Step thru looking good!

[fxr3]

Your step thru frames look great!
I had been sold on rear drive, but now mid drives with throttle and 28mph speed, maybe.
Is your rear drive with throttle capable of maintaining 25+mph with throttle only?
And do you anticipate your developing mid drive, step thru to be able to cruise 25+mph with only throttle?
If it ends up both rear and mid drive ZEN step thrus are 25+mph throttle bikes, what are advantages and disadvantages, rear vs mid?

It was easy before,
Stromer st2, 12mph throttle and easily(enough) pedal to maintain mid twenties with silky smooth shifting and smooth power delivery, run out of power when climbing too steep, but a little heavy when moving rear end.
Turbo Vado 4.0, not enough power to maintain low twenties, clunky shifting, would climb anything,

but felt super light while moving rear of bike around by hand.
Keep up the good work!

 

[Rexlion]

My Ride1Up LMTD ST with 750W rear hub will hold 21-22 mph on throttle, on the level or on a mild upward incline. Oddly, if I ghost pedal it will go faster still.

I'm satisfied with a rear hub. Less expense than mid drive is the main advantage. But one time the chain flipped off just as I entered a busy intersection, and it was very nice to be able to hit the thumb throttle and zip through.

Edit: Oh, maybe you were trying to ask Zen, not the forum members in general. Oh well.

 

[fxr3]

My Ride1Up LMTD ST with 750W rear hub will hold 21-22 mph on throttle, on the level or on a mild upward incline. Oddly, if I ghost pedal it will go faster still.

I'm satisfied with a rear hub. Less expense than mid drive is the main advantage. But one time the chain flipped off just as I entered a busy intersection, and it was very nice to be able to hit the thumb throttle and zip through.

Edit: Oh, maybe you were trying to ask Zen, not the forum members in general. Oh well.

Any response is good. Is your bike a class3? Will it go 28mph pedaling? My first stromer st1 had a 12mph max throttle, but was jailbreakable to 20mph, and could throttle along at 20, no problem. i could never figure out how to jailbreak st2 throttle past 12mph. Then stromer eliminated throttle altogether on st3, likely for liability reasons, and if there was ever a bike that backed ‘once you ride a bike with quality torque sensor, you will not need a throttle’ thinking, it was the st2. Couple turns of pedals, bike just jumps past 12mph- thus giving throttle limited applications.
I’m also satisfied with rear drive, I’ve had Stromer for years, and a couple mid drives also. The mid drives have been disappointing for me, but will forever be interesting to me, mainly because industry and bike Mfg’s have obviously taken to mid drives, for reasons other than commuting performance, imo.
But, because Ravi and ZEN are working on different mid drives with throttle and 28mph performance, as a future ZEN owner and a future throttle user, I feel very fortunate that ZEN is experimenting with different configurations.

 

[Rexlion]

Any response is good. Is your bike a class3? Will it go 28mph pedaling? My first stromer st1 had a 12mph max throttle, but was jailbreakable to 20mph, and could throttle along at 20, no problem. i could never figure out how to jailbreak st2 throttle past 12mph. Then stromer eliminated throttle altogether on st3, likely for liability reasons, and if there was ever a bike that backed ‘once you ride a bike with quality torque sensor, you will not need a throttle’ thinking, it was the st2. Couple turns of pedals, bike just jumps past 12mph- thus giving throttle limited applications.
I’m also satisfied with rear drive, I’ve had Stromer for years, and a couple mid drives also. The mid drives have been disappointing for me, but will forever be interesting to me, mainly because industry and bike Mfg’s have obviously taken to mid drives, for reasons other than commuting performance, imo.
But, because Ravi and ZEN are working on different mid drives with throttle and 28mph performance, as a future ZEN owner and a future throttle user, I feel very fortunate that ZEN is experimenting with different configurations.

Yes, class 3. The controller will allow it to be set as high as 32 mph, but I am no speed freak so I haven't tried that. I have changed the PAS settings a bit, though; they're all user settable (how many PAS levels, and percent power for each level).

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Is your rear drive with throttle capable of maintaining 25+mph with throttle only?

As of now, it is programmed to be 20 mph, but if you're mainly riding off-road, we can offer something suitable for you.

If it ends up both rear and mid drive ZEN step thrus are 25+mph throttle bikes, what are advantages and disadvantages, rear vs mid?

Regarding your question, we found that tuning a mid-drive torque sensor is far easier than tuning a hub-drive torque sensor. This is one of the reasons, many hub-drives still come with cadence sensors because getting reliability and performance over many thousands of kms, is not easy. Many use bottom bracket sensors, and some use (Juiced, Surface, Stromer, etc) use drop-out sensors. With a powerful mid-drive and a belt-drive, you eliminate most of the maintenance issues, and if the torque sensor is tuned right, it offers a very pleasant riding experience. It is not easy to get a hub drive with belt drive that has good enough gear range (you have to use a hub motor, torque sensor in the dropout or cassette, and then a IGH like Pinion) but this is easily doable on the mid-drive systems. We have tuned our Photons to offer smooth pedal assist and I think you will be very pleased.