A nice thing about the Bafang geared hub motors is that when the assist isn't on, their 'clutch' disengages removing any motor drag. That may be why it feels easy on the flat when there's no assist, (because your over15.5mph).
@@mikejohn2395 No mike, You will be riding an electric motor bike that needs insurance, MOT and registering. Andy does a video on registering an ebike over 250w's
I can hear the Controller Unit rattling around in its little cubby hole, which is standard on this bike. It's located in the very top part of the battery compartment above and behind the plastic panel. At first I thought it was the front forks rattling but if you access the unit and wrap it in bubble wrap (or similar) before stuffing it back in, the rattle goes away.
Hi Andy. My Netuno has landed, In perfect condition and totally functional. I did some standing hill tests like you did and I found that if One puts the assist to 3 instead of 5 it kicks in way earlier. It may be that assist 5 is chucking too much voltage in on a non spinning wheel therefore fades in instead. Cracking good bike for the money and nice specs. Thanks for persuading me to get one, It's not my first ebike but it is my best in every way....cheers
I had a spare 48v battery so I bought a second-hand mountain bike and a new bafang 750w mid-drive so now I've got a powerful e-bike for £600 and it rides like a dream 👍🏾
It's great how electric bikes have took off and are improving all the time! ..I've 2 power assist bikes, both can be throttle only and love them! ..self built, a 500w front hub motor, and 1000w middrive both bafang, ...although I do like my partners hybrid fazua middrive pedal assist only, the smaller lighter bike she has can really travel far on a charge, love em!
The motor on mine failed in less than two months use from new. The USB seems stopped working in less than one month. I been intouch with the seller they have agreed to send a replacement motor rotor. Still waiting on it to be shipped!
Yo Andy I've got one of your 500w kits, with 48v12. 5ah battery and there epic I did 34mile from chester to Abergele and still had 66%battery and as fir the throttle it smash hills like there not really there!!!! 😁
@@BertAndSmokey why do ppl love themselves do much and are insisant that I'm lying, got no reason to lie and if the battery was shit I'd be the first to complain you bellend!!!!! And if you smell shit then stop opening your mouth the the smell of shit will go away!!!!
My ESKUTE Netuno E-bike which paid £1000 for motor failed in less than two month. The 250w bafang motor cogs gear works but does not move the the wheel. Eskute sent me a new motor but both do the same thing. I had the wheel on and off over 6 times now and no luck. The only thing i can think of is some how the motor is going backwoods in freewheel. Maybe some thing wrong with the control. Its been alost two months with out use of it which i need for work. If they dont sort it out soon i been making a credit card charge back. Not great first impression of e-bikes.
Hi Andy, thanks,really enjoy your reviews, I got the eskute polluno plus a month ago,over the moon with it, 250w 36v & it comes with a 20ah battery,great build quality,does over 70 miles on a charge using level 3 assist! I've put straight bars on it as I don't like the Dutch,& a suspension seat post,the cable disc brakes are more than good enough,def recommend it to anyone looking for a commute/ trail bike, I've also got a sheng milo mx 21,only done 20 miles but it cuts out & needs turning back off/on every few minutes 😢 any ideas? All the connections are good , cheers keep up the good work Russ
just ordered this bad boy, should be with me in 2 days I’m looking forward so much your review made me finally go for it after seeing tens of good reviews about this budget e mtb.
Andy, Great channel, I have made 3 ebikes over the last 3 years taking a lot of what you have done buy trial and error, my dad always said it was cheaper to learn from other peoples mistakes😉😉 that looks like a nice bike, but could you not change out the Bafang with there 750 or 1000 watt hub drive that would run nice I bet, keep up the good work. Joe
Andy... What canal are you riding near? Also I would love you to look at my electric Widebeam barge, lynch motors, Fisher Panda generator with a bank of sixteen AGM Victron batteries, I'm currently at London king's cross... 💙👊😎
I have one . bought a throttle off amazon , works no problem . 2 white wires coming out of controller which are not connected , connect them for 20mph top speed .
@Kasper Thauner throttle just came from amazon make sure it has same amount of pins as the cable on bike . The two white wires must bypass the speed restriction when connected . On Previous models the wires had to be disconnected for the same result .
Literally 2 white wires . Connect them together . That's it . They have connectors on them . They are obviously there to be connected for countries that don't have a maximum speed limit of 15.5 mph .
