I have been enjoying the power, beauty and safety of riding electric bikes for over a year now. I have owned a total of three different electric bikes, the eFlow E3 Nitro, the IZIP E3 Dash and now the IZIP E3 Protour electric bike. All of them have been wonderful, but this one, the Protour has the strongest battery of them all.
I own the E3 Dash, that I call, “The Dasher” and I had an E3 Nitro, which I had named the “White Knight,.” With those two electric bikes, I had learned through trial and error that I could have a wonderful ride, as long as it was no more than 30, maybe 35 miles on one charge and that means riding on the lowest setting, number 1, pedal assist. If I went any higher on pedal assist for longer than say, five of those miles, than I would run out of battery sooner. If I needed to ride on the highest setting, the battery would run out after about 10 or 15 miles. If you want to use the throttle, which means you don’t have to pedal at all and the bike will go about 15 mph, the battery runs out really quickly.
I decided to test out this new electric bike that I have now re-named “Sparky.” I noticed early on that it seemed a little stronger than the last two, so I decided to just keep riding until the battery shut off. I was determined to keep the setting at the lowest, number one, but when confronted with a hill, I really couldn’t resist the urge to move the setting up to at least number two. I mean, after all, that is what the bike is for, to take the pain out of my ride and help me be a stronger more “sure wheeled” cyclist on the road. So out of respect for myself and the other riders on the road who need me to stay strong and in control of my ride, I would push it up to number two for only as long as I needed it to reach the hill summit. I was just amazed at how many trips I could take and how many days I went without needing a charge.
But for you readers, I needed to be more scientific, so I used the odometer setting on my LED Display and counted out the miles! I was so amazed and elated when I discovered that this bike really has double the power of my last two electric bikes. I took Sparky out on journey after journey and it seemed to have no effect on the battery at all. I took it on short journeys to the store, the gym, shopping and even on my longer journey to my doctor and back which includes several hillls, all without recharging it. I kept good count of the miles using the odometer. I could hardly believe that I still had charge. The battery indicator on the LED Display is much like a cell phone, it uses little bars to show you where you are at with the battery. Five bars is fully charged. I noticed that I went about ten miles before I lost even one bar. Sure enough, I went 62.5 miles on just one charge!
There are other great things about this bike that I will share with you. It comes with a rear wheel lock that is so handy I just love it. It is lightweight and fits right on the wheel. All I need to do is put the key in the lock, turn it, push a lever down which activates a curved metal rod that goes through the spokes and attaches to itself on the other side. That makes it so the rear wheel simply can’t move. I lock the front wheel and frame in the usual manner with a small cable and sturdy Abus lock.
Now that I know this, I plan to test myself riding with some really bad ass riders who ride 30-50 miles of hilly terrain. I know what you are thinking, you said you needed to put the setting up higher on hills right? Yes, that is right, but for the sake of science and you wonderful people out there in cyberspace, I am going to give it a try.