CKnDave

This may be true. I have the woman's bike. I am only 5' 4" and even with the seat all the way down, I am just touching the ground with my feet. The men's bike at 26" would be painful for me

However, in riding, I have found that my bike does have shocks on it and the seat is not too bad. I do not do distance biking however (as in more than 5 miles per side). If I did, I would replace my seat. I have no qualms over the ladies bike...I LOVE the step through frame and I REALLY LOVE sitting upright to bike. My back and neck do not like bending as in mountain biking (my camping bike) although I will put up with it until I can get my next bike for Christmas (want a ladies stepthrough mountain comfort bike!). The brakes seem to work fine for me.

CK

lynnala

I didn't mean that the women's bike doesn't have shocks! But if you go to the Walmart page and enlarge the pics, you can see that on the men's bike there is an accordian kind of shock thing just under the seat, which makes the seat bounce a bit when you ride it. I rode them both today. And bought the women's, by the way (but you already know that)....I also think the brakes work just fine on the women's model. I think the only difference might be a quick stop at full throttle, hopefully something I won't be doing!

donob08

lynnala
I think there are more differences trailz/mt trailz. men's/step thru than many of us knew. You were lucky to have seen them all. I bought my men's trailz "site to store" at Walmart. I never saw one til I opened the box.
But I'm very happy with the bike. The linear brakes, aren't disk but they stop it faster than any other bike I've ridden. The seat is kind funky looking. It's broad at the back with two spherical doodads protruding underneath, but it treats my bones as well as the Brooks saddle I've ridden for 30+ years. I do 40+ miles several days a week quite comfortably.

CK I know I owe you an assignment: Preventative Maintenance Ideas for eZips is actually coming along. Can I get a few day extention, teacher, please.
Also, many people believe that seat height should be set for proper extention of the leg at the bottom of the pedal push, not for ease of touching the ground. I have to get off my seat to touch the ground.

CKnDave

Take all the time you need, Sir Don! In two days, I am off on a two week Colorado camping trip so unfortunately my motor-powered companion will be sitting in the dark in my garage dreaming of bike trails!

I remember, when I had dreams of being a competitive mountain biker, shopping for a bike that would still allow me to have children after hitting the brakes and trying to reach the ground! I think I ended up with the smallest frame Kona on the market at the time! There were no step through mountain bikes. Just looking at the 26" frame Ezip mountain bike/men's bike brings back many painful memories! And after all that, found out I am too wimpy to mountain bike with the best of them. I found, as in skiing, that I need about 8 feet around me in all directions to be happy on a trail!

Ah well, reminiscing is over.....

CK

donob08

CK Enjoy the outing. My wife is one of the few women I know personally who would be in the woods for two weeks. I know I brag about her too much, but catching her was my biggest accomplishment. There is a rule from the Queen, (BTW, thanks for the Knighthood, I didn't think westerners believed in that stuff) we have to hit a motel, shower, nice restaurant once a week or so.

Have fun, Don

vermontcathy

Just one more woman's perspective on the men's frame. I have the Men's Trailz (not the Mountain Trails) and I am also 5'4" and I can stand over the frame just fine. I agree with what someone else said about seat height - I wouldn't expect (on a men's or women's frame) to be able to touch the ground very well while sitting on the seat. I come off the seat when I stop. The cross bar is lower than on some men's bikes I've ridden - you can see from the photos that it does slope down somewhat. In hindsight, I may have considered the women's model just because it would be easier to get on and off the bike, but my husband uses the bike occasionally and wouldn't be fond of the pink, and I also heard that the women's bike doesn't have a mount (screws) for a water bottle cage.

CKnDave

Did I say I was roughing it...HAHAHAHAHA. Not exactly. We actually call it campERing. We have a 26 foot Lazy Daze. I have my own toilet, shower, etc. We go up to state parks around CO. My days of roughing it are over! In my younger days, I did a two week backpacking trip but alas the knees and lower back will not do that anymore. I overdid my limits quite a bit when younger now the body is paying me back. Now, just give me a view, a book, a glass of good wine....I am a happy camper.

CK

WJChris

My 2008 Mountain Trailz does not have Disc front brakes.

donob08

Hey

Maybe Chris has pointed out something significant. I worked in China, a couple of times. Granted they were 5 and 8 years ago, but I suspect there may not be a "standard" women's Mt Trailz in the same sense we understand "standard".

lynnala

Interesting. The one I looked at yesterday did, and the dealer specifically pointed it out as one of the differences with the ladies bike. Perhaps they've changed the style, now that it looks like you can no longer get them at Walmart or just about anywhere else!

WJChris

It can be added real easily. The front forks/shocks have the mounts for it.

CKnDave

Well phooey, I bought a pillow seat for my Kona that will not go on the bike. Guess it will have to go on the Ezip (yeah!). My Kona seat has a different base. Gonna have to suffer with an old seat this camping trip, yuck.

