FAQ

Beyond standard bike maintenance, there is very little extra required. Just ensure moving parts are lubricated and that electrics do not get submerged. 

All our electric bikes have LCD consols with self diagnostics, so, should something go wrong, e.g., a throttle is damaged when the bike falls over...   you will get a specific error code on the LCD consol which will tell you what component has failed. All our components have marine rated plugs close to the component, so it is very simple to swap in new ones.

Cheap ebikes have no such plugs so a simple task becomes a day-long nightmare...    unthread internal frame cables...   then somehow rethread the new cable (often impossible without cutting other wires, etc)...   trust me... I learned this the hard way!!

Yes. Our ebikes and kits are weatherproof. Be aware though, they are NOT waterproof. Riding through deep water that submerges the motor will cause the system to fail.

Again, depends on what eBike or battery you purchase. For example, Our SmartMotion electric bikes will get up to 60km of pedalassisted biking (@22-25kph) per charge from the 36v10ah battery! This is more than other ebike brands with 12ah batteries, due to our higher quality geared motors. Of course, if you go faster, or the terrain is hilly, your range will lessen. Our Pedego Commuters have been known to do over 100km in level 2 assistance from the 36v15.4ah battery!

This depends on what of our products you purchase, as the battery sizes vary. Normally between 4-7 hours to charge.

The battery can be charged after every ride, or when it is flat. Lithium batteries don't discharge much at all over time. And small charges are fine too. No need to fully discharge before each charge... Lithium batteries actually prefer shallow discharge, so top up charging after each use is a good habit to get into.

Beware: There are cheap lithium batteries and then there are GOOD lithium batteries... I learned the hard way... my first import of ebikes had cheap batteries... they all failed within 6 months!! Nightmare!! Our batteries are the best available on the market and cost twice that of the cheap cells... but they come with a 2 year warranty... many other ebike brands only have 6 month warranties... some only 90 days!!!

The battery represents nearly 50% the value of your ebike and must be of the highest standard to give you good value for money. Always check the warranty details on any ebike you look at.

Yes. The choice is yours - battery power, pedal power or a combination of both. The latter actually achieves the best results; just bring in the power when you need it... hills, head wind, late for work, want to pass that lycred up speedster just to peeve him off!. Oue ebikes also ride beautifully with the power turned off... No resistance from the motor, combined with top-end bicycle components make for a superb ride, unlike many of the cheap ebikes I have tested that rode like a dog! Substandard brakes... rattles... unbalanced wheels... incorect ride geometries and gutless too.

On our eBikes the battery is key-locked onto the bike frame and is totally secure. Naturally you still have the choice to unlock it and take the Battery Pack with you.

Pedal assist is the system used on Pedego and SmartMotion bikes. A sensor mounted on the pedal crank senses when you are or are not pedalling, and how fast you are pedalling and supplies motor power to suit... is is a little like cruise control on a car.

Torque sensor assist is common in China and japan and a spring system is installed inside the pedal crank that measures how hard you are pushing on your pedal and offers motor power to suit. It sounds great and I imported several samples to test... Have you ever had a bike with a loose crank? This is what it feels like... every time you push on the pedal it gives about 10mm!! Bloody awful...

All our electric bikes have fully rigid axles and cranks... they ride and feel like bikes.

My advice... avoid torque sensors.

Not in our Pedego and SmartMotion electric bikes. Our brushless motors have an internal freewheel so the motor is stationary when not powered. This means when you are not using the motor, there is no resistance from it... your bike performs exactly as a bike, as there is no extra friction. In some other eBikes in NZ there is no freewheel, so friction builds once you are over about 20kph... trust me, even a brushless motor has a lot of friction if there is no freewheel... going down a steep hill the planetary gears are screaming.

Our Pedego and SmartMotion electric Bikes do not have regenerative charging. I researched this in depth and came to the conclusion it was better to go for a high capacity lithium battery and a motor with an internal freewheel... This means you have plenty of capacity (up to 80km range) and a motor that does not drag when not in use... so yourelectric bike still rides like a normal bike down hills or freewheeling, or motor off.

The amount of resistance you need to create any useful amount of charging is quite high... instead of whizzing down a hill like on a normal bike, you crawl down at 10kph... and might only get an extra 500m of range!

If you think, on a normal bike ride, how often do you have the brakes on for more that a touch? How often would you have your brakes firmly on for 5 minutes solid? Never! Regen charging works well on heavy vehicles that stop and start a lot... like buses, rubbish trucks... but it is a gimic on bikes.

Research proved regen braking, on average, only added 4% to range, and possibly shortened lifespan of battery due to overcharging issues if a full battery received a downhilll run.

Our advanced Lithium Polymer Battery Packs will last 3-5 years, depending on use... That said, we still have many of our orignal 2006 customers still out there on original batteries.

The fact our batteries have a 2 year warranty says it all... most other brands in NZ are 6 months to 12 months.

We say there's lithium and then there is LITHIUM! I've been to many battery factories in China and seen a large range in price and quality... and, there is no shortcuts... quality costs! We can get lithium cells for about half the cost of what we pay... but they won't last. The key is in 'batching'. In a good factory the cells are voltage tested to 5 decimal places using high temp discharge (gives the most accurate data), then batched into 'families' of exact voltages. This is cruicial to the longevity of the battery pack as it is the weakest cell that determines battery lifespan as the Battery Management System cuts output as soon as one cell reaches critical... and if cells are not perfectly matched and will sooner get out of voltage sync and certain cells will get stressed, and eventually fail.

Also, cheaper batteries aren't pre-condition-charged, so need several deep cycles to avoid intial cell damage. Our cells are deep cycled 3 times at the factpory and capacity tested to 5 decimal places, so they can also check the fractional capacity loss each charge to see if the chemistry is behaving normally.

Yes, when used on roads, bike paths and/or public access areas in New Zealand, the legal limit is 300W (we are lucky, in Aussie and the EU it is only 250w). Any so-called ‘electric bike’ in NZ with a motor rated at more than 300W is legally a Moped and must have indicators, brake light, horn, etc and you must have a driver’s license to use it.

An electric bicycle uses approximately 0.03MJ per KM. By comparison, an average car (10l/100km) uses 3.3MJ per KM. This is a difference of approximately 100 times. A bike gets the equivalent of 3000 miles to the gallon!!! In fact, reasearch shows, when you factor in the carbon footprint of food production, riding an eBike has less impact than riding a normal bike (or even walking!!) as you don't need to eat so much to top up your body's energy reserves. Interesting :-)