Volton Alation 500 Speed Increase

[Dave]

Does anyone know the specifics on the top speed avaiable in the pedal assist mode on the Alation 500? I saw it was mentioned in the review, it might be adjustable from 20mph to something higher via the display setting. I thought I would check with some who might own the bike first, before calling Volton. thanks much.

 

[Admin]

Hi Dave, I'm not sure Volton will comment on this directly but I have heard that you can raise the top speed to ~25 miles per hour using the LCD computer interface. I've experimented with this on a Pedego City Commuter before which uses a similar LCD computer interface. I may or may not have written a tutorial describing exactly how to do it a couple years ago... Here's a quote from said article describing the steps I may or may not have taken to raise the top speed

The LCD Meter can be programmed for different tire sizes, max speed, etc. To enter program mode, press the up arrow key and the down arrow key at the same time until the indicator shows “28 in”. This is the size of the tires used on the commuter bikes and should not be changed. If you push the mode button, you will see the max speed setting. The factor setting is 32 kph (20 mph). If you push the up arrow, it will increase to 40 kph (24.85 mph).

So the steps are:

1. Hold the up and down arrow keys until the LCD shows “28 in”
   
2. Press the mode button once until you see “max speed”
   
3. Press the up or down arrows to adjust

Note that the "mode button" is the center button shown in the photo of the Volton LCD just below. It was setup the same way on the older City Commuter bikes. Hope this helps! Please let me know if you do get one of the Alation bike and end up trying this out, it's great to confirm and sort of record this tribal knowledge, and do be careful when riding at higher speeds.

 

[Dave]

Thanks Court, very helpful. At this point I am comparing the Alation's pedal assist top end to that of the Dash & Neo 650B. I would have crossed the Volton off the list if it was limited to 20mph pedal assist.

 

[Admin]

Cool, glad to help some. These are all excellent bikes. I just posted my review of the Neo 650B so you can see it in action. I still need to finish the full suspension Neo Jumper 650B but that should be up soon enough

 

[Ralph]

Court, After reading your Volton reviews I decided to check them out. Volton, like most other eBike companies that sell there stuff online or not, make the mistake of telling you nothing about how you might fit on a bike. In layman terms things like how high is the top tube on a diamond frame, how high is the lowest seat height, is the step through verson cockpit more cramped or shorter than the diamond frame. How does the reach compare. Stuff like that so you can compare it to what you are riding. Am is nuts. Is that such a tough thing to ask of them.

I know that the geometry is another story, but these geniuses tell you nothing. I don't get that at all. I am a boomer. I can afford any of their bikes if I can figure out which one to buy, but these guys make it a challenge to buy their products and you guys that write about it, don't help a lot in this particular area that much...most of the time. Cool. It rides nice. No rattles. Rear rack may loosen. Really, I have a wrench and can tighten stuff....but how tall is this bike. You know what I mean. Very few of these companies give you critical dimensions that are crucial if you are vertically challenged. Ok, I buy a step through but it is so tight that I bust my ass trying to do it. I can't see the bike so I don't realize that most step throughs are made for women and are smaller. Nice to stand over but tossing your leg over the rear wheel is the key as I found out with the City Commuter and some of the Curries with the long racks.

Enough of that. I emailed Joe and he has been giving me measurements to help me decide if I can ride a Volton comfortably. Much appreciated. On Wednesday, the rep from Currie is coming to meet with me at the dealer to test ride and possibly fit me for one of their bikes. Impressive Right! The president of Currie has been incredibly responsive answering my questions and coordinating with me and the dealer.

So the quest continues. I just watched some Polaris videos and your stuff. Looks great, but nothing cooking on their website. Smart. Keep it a secret until you ship to your dealers. Building up anticipation would be, well, idiotic in the competitive eBike industry. I mean if I knew something more than I see on You Tube, maybe I could pre order a bike or simply wait for it. Nope, Polaris is out. Only old underpowered stuff on their confusing website. I wonder how many bikes they sell a year. Must be mind boggling.

