Well, I went down to San Francisco and test rode a couple of e-bikes. I did purchase one, the
BH Easy Motion Neo City bike. While it was not on the list of bikes I was looking at, once I test rode a few different bikes, and that is the one I liked the best.
The folks at New Wheel were great to deal with. Karen went with me to test ride their bikes. She picked a couple of streets to ride that let me see how they did going up some pretty steep hills and on some flatter roads. She did a great job coaching me on riding an E-bike, I kept wanting to power up the hills, but she would have me down shift and let the bike do more of the work. She rode a different bike so we could swap out and I could compare the two. I rode the Kalkhoff Agattu, the
BH Neo Jet and the BH Neo City.
The Agattu was a really nice bike, it had lots of torque, was easy to shift both at a standstill, due to the internal gear hub, and while climbing, due the motor shift cutout. If I lived somewhere as hilly as San Francisco, that is probably the one I would have gotten.
Next I rode the BH Neo Jet. It had less torque than the Agattu, but I could still ride up the hills there, I just had to pedal a little harder. It also felt a little faster on the flats, but maybe that was just my impression of it.
Finally I rode the BH Neo City. I liked the more upright posture while riding compared to the Neo Jet. . I could see that it would put less pressure on my hands, which should help with the tingling problem I have with my hands. It had plenty of power, like the Neo Jet, and was ready to go for commuting with fenders, lights, and a rear rack. The fact that is was around $900.00 less than the Agattu was nice as well.
After that I went to a different bike shop and tried the
Pedego City Commuter. It had a fairly decent upright posture, and plenty of power, and like the Neo City, it was ready to go for commuting. However, even though the specs say that it weighs almost the same as the Neo City, it felt heavier to me. I think the biggest thing I didn’t like was the Pedelec sensor type of assist. It just didn’t feel as smooth as the torque sensing type of bike. With the torque sensor, the harder you push, the more it assists, so it feels very natural. With the pedelec sensor, as soon as you turn the crank a little bit, the motor kicks in and it pushes you forward. It just didn’t feel very normal to me; it kind of felt like you got a big push from behind. I imagine over time you would get used to it, but I preferred the torque sensor more.
So I called New Wheel up and let them know that I wanted to get the Neo City bike, and they pulled a new one from their storage, and got it all set up for me to pick up. They were great to work with; they spent plenty of time with me to make sure I got the right bike for me. I highly recommend them.
