Throttles again

[Hardly Davidson]

I have a hub drive with throttle & love it to get me safely up off my steep driveway and onto the busy road in front of my house, as well as quickly across intersections on a green light. The bike is a 20" folder. I'm 77 and sadly don't have the ability I once had to hop up onto the pedals for power so I'm in the market for a full size unit with mid drive and other must haves that I won't get into right now. My question is what mid drives have throttles that kick in at 0 kph? Thanks

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Welcome aboard! I'm also looking for a quality mid-drive with a progressive, on-demand throttle. Currently have a hub-drive with such a throttle and and am loathe to give it up. Very handy riding tool — even if you always pedal like I do.

The Zen Photon is the only offering I know of. Good manufacturer, and looks to be a well-designed bike, but I need to test one first.

Whatever you get, try to test before buying and make sure you can get local service on both mechanicals and electricals.

 

[teskow]

I too would like to have a decent quality mid drive ebike with a throttle. I have owned hub drive bikes with throttles and know that the way they work is very different. One of them had a very nice progressive/linear operation and was pleasant to use. One was so bad regarding the power application it bordered on being dangerous. In fact it was dangerous.
There must be somebody out there that mades a mid drive bike with a precision power delivering throttle.

 

[Hardly Davidson]

The Zen Photon is the only offering I know of. Good manufacturer, and looks to be a well-designed bike, but I need to test one first.

I agree with the test riding, however being located in Victoria on Vancouver Island is a bit of a logistical problem. No shortage of ebikes dealers but not handling the makes/models that I'm interested in. Travelling to and around Vancouver is a bit of a pita because since moving back to Canada from Mx we have avoided purchasing a car with ebike being our only means of transport. Plus, many of the companies with models we are interested in are online only, or based, like Zen, on the other side of the continent.
I'm basing my reviews of companies/offerings against what Ravi's Zen Photon Pro but I'd really like to hear more feedback on the Ultra. The Zen website is very skimpy on details.

 

[Hardly Davidson]

There must be somebody out there that mades a mid drive bike with a precision power delivering throttle.

The 20" hub drive Voltbikes, mentioned above, that my wife and I have utilize a half twist throttle that is very intuitive for anyone that has ever ridden a motorcycle. I can lightly engage and by feathering a brake make a very tight circle without turning the pedals. Not a feature needed often for that purpose, but when riding up from the ocean on a narrow switchback trail it is a godsend for this geezer. Otherwise it would be pretty much walk mode. But you're right, there must be somebody that builds a mid drive with a precision power delivering throttle ,and I will add, which engages at 0 k.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I agree with the test riding, however being located in Victoria on Vancouver Island is a bit of a logistical problem. No shortage of ebikes dealers but not handling the makes/models that I'm interested in. Travelling to and around Vancouver is a bit of a pita because since moving back to Canada from Mx we have avoided purchasing a car with ebike being our only means of transport. Plus, many of the companies with models we are interested in are online only, or based, like Zen, on the other side of the continent.
I'm basing my reviews of companies/offerings against what Ravi's Zen Photon Pro but I'd really like to hear more feedback on the Ultra. The Zen website is very skimpy on details.

Testing's a tough problem for a lot of members. Visited Victoria decades ago. Must be a great place to bike!

The Ultra caught my eye as well but may have been a limited edition. Several members snapped them up, but the only one I recall by name is @Cybersnow . Maybe he'll chime in.

If the Ultra comes back, I might well buy one — provided the throttle works the way my current one does. There some pretty lame throttle implementations out there, and the only way to know for sure what you're getting is to test it yourself.

The forum search function's been on the fritz lately, but I recall one or two Ultra threads with "Ultra" in the title.