My first 10 miles on my E-bike and My thoughts....

[Bongofish]

Hey guys!

So as you may know I took delivery of my Vitus e sentier yesterday but did not really get to use it. Today I thought I would brave the broken ribs and take it out for a spin and here's my thouughts...

So I didn't use it anywhere near properly as only broke my ribs a week ago today.

My first impression is this bike does feel different from my acoustic bikes' I can tell the weight is there and there's no getting around it. As soon as I set off down the road i am plesently surprised at how much easier the bike is to ride than I thought it would be with the weight. Straight into trial modenfornheading down into the woods and there is a genuine nice kick to the bike that lets you know it's definitely helping you but it's not going to do all the work. You still have to pedal and select the right gear to make your journey alot easier.

I then tried boost mode and wow! Like all of a sudden I've got a team of ugny players behind me pushing me. If I'm honest I'm not sure if this mode is too aggressive. It literally was pulling the front wheel up if I was pedalling fast enough but is great for any steep hill. You really don't feel the hill at all.

I think this bike has alot of potential and will definitely be my main commuting bike and local off roader and I'll use my full suspension acoustic for full on trial days.

My concerns:

- The bike feels a little bit clunky, even when I change gear as lightly as I can it still clunks the chain.

- the motor is great but you definitely feel the stop and start of it as you pedal and again this can feel not so smooth too.

- boost mode is great and I may need to just get used to it. But sometimes it feels like it gets carried away...like before you know it the bike is dragging me up the hill.

- theirs just something about the technology that scares me. Like I genuinely would feel unsure about throwing this thing down a trail. It creaks a bit and then it feels a little clunky with the motors on and off and then what if I come off. My acoustic bikes' all seem to fair well in crashes bit this has so many things to damage.

- simple things like after. A ride in just squirt muck off all over my acoustics and then scrub them and spray them clean. I feel like I need to clean this one with a feather duster incase I ruin any sensors .

- back brake is making a really grinding noise and I've done my best to bed it in. Just hope it goes after a few more rides.

I know I seem to have a lot of concerns but most of them are psychological. So if anyone can help me please do! As I feel like I've got to ride on fire roads and not get the thing Mucky at the moment.

- also my main notice is how loud the bike is when free wheeling. I don't know the name for it but the 'spindle' sound is very loud. Like winding up a toy.

 

[rmh1009]

Hey guys!

So as you may know I took delivery of my Vitus e sentier yesterday but did not really get to use it. Today I thought I would brave the broken ribs and take it out for a spin and here's my thouughts...

So I didn't use it anywhere near properly as only broke my ribs a week ago today.

My first impression is this bike does feel different from my acoustic bikes' I can tell the weight is there and there's no getting around it. As soon as I set off down the road i am plesently surprised at how much easier the bike is to ride than I thought it would be with the weight. Straight into trial modenfornheading down into the woods and there is a genuine nice kick to the bike that lets you know it's definitely helping you but it's not going to do all the work. You still have to pedal and select the right gear to make your journey alot easier.

I then tried boost mode and wow! Like all of a sudden I've got a team of ugny players behind me pushing me. If I'm honest I'm not sure if this mode is too aggressive. It literally was pulling the front wheel up if I was pedalling fast enough but is great for any steep hill. You really don't feel the hill at all.

I think this bike has alot of potential and will definitely be my main commuting bike and local off roader and I'll use my full suspension acoustic for full on trial days.

My concerns:

- The bike feels a little bit clunky, even when I change gear as lightly as I can it still clunks the chain.

- the motor is great but you definitely feel the stop and start of it as you pedal and again this can feel not so smooth too.

- boost mode is great and I may need to just get used to it. But sometimes it feels like it gets carried away...like before you know it the bike is dragging me up the hill.

- theirs just something about the technology that scares me. Like I genuinely would feel unsure about throwing this thing down a trail. It creaks a bit and then it feels a little clunky with the motors on and off and then what if I come off. My acoustic bikes' all seem to fair well in crashes bit this has so many things to damage.

- simple things like after. A ride in just squirt muck off all over my acoustics and then scrub them and spray them clean. I feel like I need to clean this one with a feather duster incase I ruin any sensors .

