The Bionx hubs are super efficient and that lightest hub motor around. That's why they cost so much. And the whole system is proprietary. There is a lot of electronics in the battery and that's why it can't just be replaced with a Ping. Hopefully in a few years I will be able to have the cells replaced.

I just rode the bike 40 miles and did not exhaust the battery, using mostly the lowest setting but sometimes the highest. I also didn't use regen mode because I was trying to use it up. I don't usually ride more than 40 miles; my main purpose is a 30 mile r/t commute and I have a charger at work so I can charge it there and home.

Today I went 13 miles on 8 AH of battery. I didn't pedal at all, though.

Right, it all depends on what you want to do. I knew that Trek left off the throttle that is standard with the Bionx PL-350 kit but that's ok with me because I don't plan on using the bike as a motor scooter. I simply want to combine my commute with excercise so I don't have to go to the gym.

I used the battery plenty yesterday because it was very windy. I still went over 30 miles and about 20% of the battery remains.

I totally agree with you I rode yesterday mostly on 1 and had to go to 2 when I hit Flushing Meadow Park and it got very windy.
On a side note. I purchased the Garmin 305 with heart rate and cadence monitor. I found when going up the Williamsburg bridge on level 1 I found at 95 BPM I felt exhausted. Which obviously should not be the case. I was able to get up the bridge with my heart rate at 115 BPM. I found when going down 3rd A going 22 mph my heart rate was 122 BPM. I did not feel exhausted even though I was going at a higher BPM then going up the bridge. I also found when I went over 110 BPM, even when I went back to 80BPM I thought I was much higher and did not start peddling harder. After the ride I was able to download the ride to my computer. It keeps track of your speed,Heart Rate, Cadence, Grade and time. I am then able to keep track of my Heart Rate at different times of my commute.

In conclusion, I feel the Garmin 305 can make you into a better rider. The level of effort your brain tells you are exerting is not a direct correlation to your heart. For example when going up a steep hill going slow and not enjoyable my brain felt I was working harder then I really was. When going fast and enjoying the ride my brain felt I was working less then I really was. When riding with an electric motor it is sometimes hard to judge how hard of a workout you have achieved. By monitoring your Heart Rate there is no cheating. By downloading your ride you can compare one day to another and even race against a previous time.

Did you see how much of an affect you get when turning on the regeneration modes while riding flat or downhill? I was doing a spinning class at the gym and as I bumped up the resistance I was thinking that on the bike I'd be kicking in the assist just about then. So I pay to make it easier to bike and I pay to make it tougher to spin.

When going downhill my heart rate is under 80 BPM. Which means I am doing no work. I have tried to put it in a higher regen mode and do a higher cadence to bring up my heart rate to 95 to 100 BPM. When going on flat I ride on level 1 or level 0. My heart rate is normally 95 to 110 BPM. I am in the experimental stage at this point. I would say I have gained 30% more battery life at this point.

My goal is to be able to do my commute of 14 miles each way on one charge. Since Trek warranty is 2 years or 600 charges.

I think that's 600 full charges. How they actually measure that I have no idea. But two half charges should equal one full charge.

My understanding it that it's better for the battery if you don't run it down very often. So if you're going to knock it down to the last line each day, it may be better to charge it at home and at work when it's only down 50%.

I didn't bike yesterday or today because of the absurd wind and rain. Tomorrow might be ok but there is so much standing water that I'm afraid to bike in those conditions - I can't see potholes or crap if water is covering it. The rest of the week should be great.

The owner of the LBS, that I frequent, stopped by my workplace to let me ride a 7200+. I could get to liking one of the Trek pluses fairly quickly, especially on those winter evening commutes while going uphill, with fully loaded panniers, and into a strong headwind, but the 2500 dollar price tag is still a deterrent at this time.

Yes, that is a lot of money. But I'm getting older and could die any day - or live another 40 years. So, why leave the rotten kids anything? Best to spend it now.

I can't wait to bike again, hopefully tomorrow. Right now the roads look like streams. Maybe there are optional pontoons.

Looking down the road, I will probably get a more powerful conversion kit with virtually the same features as a Plus bike, for a several hundred dollars less, and not have to get/store another bike.

I was just going to get the Bionx PL-350 kit but I figured my old Trek 7100 might not be up to the added strain. It does have around 15,000 miles on it. By the time I bought a new bike and a PL-350 and had someone put it together it would be more than the Valencia+. I did not expect the Valencia to come with only the 6.4 battery though, I did expect the full 10.

