My New EVO City

[K. Jones]

You could also just use a couple of big conduit clamps on a regular bottle cage. Easy find in the electrical section of the hardware store.

 

[K. Jones]

Today the family and I went on a ride on the local bike trails. My odometer reported I'd gone 14.1 miles. When I plugged the route into Google, it said it was only 11 miles. So, apparently the odometer's not all that accurate. I mean, still a good estimate for actual mileage. But it's got a pretty big margin of error, there.

Not that it matters. Just something I noticed.

 

[PowerMe]

Did you check the tire measurement in your controller? Mine is set for 26", which is the size of my tires. The odometer on the controller matches fairly well to the RideWithGPS app I use on my smartphone.

 

[K. Jones]

Did you check the tire measurement in your controller? Mine is set for 26", which is the size of my tires. The odometer on the controller matches fairly well to the RideWithGPS app I use on my smartphone.

How do I do that? Mine are the larger wheels. But I don't know how to change that with the controller.

It actually does seem like the miles match what it would be with the wrong size wheels.

 

[K. Jones]

Never mind. I found this: http://www.emotionbikesusa.com/docs/EVO DISPLAY PANEL_REVIEW.pdf

So (I think) that problem's solved.

That means that any place here where I previously mentioned my speed or mileage was actually wrong. I'll have to reset my trip at my next recharge and figure out a new baseline.

 

[K. Jones]

Found a really, really lose spoke on the rear wheel yesterday. Tightened that up and some other less severely loose spokes. I had read that lose spokes were something rear hub ebikes were prone to. I'll have to keep an eye on it and invest in a good spoke wrench to do it properly in the future.

The wheel was also off center or something. It was wobbly with the tire rubbing intermittently on the frame and one of the brake calipers rubbing. Hubby fixed it. I'll have to have him show me how to do that myself so I don't have to rely on him.

It must have come on rather quickly as I took it into the bike shop a week and a half ago and they didn't notice it then. Or maybe the shop did not inspect the thing at it's tune-up as well as I might hope they would have. Not sure which. I didn't notice the noise until last weekend, so it was probably not the bike shop's fault. So, I'll have to keep an eye on that wheel and make sure it stays straight.

 

[J.R.]

That wheel has to be trued. Lose spokes, wobble, frame/brake rubbing means the wheel has to be trued on a wheel truing stand. There are special tools for wheel truing and since your bike is under warranty, it should be free of charge. Riding a bike with an out of true wheel can cause you to break spokes and the heavy hub will make the situation worse. Not trying to scare you, it's just something that should be attended to.

 

[Cameron Newland]

That wheel has to be trued. Lose spokes, wobble, frame/brake rubbing means the wheel has to be trued on a wheel truing stand. There are special tools for wheel truing and since your bike is under warranty, it should be free of charge. Riding a bike with an out of true wheel can cause you to break spokes and the heavy hub will make the situation worse. Not trying to scare you, it's just something that should be attended to.

I'm not certain, but I don't think that wheel truing is covered by any ebike company's warranty. All the warrantees I've seen seem to offer a few years for the frame and a year for the battery, and no coverage for components (wheels, derailleurs, chain, etc). It's just something that probably has to be done every 1,000 miles or so and the cost falls upon the bike owner. Any LBS will do it for $10-$25 per wheel. I've found that $15/wheel tends to work, even if the LBS has a posted price of $25/wheel. Bargaining a little can help.

 

[K. Jones]

Well, I know it needs to be straightened up somehow, but whatever hubby did will get me through the week. Probably does need to go to a bike shop after that, though. If nothing else, it's still making a loose spoke noise (but MUCH less than before).

What I wonder is if it were there when it was at the bike shop (or a result of something the bike shop did!) or if it were just something that happened over the normal course of riding it after it came home.

 

[J.R.]

@Cameron Newland thanks and I'm not sure either. I got the impression that the first tune-up was part of most warrantees and that should include the spokes/wheels. Either way it needs care...

@K. Jones likely just normal and caused by riding. Like Cameron said needs to be done periodically. I check mine often, but I'm lucky I can do it at home. I posted about a minor spoke problem here.