@@SiPendle well you did just make me going to buy it right now :D I live in Denmark with restrictions, but I don't care. Did you need to change anything on the display or is level 5 then the new limit? :)
Alot to be said in favour of geared hub motors, one thing being lack of drag when pedaling without power due to the clutch. I'm fairly sure my mxus is based on a bafang motor. I reckon that motor would easily take a 500w controller, the size of the battery would certainly support it. Looks like a nice bike.
the sr suntour hesc motor on my carerra is basically a bafang. i think most are copies in some way or another. i put 52v 1000w through mine but it takes a bit of modifying.
I've had three geared hub motors and you can forget about pedaling even though they don't "cog" like non geared there's still way too much rotational mass to cover any decent distance without battery 🔋, like pedaling a TANK 😂🙄 its doable do long as its flat and zero wind but I wouldn't like to go more than a couple of miles.
@@I2383R the only way to do it is to replace the factory motor controller. the factory controller runs at around 250w 7a, i replaced mine with a 1000w 20a. all it takes is a few hours soldering and routing cables but it is so worth it.
Cadence sensors are rubbish for hill starts as was obvious on the bridge. Companies should really be offering bottom bracket torque sensors on these newer models. Fiido are about the only budget brand to offer torque sensor bottom brackets on hub driven bikes .
@@mikejohn2395 Nothing special about the Bafang motor in this it's the RM GO 20 rated at 45nm . Fiido use a mixture of motors in their models . The CZJB 48v unit used in the M series bikes is a particularly good performer.
I have the new volt pulse and it's got a walk only throttle to help it up hills while pushing it, also handy for pulling away from traffic at max power straight away.
Agreed cadence sensor is awful, on my DIY conversions I just didn't bother with it and just use throttle. I have a fiido d3s , which fiido models have torque sensor?
We all know that hub drive ebikes don't cut it when riding up steep hills. When do you need your extra power? Up a hill, they are cheap but they don't really help when you need that extra power.
Yes Enjoyed your review as I wouldn't of converted my own yet I have converted two cycles one front hub motor, I did this just to have something to do and didn't go as first planned drilling holes in the frame putting rivet nuts in to put battery. Having to widen front forks slightly would not been able to do that with disc brakes but they was just normal brakes you could adjust to rim, other then that very good. I brought a factory eBike and really did look the part the benefit I felt cables where hidden but soon encountered problems it was the Argos E+Plus Mayfair Highwayman bike front hub motor at £650 and really looked the part, sadly now have had it 11 months and only 35% of the original cycle exists, frame, battery and forks, all other parts have been swapped or converted, why? Because they where faulty, cheap looking or rubbish, taking nothing away from Argos has if I would of complained I am sure they would of repaired, replaced or even given me a refund but didn't report the problems because had other idea. After watching Andys and other reviews on mid motor cycles decided because I am a heavy person that I wouild like a mid motor, but have you tried to get a factory built one frame size 20 to 21 ins Hybrid as I used to be a road cycle person and a Hybrid is a cross between a road cycle and mountain cycle as most of my cycling is the road do very little off road. The cheapest mid motors or affordable to me are between £1,200 to £1,800 and they just do not have the 20 or 21 frames in stock. If you want a 17 inch frame yes. I was going to send the ebike back and buy another cycle for convertion but after calculating £300 for a new bike and £250 rack and battery and £650 refund foir my existing cycle, it wasn't worth it because I had places to hid the cables and I could sell the front wheel and Argos convertion kit for £150 so would be £50 up, so £650 plus £400 convertion kit minors £150 motor and a few extra parts got a mid drive about a £1,000 as did buy new mudguard, gear shifter, for derailur swapped off a old cycle so in my eyes very happy. I am not sure a factory one would of been any better as they say Bostch motors are better then the Bafang but the only available 20 to 21 frames in Hybrid or simular I could get now was touching £3,000 I have never paid that for a car. So yes if you want to build a hub motor and buy a cycle yes I agree with Andy 100% a factory hub motor you could get cheaper then doing your own as you are £250 for a decent cycle and £400 for battery an convertion kit then there is the work maybe drilling in the frame and other adjustments so buying a factory one would work out better, but mid drives your £750 battery and convertion kit and £250 a decent cycle so for a £!,000 to £1,500 you would get a pretty decent mid drive cycle and at the moment around that price you might have to wait 12 months for your size cycle otherwise go to the higher priced which if your like me you just do not have that kind of money to spare. Argos do have a mid motor available now for £1,299 but lost confidence in their E+Plus bikes and doesn't say what motor it is, but does come with a 1 year cycle gaurentee and 2 year battery. Mike
When you got on the towpath I thought, is that the River Stort? Low and behold it was. Should have taken it over the zig-zag railway bridge to test the power output. Iride an Orbea Vector non-e-bike, but still an interesting view.