I thought that maybe I would put the kit on myself and save $150 or so but NYCEwheels has a lot of experience with this kind of thing so I probably would have had them do it and get it done right.

I'm sure some of the other kits would have been ok as well, but I do love the way the the Bionx assist works.

I also wanted the battery on the rear rack which is not the standard PL-350 configuration. Only because these bikes aren't quite legal in NY and I figured stealthy is better.

Just wanted to post that I love my FX+. I saw a blog about it a couple of weeks ago & after much hunting around found a store that carries it about 2 hours away. Bought one & love it. Yesterday was my first real ride with it. My commute has some fairly severe uphills on the way in to work & some sweet downhills on the way home. I was surprised that I used about 75% of the battery on the way in. With conservative use on the way home, I was able to make it all the way home without the battery dying. Thanks for the tip on running it empty the first three rides, I missed that in the user manual. With two chargers, this bike should be perfect for what I bought it for-commuting. I like the assist's help on the way up hills & I like how I am not drenched in sweat at the office.

It's nice to find this forum, I had an extremely hard time finding any info on these bikes before I bought one. Looking forward to talking to others who ride them.

They do work fine for what we want, which is a commute with less hills (and headwinds, you forgot to mention the headwinds). How far is your commute? I can do my 30 mile r/t without recharging, leaving it on #2 much of the way. Lately I've just been charging it at work. Even on #2 it doesn't use much power (maybe one line) on the flats.

We just had some folks from a newly opened Gym give a presentation at my job and I decided to join because my cardio is good and my legs are like steel from the biking, but the upper body suffers. It really works out well because I'm used to getting in around 7:30 AM but the new bike rules in my building don't let me bring it in before 8. So, because I get in so much faster on the new bike, I get to the gym around 7:10, kill 45 minutes doing resistance exercises and a quick shower, and then take the bike down the block into my office. So, I trade some excess cardio for some resistance. And some money of course.

I did forget the headwinds, which were a beast yesterday. I have a 16-24 mile r/t commute. My favorite commute route ends up around 22. The problem is that the way to work is lots of uphills, with one real monster. I have to say, this bike (even though I've only used it once for a commute) has really hanged the experience for me. I'll be riding to work much more frequently now with the battery assist. It also cuts my commute by about 25 minutes r/t, which is nice as well.

Ditto!! After 2 month I am still in love with my FX+. My commute is 14 miles each way and I am happy to say I make it in rain or shine everyday with my FX+. My wife did not think when I bought the bike I would make it in every day. My intension originally was in rainy weather to ride my folding Montague with Currie 450W kit. I would fold the bike in my trunk and ride my car 5 to 9 miles depending on the weather and ride 5 to 9 miles on the bike. I love my FX+ so much I ride the entire 14 miles each way now in the rain. This has not been with out challenges. If you recall a couple of weeks ago on Friday the winds were up to 40MPH with heavy rain. I started my morning commute and after 7 miles I stopped getting any assist. The speedometer registered 0 when I was pedaling therefore it gave me no assist. I had to pedal the remaining 7 miles without assist. Except for the Williamsburg which is a grade 5 hill I had no problem biking in. I brought the bike into my Trek dealer in the afternoon. To my surprise Trek is able to connect remotely and diagnose the problem with the LBS. Since it was taking over an hour to diagnose and Trek and LBS{Bicycle Habitat} were determined to find the problem. Matt from Bicycle Habitat offered me a loaner Valencia+ bike to take home so they could spend more time diagnosing the problem. Where do you find service like this? The problem was found in the wiring harness and was replaced. My main reason for going with BionX was the reliability and being able to ride in the rain.

I would like to add after riding in the rain. I have upgraded the bike with the following.

1. Full Fenders: The bike just gets to dirty with out it. Even though the Valencia+ does come with fenders I like the ride on the FX+ better.

2. Brake pads: The brake pads were fine in dry weather but in wet weather had poor performance. I also had black gook coming of the brake pads on the rim.

3. Saddle: I replaced the saddle with Specialized spring suspension seat. My bike stays outside in the rain at work and gets soaked. I put a shower cap on the seat to keep it dry.

4. BionX controller: I found some moisture got into the controller from sitting out in the rain. I put a Ziplock bad over the controller with a rubber band and it kept the controller dry. I also was able to ridewith the Ziplock bag and push the buttons with out a problem.

5. Peddles: I changed the peddles to Shimano PD-MX30. A little pricy but really grips in wet weather.

By the way MK313 I was wondering what area you are commuting in?

