treknavigator

More chat about the product if you own one

knurly

What to chat? hmmm....

Well, either in assistance mode or regenerative mode, there is a transfer of energy.
Either way, I can probly heat up the battery by taxing the system too much.
It seems Bionx has circuitry that is probably saving the battery as I notice less
assistance or less regeneration according to the bars on the display.

BobV13

Mr Chekov, Set a course for Romola, warp 3!

John_V 

Glad I found this post so I don't have start another similar thread.

My wife has a recumbent tadpole trike that she uses because of her bilateral hip replacements and refuses to ride a two wheeled bike for fear of falling and injuring her hip(s). We plan on traveling Florida and then the US and bilking in as many places as we travel. Not everywhere is flat like Florida and because of the scar tissue and muscle loss from the surgeries, she has a difficult time climbing hills and bridges if they are too long or too steep. I want to get her a BionX system to help her with the climbs. Can someone give me some pros and cons to these battery assisted units? Do they work well on climbs or do they struggle to get up a hill? Her bike weighs in at 32 lbs and she is 125 lbs. We are not looking for it to do all the work, but to assist her when needed.

rscamp

It would give her all kinds of help. If you are interested in a more open (modifiable) system may I suggest an eZee system from a place like ebikes.ca. We have two of these on our trikes.

John_V 

Thanks, I'll look into those as I really don't know anything about electronic assist systems. I was looking for a system that comes with a 26" rear hub motor that can take a 1.25" tire, although tire width isn't going to be a big deal breaker if I can't find find one. I know that BionX has one and those are really the only one's I know about.

dgk02

What distance are you planning on riding? I have the Bionx system on a Trek hybrid (Valencia+) and can easily get 40 miles out of it, and that is the lower rated battery (6.6 AH i think, the standard one is 10), but I do pedal a lot. However once the battery is dead, I don't know if I'd want to ride it all that far or uphill, since they are fairly heavy. I do often ride it without using any power but it's nice to know that it's there if I want it.

John_V 

Currently, her max range is 35 miles. Depending on how much harder it is for her to pedal with the extra weight, she will most likely use the assist on steep hills and bridges.

rscamp

The eZee hub motor weighs a lot less, has similar torque and has no parasitic drag when not in use. If these features are important to you, this may be a better choice than the BionX.

tonylumps

I have 2 bionx kits and they work very well. The only negative about the kit is the price. But like they say you get what you pay for.The 4 power assist levels are outstanding and the throttle button works great but the full throttle eats up battery power quick. On assist level one, the weight of the kit is kind of nuturalized 2,3,4 levels are assist, level 4 is twice your power.The Bionx torque senser monitors your input power to the pedals. I very seldom use full throttle and have not run out of battery in a 48 mile Ride. At 69 years old and I live in pa. Without the Bionx Kit my riding would be very limited.

John_V 

Thanks for all the responses. I will start to look a bit more into both systems and then let her decide which one she wants.