Having to take your hands off to change the assist I found was dangerous & nearly fell off.when I asked them for the upgraded control as a swap they said I had to pay for it.thats bad customer relations..as the upgrade is the safer option...Ian
Wow struggled on that hill! Both my DIY 1000w rear hub ( throttle only no cadence sensor attached ) and my bafang ultra mid drive would get up that easy as pie.
Are you happy with the way the brakes are set up, how do you find changing power levels to a lower power? are you ok letting go of the bars to change power?
Doesn't look like a bad bike for the price especially with that decent hub motor and now it's got a better display as well than the previous model so quite a few good improvements. Great review. If you didn't like the logo name on the side a custom paint job would make it look really nice.
Great video as usual I'm not really taken back with this model its a nice bike 500wat would be good but it's the bike laws. I've still got my 2000wat I've had police next to me looking but nothing. One day two weeks ago a police man said iis that electric I replied yes he said nice bike where can I buy one I replied its a kit from China aliexpres so he wrote it down and said I'm going to order one. All the way through the conversation I was sweating. But its strange police don't seem to be bothered not like a few years back. The bike with that power its hard to ride it properly. I like the way the battery is flitted in frame I would pass on that one meaning I would not buy one but everyone is different with taste
Thanks Andy for your liking what I said I'm 74yr old I still like eltric bikes. I miss them videos from three years back every day you had a video on bikes that great bike you built had to get it registered. Now it's cars by the way your car is the biz as they say
Pedelecs are an EU committee klutz, hence the 25kph (15.625mph limit), converting an old pushbike to electric isn't bound by the pedal pressure rule so the bar mounted throttle is all you need.
Cant you just plus minus buttons to enter developmer/ programming mode and cycle through to either top speed , or the classic , wheel size. Drop the wheel size by ten , chsnge it to km an hour and the km reading will be within a small margin of what your mph would read for speed and technically the speed limit is gone as its fooled into thinking you are traveling slower. So reading 25km would be more like 25km. Or has no one tried this on these bikes yet ?
It seems like a decent bike for the price, but you said it was better than a Halfords bike, which it isn't really. I bought a Carrera Subway Ebike in January for £989, it's got good quality Shimano 9 speed gears, Tektro Hydraulic disc brakes, and a Suntour rear hub motor. Whereas the Eskute has only bottom of the range Shimano 7 speed gears, and mechanical disc brakes.
The subway is about £1100 now, certainly its a good deal under £1000, you get 5Ah more of battery on the eskute plus the battery is integrated into the frame on the eskute. The motor on the eskute is a geared bafang motor vs just a generic non geared hub motor on the carrera. All in all the eskute appears a better bike if they are both being sold at the same price... halfrauds margins have got to come into play somewhere!
@@andykirby Yeah but that crap 7 speed set up is what you would get on a £150 supermarket bike, it's absolute rubbish. Plus you can take a bike back to Halfords if anything goes wrong.
@@andykirby I have the Halford carrera crossfire e 2021 nice bike had the screen replaced was fogging up they did that for free warranty and today I'm taking it back as the crank bearing is getting quite a bit of play in it only covered 500 miles, hopefully they will do the bearing on warranty as well fingers crossed.
One thing I don't get about hub motors is how can you remove the rear wheel. Example: I think this bike has a 14-28 cassette, and if I want to replace with a 11-32 Shimano cassette, there's that power cable in the way. Changing a rear inner tube is hard enough, I just don't see how other repairs or upgrades can be possible. Are there any good videos on that?
Did you find a throttle lever in the box and can you add one to this setup, good to know if you can unlock the speed restriction for use on 'private land' too.
