Allroad Commuter
Member
The weather here in northern California kept me from riding the trails this weekend. Which allowed me to do a winter tune-up on the Allroad and upload this review. I will give a personal perspective of owning the Optibike Allroad over the past 2 yrs and detail upgrades and accessories that I have purchased for particular use cases.
First the summary. I was not impressed initially with Optibike because my delivery date(April 2014) of the Allroad was delayed by about 4 months. However, my experience after receiving the bike has been exceptional.
My commute was 24 miles round trip when I first started and since last July when our company moved further away such that my commute is now a 36 miles round trip. In that time and 2500+ miles, the bike has been solid: zero problems with the motor, battery or drivetrain. I have had 2 flats but that's a problem for any bikes.
The battery capacity has decreased in my "guestimation" to 75% of the original capacity(390Whr). When new I could do the 24 miles commute at level 3 (w/pedaling) without charging at work. Now I'm barely able to get to work on level 3 (18 mile one-way, pedaling, one bar flashing). However, I charge at work and make the return trip home without issues on level 1 or 2 (for more excercise). The side-effect of this is that I'm in better shape and can make up for the loss of battery capacity with my own effort. It's a good trade-off for me and my annual physical results prove it.
The only time that the bike had a problem that I couldn't handle was when the middle chainring got bent. This happened after I started taking the bike to explore mountain trails on the weekends and taking on 20%+ grade climbs. I didn't know how to remove the crankset to replace the middle chainring. As we know, the crankset of the Allroad is not the same as regular bikes; the crank arm is separate from the chainrings and you need special tool to remove the chainrings. One email and a quick reply from Jim with instructions were all I needed.
This is drastically different from my first ebike(rear hub motor) which I ordered online. It arrived within one week and initially was a blast, but within 9 months became a regular bike with a heavy rear wheel. The rear hub motor had snapped spokes on 3 different occasions. Eventually, the ebike just lost power. I had no way to diagnose if it was the battery, controller or motor. And repeated emails and phone calls to the seller went unanswered.
Other than the inital shipping delays, I'm more than satisfied with the Allroad. As a commuter ebike, the "e" portion has been totally reliable. As an eMTB, I haven't found a hill(with trails) that it can't climb yet. One item held back my general endorsement of the Optibike Allroad for all users. That is, having conventional derailleurs, both front and rear, on a mid-drive ebike. This can be problematic. Especially for users who are not familiar with handling derailleurs, let alone when there is also a mid-drive motor involved. Being familiar with derailleurs,i.e. not to shift under power, I still managed to bend a chainring and a rear cog. For those where derailleurs can be a challenge, consider getting upgraded with the internal geared hubs(Nuvi, Rolhoff), if you can afford it.
Usage: commute/errands - 85%, trails - 15%
offroad upgrades: Fox fork($500), mountain tires($40x2), Wellgo pedals($35)
commuting upgrades: rear rack($40), ToPeak trunk bag($60), Thudbuster($150), bike mirror($14), bike bell($8), front & rear lights($35), road wheel-set(front and rear - $300)
cosmetic upgrade: used XTR derailleurs(front and rear - $60), zebra pattern (1 roll - $10)
replacement/repairs: bike chain($17), middle chainring($20), rear cassette($24)
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