Thanks for the tips! I haven't ridden in the rain yet. Full Fenders are on the list to add. I'll add new brake pads to that as well (going down the big hill I hit 28 miles an hour, even in generate level 4, with a corner at the bottom, so this is a big deal to me).

I commute in Cleveland, OH.

Greetings:
I'm about to purchase a 20" 2010 Trek FX+ ($1799.99) and was wondering if you had any remorse or unforeseen problems with your purchase; I plan to use mine for commuting every third day (firefighter 24 hrs. on/48 hrs. off) as well as miscellaneous errands around town. I purchased a pair of Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus panniers to attach off the rear rack. I also want to attach fenders to the front & rear.

How much did the extra charging cord cost? Did you opt for the Trek Red Shield program due to the nature of the components? Do you have any performance issues with the tires or brake pads? Are there any major changes between the 2010 vs. the 2011?

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your reply.

I love the bike. There were a lot of problems with breaking spokes on the rear wheel but that's likely been solved on the 2011 models. I finally had Bicycle Habitat redo the wheel with new spokes about five months ago and haven't had a problem since then. The extra charger was $70 from the dealer. $1800 is a very good price I think, I paid several hundred more than that. I didn't buy the Red Shield program since I never heard of it until you mentioned it. Seems like a good deal if you're going to use the bike a lot. I'm over 4000 miles already so it would likely pay in my case.

My only misgiving about the bike is that I really won't leave it anywhere outside for more than two minutes so have a good lock if you're going to be doing so.

PMartin, that's a great price on an FX+. I use mine for commuting & love it. No remorse for buying it, but I did have quite a few unseen problems with my unit, almost all revolving around the wheels. I had the motor in the hub die & then I had spokes brteak like crazy all last year (I got mine lat year). It was in the shop more than I would have liked, but the problems were all worked out & so far this year, I've had no issues riding it. I think that Trek used the wrong spokes originally & it took a while for them to be replaced correctly. The bike really changes your commuting (or at least it did for me). It makes biking an option more often. The extra cord cost somewhere around $100, but was worth every penny. I did not get the Red Sheield program, but mostly because I've never heard of it. Depending on what it offers/how much it costs, I might be tempted to buy it. My tires worked great. They aren't the smoothest riding, but I've had zero flats with them. I swithced over to 700 x 28 continental Gatorskins & got two flats in 2 weeks, then went back to the stock tires. The brake pads are fine, but the brakes themselves are pretty weak. I'm going to replace the pads with Kool Stops once the pads wear out.

I think the only major change in 2011 was the new fork. I think that a 2010 for $900 off MSPR is a way better deal than the 2011.

The FX has V-Brakes right? The Valencia has disc brakes and those seem very good. I wasn't really happy about getting disc brakes since I don't know how to maintain them but they really stop me when I need them too. Oddly, that's pretty rare because the regenerative braking is almost always enough to stop me without actually needing to engage the pads. When I ride another bike I find that I really miss that feeling of the motor slowing me down.

I just took delivery of my 2010 Trek FX+ from The Bike Rack, St. Charles, IL. I didn't get the $1799 (that was a price listed by an east coast shop - great people though, spent a lot of time working on details for me . . .) so I ended up paying $1999.99. Duane fit the FX+ for me and spent tons of time answering questions and getting the FX+ just right for me. Tomorrow morning (0445 hrs) is my "maiden voyage" to see how quickly I can make it to the firehouse . . . I'm not on shift though (vacation day) so it will serve as a good barometer to let me know what to expect. I added my Ortlieb panniers (piece of cake to attach) and my airhorn so I'm good to go!!!! I'll attach some photos soon.

Good luck. Definitely report back to let us know how it goes.

I love my airhorn. Be careful though, and use it only on real idiots. If someone drops dead of a heart attack in front of you, you'll probably feel bad about it. You also may run over them and get hurt yourself.

Where in the manual (Ride+ or BionX) does it mention to run the battery down to empty prior to charging for the first few rides? I'm probably looking so hard for it that I continuously overlook it; I just purchased my 2010 Trek FX+ and did a commute practice run early this morning in the rain. I made it to work in 42 minutes (vs. 25 minutes by car) and would still have enough time to S3 (sh*t/shower/shave) prior to the start of shift. The Ride+ is awesome but I hope to build my endurance so I'm less dependent on it . . . I must admit that I saw a few shocked faces in the cars next to me as I took off from a red light! They probably assumed that it would be some slow bicyclist . . .

I don't recall where it said that but I do recall it being there. Also, I recently got a Currie Ecoride and it said the same thing. I got to work with it the first time and had to ride around for 15 minutes trying to run down the battery.