Zen Photon Pro- Preorder | 1040Wh UL Certified battery | 500W nominal/900W peak power Torque-sensing motor w/ Throttle | USD 2999 | CAD 3999

[CincyKid]

I have updated my bike: flat bar, grips, saddle and seat post clamp. Plus, a Foldylock. Much more reach. Silicone grips are tacky plus more comfortable. Yet to see the impact on a long ride.

Went with a Terry Liberator Y gel. 30 day trial plus support my local shop.

The bike is a bit quicker turning too.

 

[komalthelist]

This is super awesome!! Thanks for sharing and perhaps, if you can share pictures of the bike, Gates belt condition every 500/1000kms, it would make for a real-world testimony of the long-term durability of the Gates belt drive and Enviolo hub.

Hi Kriti, here is what the belt looks like after 5000km. No issues so far.

 

[CincyKid]

Hey guys! Been super busy putting miles on my Zen. I have run into one area I'm not sure of.

Can the battery only be charged to 100% while installed on the bike? (see

)

I did a 40 mile ride today at Eco PAS1/2 for the majority of it but used PAS5 to get up a long 8% grade climb. The battery was on fumes as I finished the last couple of miles. Note, I'm a heavy rider at 298.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[DrewInSK]

Hey guys! Been super busy putting miles on my Zen. I have run into one area I'm not sure of.

Can the battery only be charged to 100% while installed on the bike? (see

)

I did a 40 mile ride today at Eco PAS1/2 for the majority of it but used PAS5 to get up a long 8% grade climb. The battery was on fumes as I finished the last couple of miles. Note, I'm a heavy rider at 298.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Interesting question, I'll test this after my rides today. I had thought one could set it for long range then power down and remove the battery(I only charge with it removed). Then it resets to the default long life.

I did also eliminate my whistle, and it wasn't the motor ultimately. Took the tape mess off little by little over several hundred km and found it was entirely the rear fender screw, both the frame hole, and the space on the fender itself were producing the whistle. Cover both and it's gone. Been whistle-free for at least a few hundred km...and I don't have an ugly tape mess on the motor any more.

 

[Blunoser]

Interesting question, I'll test this after my rides today. I had thought one could set it for long range then power down and remove the battery(I only charge with it removed). Then it resets to the default long life.

I did also eliminate my whistle, and it wasn't the motor ultimately. Took the tape mess off little by little over several hundred km and found it was entirely the rear fender screw, both the frame hole, and the space on the fender itself were producing the whistle. Cover both and it's gone. Been whistle-free for at least a few hundred km...and I don't have an ugly tape mess on the motor any more.

Hi Drew, I have a Photon coming in the next batch. Being as I'll be spending most of my time at higher speeds I'm interested in details of how you silenced the whistle. Any chance you can share a pic of your mods? Gonna be a long several weeks waiting for my bike..
cheers, Terry.

 

[DrewInSK]

Hi Drew, I have a Photon coming in the next batch. Being as I'll be spending most of my time at higher speeds I'm interested in details of how you silenced the whistle. Any chance you can share a pic of your mods? Gonna be a long several weeks waiting for my bike..
cheers, Terry.

Still a wee bit of tape. Probably something else could be used, but had this on hand.

 

[Blunoser]

Still a wee bit of tape. Probably something else could be used, but had this on hand.

Thanks Drew, as a retired Electrician I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used tape to “repair “ things lol. I should mention that it comes in white too if you’re into colour matching. My bike is going to be a shade of blue so might be a little harder to match. I’m tired of being passed by people even older than me on ebikes, and they are not even working all that hard..can’t wait.
Terry.

 

[CincyKid]

Interesting question, I'll test this after my rides today. I had thought one could set it for long range then power down and remove the battery(I only charge with it removed). Then it resets to the default long life.

I did also eliminate my whistle, and it wasn't the motor ultimately. Took the tape mess off little by little over several hundred km and found it was entirely the rear fender screw, both the frame hole, and the space on the fender itself were producing the whistle. Cover both and it's gone. Been whistle-free for at least a few hundred km...and I don't have an ugly tape mess on the motor any more.

I thought it would work like this as well. However, it always ends up as 80% charged. Finally, plugged it into the battery while installed on the bike. 100% charge.

I don't hear a whistling noise. I do hear an motor whine. My average speeds 17-20mph.

 

[Blunoser]

I thought it would work like this as well. However, it always ends up as 80% charged. Finally, plugged it into the battery while installed on the bike. 100% charge.

I don't hear a whistling noise. I do hear an motor whine. My average speeds 17-20mph.

This will be my first ebike so I don't know what a motor whine sounds like when riding on an ebike, but I'm wondering if its possible that what you think is a motor whine is really the same thing that Drew found? It tricked him into thinking it was the motor after all. Would be a pretty easy experiment to see.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Can the battery only be charged to 100% while installed on the bike?

