Maiden voyage! (Maiden voyeur?) on the folding Voltbike.
It's super peppy. Takes off from a stand-still faster on the motor than I can standing on the pedals.
Seems ridiculously fast flat out on level ground...couldn't pedal fast enough to keep up with it in top gear.
Hauls me up the steepest hills at a good pace with reasonable pedalling to assist.
Normal riding position and long crank arms means I can contribute as much effort as on a full size bike(while magically closer to the ground). No harder on the body than any other bike.
Super manoeuvrable, fits in to tight spaces - like on the sidewalk - easily. Stable around corners, though one-handed riding is sketchy.
Tires survived ~50km/hr flying down the long hill on the way home. Super fun, super stupid!
Battery was dead cold when I got home. Motor was barely above ambient(10c), though the latter might be because of that long down hill right before getting home.
Nearly 15kms, battery resting voltage after was 37.9v, which suggests I used 1ah out of each cell, 5ah total, ~200 watt-hours...13.3wh/km; almost twice as power hungry as my electric hybrid road bike (which is lower wattage, relies entirely on pedal input to determine power output and has larger, skinnier wheels/tires). Sounds about right.
468w/h battery, claimed max range of 50km(min 32) confirmed.
Rode equivalent distance as my commute to work, would still have 20-odd percent of battery left if I was to ride it there and back.
Well, paint me impressed. Bafang/8Fun geared motors FTW!
Needs better braking on the rear. Fronts are great. Cheap or glazed pads?
4th gear makes the chain click ever so slightly now and then, should be a quick adjustment.
My butt needs a suspension seat post. I found one the right length and diameter on Aliexpress on the first try...$25 shipped to my door! Wasn't expecting to find them or if I did that they would be too expensive.
Going to work on the lights....already stuck a headlight on it. Something I ordered for another bike but was too small, was a perfect fit. Just gotta wire it in.
Battery switch is bypassed, going to test the switch and decide if it will just turn the controller on or if it will kill all power (which would be the wisest idea).
Oh and I had to move to the larger sprocket on the chainring to be able to pedal along with it at full speed. Said chainring is not stock; there is no shifter to shift which sprocket it's on. I'll leave it on the large sprocket, since I don't need the low gears anyway with the motor doing most of the work on take off.
Good purchase. Insight compatible. Very happy with it.
