Aloha everyone! I am in the market for an electric fat bike, for both exercise and for fun. Want both pedal assist as well as a throttle and good torque for the steep hills around me. Looking for comments from your experiences. Mahalo!
During the six months I lived in Kona riding a bicycle kept me in shape riding those hills.. Also saved enough cash to buy a new motorcycle when I returned to Idaho..
would you consider a motobecane type bike... true it's gas but has no electronics and tops at 25 mph...
I had a friend with something similar to this. It is a small gas engine, is detachable, (just folds up off the wheel) and barely sips gas. It had a pretty good cruising speed to it, as well.
go-e ONwheel electrifies your bike from below Check out the links at the bottom of the page, as well. Many options out there.
You have to check with YOUR DMV Hanzo. Some don't consider it a factory powered moped but an aftermarket powered bike. Here in my AO it's up to local pols. whether and where it's legal to ride. City streets,county roads, or state highways.
On Oahu, mopeds are not allowed on bike paths and sidewalks. I believe the electric bikes that have a motor shut off at 20 mph are, except in the business district and Waikiki, where all bikes are road only. No 20 mph shut off are off road only, from my understanding. I selected the Pedego Trail Tracker. My reasons were: Their service was exceptional. I contacted a whole bunch of companies about their bikes and Pedego Kailua stood apart. This may have tied in to the second reason. They are local. I have able to physically test the bike. They let me take it on an extended ride, and it was fun! The owner made a special trip in from his contracting job to meet me and show me his bike. I also looked at custom bikes that are way more powerful and are capable of way more speed. But I chose a purpose made factory bike because it looks more put together. Not sure how to explain, but hopefully you understand. Also, I am ok with the power and speed limit since I do plan to ride on bike paths and such. Didn't want to run afoul of the law. And so long as it has enough power to get me up my steep hills so I can get home, I am good to go. Last reason is that it was really fun. I test drove it for about an hour including going over road, dirt, gravel, rocks, grass, roots and sand. There was no steep hill to test it on, so that is my only concern. But the reviews say it can handle. And I think the police use or used to use the Pedego Interceptor without any speed and power cut off. The Interceptor uses the same battery and motor as the Trail Tracker, except the Trail Tracker motor cranks out about 20% more power. 600W vs 500W. If I hadn't already driven for three hours for soccer, I would have driven another hour to pick it up. Now, it will wait till tomorrow or Monday.
My bike just fit the bed of my truck. Took it for an hour ride today, including up one of my steep hills. Went about two miles to get to the top. The pedal assist is pretty good, even though it will take getting use to. It does flatten the hill out as advertised. The motor is not the most powerful, but is legal. So I could pedal up at 10-12 mph, which is way better than with no assist. And got a leg workout without getting winded. Normally, I'd be crawling with the granny gear. On the last section almost to the top, I wanted to try throttle only. Because the motor is not that powerful, my speed started dropping really quick. Got down to 5 mph in a couple of seconds and I pedaled to speed back up. Next time I will try and see what it can do on it's own. This time, I didn't charge the battery first. But an hour of riding dropped it about one bar overall. But when I was throttling up the steep hill, I saw the battery level dropping to one bar. Total is six, I think. I picked up the bike with about 4 bars. And it went down to three pretty early in my ride. And it ended at 3. Charging it up now for tomorrow. Thinking of doing the commute to my tai chi class and see how it goes. Should be mostly shoreline for the most part. And a couple of hills each way. Should only be about six miles each way, not including any exploring. Just want to make sure I have the juice for the last two miles up hill to get home.
My initial review of the Pedego Trail Tracker... Yup, first thing I see is how big the tires are. And like they say in their ad, it does ride over most anything. And it is fun. Pros: Stable ride Wasn't as hard to pedal as I thought it might be. The gears do a good job. Has power, so you can ride with pedal assist and/or throttle Power helps to flattens out hills So far, I easily went over road, grass, sand, dirt, gravels, small rocks, roots and broken sidewalk Went down slopes faster than I did with my old mountain bike. Steepest was a rutted 45 degree dirt one. The fat tires take some of the shock from riding. Throttle has good pick up. It was fun to ride. Was told (not confirmed) that the store I bought it from will do repairs and servicing for free, including fixing flats. Was also told that the fat bike is the least likely to get flats from the store clerk's experience. They rent these bikes out in droves. Cons: Expensive Heavy Would be great is it was more powerful. Steep hills suck the juice out of it and I slowed to a crawl on throttle only. With power assisted pedaling, I could do 10-12 mph up a steep hill without strain. Legally capped at 20 mph on throttle power. Only 7 speeds.