So question...my battery is topped up...do I need to do anything with it for the two weeks I am gone?

Thanks, CK

tpreitzel

No. Just leave the pack OFF the charger for the two weeks that you're camping. BEFORE riding the E-Zip when you return, recharge the battery first and you'll be fine.

CKnDave

Thanks! Putting a sticky note on the battery to remind me when I get back. CK

CBR1100XX

What's the weather resistance of the e-zip? Do you have to make sure that it's not raining at all? is it sealed up enough to handle light rain/drizzle? or is it like a bloody submarine and can handle any amount of water without leaking ?

WJChris

It looks like it can handle some rain. I have not gone over it yet, but some Silicone RTV may be a good idea to fill some cracks/joints in the controller. The motor looks like it should be fine.

WJChris

How about charge levels, and the grip indicator...

My batteries were charge overnight and as soon as I get on it and use it, the light goes from green to yellow, and even red on steel hills for a moment.

Is this normal?

vermontcathy

Even when my battery is fully charged, both the green and yellow are on as soon as I turn it on (not even using the motor). Then, yes, on steep hills, the green goes out, and the red can come on. I kind of use it as a battery gage - if the red comes on on a steep hill, and won't go off even if I pedal hard to help it, the battery is getting pretty low.

WJChris

good info, thank you.

Also in regard to the front disc brakes, I just realized that maybe lynnala was actiually looking at an IZIP, not EZIP.

The IZIP have disc brakes.

UncleRoy

Sorry it took me so long to reply.

If you are using 2 batteries on your trip you need to charge them both.
You should not wait 6-8 hours for the 1st battery to finish before charging the 2nd one.

tpreitzel

Although everyone won't agree, I do. A backup charger is a good idea anyway.

lynnala

Ah, that could be. He had both bikes. Maybe he meant that was the difference between the zips, not the sexes!

WJChris

Just got back from my maiden voyage.

12.5 miles each way. Hill climb of 600 feet in about 1/2 mile within the first 3 miles. I could barely keep the 125 pound bike (2 batteries) moving! Once I got to the top I hit 42MPH down the other side. Let me tell you this thing is UNSTOPPABLE!!! Well, actually, the brakes were good from 40 to 0 in about 50 feet with non-aggressive pulling.

I had an hour rest and headed back for home. I tried to keep using the first battery, but that was futile. It was pretty spent.

Switched in the second battery and kept up 15 MPH for the first 6 or 8 miles on the flat lands, then headed back up the hill. This direction was a more gradual incline, but longer isnt really better! About 2/3 the way up my thighs gave up, I could not keep the bike moving with me on it. I walked with the bike powering itself next to me for about 3 minutes and figured I could tough the last 100 yards to the top. So, I hopped back on and cruised on the summit for about 1/2 mile and looked behind me for traffic. There was a car about 500 yards back and I was already at 25 MPH (speed limit 35). I pulled out and tucked in for the ride.

Remember the 600 foot climb in 1/2 mile? Well, now I am off to the races. The car was nowhere close as I ran past the "your speed is __" sign as it ticked 45, 46, 47 (Speedo read top speed of 48.8!!) and I blew past it. This bike is not made for 50 MPH, too top heavy, but I held on nonetheless.

I got to the bottom and the light was green so I kept rolling. I held about 35 MPH for another 200 yards or so and that was all I had. The battery was still showing yellow, but I could barely keep 10 MPH.

I arrived home with completely drained batteries and legs that cant hold themselves up!

I hope that a 9 hour break during work will help me get home feeling less tired, but I am also sure that the more I get out there, the better it will get.

This is tough!

I cant ride tomorrow because I got to charge both batteries back up, but I will get back on this thing Monday for sure!

tpreitzel

Only under the most optimum conditions will an average rider even approach 12 miles on one battery. Furthermore, it's not good for the life of the battery to drain them so severely. Add the steep climb and some wind and you're probably looking at a range of 6 miles per battery even with pedal assist. Under the conditions for your test ride, one way was probably near the limit for BOTH batteries if you want to maximize their life span. As one person has suggested, you might try alternating batteries during the ride. In other words, don't drain one battery before switching to the other one. Repeat the process which will allow the batteries to stabilize before draining them further.

Crazy ... you must make a good sized target for the detector. Anyhow, I like to keep speeds under 35 mph while biking, and I don't even want to think about 50 mph on an E-Zip.

donob08

About the display radar systems, there may be different systems. I regularly ride by one and it displays a speed matching my cyclometer. In fact, the radar is what tip me off that my cyclometer had toggle to a second wheel diameter and was reading a few % high. Then I just had to spend minutes (quite a few) figuring/recalling the right button sequence to change it back. A second run had cyclometer radar matching.