phoenixtoohot
Well-Known Member
Apparently these are brand new models from Espin. I rode them yesterday at a shop called PhatRide in Scottsdale. Very nice bikes for $1699 with 500 watt and integrated battery. Any owners out there?
New Espin Flow and Sport
- Thread starter phoenixtoohot
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phoenixtoohot
Well-Known Member
Today, my wife and I got to do and extended ride on the Espin Sport and Flow at a e-bike rental/sales shop in Scottsdale. We went there to make our final choice between the RadCity's and the Espin bikes. Wow, what a difference. The Espin's cost $200 more ($1,699 vs $1,499) ... but the quality and performance was noticeably better in every respect and especially in "look and feel" and ride quality and performance. (Nov 8 note, Espin recently raised the price to $1,799)
Spec wise, the Espin's have a 500 watt (700 peak) geared, hub motor which was noticeably quicker and better on the hills with 55 nm of torque vs 40 on the RadCity 500 watt (750 peak DD hub motor). Espin has a 48 volt 14 amp battery, dual piston hydraulic brakes, Acera 8 speed cassette with rapid fire trigger shifters, 5 levels assist and a thumb throttle, Kenda Komfort 27.5 x 1.95 tires. The Sport is class 3 and the Flow Class 2, but user changeable to class 3. I do prefer the twist throttle on the Rad, as it's easier to modulate speed. With the Espin, it's more of an on/off assist, as it's difficult to modulate. Actually in real use, that's the way we would normally use the throttle for a quick "blip" of thrust. I weighed the bikes with my luggage scales at 55 lbs for the Espin's and 65 lbs for the RadCity. The lighter weight made a significant and noticeable improvement in the bike's agility and ease of pedaling at level 0. The most striking difference however, was in the ride quality, smoothness and agility of the Espins. Unfortunately they made the Rad's feel heavy, clunky and cumbersome in back to back rides. Also, the Espins actually look really cool and sleek, especially when placed next to the RadCity. The integrated battery also disguises the electric nature of the bikes, perhaps a plus for theft protection.
Anyway, I wanted to let the community know about these bikes as we have researched many and test driven several mid-drives, the Rad Rover, City and Mini's, the Aventon Pace 500 and 350 (which we both liked a lot) and now the Espins. We are going to buy the Espin's. There is not a lot on the web about the company or the bikes, although they started out in 2017 with similar bikes with 350 watt hubs, but I don't think they caught on. EBR was at the Scottsdale, PhatRide store a few days ago, so I'm told there will be a report in a couple of weeks. I saw some of the pictures at the store today, but we don't need to wait, and are happy to have finally found what we want.
Nov 8 update: still impressed with the Espin's but along comes the ride1up 700's that look even better on paper, and at $1,499. Will have to wait now to see the reviews that are promised in December. Lot's of new choices out there!
Espin Sport Espin Flow
Spec wise, the Espin's have a 500 watt (700 peak) geared, hub motor which was noticeably quicker and better on the hills with 55 nm of torque vs 40 on the RadCity 500 watt (750 peak DD hub motor). Espin has a 48 volt 14 amp battery, dual piston hydraulic brakes, Acera 8 speed cassette with rapid fire trigger shifters, 5 levels assist and a thumb throttle, Kenda Komfort 27.5 x 1.95 tires. The Sport is class 3 and the Flow Class 2, but user changeable to class 3. I do prefer the twist throttle on the Rad, as it's easier to modulate speed. With the Espin, it's more of an on/off assist, as it's difficult to modulate. Actually in real use, that's the way we would normally use the throttle for a quick "blip" of thrust. I weighed the bikes with my luggage scales at 55 lbs for the Espin's and 65 lbs for the RadCity. The lighter weight made a significant and noticeable improvement in the bike's agility and ease of pedaling at level 0. The most striking difference however, was in the ride quality, smoothness and agility of the Espins. Unfortunately they made the Rad's feel heavy, clunky and cumbersome in back to back rides. Also, the Espins actually look really cool and sleek, especially when placed next to the RadCity. The integrated battery also disguises the electric nature of the bikes, perhaps a plus for theft protection.
Anyway, I wanted to let the community know about these bikes as we have researched many and test driven several mid-drives, the Rad Rover, City and Mini's, the Aventon Pace 500 and 350 (which we both liked a lot) and now the Espins. We are going to buy the Espin's. There is not a lot on the web about the company or the bikes, although they started out in 2017 with similar bikes with 350 watt hubs, but I don't think they caught on. EBR was at the Scottsdale, PhatRide store a few days ago, so I'm told there will be a report in a couple of weeks. I saw some of the pictures at the store today, but we don't need to wait, and are happy to have finally found what we want.
Nov 8 update: still impressed with the Espin's but along comes the ride1up 700's that look even better on paper, and at $1,499. Will have to wait now to see the reviews that are promised in December. Lot's of new choices out there!
Espin Sport Espin Flow
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troehrkasse
EBR Webmaster
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Howdy! Glad to hear you were able to test these bikes, I really like all of Espin's lineup and I'm glad that they're adding more dealers in the US. I did review the Reine and the Sport while I was out there. The Reine review is live now: Espin Reine Review, an the Sport will be published tomorrow November 6th!
phoenixtoohot
Well-Known Member
Looking forward to the Sport review troe
phoenixtoohot
Well-Known Member
Here's the recent EBR report on the Sport and Flow .... looks favorable.
Yep, that's why I'm asking for when you're just rotating the pedals with no effort in those lowest assist levels as to determine how much is provided by the assist level's power alone. Since it's a hub drive, the gear won't matter in that case. I look forward to hearing your feedback when you get it and test it out.
civiletti
Member
I should be able to report on the sport in a week.
Is 0-5 assist really not as good as 0-9 if the ratios are balanced? Isn't that like volume 11?
To me, what matters is having the ratio you want for the rider, riding conditions, speed, etc., and those will vary. If you have more assist levels, the odds are more in your favor that a given assist level will match your needs with more assist levels to choose from. It matters for me because I'm wanting to get a good workout and regulate the assist as to allow it without having to ride at a higher or lower speed than I want just because the assist level was higher or lower than I want. Some bikes with few assist levels are known to have too much assist at level one. As an example of where fewer assist levels results in a higher level 1 assist, in one of the Ride1UP manuals, it shows a chart where if you select the fewest assist levels options, level 1 has a higher level assist than if you selected the option for more assist levels, and chose level 1. It would be interesting to know where the Sport falls in comparison on its level, despite its fewer number of assist levels. It may be fine, although I would still prefer more levels.
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The Ride1UP manual I referred to in my last post was for the 500 series, which happens to have programmable assist levels. It also allows you up to 9 levels. That bike happens to be high on my list, but things can change by the time I buy one. But yes, I would feel more comfortable with fewer assist levels if I could program them, especially without having the option to test ride a particular bike.Well, that's what I mean by "ratios are balanced". I've seen some reviews of eBikes where the levels are programmable... that would be good so even if it does have only 5, you could program the 5 levels you use most.
Yes, that appears to be the case. It's also listed as Bafang in the 500 vs 700 comparison. But it also says 10.4 aH battery as does the review here, so that looks the older model. It has a 13 Ah battery now. The current model 500 product page says Shengyi 48V 500w Geared Hub .
If the 700 is using this LCD, then page 11 shows that you can adjust the assist power ratio on that bike as well.
It does not appear to be the case with this display:
It does not appear to be the case with this display:
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