The LMT'D in 8th would 44T chainring with the 11T on back and would be equivalent to the gear ratio of my Trek's second highest gear (48T/12T), so that would suffice me pretty well as I'm only occasionally riding in a higher gear than that. A lot of bikes have a lower top gear, so they require more hamster wheeling cadence at higher speed. One option is to replace with a larger chainring as others have done on some bikes, but I would rather avoid that. The Ride1UP bikes are as good or better than most for my use.
Review: New LMT'D - new owner's perspective
- Thread starter Lumpydog
- Start date
The LMT'D in 8th would 44T chainring with the 11T on back and would be equivalent to the gear ratio of my Trek's second highest gear (48T/12T), so that would suffice me pretty well as I'm only occasionally riding in a higher gear than that. A lot of bikes have a lower top gear, so they require more hamster wheeling cadence at higher speed. One option is to replace with a larger chainring as others have done on some bikes, but I would rather avoid that. The Ride1UP bikes are as good or better than most for my use.
One month update. I'm at 150 miles and am still very happy with the LMT'D. I ride it almost daily - as long as the weather cooperates. Like many, I now work from home 5 days a week. My town has become super local - meaning people aren't doing a lot of traveling and they are sourcing things they need locally. Many people have a little extra time these days - no commute. So there are a lot more cars staying local - but still out and about - albeit going slowly. The crush/rush pace we all got caught up in seems to be easing - I wish it could stay this way. Driving anywhere during the heart of the day - especially on weekends - is an "easy pace". Fine. Parking is harder to find but not impossible. Fine. Biking anywhere has become MUCH easier than driving.
I generally try to get up and hop on my bike at 7:30 AM. Head out to get coffee. I'm amazed at how many people are outside walking, running, riding. Without a commute, you get a free 30-60 minutes at the beginning and end of the day. I'm glad I have the LMT'D to get out of my house and get some fresh air each day. I cover more ground than I might on a regular/analog bike and I get places faster/easier than I would in a car.
I made the pledge to R1Up that I'd replace 2 driving trips per month - to save $40 off my bike. In hindsight, that was an easy pledge. I replace way more driving trips than that in a week - sometimes I cover that pledge in a day.
More to come on my LMT'D. Some watching this thread have returned their bike or "pressed pause" on a LMT'D purchase. Buying a new model like the LMT'D has its risks, which I factored in. I think the bike "as is" works well. Could it be refined or dialed in - sure. A lot depends on the vendor's willingness to work with early adopters to iron out wrinkles. Ride1Up seems to be doing just that. More to come.
I generally try to get up and hop on my bike at 7:30 AM. Head out to get coffee. I'm amazed at how many people are outside walking, running, riding. Without a commute, you get a free 30-60 minutes at the beginning and end of the day. I'm glad I have the LMT'D to get out of my house and get some fresh air each day. I cover more ground than I might on a regular/analog bike and I get places faster/easier than I would in a car.
I made the pledge to R1Up that I'd replace 2 driving trips per month - to save $40 off my bike. In hindsight, that was an easy pledge. I replace way more driving trips than that in a week - sometimes I cover that pledge in a day.
More to come on my LMT'D. Some watching this thread have returned their bike or "pressed pause" on a LMT'D purchase. Buying a new model like the LMT'D has its risks, which I factored in. I think the bike "as is" works well. Could it be refined or dialed in - sure. A lot depends on the vendor's willingness to work with early adopters to iron out wrinkles. Ride1Up seems to be doing just that. More to come.
Yeah, it's a little risky, especially when paying the extra premium for the LMT'D over the 500 and 700. In the Ride1UP response that was posted, they didn't seem interested in addressing the PAS concerns. The 500 and 700 look like they may be better for my needs.
Last edited:
Re-read my last three sentences...
This is the Ride1UP response I was referring to.
Ride1up: "It's definitely a different system, but it's not one that we plan on changing to be honest. It's designed to operate in this way. The only real option to smooth out your motor application w/ a hub motor torque combo is to add a cadence sensor as well. To me, you might as well just use a cadence sensor only at that point. I've ridden the 'torque+cadence' combos a bit, but they operate mostly like a cadence sensor."
Ride1up: "It's definitely a different system, but it's not one that we plan on changing to be honest. It's designed to operate in this way. The only real option to smooth out your motor application w/ a hub motor torque combo is to add a cadence sensor as well. To me, you might as well just use a cadence sensor only at that point. I've ridden the 'torque+cadence' combos a bit, but they operate mostly like a cadence sensor."
If you start noticing the motor surging play around with your pedaling. I noticed this surging when I first got my LTD, but can easily compensate for it now.
What you want to try to do if the bike starts surging once you get to a constant speed is vary your pedaling technique. Try to manage your pedaling with less force but more distance and maintain pedal pressure all the way through the stroke.
What you want to try to do if the bike starts surging once you get to a constant speed is vary your pedaling technique. Try to manage your pedaling with less force but more distance and maintain pedal pressure all the way through the stroke.
I did try to to vary my cadence and pedal pressure. It didn't really help me but I'm sure other owners are finding they are either solving this problem or learning to adapt. I couldn't so I returned my bike. That being said, Ride1UP was amazing with the return process. I received my refund within a week after they received the bike back. You read horror stories about customer service form other online bike companies. This is not at all the experience from Ride1UP. I would not hesitate buying another one of their bikes. Anyone out there thinking of buying a product from Ride1UP, do not think twice. They are a company that stands behind their products with excellent support and attention to their customers. Read some reviews on Yelp about their competitors. Very Scary! Do not go by reviews these companies post themselves.
