gigapprunner: Here are my initial thoughts on the subject bike, just from looking at their site and the Amazon page for it. (along with my experience with ChiComm bikes)
+ Massive battery, you can expect to get at least 30 miles on a charge at full throttle, with no pedaling. (the 110 mile figure is if you're OK going 10 mph and doing a large percentage of the work yourself.
- The claimed bike weight of 85 lbs. is a lot. You'll want a ramp going into a van or pickup truck to transport it. Or a sturdy 2" hitch-mounted rack and a strong back.
+ Of that 85 lbs, the battery is probably 20, which can be easily separated when needed.
- Typos all over
the ad copy on Amazon don't exactly fill me with confidence. That tells me that they don't have a single strong English speaker on staff.
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The promotional photo of the bike on their site has a bunch of rust on the cassette. This too does not fill me with confidence, as this is supposed to be the one that is PERFECT.
+ You purchased at the right time. With the tariffs increasing sharply on this type of product from China, prices will likely increase soon in reaction.
+/- Rear suspension and 20x3" fat tires should make for a nice ride, but will rob you of pedaling efficiency on a bike that will not be efficient to pedal from the start. This should be considered a bike on which to "ride the loophole" as one of our members likes to say; more of a low speed scooter than an eBike, per se. The bottom line here is DO NOT GET CAUGHT MILES FROM HOME WITH A DEAD BATTERY. You'll havea chest-grabber of a 6 mph ride home.
+ I like the fluid lines of the frame and the central location of the battery.
+/- The fenders offer OK coverage:
The rear could've gone down further in the front to keep grit out of the bottom bracket
The front fender should've been extended further in the front AND back. On a wet road, your shoes and pant cuffs are going to get dirty from the water spray and the water flung out the front is going to go right up and get on the headlight. (ride slowly on wet roads and this will be minimized)
- The fork stanchions are not very thick for the weight of this bike. Expect quite a bit of flex in the fork, which will impact how well it works.
+ I LOVE that basket built into the frame in front of the battery! Features like this are sometimes created on these ChiComm bikes and it makes me wonder why the Tier 4/5 bike engineers don't think of things like this.
- They advertise the 7-speed Shimano drivetrain as "professional", which is completely false. This is the very bottom of the line, and professionals ride 11-speed (or higher) cassettes nowadays. They should have advertised just that it is reliable. Even Shimano's entry level stuff is good; that's why they spent the money for it instead of a cheaper Chinese copy. There are a lot of other things in their ad copy that are completely false. Specification numbers pulled out of their butts everywhere. "60% more efficient motor"? The previous one must've been a real piece of crap. This kind of thing undermines actually true and important stats.
+ One thing I like about it is that it doesn't have a big chainring. (front sprocket) This will most likely mean you won't be able to "keep up" with the pedaling above 20 mph, (which bothers some people) but it also means that you have some fighting chance of pedaling home unpowered in a low gear in case you over-estimate the battery range. This was The Right Decision. Smaller chainring is better on these eMopeds. Another thing about a small chainring is that it will allow you to ride the bike on crowded multi-use paths unpowered at safe speeds.
- The controller seems to be mounted under the seat, but is not DIRECTLY under the seat. I hope its housing is sealed well against weather, as rain will easily hit it from the front. If not, you may want to seal it up any gaps with hot glue or silicone caulk, if it was not obviously left open for ventilation.
- The advertising for "puncture-resistant tires" also seems to be false. Those appear to be the ubiquitous Chao Yangs, which are soft and thin-walled. You would be well-advised to buy a bag of FlatOut sealant, so you're not trying to change tubes on this beast at the side of the road. Speaking of the tires, for your safety, ignore the printing on the sides that says to inflate them to 40 psi. That is REALLY hard for 20x3 fat tires and will likely cause a crash cornering at higher speed on pavement. 30 is a more reasonable max, and 20 would be a good number for unpaved trail riding. (that will cost you some range though, due to the higher rolling resistance)
groceryguy, how about an update? Surely you have the bike by now and surely you're not the type of fellow to make one post requesting help and then disappear forever?