Factory ebikes suck on many levels. 1. they can be expensive 2. they invariably have low power and low range 3. the geometry of factory ebikes don't fit taller riders like us. 4. motors/controllers and most of all batteries are proprietary and ebike manufacturers have 100% mark up on all replacement items like batteries. If your factory ebike breaks down which all ebikes eventually do, how long will it take to get it fixed? You have to pay a technician to fix it as well if you can even get replacement parts in a timely manner. Factory ebikes are for the vast majority who can't or won't build their own. They serve a purpose. I will say Andy, most ebike riders are uncomfortable going over 20mph on any bike, motor or not. But not those that come from motorcycling or bicycle racing. I come from a road cycling culture with no motor and I paceline with fellow cyclists over 20 mph for an entire ride. People are not the same. I routinely hit over 30 mph on my ebike. In American in particular, unless you ride like a jackass around others, through town etc, police could care less about us.
Factory ebikes cost too much but I certainly wouldn't say they suck. Some factory bikes very good for sure. A Bafang or Tong Shen DYI ebike will always be the easiest to modify or upgrade going forward. I have a truly wonderful Benno Bike but for kicks I will also build up a Bafang hub motor hard tail MTB/cross bike with roadworthy tires. Bosch isn't hackable that I know of but Bafang can be whatever you tell it be with a bit of simple reprogramming. By the way I'm in Taiwan the kingdom of unlimited bike stuff provided you're plugged into the network.
Not really, I get no commission. You don't have to listen to my opinions I'm just being enthusiastic about a bike that I was sent and that I happen to like.
I don't like the way you have to take your hand totally off the handlebar to power up or down... I own a voyager and you can power up without taking your hand off...I would rather have the controller within reach
When I ride my bike, I can get to 49km/h, without any motor, I want to put a electric motor on him, it says it will get to 55km/h, I imagine that if I pedal I will get more speed
I would never buy a manufactured "e-bike" they are incredibly easy and cheap to make yourself.. you could probably teach a monkey how to build one for some bananas
Would like to see you test it on a hill, where I live we have plenty. The torque on these looks pretty awful tho compared to other ebikes. I think this will struggle getting you up a hill. Edit: bought my son one and he only got 2.30 hours and 20 miles out of it in the lake district before having to charge the battery.
Hey m8 do you know how to change the battery in the rear light? I can't seem to get into it and it doesn't work from new so I'm guessing I will have to replace the battery in the light. Tia👍
You might not want them but they are a legal requirement on new bikes in this country ( not sure if you actually have to keep them on, actually I don’t think you do). They are great at making you visible to car drivers approaching from side-on, for example when you are coming out of a side road and personally I’d always rather be more visible to other road users when I’m on my bike.
Beware 14.5 ah battery!! I have been waiting 3 months for a replacement battery for my Polluno City bike. All very well saying how great the bikes may be...just wait until you need a replacement battery!!
I have a budget of approx £1500 pounds and im looking to purchase my first e bike ,ill mainly be using it for fun and commuting to work on . I like the look of this bike and also the engwe ep2 Pro. My question is if you had my budget what bike would you choose (not necessarily the two ive mentioned)? I've looked at so many I just can't make a decision as they all seem very similar and are possibly just branded and priced differently .
Whats wrong with all of them is the speed being restricted to 15 mph, for me that's a complete waste of time, I don't need an electric bike to ride at that speed. The hill on the bridge over the river, which he rides up, is a joke, god knows why you would need power assist to go up that.
Polluno plus, without question,incredible for the money,also now has a torque sensor on the crank to give immediate power as soon as the crank moves,£1200
@@rocker-barrel4786 Is that with the seatpost fully down? I say that because I bought a non electric full suspension bike before my current ebike, and the seatpost when fully down still wasn't low enough, but that was because the seatpost bottomed out in the downtube. I cut 3" off the bottom of the seatpost, and it dropped the seat a further 3" which was enough.....
@@karlcarrigan4451 all im saying is my feet dont touch the ground. The seat is as down as it can be if thats what you mean. The polomu escute i have,nearly same as this one. Only had it a week. Need to get it boxed up ready to go.