Explorer-1
Have bike, will travel
- Region
- USA
- City
- Boston North Shore
The best is going to be some combination of torque, cadence, and speed, but few have the software to make that work. Not all torque sensors work the same, not all cadence sensors are the same, and not all software is the same. Then we add not all motors, controllers, and batteries are the same, and one can hopefully see this is a complicated system which some companies have worked out and others have not. It is still improving even in the best implementations. This forum seems to be mostly black and white when they talk about torque sensors vs cadence sensors, like they all work the same as all the others in their category and all have the same benefits and flaws.
Yeah, some are said to be much more smoother than the LMT'D. Some cadence sensor PAS is too strong in the lowest assist, some assists up to a specific speed instead of a percentage of power, and other various differences.
Taylor57
Well-Known Member
Looks like a Suncoast seatpost
BriCycle
New Member
Hey All! (first post)
Lumpydog, Wings02 & GenX, I truly appreciate your continued updates to this thread. Your comments weighed in significantly in my decision.
After almost a week of intense scrutiny shopping for my first e-bike - watching videos and reading reviews for all types of bikes (and subsequently feeling like Court and I have a personal relationship) - I have decided to take a chance on the Ride1Up LMT'D as I couldn't find a bike at the price point with these specs: Throttle / Torque-Sensing / 750W (Not to mention the style is sleek and a bit unique.) I'm a bigger guy (6'2" 200lb) and I live in an area where hills are abundant and I am looking forward to 'slicing' through them.
That said, I am weary of the torque sensor issue. I expect a learning curve to get that dialed in, and I don't expect it to ever be as smooth as something like a Yamaha motor. But with the Ride1Up return policy, I decided to take a chance on this model.
GUYS - It's so hard to determine what will work for you by merely looking at 2D images on a screen. At some point, you just have to pull the trigger on a model and hope for the best - or the only thing you will be riding is the fence.
Looking forward to sharing my experience. Cheers!
Lumpydog, Wings02 & GenX, I truly appreciate your continued updates to this thread. Your comments weighed in significantly in my decision.
After almost a week of intense scrutiny shopping for my first e-bike - watching videos and reading reviews for all types of bikes (and subsequently feeling like Court and I have a personal relationship) - I have decided to take a chance on the Ride1Up LMT'D as I couldn't find a bike at the price point with these specs: Throttle / Torque-Sensing / 750W (Not to mention the style is sleek and a bit unique.) I'm a bigger guy (6'2" 200lb) and I live in an area where hills are abundant and I am looking forward to 'slicing' through them.
That said, I am weary of the torque sensor issue. I expect a learning curve to get that dialed in, and I don't expect it to ever be as smooth as something like a Yamaha motor. But with the Ride1Up return policy, I decided to take a chance on this model.
GUYS - It's so hard to determine what will work for you by merely looking at 2D images on a screen. At some point, you just have to pull the trigger on a model and hope for the best - or the only thing you will be riding is the fence.
Looking forward to sharing my experience. Cheers!
BriCycle
New Member
In my limited experience, the mid-drive torque sensors have been really smooth and nice. I have tried them on the Gazelle (Bosch), and the Haibkie (Yamaha). If you have tried both types of motors, you'll understand what the "natural feel" is all about. Unfortunately, bikes that carry it will be starting around $3k. I wanted a bike with throttle (as I will be attaching a surfboard and that throttle is just plain fun) so many of those mid-drive options were kicked out off my short list.
For now, I'll say this - as posted on R1Up Owner FB pages by R1Up's owner - the next batch of LMTD's will have "tweaks and improvements we had time to make. Cable management, software, packing, and display are the main changes.."
The headline in that list is new controller software...
Absolutely - you made the right choice. I have no complaints.
The only time I even notice the surge from the torque sensor is tooling around 18-20 MPH on PAS 2/9. The bike acts like it wants to go faster then reels it in. As I said it was easy for me to adjust my pedaling motion and it almost never happens for more than a few seconds now because i change my pedal motion as soon as I notice it.
I have a torque wrench that does ft-lbs but not sure how to do nm with an Allen bolt
FlatSix911
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Silicon Valley
Try this...
Foot-pounds to Newton-meters conversion: ft-lb to Nm calculator
Foot-pounds to Newton-meters (ft-lb to Nm) conversion calculator for Energy and Power conversions with additional tables and formulas.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that they had updated their LMT'D product page from "APT 500C Full Color LCD Display" to " "Programmable KD218 Full Color LCD Display".
https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/new-lmtd-whos-in.33441/post-300052
Alert! Since I posted that, they have changed the description again, this time to "KD218 Adjustable Speed Color Display". That's a little concerning that it no longer says "programmable". I would hate to not have the option to adjust power settings per assist level. I don't care about speed adjustment. I checked the 500 series which has said "programmable" for even longer, and they changed that one from programmable to "KD21C Adjustable Speed LCD". The KD21C was the display in use when it was programmable, so I hope they didn't change the software to take that great feature away, but it's very suspicious that they went in and edited the description of the LCD removing the word "programmable" from multiple bikes.
Similar threads
