15rms

After lurking here for several years I finally got myself an electric bike. I purchased from Lightfoot Cycles a Smoothie and had them install a 48 volt Bionx on it. The Smoothie is a long wheel base recumbent designed specifically for the Bionx. It is a discontinued model however I was able to talk Rod into building one for me. It has the battery out in front of the rider. The bike is the only LWB Recumbent I know of that will fit both my self at 5-10 and my girlfriend at 4-10.

I am pleasantly surprised at the Bionx. I find it very easy to comfortably cruise at 15 mph or above using level 2. If I want to exercise and push the bike I can hold a steady 20 mph on level 2. I played with the bike today for 20 miles. Climbing a very steep hill and trying different levels of assist and speeds. By the time I was done I had used 70% of the battery. I plan on doing some much longer rides using level 1 and slower speeds. I was fascinated by the way the Bionx worked. On level ground using a constant cadence and gear it seemed to not be using much energy. When I came to a hill without shifting gears I just pushed harder on the pedals and the Bionx kicked in with a higher level of assist.

G1nko

If you like the stock BionX then buy:

- 1x Crumb128 5.0 microcontroller board (chip45.com)
- 1x HR30-6J-6P male hirose connector (digikey)
- 1x HR30-6P-6S female hirose connector (also digikey)

Build a CAN interface from the parts, download BigXionFlasher, turn off the speed limitation on the stock BionX, and be prepared to absolutely love your BionX system.

15rms

Looks extremely interesting however over my head. Have you done one yourself? If so are you in the US?

G1nko

I did.

I am, though to be fair, ich wohnte in Deutschland für ein Jahr und spreche ein wenig Deutsch.

15rms

I now have 200 miles on my Bionx and love it. I had several problems with the system when I first received it. Some of the problems were the result of poor installation and the major problem of the Bionx totally failing was because of the fact Electric Bikes of New England sold me a kit that had a faulty hub motor. I don’t fault the store for unknowingly selling a faulty hub motor however after contacting them they disclaimed any responsibility. Consequently it cost me a lot of money to get the kit fixed. The local Bionx dealer would not perform the labor for free and I guess Bionx does not reimburse them for warranty work.

I have been riding the bike almost daily and have really enjoyed it. I live in a rather hilly region and use level 2 for most of my ride. I go to level 3 for almost all hills and I have a really steep hill I use level 4 on. When I want to extend the rage I use level 1 and go a rather slow speed.

An example of one of my rides I did on a flat path is this. 12 miles on level 1, 1 mile on level 2 11 miles on level 3 then 5 miles on level 4. After this ride I still had around 30% of my battery. I have had rides on hilly routes that burned the battery much faster. Even so my short very fast rides still take me 20 miles on level 4 on hilly terrain. I can’t wait tell this summer when I can go on extended level 1 rides for several hours. I believe this system will take my 200 lbs over 50 miles on level 1.

Except for the extremely poor service I have received by the selling dealer I am very happy with the Bionx. I wish I would have purchased it sooner.

powell

I am glad you enjoy your BIONX.
I bought Tioga bike /Canadian Quebec company/ equipped with BIONX SL drive for my wife .
What I noticed right away is how incredible light this ebike was.
I got used to my 1000W DD throttle EPLUS as my summer commuter and when I tried BIONX for the first time I could not detect any motor assist until I chose level3.
I got used to smooth silent EPLUS power so much that initially I was disappointed with BIONX, but when I realized how incredible light BIONX drive is
/even with 10Ah battery/ I said WOW.
BIONX no doubt is incredible efficient, even after 34km ride /no hills ride/ in level 4 my wife was unable to discharge 10Ah battery until cut off.
She was able to reach 31km/h sustained with zero wind on flat, tires at 40PSI warm but not hot but it was all, plenty of speed for her
BIONX is very intelligent computerized drive with many parameters adjustable, most of them only by dealer who have interface driver/disc/ I guess.
For example I am sure torque sensor sensitivity can be adjusted.

350htrr

Yes the torque sensor can be owner adjusted once you find the code, I have mine adjusted to about 50% more than factory setting and wow! level 1 now feels like level 2 was, and so on up to level 4 that now feels like a level 5+ which doesn't really exist but the bike now rips up to 32KMs/Hr. like never before... I am still looking for the speed code that would allow for a higher speed cut off point than the present level. No luck so far...

15rms

350htrr was that on the 48 volt system you adjusted the torque sensor on?

350htrr

Yes it is the 48V system, I also adjusted the re-gen braking of max re-gen when using the brake. Now everything is to my liking except the speed control, once I get to adjust that, I will be 100% satisfied with the BionX set up, right now I am at 99%...


EDIT; Here is how my set up performs... https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...bers?highlight=

adamtki

So how fast can the Bionx go if you disable the speed limit? In the past on my PL250, if I disabled the speed limit, I could only go up to 24 miles an hour before it was nearly all me doing the work.