Correct. To change the charge limit to 100%, the CAN signal needs to come from the controller via the display. Without this CAN signal, the BMS will not be able to switch the charge modes.
We wanted to implement it so that it can also be changed when the battery is off the bike, but that would require some complex engineering involving changes to the battery LED indicator and button pad, and we did not have time to do that this spring. This is on our radar for the Spring 2025 launch in our next year's models.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Then it resets to the default long life.

We think people ultimately benefit from a longer life than a longer range. Even at 80%, the bike offers more range (~90 to 100 km) than what people are used to riding in one go. So, we prioritized long-life and it defaults to long-life mode each time. This is also the reason why we are able to offer a 3-year warranty on the battery.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Hi Kriti, here is what the belt looks like after 5000km. No issues so far.

This is totally normal. A bit of fiber frayed at the edges is normal, and this is from small rocks and chips.
Gates belt typically lasts about 8000 to 10,000 km, depending on the power level used and maintenance interval.
It would help wash the belt with a simple (NON-pressure) washer-like shower head every 1000 km. This removes any fine dirt that grinds down the polymeric urethane compound and improves its lifetime. Belts lasted me around 12,000 km, at which point I replaced the front and rear sprockets and the belt as preventive maintenance.

• The #1 reason belts fail prematurely is improper belt tension.
• #2, accumulation of tiny rocks that start grinding away the belt, and this can be easily eliminated by a simple wash after riding in a very dusty environment.

 

[DrewInSK]

We think people ultimately benefit from a longer life than a longer range. Even at 80%, the bike offers more range (~90 to 100 km) than what people are used to riding in one go. So, we prioritized long-life and it defaults to long-life mode each time. This is also the reason why we are able to offer a 3-year warranty on the battery.

I agree. It lasts and lasts for me at 80% for tooling around the city here, but needing to be on the bike is a limiting factor logistically if I was shooting for 100% range(in some cases - I'd need to bring the bike into motels and such, which I don't think is a problem most places).... Since you've done a big/long ride: which is the better route battery-wise? Multiple batteries, only charging to 80%(so perhaps more batteries/thus more weight to get a specific daily range) or using fewer charged to 100%?

 

[DrewInSK]

Is the automatiq going to be an option? Seems to have been mentioned a while back...and I was told it might be available directly...but now I see the new bike version is the focus?

I'm really not a fan of the manual shifter after a full season of riding. Will eventually move on from this bike and upgrade to something else if that's what I'm stuck with.

 

[tgianco]

I have updated my bike: flat bar, grips, saddle and seat post clamp. Plus, a Foldylock. Much more reach. Silicone grips are tacky plus more comfortable. Yet to see the impact on a long ride.

Went with a Terry Liberator Y gel. 30 day trial plus support my local shop.

The bike is a bit quicker turning too.
View attachment 179020View attachment 179021View attachment 179022View attachment 179023

How is that seat working out for you?

 

[CincyKid]

I don't understand the question. Are you wanting the new Pro version to have the automatic shifter option or are you wanting to retrofit the shifter?

Why do you not like the current shifter?

I have 1300 miles on mine. I find it pretty easy to use

 

[CincyKid]

How is that seat working out for you?

Pretty good up to about 3.5-4 hours. After that my butt starts wanting to be home.

 

[DrewInSK]

I don't like it because I do not have the full range of shifting at any one time based on how it's designed. It's less effective to me than a regular stepped shifter. Also, have an injury that gets annoyed at the frequent twist.

edit: And I was expecting to retrofit based on what what I was told by folks at Zen. Unless there's a magical trade-up program to get this on a 2025 model. I'd consider it.

 

[Blunoser]

Drew, this is one of my concerns about this bike too. What do you mean by limited range at one time? Do you mean the twisting action runs out of range in one go on the shifter itself, or something else? My Shimano SLX rapidfire shifter only allows three gears in one sweep of the thumb for instance.
If you are really unhappy reach out to the Zen team and see what the status of the Automatiq is. It looks like it should be a simple plug and play thing from the pics I've seen of it. Of course if you want it to integrate with the motor then we are talking a whole new level of complexity.

 

[DrewInSK]

Drew, this is one of my concerns about this bike too. What do you mean by limited range at one time? Do you mean the twisting action runs out of range in one go on the shifter itself, or something else? My Shimano SLX rapidfire shifter only allows three gears in one sweep of the thumb for instance.
If you are really unhappy reach out to the Zen team and see what the status of the Automatiq is. It looks like it should be a simple plug and play thing from the pics I've seen of it. Of course if you want it to integrate with the motor then we are talking a whole new level of complexity.

I did just that right after I posted in terms of reaching out directly.

I mean that I cannot shift the entire range, it seems to need to be incremental. Same idea as the limit of 3, but, the way it limits(getting harder to turn) seems to be what bugs my arm.