Ride1Up Portola Thread

[Smaug]

I just ordered one yesterday, thinking I'll take it on a road trip vacation to CO with my daughter (12) this summer. It'll accompany my Lectric XP Lite in the back of my Honda CR-V: {LINK}

I hope to have it by the end of the week.

I shopped it hard against the Lectric XP 3.0, and went with this over the XP 3.0 because:

• A bit nicer hardware: thicker brake discs. It has a higher-end groupset as well, but I actually prefer the cheaper on on the XP 3.0, since it can blast down through all the gears with one thumbstroke.
• Lower gearing, for limping home or putting around pedestrians at a civil speed. I prefer this to higher gearing that can keep up with the motor at 28 mph.
• Easily removeable battery pack; no need to crack the frame and balance it awkwardly.
• Bolder color options (I LOVE the Sea Turquoise ↑)

On the other hand, the XP 3.0 has several features I wish this had:

• Key ignition is more secure in case the bike is left unattended for a moment (Portola only uses the key to remove the battery, as far as I can tell)
• "Slow release" front wheel; no need to lock it up. I'm going to see about fitting a regular axle bolt on my Portola; I don't want some bum stealing my wheel if I don't lock it and I don't want to carry a cable just for that purpose.
• Telescoping handlebar height adjustment (Portola is fixed height)
• Step-over frame option looks nicer, to my eye than either step-through.

I did order the upgraded seat & shock seatpost along with it, but nothing else. The panniers are limited to 12 lbs. per side, probably on account of velcroing together over the top. That seems kind of wimpy, compared to proper clip-on panniers, even the inexpensive Amazon ones. Front rack & basket may be tempting. Maybe a Topeak MTX Quick Track to use my sweet tailbag from the other bike? Maybe an accessory headlight mount to use the killer light I got for my eMoped.

We'll see! More to come...

 

[Hoggdoc]

I just ordered one yesterday, thinking I'll take it on a road trip vacation to CO with my daughter (12) this summer. It'll accompany my Lectric XP Lite in the back of my Honda CR-V: {LINK}

I hope to have it by the end of the week.

I shopped it hard against the Lectric XP 3.0, and went with this over the XP 3.0 because:

• A bit nicer hardware: thicker brake discs. It has a higher-end groupset as well, but I actually prefer the cheaper on on the XP 3.0, since it can blast down through all the gears with one thumbstroke.
• Lower gearing, for limping home or putting around pedestrians at a civil speed. I prefer this to higher gearing that can keep up with the motor at 28 mph.
• Easily removeable battery pack; no need to crack the frame and balance it awkwardly.
• Bolder color options (I LOVE the Sea Turquoise ↑)

On the other hand, the XP 3.0 has several features I wish this had:

• Key ignition is more secure in case the bike is left unattended for a moment (Portola only uses the key to remove the battery, as far as I can tell)
• "Slow release" front wheel; no need to lock it up. I'm going to see about fitting a regular axle bolt on my Portola; I don't want some bum stealing my wheel if I don't lock it and I don't want to carry a cable just for that purpose.
• Telescoping handlebar height adjustment (Portola is fixed height)
• Step-over frame option looks nicer, to my eye than either step-through.

I did order the upgraded seat & shock seatpost along with it, but nothing else. The panniers are limited to 12 lbs. per side, probably on account of velcroing together over the top. That seems kind of wimpy, compared to proper clip-on panniers, even the inexpensive Amazon ones. Front rack & basket may be tempting. Maybe a Topeak MTX Quick Track to use my sweet tailbag from the other bike? Maybe an accessory headlight mount to use the killer light I got for my eMoped.

We'll see! More to come...

Welcome to our forum, looks like you made a wise choice although the other brand has a pretty good reputation when it comes to Customer Service and after sales support. Hope you enjoy your trip with your daughter.

 

[DieselTech]

I just ordered one yesterday, thinking I'll take it on a road trip vacation to CO with my daughter (12) this summer. It'll accompany my Lectric XP Lite in the back of my Honda CR-V: {LINK}

I hope to have it by the end of the week.

I shopped it hard against the Lectric XP 3.0, and went with this over the XP 3.0 because:

• A bit nicer hardware: thicker brake discs. It has a higher-end groupset as well, but I actually prefer the cheaper on on the XP 3.0, since it can blast down through all the gears with one thumbstroke.
• Lower gearing, for limping home or putting around pedestrians at a civil speed. I prefer this to higher gearing that can keep up with the motor at 28 mph.
• Easily removeable battery pack; no need to crack the frame and balance it awkwardly.
• Bolder color options (I LOVE the Sea Turquoise ↑)

On the other hand, the XP 3.0 has several features I wish this had:

• Key ignition is more secure in case the bike is left unattended for a moment (Portola only uses the key to remove the battery, as far as I can tell)
• "Slow release" front wheel; no need to lock it up. I'm going to see about fitting a regular axle bolt on my Portola; I don't want some bum stealing my wheel if I don't lock it and I don't want to carry a cable just for that purpose.
• Telescoping handlebar height adjustment (Portola is fixed height)
• Step-over frame option looks nicer, to my eye than either step-through.

