“I've covered 1800kms on this bike with a young child in front of me in a child seat. I think I can comment on this bike with some insight.
Why I chose this bike:
What happens when you wear baggy shorts with full pockets, like I do when tending to children? With a horizontal bar on a regular bike design, you try to swing your leg over, but the pant leg catches your thigh. You can’t get the leg over. You wobble and hop and try to regain balance. With a child on the bike, the bike is top-heavy. The danger of dropping the bike with the child onboard is great. This is why I chose a step-through design.
BUT… Iaddes a Weeride kids seat and I didn’t realise that the kid’s bike seat I chose requires a fixed bar between the seat post and the handlebar stem. I sort of snookered myself. So, I now wear looser pants with shorter leg length.
The base model of this bike has calliper brakes. I went one model up — an extra $200 — for hydraulic disc brakes. I stop faster with less effort. I have not had to adjust them. I have to regularly adjust my other bike brakes, which have cables instead of hydraulic fluid.
It’s a power-assisted electric bicycle.
That means it has an electric motor powered by a battery. This motor only kicks in when you are pedalling and cuts out when you reach 25 kph. It’s not like a motorcycle where you twist the throttle on your handlebars, and you zoom off.
What does this mean when cycling with a child?
Every time I use the bike, I use as much power assist as possible. That’s 5 on the clickable selector on your handlebars. It goes from 1 - 5. It’s less effort. It’s more pleasant. It’s safer.
Why?
If you try to pedal without power assist, it’s like trying to pedal an army tank. The bikes are solid and heavy. I’m heavy. A child is heavy.
With pedal assist, it’s almost effortless except up steep hills.
Steep Hills
Here are two things I’ve learned about riding with my toddler grandson up steep hills.
Slow down and let the motor do the work. If you exert your leg muscles up steep inclines, you only gain about 1 km/h extra speed. It’s not worth it.
Stopping on a steep hill, facing uphill. Don’t. You need 6km/h for the power assist to kick in. So with power assist, it can be a wobbly start on a hill. As a rule, I avoid stopping anywhere facing up the hill. Instead, I edge to the roadside or onto the footpath and do the hill start side on. After a second, the power assist kicks in, and I have full control.
This bike has a range of up to 30km. Using full pedal assist on setting 5 sucks the electricity from the battery. I barely make two return trips to my grandson's house. That’s 28 kms and some good hills en route.
It takes about 6 hours to charge a flat battery to full. So as soon as we arrive at my place in the morning, the bike goes immediately onto charge. Remy helps me do this. It’s part of the ritual we have developed.
I will likely upgrade to a bike to take two children in the coming few years. Paying $4k didn’t make sense. I have already got value from this entry-level $1200 bike.
Comfort
The front-mounted child seat means I cycle with my knees splayed a little compared to how I ride on my other bike. True, this is not an ideal cycling position. That’s not how I’m approaching this. My rising goal is explained below. Know now that I suffer no discomfort. It’s very cruisy and relaxing.
Tyre Pressure
On my other road bike, I cycle with between 60-80psi in the tyres. When I started out riding this bike, I had the tyres inflated to 35psi. I’ve found that to be way too hard with these bigger tyres that are more like truck tyres. At 35psi, you feel all the jolts. I’ve found 20psi to be a sweet spot. The tyres still handle well. It’s cushioned. I get a month or two before repumping.
Mudguards
Real men don’t need mudguards. That’s what I’ve silently felt since I can remember. Now I love them. On a bike without mudguards, even if the rain has stopped, you arrive with a wet back from the water spun up by the back wheel. With mudguards — as long as it’s not a downpour — we arrive mostly dry.
Removable Battery
When I bought the bike, it didn’t even occur to me that a removable battery would be useful. It is. When I’m going on a longer ride for a half day, I can unlock the battery, slide it out and—if I have brought the wall charger along—give myself some reassurance I’ll make the trip home. And don’t underestimate the value of that reassurance.
I would give 4.5 stars if I could.”