- back brake is making a really grinding noise and I've done my best to bed it in. Just hope it goes after a few more rides.

I know I seem to have a lot of concerns but most of them are psychological. So if anyone can help me please do! As I feel like I've got to ride on fire roads and not get the thing Mucky at the moment.

- also my main notice is how loud the bike is when free wheeling. I don't know the name for it but the 'spindle' sound is very loud. Like winding up a toy.

Thought you’d have had a few replies to this especially about the motor. My only very limited experience on ebikes was in a mates sentier. I didn’t notice a particularly loud freewheel but he’s already changed the wheelset and to flows with hope hubs. The motor seemed great but I know that feeling of hitting 25km or easing off on the pedals to change gear and it feeling draggy all of sudden. Assumed that was just normal for ebikes but thought some might say it was more common for Shimano than Brose. I did notice changing gear was noisy but my mate says you get a better technique after a while of easing off. Different to normal bikes technique it seems. I’ve only used it outside the house for about 15 mins but I got used to hopping it around quite quickly considering the weight. Doesn’t feel hugely different to my hardtail to me when your moving. It seems proper solid. I think other than taking the covers off and spraying the contacts every now again with some contact cleaner, the post ride clean won’t change that much for my mate and he’s fantastic with bike maintenance and bike and wheel building etc.

Keep the feedback coming mate.

 

[Norange]

Freewheel noise varies a lot between hubs. If it bothers you and you're comfortable doing it, packing a little more grease inside the mechanism will reduce noise. To be fair, it's probably not the swarm of angry bees:

Chris King Hub Noise

 

[Gary]

If you haven't already. Update the firmware with the Shimano App. it improves the smoothness of the motor cutting in and out .

change the tyres for less draggy tyres. This improves the rolling resistance massively when you exceed the assist limit.

Are you sure you've got the hang of easing off the pedal stroke before changing gear, you need to wait for the assist to drop for the smoothest shifting and there's slight overrun/lag in the motor to also take into account. From what you're saying about boost dragging you ahead it's clear you just need more time to become acustomed to the motor.

The motor/frame amplifies clunks

throw the thing about as much as you want in any conditions. it's what it's for and it has a 2 year warranty for if it isn't upto it. It is BTW.

Wash the bike as normal. (assuming "normal" doesn't include spraying high pressure water lazily at seals expecting the muck to eventually drown in water and fall off). There's a thread called "Cleaning advice" in the general Emtb forum where it's discussed. Read my reply. Here:
Cleaning advice...? the bike not me personally :) - EMTB Forums

Far more detail required on your brake to make any suggestion on why you're hearing a "grinding" noise

I think your concerns being psychological comment says a lot. Is this the most expensive bike you've ever had by any chance?

hope that helps

 

[Bongofish]

To be honest it is. My full suspension was 1300 which was crazy for me to buy with a young famiky. And now this, but I got round this by saying I'll use it as a daily commuter and not my car. O don't know how to even start on warranty either. Would I ring chain reaction cycles or Shimano or what? It doesn't help me having broken ribs sonic can't throw it about even a bit at the moment. For me personally spending over £1500 on a bike is crazy for my family. We've just bought a great house and booked a wedding for next august. And then I buy a bike at this price. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to buy some of the bikesyou guys have. But I enjoy very much reading about them. I do feel like for £1600 I got a great bike and motor just don't want to break it as its alot of money for us.

 

[Gary]

CRC is your first port of call with any problems. Email is a pain in the arse with them. (takes days) but if you have time in office hours live chat is more helpful. A person on the end of the phone is best but it'd be easier trying to get blood out a potato with CRC than a phone number.
Any problems with the bike, components or motor here is a good place to ask advice before panicking and contacting CRC. As the logistics of sending the whole bike back and forth can take weeks. If you have a decent local bike shop use them too. But buy stuff there rather than be that guy who bought a bike off the Internet and keeps turning up asking questions about it. a good relationship with a decent bike shop is not to be sniffed at if you're not mechanically savy.
GET WELL SOON. .