 

[K. Jones]

Rode 35 miles today on trails with the hubby and no kiddies. Went from a full charge down to 39%. I thought that was pretty good. (That's with the EVO City.)

 

[PowerMe]

That's fantastic range! How do you know you have exactly 39% left? Where does it tell you that? My console only shows the number of bars left.

 

[Pastabatman]

The PDF referenced by KJ above shows an image of the display with battery percentage to the right of the bars:

 

[K. Jones]

My display looks a little different than the one pictured above, but it does have the same battery indicator in the bottom left as shown. It read 39% and the trip odometer reports 35 miles.

I started the trip mostly unpowered with just using the throttle for the hills and to get across intersections quickly. About a third of the way through I started switching to the lowest pedal assist mode for some stretches, then back to mostly unpowered when the terrain was easy. Then, the last third I was exclusively on pedal assist, occassionally pushing it up to the second level of assist. A mile and a half at the end was done all at level 2 pedal assist and the last half mile was throttle-only, no pedaling just because I could. As you can guess, as my legs got more and more tired, I used the motor more and more.

 

[K. Jones]

One of the things I love about this bike is that it can be used unpowered very well, despite it's weight. I prefer, of course, to use it powered, but if I'm trying to extend the range or if I'm out of juice or if something goes wrong with the motor, I can easily use it unpowered just like a regular bike. Though, obviously, it's not going to be winning any races as an unpowered bike (it's too heavy) it's certainly good enough (with 24 speeds) to get me home without too much trouble.

 

[K. Jones]

Also, there's a review up for this bike now, if anyone's interested.

http://electricbikereview.com/easy-motion/evo-city/

 

[PowerMe]

I started the trip mostly unpowered with just using the throttle for the hills and to get across intersections quickly.

Aha! That's why you got 35mi with 39% left! So maybe 5 to 7 of those miles are using no assist. I haven't been able to ride the bike more than 1/2 mi at most without assist, unless I'm on a downward slope, then I do turn off all assist. I believe my total range (using a combo of assist modes, all the way up to Sport and occasionally Boost) is a maximum of about 30mi. at which point the battery turns off completely, with no flashing of that last bar to warn me.

I requested an upgrade of my display unit to this new one in March, and am circling back to @Crazy Lenny Ebikes to see if they ordered mine yet. My 2015 EVO Street came with the older display and I really do want this new one with its larger font & % of battery left estimate.

 

[K. Jones]

Usually I keep the assist at the first or second bar. I've never let it run all the way out of power yet, so I'm not sure of its absolute range using it that way.

When going on a long trip, I intentionally start out mostly unpowered just to make sure I have enough power for the whole trip. I'd rather use it mostly unpowered a bit at the beginning when I'm not tired yet than at the end when I really want that assist.

Although, at 35 miles to 39%, I could have used more assist just fine. I just wasn't sure how far hubby was going to take us that day.

 

[Undercover Brother]

After riding it awhile longer, I think it's not a problem with my torque sensor. It's a problem with my expectations and riding style. You use the gears a little different with an electric bike, I think, than a regular bike. And that's what was causing the issue. When I was moving pretty fast on a high gear, I was annoyed that I had to pedal pretty hard to get the motor to kick on and match my pedaling. But if I downshift, the motor will come on with less pedaling effort. So, it's a matter of just getting used to how it works.

So, upon further reflection, I don't think there's anything wrong with my torque sensor.

I would have a dealer look at your bike and ensure the torque sensor is properly adjusted. Having to work hard to engage the motor is a good indication that the torque sensor is possibly out of adjustment. The opposite condition of the bike running on when you stop pedaling for more than a second or two is the opposite condition and should be looked at as well.

True, getting used to riding ours or any ebike requires a bit of an adjustment in operation, though you I think you may want to have it looked at.

 

[K. Jones]

I went from a full charge to 10% over a week or two of light use and traveled 26 miles mostly at the second level of pedal assist. No significant unpowered time unless you count when I was just not pedaling down a hill.

Perhaps this is a more typical range for the bike than my conservative range-extending method of riding.