The Bionx Tourer - Around Town
 

While I am busy setting up the Bionx-assisted bicycle for the next long distance ride, I wanted to post some interim remarks: based on just several rides around town.

As with my earlier post, this report strictly represents just my own experience and perceptions. Other owners of the Bionx product may differ in their views. As the saying goes: "Your mileage may vary".

Regeneration (Ending)

After the third battery charge the console locked up, displaying the regeneration indicator ("G") - and not responding to any of the buttons. This appears to be a problem common enough to be addressed in the Owners' Manual, so I tried the solution listed there. When that didn't work, I ended up just disconnecting the regeneration sensor ... keeping in mind the controversy that regeneration has "generated" in this forum.

Since that part of the hardware is disconnected, I was interested to see how it would influence the "surge" which I mentioned in my first posting.

The Surge (Trying to Get Used to)

Although there was some placebo effect after disconnecting the regeneration sensor, I still feel a "surge" as the strain sensor cues the motor ... and then a "drag" as that forward momentum evaporates.

Although the Bionx unit is advertised as being somewhat "smart", all it appears to do is just toggle between "power on" and "power off".

As a traditional bike rider - habituated to select gears that allow me to "spin" - what I still find to be problematic over the first few weeks is the sequence of effort that this sets up: the electric "push" ... followed by the loss of momentum when the motor shuts down ... followed by another "push" as the strain sensor detects more effort.

The workaround for this - which needs to be tested further - seems to be selecting a high gear which will tend to persuade the strain sensor to keep the motor turned on. My rule of thumb, so far, is that I need to be running about 3 gears higher than I would normally ride. For example: M6 (middle chainwheel, 6th cog from the largest) instead of M3.

This is a reduction of effort - since the rider is going faster in response to the same level of muscular exertion. What concerns me is that the Bionx is encouraging me to use higher gears, which are usually not recommended for my antiquated joints.

Hill Climbing (Success In)

One of my regular destinations is the University Library, which is located at the end of a steep climb. Normally I choose routes that make the climb easier to take. With the assist, lately, I have followed a couple of routes that were impossibly steep without assist. (One street, in particular, I have NEVER been able to climb on an unassisted bicycle.

With the gears set at L4 (smallest chainwheel, 4th cog from the largest) - and the assist level set at 4 - all of these inclines have proven to be easily climbable.

Is this new experience in climbing worth the price of the unit? Not quite - but it is good news.

Thanks for your attention.

Regen lock up, or the lack of regen.

when and if you get those issues, the quick fix is simply to disconnect / reconnect the braking sensor on the handle bar, and make sure the sensor is properly aligned.

i make it a habit of doing a quick check of that wire every time before i start my rides, it saves me a lot of trouble later on.

From my understanding, the rapid loss of momentum once the motor shuts down is due to the hub's inefficient drag since it does not offer true freewheeling. Therefore, the mortor appears to be wasting a lot of energy from the heavy freewheeling.