I did order the upgraded seat & shock seatpost along with it, but nothing else. The panniers are limited to 12 lbs. per side, probably on account of velcroing together over the top. That seems kind of wimpy, compared to proper clip-on panniers, even the inexpensive Amazon ones. Front rack & basket may be tempting. Maybe a Topeak MTX Quick Track to use my sweet tailbag from the other bike? Maybe an accessory headlight mount to use the killer light I got for my eMoped.

We'll see! More to come...

Do they offer the Portola in a cargo bike model?

Thanks. Congrats on another ebike.

 

[Smaug]

Do they offer the Portola in a cargo bike model?

No, but this one seems to be pretty cargo-friendly!

 

[Smaug]

Looks like it'll arrive tomorrow; that was quick!
Too bad their online signature functionality isn't working. I'll have to work remotely tomorrow:

 

[Smaug]

Ride1Up must've known it's still cold in Wisconsin. The hat actually feels nice and warm:

A quick-assembly guide. It's missing some key things, so I think it would have been best to just omit this altogether and force the owner to look at the regular manual:

This is the stem cap. We can see they made a half-hearted attempt (and failed) at putting thread locker on here:

m@ put me onto this stuff, which works a lot better:

The "tool kit" (set of metric ball-end hex keys) didn't include anything for the rear axle nuts. Luckily, I have one now that I had to buy one for my Lectric XP Lite. If you want The Best, you can read the Snap-on P/N from the wrench and order yourself one. (full disclosure: I work at Snap-on) In retrospect, I probably should have gotten one of those semi-box end wrenches that grips all but one corner.

Seat clamp has the nice fine angle adjustment bolts that higher-end bicycles have: It was pretty flat and I didn't need to fiddle with it:

Thin & nasty quick-release front axle. Note that it's not really the right size for the cutouts in the end of the fork. This is something they need to work on, even at this low price point. This is why the front wheel wasn't aligned properly not to drag on the brakes. (more on that below):

Here's the dirt on the charger. Decoding the certification marks at the upper right:

• CE is self-declared compliance to all relevant European regulations and directives. It's honor system except by random audi and in case of trouble, the government digs into it. If found NOT to be in compliance, the manufacturer pays a PER UNIT fine!
• RoHS = Reistriction of Hazardous Substances. It means if this ends up in the ground for whatever reason, the chemicals that leech out of it won't be as bad as they could be.
• cULus = UL Listed for the US and Canada. This is a 3rd party safety certification by the USA's premier certification agency. (for whom I used to work) It's a stronger mark than CE, because they conduct un-announced quarterly factory inspections to make sure the construction continues to be in compliance with the requirements. It's expensive, but there's a certain amount of quality control that comes along with it, in my experience. They can't just switch to cheap & nasty components if they are critical to the safety of the device.
• FCC = Meets USA EMC (electro magnetic compatibility) requirements.
  Below these, left-to-right are:
• Double Insulated symbol. (box within a box) Means it has double the electrical insulation that it would have if it were a grounded type charger.
• Warning symbol (usually, this is directly followed by some verbiage; strange that it's not here...)
• Household use symbol. (not for industrial use, but OK for light commercial use too)
• Shock Hazard Inside symbol.
• Do not throw out with unsorted waste. Recycle it with an electronics recycler.
• The 'T5A' and the symbol underneath it means the output is protected with a 5 A time-delay fuse.
• To the right of that is a polarity drawing. They put two different types of output plug on this, so they don't have to change the laser marking when they switch between barrel and XLR-type connectors.
• Note that some Chenglish made its way into the list of CAUTIONS:

Battery pack markings. The only "certification" on the battery pack is the self-declared CE. I hear they're working on this, but I'll have to be trusting for now.

A high quality seat clamp, with a nice slick powdercoated paint job on the post. I like the indexed markings every 1 cm on the seat post. With my 31" inseam, I prefer 1 or 2. There's only one more marking below the '1', and that's the Minimum Insertion mark. I'm only 5'8" tall, so the recommendation for this bike for riders up to 6'3" tall is really stretching things. If you have a longer inseam than 32" and you prefer to be able to get full leg extension, you should pass on this bike or source a longer seat post:

 

[Smaug]

Top/latch side of the battery. There's a handy battery gauge there:

This is the lever that actuates the latch, once the lock is unlocked with the key from the side:

Battery contacts. Voltage can be measured between pins 1 & 6, despite markings that would seem to indicate otherwise. Note the 'REENTION' brand name on the connector block. I wonder if this might be a 2nd source for batteries in times of scarcity? The contacts are very slick-operating.