All good and appreciate your posts and videos. One thing that is very impressive in this growing eBike segment is that top management is very reachable and helpful. You always point it out. I have been forced to ask a lot of questions and drive hundreds of miles to test bikes, but the journey is fun and hopefully I will order a bike next week. Hopefully!

 

[Dave]

Ralph, I think you raise a valid point about the lack of pertinent information available when spending thousands of dollars on a bycycle . I have spent hours on the internet reading reviews, making phone calls, talking to dealers and even manufactures . So far the best source of info has been this website and Courts' reviews. Having said that, I would really like to hear more about how the bike performs from a riding perspective , power, comfort, smoothness, and less about bells and whistles. Features are easy to look up, but performance for someone who has no access to a demo, is really valuable.

As far as Volton goes, I did communicate with Joe via email, and the more I look into this bike, the more I like it. The Alation 500, 48 maybe one of the best deals out there. It appears they are on schedule for March shipments.

 

[Ralph]

Dave, we are both on the same page. Buying these expensive machines sight unseen requires much more information from the sellers. Court has been terrific in sharing his experience and perspective on each of the bikes. An example of where he excels is explaining PAG vs TAG and being able to use TAG while in pedal mode. Some bikes have both, but on some only when you are pedaling can you get extra thrust. Often they forget to tell you that. You don't realize how this impacts your ride until you ride one of these bikes and find what suites you best. Explaining and demonstrating the experience helps immeasurably when you are buying over the net but in most cases the manufacturers must assume the buyer knows all this.

The 48 Volton does look good. I will get to ride a few more Curries this week and I will be ready to make the call. Thanks for your insights.

 

[Cameron Pemstein]

That's the real trick of it all...

Finding the correct bike for the rider. I believed I spoke to Dave about this over the phone, but majority of the USA "spec" electric bikes come with the same components (relative to their price points). They offer the same range, voltages, wattage and or pedal assist/throttle or both. But what it really comes down to is how the bike feels when riding it. Is the weight of the bike balanced, is there great stopping power, and of course does it look good? All of these are tough questions to ask when one doesn't get to test ride. You are putting your buying power into the hands of the manufacture, "That this bike is meant for you." But to be fair, there are components that can be purchased to accommodate the needs of the rider, longer seat posts, stems, handlebars, etc, and it's perfectly normal to switch out the standard components from the manufacture.

 

[Ralph]

Cameron, you are right. I am trying to ride as many bikes as I can and learning along the way. The differences can be dramatic but I think I am closing in on it. I have ridden some Izips, Pedegos, Pedeco and recently the Townie Go. I am close and I'm looking at some of the components like a stem shock and a computer where there are none. I'm having fun figuring it out.

 

[Cameron Pemstein]

Well, I am glad you are having fun with it, because that's what it is all about!!

What do you think about the Townie Go and what are you leading towards?

 

[Ralph]

I ride a Townie three speed and like the bike a lot but wish I had he 8 speed. The Townie Go is like the three speed. It has a two speed internal geared hub. It is very noisy until it shifts and than a bit less noisy but I think more so than it should be which I found to be a big issue. The pedal assist is disappointing and without more gears I would say it is too weak and too simple for prime time. Having said that, if you are looking for simple and non threatening with just a bit of go power: This is it as is properly named: Townie Go.

 

[Cameron Pemstein]

thanks for your input.

 

[Dave]

Cameron, yes, you and I did talk, and you were very helpful. I still think the Shadow looks like a great bike. I think the Alation and the Shadow are neck and neck in what they offer for the money. I am in a very difficult situation because, as you noted, I am making a decision based on reviews and manufactuers' design preferences. A good example is the inclusion of a throttle on the Alation. The Shadow is designed without one, and maybe for a very good reason. The problem is without riding pedal assist & throttle, I really don't know if I want or need it. Ultimately, I will make a decision and live with it, and probably be happy, but right now I'm really bouncing around between too many styles and features.

