike on a stand and dug in to see what was going on.
. . .
I had to adjust because my belt tension wasn't high enough and at very low speeds standing on the pedals to get going would make the belt skip a tooth at the rear. It's maybe too early to tell for sure, but it hasn't happened again since I tightened up the belt.

Have you shared your observations with Evelo ?

More folks need to notify Evelo of issues they have found & fixed so Evelo has a real world understanding of what needs more attention during manufacturing.

You may have found a design specification that needs adjustment before volume production begins.

= = = now for some rambling = = =

I knew there would be risks/issues purchasing the first production builds of a new design.
Normally I would have waited 9-12 months . . . but have been waiting for a mid-drive & NuVinci & frame mounted battery for soooo long.

Evelo subcontractor build/assembly factory also needs to step-up a bit IMHO.
My bike has had three (maybe four) factory assembly errors/defects . . . surprising at this product price point.

Mine is now at Evelo Service. Power Shutdown while moving cause has been found, poor assembly pinched a wire harness.
No question Evelo US staff is very commended to making things right.

 

[MuttonChops]

Now I've Got a Great E-Bike

Have 45 or so miles on the ALE since getting it back from Evelo service . . . they did a great job completing the repairs so I could take the bike on a camping trip . . .

Seems my bike build was just the bad-luck-of-the-draw. Then Evelo assembly was completed by someone not fully knowledgeable of what manufacturing defects to watch for and I as a new user was completely in the dark during the delivery test ride . . . . . .

All Issues have been resolved!
Items not is any special order.
1 ] Power Down while not moving. Undocumented Feature. C800 powers off if bike is not moving or control buttons are not used for X minutes.
2 ] Power Down while moving. Manufacturing error pinched the main power & speed-o cable. Vibration of riding caused open circuits.
Wire harness was replaced and correct assembly completed so not to pinch cable.
3 ] Tires not round. Innova 26x3 street tires replaced with Vee Tire Speedster 26x2.8 street tires.
Tech commented Innova has been having issues and are building new molds.
Think I got the Vee Tires just because they were available.
4 ] Rear Wheel and Gates Belt Alignment. All fixed and set-up correctly.
Did learn our bikes have a soft start feature when using throttle from dead stop so 750W motor does not mess up the rear wheel alignment.
Mtn Bike Delta's do not have this soft start and wheel alignment is an issue.
Before this service visit, belt was jumping cogs due to poor tension.
5 ] NuVinic Harmony calibration. I did that myself (earlier post) and have true full range CVT operation.

I have been lucky in being near the Seattle Service Center to resolve all these "new product, new production" issues.

Last 45 miles have been very enjoyable, quiet, smooth, and what I had hoped for in purchasing this model.

 

[AJ5258]

Well, there was a post in this forum on June 7 discussing the new bike: New Aurora 2019 Model . No solace, I know. I do have sympathy for manufacturers, as they need to avoid the Osborne Effect (summary: Osborne pre-announced a new computer and then sales of their existing computer tanked, contributing to them going bankrupt).

We got lucky - my wife ideally wanted a step-thru, and she has hand/thumb issues. She liked the expensive R&M Homage with the manual Nuvinci and Gates, but thankfully for my wallet, the lack of a throttle was literally a deal killer (to get going from a stand-still, not for constant riding). The Aurora Limited Edition appears to have all the features she was looking for:

• Step-Thru frame with upright riding position
• Torque-sensing Mid-drive WITH throttle
• Hydraulic brakes (although I am concerned that the disks are only 160mm, so that may mean a future upgrade)
• Easy on the thumbs shifter (The NuVinci Enviolo automatic is electrically driven, so very easy to twist)
• Enough battery for at least 40 miles with pedaling
• Suitable both for road and some light off-road trails

It still ain't cheap at $4K, but that has nicities like the Gates belt drive, the constant cadence automatic shifting of the Enviolo, and 750/1000 watts of power. It appears to tick all the right feature boxes.


Did you ever start a new thread about the Limited? I don’t see it. What are your thoughts about this bike?

 

[smorgasbord]

Did you ever start a new thread about the Limited? I don’t see it. What are your thoughts about this bike?

I did here.

I need to post my 100+ mile update. Hopefully I'll get to it tonight. I recommend waiting for it.