Nice bike. Can you tell me how i can improve the torque ? I have a bafang conversion on my Marin bobcat,BBshd types . it is very quick once you get going but it is slow to start off. I have city wheels on mine with narrow tyres. I see most of the e bikes have really chunckey and nobly tyres so would it help the take off if i changed those first? Thanks
Wider tires with knobs slow you down, not speed you up. More rotating mass and rolling resistance. If you want a quicker accelerating BBSHD bike, go to an aftermarket controller with much greater than stock 30 amps. Place a smaller chainring in front. You should be able to pop wheelies then. I am not going to get into the weeds about design, but aftermarket controllers for the BBSHD like High Voltage sells have a concept call field weakening. This dramatically increases motor RPM and allows to run with a much shorter gear ratio. Cake and eat it too. Super fast acceleration and still high speed even with short gear ratio like 1:1 because the BBSHD will turn much higher RPM with a field weakening controller. A 72 volt custom battery with high amp discharge BMS will make for a very fast bike with BBSHD with a High Voltage controller. He sells the kit.
No they're just expensive just bought a battery and a thousand watt kit 26 in 48 volt 20 amp 🔋$600 when I get tired of the bike I just throw it away and get a new one
Like I say we sell conversion kits but this is a nicely integrated bike which is clean no wires flapping around and the battery fits into the frame. It's a decent entry level bike. 1000W will always be better and 2000W better still and the best way to do that is DIY.
Cost more than a grand, can't do 40 miles on a single charge at max setting, obvious garbage, very scammy. Unless you live in Guernsey where every idiot owns a car.
No PAS is always bad throtle is best. You can't shift when slowing down with PAS because it will kick in. You are not gona put your pas levels down each red licht.
The touch screen version is dangerous to take your hands off as I crashed 2x.eskute would only "sell" me the new upgraded controller not swap it which is bad customer service...don't buy the old version with hands off touch screen... Ian
Hello Andy, I'm looking on your website but u can't determine which bike, fully built or conversion would give me the longest range on throttle only. I was also looking at the wau bike yiu reviewed a while back. Any suggestions
@@andykirby I work about 32 miles from where I live, I would prefer not to cycle at all and charge the bike at work. Can any of them throttle only for 32 miles? I need this to save money on fuel cost.
Absolutely yes factory ebikes suck... There are loads of them around now and you know very well in 5 years most of them will be broken and impossible to fix due to electrical problems or no spare parts. My 10 year old ebike, nothing wrong with it other than I can't get a chainring for it, and it needs a new battery.
there are factory e bikes made down to a cost point then there are factory e bikes made to do a job like the real mountain bikes, you pay your money and make your choice
Hey if ii change the controller is a 350 w ebikr frome Wingoo b20 Ii try to make it faster but ii don’t know how to change the speed limit on the original controller any tips ?
I’d say yes, cheap Chinese e-bikes suck. After renting a new Specialized Turbo Levo I can say for sure not all factory e-bikes suck 😜. You just need to spend some real $$$.
@@keithdainton6043 I should have clarified - "for hardcore single track mountain biking." My mother in law has a cheap one too and it's OK on the street for her uses. Besides weighing a ton, it wouldn't survive one ride where I took the Specialized. I'm also looking at the Santa Cruz Heckler... seems the common price on this level of bike is between $8500 and $9500.
One of the problem with some bikes is the hard power cutoff when the defined max speed is achieved.. If power in sted gradually was reduced, the ride would be more smooth, at the expense of max speed.
You sound really dishonest here mate. This bike looks really bad. Has no power and to even say the fork is of high quality was just the cherry on top. High quality forks cost as much as the entire bike and this bike here is probably 90% battery and motor in terms of price point and the rest is just thrown on top as it's insanely cheap.
Really???? It's a decent ebike. The forks on these are better than the majority of other bikes in this price range... I've got fox 36 on my vapour which cost more than this whole bike so I know what I'm talking about.
@@andykirby Yes, exactly. A 36 Fox smokes this fork with no effort at all. So praising this fork to be high quality is kinda misleading since where would you rank the fox then? ultra insane out of this world quality? Nah mate, this bike got praised way too high. Even a 38 Rockschox ZEB, which is half as much compared to the fox 36, smokes the fork on this ebike. This is not high quality, far from it in fact.
It's a Cheap Fork... the clunk it made going down the Kerb hurt my spine and I'm sat in my Office Chair 😂 It's lower quality than a budget Suntour Fork and even that is terrible
Andy started the incline test on level 5 assist. If he had gone 3 assist instead it would have kicked in much earlier. This is due to 5 assist from a standing start with a non spinning wheel putting max voltage through would have activated over voltage cut out, so the power would be forced to fade in to protect the motor. :)
