New Lectric Xpress

[myers830]

The Lectric website now says the Xpress will ship in August. I think I'm going to cancel an go with Plan B.

Then you'll be riding your new eBike by next weekend. Have fun, don't look back. The Turris is a very good eBike by a very good company. You will have a bit more assembly than with a Lectric model but it will be worth it.

 

[jobtraklite]

The Lectric website now says the Xpress will ship in August. I think I'm going to cancel an go with Plan B.

I guess I should report on Plan B. I canceled the Lectric Express with no hassle, and went with the Ride1up Turris.

It arrived very quickly with no apparent shipping damage. Assembly was straight forword, but slow. The only problem was that both tires would not hold air despite there being no leak in the tubes. The only odd thing was what I called a sewing pin with the head, not point, sticking out of the valve (I forgot that tubes have one of those, but it should be inside the valve, not sticking out.

I tried phoning Ride1up tech support, but was hung up on. I then emailed and the reply said the problem was probably loose valve cores. They sent a link describing how to tighten them. Unfortunately, the link was about removing them.

I then gobbled "tighten bike tube vale core" and learned something new, that there exists a valve core tool, a kind of screw driver which tightens and loosens valve cores. I found a Slime branded one on ebay for $2.70 with free shipping; and it arrived within a couple of days.

I used the tool to tightened the valve; and there has been no more leaking. So now I've got about 100 miles to show for it. I can only describe the ride as smooth. The only changes I'm considering are:

1. A slight stem extender: No problem with the seat height; but with the non-adjustable stem, I find myself in sort of a drop handlebar situation.

2. 2.0" tires: I found the 2.4" tires a bit strange after riding the Swagtron EB9 with skinny road tires. I could live with that; but I plan to do some touring via Amtrak; and they limit tires to 2.0" so that they can fit into the bike racks (I'm talking only about the new Venture cars on the Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri service). In general, there are 4 or 5 types of consists, each with slightly different requirements. I believe Amtrak has a system wide limit of 50 lbs., e-bike or otherwise. Ride1up claims 54 lbs for the Turris I'm sure the battery weighs more than 4 lbs.; so if i remove it, I should be OK.

 

[myers830]

I guess I should report on Plan B. I canceled the Lectric Express with no hassle, and went with the Ride1up Turris.

It arrived very quickly with no apparent shipping damage. Assembly was straight forword, but slow. The only problem was that both tires would not hold air despite there being no leak in the tubes. The only odd thing was what I called a sewing pin with the head, not point, sticking out of the valve (I forgot that tubes have one of those, but it should be inside the valve, not sticking out.

I tried phoning Ride1up tech support, but was hung up on. I then emailed and the reply said the problem was probably loose valve cores. They sent a link describing how to tighten them. Unfortunately, the link was about removing them.

I then gobbled "tighten bike tube vale core" and learned something new, that there exists a valve core tool, a kind of screw driver which tightens and loosens valve cores. I found a Slime branded one on ebay for $2.70 with free shipping; and it arrived within a couple of days.

I used the tool to tightened the valve; and there has been no more leaking. So now I've got about 100 miles to show for it. I can only describe the ride as smooth. The only changes I'm considering are:

1. A slight stem extender: No problem with the seat height; but with the non-adjustable stem, I find myself in sort of a drop handlebar situation.

2. 2.0" tires: I found the 2.4" tires a bit strange after riding the Swagtron EB9 with skinny road tires. I could live with that; but I plan to do some touring via Amtrak; and they limit tires to 2.0" so that they can fit into the bike racks (I'm talking only about the new Venture cars on the Illinois, Michigan, and Missouri service). In general, there are 4 or 5 types of consists, each with slightly different requirements. I believe Amtrak has a system wide limit of 50 lbs., e-bike or otherwise. Ride1up claims 54 lbs for the Turris I'm sure the battery weighs more than 4 lbs.; so if i remove it, I should be OK.

Good that you are riding. On my XP Lite after a few miles the rear tire kept needing to be pumped up every morning. It had a "loose" valve which needed to be screwed in to be properly sealed. Stuff happens. The tubes on the Lectric had the slime sealant pre-installed before shipping. I'm guessing the person who installed the sealant didn't properly tighten the valve enough and after a few miles it started to leak.

 

[BigNerd]

I'm leaning towards the Turris. It's improved over the Core and has shock fork and hydraulic brakes. Seems very similar to my Espin Sport which is my favorite ebike and I still ride but is near 4 years old.

My Soltera 2 is lighter but the motor is weaker and no hydraulic brakes.

Almost got the Portola but I think the 20" bike is not my style and it's heavy even if it folds.

 

[Doggyman1202]

A friend asked for affordable e-bike suggestions for his teenage grand daughter. He expressed concern about battery fires which is hard to dismiss with a glib "don't-worry-about-it", so I recommended he look at the Lectric Xpress with UL certification, as opposed to a no-name Amazon or Walmart bike. Piquing my own curiosity I wanted to see what actual owners had to say, so I lurked around the FB Xpress owners forum. I've been around long enough to know that internet complaints or compliments are anecdotal and statistically meaningless.

However, a few mentions raised my eyebrows a bit: A) A couple of users mentioned that the bike actually weighs 9 or 10 pounds more than Lectric's stated 58 lbs. I don't know what to make of these claims but that's a significant difference if accurate. B) A few owners complained of motor noise. One case was documented with audio-video and clearly something was amiss. C) A few complained about a power "surge" issue. That runs counter to a major benefit of a torque sensor but I might not understand fully what they are experiencing. D) A few owners had derailleur issues out of the box.

The Xpress (either version) still looks like a great value proposition on paper. (If they offered a 750 watt belt drive single speed version, I might buy one myself as a spare bike). I do not regret suggesting it to a friend, and the fact that it requires minimal assembly is a nice bonus. I actually like the minimalism (i.e. rack and fenders optional) so the Xpress is easily customizable. Personally, I'm not a fan of throttles but I prefer this thumb design to the twist throttle as this looks tougher to engage accidentally.

However, the issues reported above would give me serious reservations without hearing more feedback from real world users.

 

[Explorer-1]

While I don't want an e-bike without a throttle, my experience is both the twist and the thumb throttles are a little too easy to activate accidentally, but they happen under different scenarios. I'd like a thumb throttle with an off button right above the actuator that requires a good depress to activate. I don't like twist in general, but if I had to give a safety rating, I'd say the twist is slightly safer.