This one doesn't. I got the larger battery to help get my 200 pound carcass up my long hills. I charged my bike last night. Started this morning with 5 bars. Ended and hour and a half later, plus my hill, with 5 bars. Rode for the most part without power assist. There is a slight lag in the assist part. Used power to help me up my long hill though. My last leg was two miles up hill.
My ride this morning was about an hour and a half. Wanted to scout out a possible commuting route to one of my tai chi classes. Was telling the wifee after, that if I bike it to my tai chi classes on Tuesdays, I will be wiped out. About a 30 minute commute to (downhill), an hour and a half of classes, about a 45 minute ride back (uphill), and then a two hour class. It was really voggy and hazy this morning. It was in the 80's when I got up. I left before the monkeys got up. it already felt like 98 degrees according to the weather app. And by the time I got home, it felt like 107. The sweat pouring off me after I stopped riding concurred with the app. On my ride, I only made two short stops. The first was at my turn around point where I looked for a safe and secure spot to park and lock my bike for when I commute. And to drink some water. The second was just a nice grassy spot at the edge of the ocean to take a quick picture. There were other areas to take pictures, but my intent today was to get a gauge of the timing for the ride. After a cold shower, my post ride meal. Oxtail soup and sushi. It was really hot and muggy after getting back too. And it got even hazier. At least when I left, I could see the mountains. No so after getting back. Anyway. A nice and fun ride.
Today was my longest day yet. Left the house at 8:45 am. Got home at 3:15. During that time, I took a 15 minute break for a honey cake and coffee. And took a 30 minute break for lunch. Other than that, was biking and tai chi. Tai chi was 1 1/2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. The rest of the time was biking for my commute or just tooling around. Was sooo tired and hungry during the last half hour of my afternoon class. Notes on the bike. If you go up something steep, plan on cranking on the pedals. My preference is to turn off the pedal assist and just use it manually. And when I hit a hill, I crank the throttle as needed. Or if I want to go fast. More control that way. If you want to throttle up hills without your own input, you will need a bike that has a more powerful motor that wouldn't be legal on the bike paths and sidewalks. Or in my case, drop some weight. At 200, even some shorter distances on slopes will not fly unless I pedal. At the park, I took some (30 degrees, I guessing) grass slopes. Even with some momentum, I had to pedal to make it over. There were some taller and steeper slopes that I didn't even try. Good battery. Charged it up for a few hours yesterday. Five bars to start. Ended the day, it was just dropping to four bars. That tells me that the way I am riding will have my battery last pretty much all day. And the pedaling is pretty smooth and comfortable.
Well, it stopped raining. So I went for a short ride. Man, it was the hottest I have felt riding. The weather report at the time said it felt like 105. And it surely did. My original intent was to ride to Pearl Harbor and turn around at the Arizona Memorial launch area. That would have made my ride about 12 miles with a major hill. I made it down to the Pearl Harbor bike path, but turned around when there was a large flooded area. They saw not to ride the path if there is flooding like that. Last year, the flooding washed out chunks of the trail. The actual cement trail got washed away and it was a muddy mangrove swamp after. What deterred me was that there are so many industrial things that border the path that I think the water is pretty filthy. And didn't want to take a chance of it screwing up my motor, which would have been submerged. So a much shorter ride of only about seven miles. But I did tackle the longest and steepest hill in my area. Always hated biking up that hill. And I still do not like turning on power assisted pedaling, so when it got tough, I cranked the throttle. On full throttle, I am still cranking away hard on the pedals and I could still feel the hill. But the motor does make a big difference. Instead of getting my butt kicked, I get winded. Not too bad a deal. Didn't stop the whole way up. With my mountain bike, I got my as, er, butt kicked and stopped often. Made a side trip to check out a drainage canal nearby. Normally, it is mostly dry and usually not flowing. It was going fast today. So while the ride was shorter than planned, I did ride off my bannock and coconut water.