I found the front brake was dragging a bit, due to the front wheel not being quite true between the pads. I flipped the bike over on the Handlebar Jacks and fiddled around until I got it straightened out. Be careful popping it over: the rear fender will hit the floor if you just try to roll it back. One has to actually LIFT the bike a bit to avoid bending or scratching the paint off the rear fender. The rear wheel was true.

 

[Smaug]

All built-up. This is just a cheap Amazon tail bag, but it works great. I only carried my Kryptonite U-lock this time:

Time for an Aldi run:

At home amongst its siblings:

This is $20 worth of groceries!

 

[Smaug]

I brought my proper bike GPS to get some stats for y'all on my Aldi run :

 

[Smaug]

Now for some notes I made while assembling the bike. - means it's a drawback, + means it's good, and +/- means it could be consider either or maybe it's just in the middle:

- Like many other bikes, the key is needed only to remove the battery. There is no keyed power switch like Lectrics have. However, by default, the display is set up to require a 4-digit PIN code before it will energize the bike. I prefer the keyed power switch that Lectric uses.

- The included owner's manual (an older version of this one) doesn't include display programming instructions. It's mostly just a bunch of warnings. Additionally, the bike was programmed from the factory for Europe or Asia, limited to 25 kph. (15.5 mph) it took me as long to figure this out as it did to put the rest of the bike together. Poking around on their website, I found three instruction sheets. The first two are obsolete and conflict with each other. They are from some time prior to Oct. 2020. The third document linked on this page was written by a customer and is the only one worth looking at. {DIRECT LINK TO THE GOOD ONE}

- The tool kit has a full set of ball end metric hex keys: 2, 2.5, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10 mm; but no 8 mm wrench, which will be needed to remove the rear wheel in case of a flat. I think Ride1Up should throw in a nice 18 mm semi-box wrench, as most wrench sets home mechanics have don't include 18 mm. (or at least neither of mine did!)

- The pedals are plastic and (at least now) have high friction bearings. I'm going to swap these out with a nice set of quick-release pedals; something like these.

- Front brake drags out of the box due to the front wheel not running true between the pads. There's too much slop in the front axle arrangement. It is a bit of a loose fit in the dropouts.

- I bought the Touring Package, which includes a better seat, shock seatpost and mirror. I mostly was interested in the shock seatpost. When I went to install it, I noticed it is significantly shorter than the stock one, which is already marginal. This is going back to them.

+/- I don't really like the knobby tires. They make lots of noise and add rolling and air resistance. I may order a set of street tread ones when I get back from CO later this summer.

+ Very nice brakes, all-around

+ Very nice shifter/derailleur

+ Saddle is not bad

+ The handlebar controls are well thought-out. Near the right grip is a nifty little (but quiet) bell that just looks like a ring.

+ Nice design on the latches for the folding handlebar stem and frame hinge.

More coming as I notice things.

 

[Smaug]

I put 40+ miles on the Portola this weekend, including a 31 mile coffee & brunch run including two coffee shops and a brunch meet-up with fam. The 3x20" fat tires are a good balance between ride quality (inflated to 30 psi) and efficiency. Controls are good. The display allows a lot of flexibility in how the bike is programmed, but it was not set up well from the factory. It was set up for European limits and units and there is conflicting information on Ride1Up's site about how to handle it.

I programmed the battery voltage bar graph per Anton's discharge level chart, but its voltmeter is wildly inaccurate, so that when the battery is fully charged, the battery level display shows about half charge. The bright side is that I CAN program it to be accurate, but it is going to take a lot of trial & error fiddling to account for the inaccurate built-in voltmeter.

Similarly, the power output is wildly inaccurate. Pedaling in top gear going 27 mph showed 30 W draw, and I'm sure it was much closer to 1,000 W in reality.

The wheel size in the controller was set to 26". Lectric doesn't allow much user control, but they do a MUCH better job setting up their controller from the factory.

 

[Smaug]

Today, I reached out to R1U about the battery level display. Rather than the typical voltages recommended by @Anton and others, R1U recommends the following:

(Source: https://support.ride1up.com/support...ttery-display-voltage-and-percentage-readouts)

I also put the FlatOut in the tires, as the rear is going to be a b**ch to get off in the field:

Then, I went for a nighttime ride to run an errand and check on the new battery display programming and headlight. That 21 mph wind was gusting to 37 mph, so it was a tough ride home:

After 7.5 miles at PAS3-5, it still shows full, so I’m inclined to bump up the top bar a volt, but I’ll wait and see a bit.

