Many of you may have heard of the Xiaomi QiCycle. It's a 250 watt front hub drive foldable. Battery is 5.8 amp/hour based on Panasonic 18650 cells. Currently, it isn't available in the USA, but someone decided to import and sell on Amazon, so I bought one. Fit and finish are outstanding, but it is a 220V 50Hz charging system. The seller promised a step-up transformer, but it wasn't in the package. I bought my own, and the seller credited the price back to me. The transformer arrives today, so I plan on posting more information after a few rides.
I still have my first generation Currie E3 Dash, and it's still a much better bike for longer trips, but a small foldable with >20 mile range should be very handy.
More Info:
https://www.cnet.com/products/xiaomi-mi-qicycle/preview/
It cost $800......
I also got it from Amazon and found the transformer missing and the reflectors broken when it arrived. After we got a transformer to charge the battery, we took it on a 12 mile ride. I found that I’m probably too tall, 5’ 10”. To get a comfortable pedal position, I put too much pressure on my wrists and they started going numb.
The three speed internal gears worked well. It allowed shifting while waiting at a intersection not moving.
The motor was enough power for hills where I previously got tired, but steep hills around our house and our moderately steep driveway were too much for it.
I found the screen hard to see in bright sun, but might not have made it full brightness since it was all in Chinese. I used google translate on my phone to recognize the display using the camera, but in regular riding mode, the menu for the assist was not too hard to figure out.
I found the app nice, but functionally not that useful. It’s not something I would run with a phone mounted. The mapping function doesn’t appear to work where we live.
I had hoped the 16” wheels would have made it much smaller than our other, cheap, 20” folding bike, but it’s not a significant difference. I wanted to get something that would fit in the front trunk of our Tesla, but it’s still too big to close the hood. Also the way it folds up, makes it harder than bikes that split in the center sideways. Compounded with no kick stand, makes me worried I would scratch the nice matte paint.
I also worry about lack of warranty support and the display all in Chinese and showing only KPH and KM instead of miles. I will probably end up returning it and getting something else. If the price were more like the price in China, around $400-$500 i might keep it and replace the handlebars with ones that are a little higher.