 

[Ralph]

I am with Dave on this one but will go a step further. I have already decided that I will only buy a bike with pedal assist AND throttle. Preferably a system that allows throttle on the fly while pedaling or not. Testing bikes made this very clear to me. The good thing is there are a lot of choices.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Cameron, yes, you and I did talk, and you were very helpful. I still think the Shadow looks like a great bike. I think the Alation and the Shadow are neck and neck in what they offer for the money. I am in a very difficult situation because, as you noted, I am making a decision based on reviews and manufactuers' design preferences.

Dave,
Here is a review from someone who has owned the Alation bike and their experience, they also mention the height, controller, motor and how it performs:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/vi...sid=aa9037e33e6f51fa45fa0f426dce693b&start=25

 

[Dave]

Thanks Ravi,
I actually did find that a while ago and read through the entire posts. There were also some posts on the Shadow as well, same website. Both bikes seem to have a lot of positives, and are similar in power and performance. I think I need to decide what features are most important to me, and narrow down from there.

 

[Admin]

Hey guys, thanks for the input on how I can make reviews better. Admittedly, some are shallower than others due to time and location constraints but I'm working on making them better and better all the time! Just got a new camera and mic setup that I'm experimenting with

I'm glad to see that the forum has helped support conversations about how bikes fit and feel to each of you. One of my best tools seems to be just sharing in messages vs. the reviews themselves because I can address actual questions and share my memory of each bike plus the details of my own height/weight etc for comparison.

Anyway, it's nice to see you guys helping each other and I'll keep these thoughts in mind. Regarding bike styles... I have my own "wish list" and like what Ralph said earlier "I will only buy a bike with pedal assist AND throttle". My dream bike specs follow and I can't think of any ebike I've tried that actually satisfies all of these requests but I'm sure it's coming someday!

• Three high step frames (small, medium, large) and two low step (small, medium)
• Front suspension fork with lockout, 27.5" wheels with hybrid road/trail tires
• Geared mid-drive motor >= 350 watts
• Internally geared rear hub >= 7 speeds
• Removable downtube mounted Lithium Cobalt battery pack >= 36 volt 15 amp hour
• Torque sensing, cadence sensing pedal assist hybrid (like the Bosch system, super responsive)
• Trigger throttle which stays out of the way for trail riding and allows for better grip when riding
• On and off switches for both pedal assist and throttle (like some of the eZip bikes have) for delicate riding situations where only one should be active
• Removable LCD computer powered off the main battery pack (like the Easy Motion Neo bikes have) with back lighting
• Water proof housing for the LCD computer and all electronics, internally routed wires, quick disconnects for motor, battery, computer replacement, quick release systems for front and rear wheels (made easier due to mid-drive)
• Five color choices: white, black, silver, red, metallic blue
• All of this for <= $2,000 USD MSRP
• Optional $500 "city kit" with front and rear LED lights wired in to the system, fenders and rear rack

I think I'm going to start a new thread with this info and call it "what's your dream electric bike" since this thread was really all about the Volton 500 computer to begin with. Meet me there!

 

[Motiv Electric Bikes]

THAT'S OUR NEXT BIKE BUILD!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE WILL CALL IT THE "COURT"

Sounds like a fun build.

 

[Admin]

Ha! Good luck keeping it at that $2,000 price point... but really, I'm glad to see companies paying attention to these different consumer interests. I think the Motiv Shadow, IZIP E3 Dash and Easy Motion Neo Cross come close to meeting this design and are all pretty reasonably priced. A Few little updates and additions go a long way. We were just talking about the "speed pedelec" designs that let you reach higher speeds ~28mph in pedal assist mode and this is one area where I'm concerned about Easy Motion as I've heard they are limiting the speed to 20mph in 2014

 

[George S.]

Does anyone know the specifics on the top speed avaiable in the pedal assist mode on the Alation 500? I saw it was mentioned in the review, it might be adjustable from 20mph to something higher via the display setting. I thought I would check with some who might own the bike first, before calling Volton. thanks much.

This was a great thread, along with the link to the endless-sphere discussion. I figure you guys have seen this, or know it.

http://www.electricbike.com/volton/

Best,

George