Originally Posted by
AngieM
Interesting. For what I paid for the iZip Zuma, I hope I won't need to be buying anything more too soon, but I may look into those bar ends. Thanks for the info. I'm not understanding why Samse considers his LifePO battery a "piece of junk." If you do, send it on over to me! I'm expecting delivery of the bike any day and I'm a nervous wreck, to say the least. Hope I did the right thing. I got a good deal on it, approx. $350 less than the price everywhere else and free S&H. ...Ann, seems to me you're in terrrific shape to ride all that terrain on tires I find are harder to pedal on.... I hope to get that healthy some day soon!
Angie,
I don't think you'll need bar ends. The bike you bought has swept back handlebars that afford an upright position. My bike has straight handlebars, which are standard on mountain bikes. You do lean over some using them. I don't mind on short trips, but on long trips I like having the option to sit more upright for a portion of the trip.
As for batteries, a lot depends on the reliability of your vendor and the nature of the cells/battery construction. I would never buy a duct tape pack from ebay. There are just too many horror stories of people getting ripped off, receiving a non-working pack or a pack that quickly dies because of faulty cells and/or faulty welding if built with tabbed cells. One of the reasons I like the Thundersky cells is that they aren't welded, circular, tabbed cells.
The US-based vendor I bought mine from also checks each cell and ensures that all cells in a pack are well-matched. You will be fine. Currie's battery should work well, but if you have any issues, they stand behind their products. Almost all e-bikers find that they want more battery power so you may decide you want an auxiliary battery. Just be careful about buying batteries off ebay. About the only reputable battery dealer on ebay is Ping.