The headlight is good to about 15 mph in the pitch dark.

I set the seat post to its maximum extension and it’s just about right for my 31” inseam at full leg extension with hiking boots on. (I’m 5’8” [173 cm] tall) a 6’4” tall dude is going to get a lot less power than I will unless he stands up and mashes on the pedals.

 

[Smaug]

One thing I noticed on the commute in this morning: the howl of the knobbies makes me feel like I'm really going fast! Then, I look down: 12 mph.

 

[FrankR]

Nice looking bike. Caught my attention recently.

Sure would be nice if the various companies allowed for different tires. So many people buy these and ride them pure street - and would benefit from slicker tires. When my tires wear out, the replacements will definitely be for street, not dirt.

 

[Smaug]

I emailed Ride1Up a few days ago about returning the "Touring Package" (suspension seat post, plush seat, mirror). I told them the seat post is too short and the seat & mirror alone don't make the package worth it. I assured them nothing was used; didn't even fit the seat post in the tube.

They replied yesterday afternoon that they normally don't accept returns on accessories, but since it doesn't fit, they would make an exception.

To me, that's a bit bogus, they are not ashamed to brand the accessories or charge a decent price for them, so they should stand behind them just like they would the bikes. (it's different when they're included "free")

Still, I can't complain too much, as they did say I could just send it back and send them Tracking Info and they would refund me.

9/10 for after-sale support so far.

I'll use the proceeds to fit a MirrCycle mirror and probably just leave the seat alone.

I really like this little bike. If I weren't so spoiled, I would put street tires on it and it could be my only eBike.

 

[Smaug]

Today, I reached out to R1U about the battery level display. Rather than the typical voltages recommended by @Anton and others, R1U recommends the following:
View attachment 13855
(Source: https://support.ride1up.com/support...ttery-display-voltage-and-percentage-readouts)

So far, using these settings has not resulted in the battery gauge ever varying from full. It's possible I haven't run it down far enough yet, but not likely. I need to commit to not charging it until I run it down a lot more to know.

The wattmeter is wildly inaccurate on this bike; never shows more than 30 W. I'm sure it is well over 500 W at times. Makes me wonder if the Watts are derived from the inaccurate voltmeter?

Lectric definitely has their controller & display sorted out better than Ride1Up does. I'm not regretting the purchase, but I would definitely recommend Lectric to newbies over Ride1Up, based on this.

 

[Smaug]

Update: I was going to let the inaccurate wattmeter and battery gauge go. Ride1UP followed up with me out of the blue to see if my problem had been fixed. I said no, even after I set the voltage levels to their recommendations. They asked for a video, which I provided:


The replied that they would send me a new controller when they came into stock.

Very pleased with their customer service; a bit less pleased with their quality control.

 

[Annieolnie]

When you receive your new controller could you give us a primer on what you can change and what you cannot? Is it wattage based instead of speed based in its pedal assist modes and can you adjust those power levels? I feel as though none of the major companies give enough information regarding each bikes type of controller. Thanks.

 

[Smaug]

When you receive your new controller could you give us a primer on what you can change and what you cannot? Is it wattage based instead of speed based in its pedal assist modes and can you adjust those power levels? I feel as though none of the major companies give enough information regarding each bikes type of controller. Thanks.

Well, it's a display they're going to send, not a controller. If it's any different than my current one, I'll let you know. I assume mine only has bad firmware.

One of the selling points of the Portola to me was that it has a lot more programming options than Lectric.

On the flipside, I'm finding that Lectric doesn't NEED as many, because they're more well thought-out to begin with; the users don't have to correct mistakes or program for our home market.

 

[Smaug]

I got the new display in the mail the other day. Very easy to change, the plug in the cable was close to the controller, before the cables were all wrapped into a harness. The battery level appears to be more accurate now; I'll check the voltage when it's depleted.

The power display seems to be correct now. It is reading in dozens or hundreds of Watts instead of a max. of 12 W.

When you receive your new controller could you give us a primer on what you can change and what you cannot? Is it wattage based instead of speed based in its pedal assist modes and can you adjust those power levels? I feel as though none of the major companies give enough information regarding each bikes type of controller. Thanks.

As for what we have control over, check this page, including the linked documents at the bottom. Of those linked documents at the bottom, two of them are out-of-date and should be deleted.

I think Ride1UP gives a LOT of control, maybe more than they should, which opens them up to a lot of Customer Service emails and calls. It's good for us tinkerers.