Pedego 2014 City Commuter Review

eanda9000

10 µW
Joined
Jun 15, 2014
Messages
5
Based Aon 6 Weeks of ownership, 3 weeks of use. 500w model. I ride for exercise, often without assist. Usually 25 miles day with gentle hills. My style is more active.

Summary:

This was the wrong bike for me. Think of it like I bought a Lincoln Town Car when what I really needed was a sports sedan.

Observations:
1. This bike is more E than bike. The E is more thought out with a couple of exceptions. This motor will take you up any hill and do it with pride other than making a lot of very disturbing noises when at low rpms.
2. This is not a bike meant to be ridden hard. By that I mean, using the handlebars to help leverage pedal pressure. As I quickly found out frequent shifting of the gears is a no go as some components are not that durable.
3. Where you buy a bike matters. I would never buy an eBike from a dealer without a return policy. My bike depreciated 1000 dollars in 6 weeks. I knew within 10 days I had purchased the wrong bike but I was pretty new to eBikes at that time. I know a lot more now and really love them, too bad I learned the hard way.
4. The warranty on the bike is non-transferable and only a year on the bike. That corresponds to the level of quality I was experiencing on the bike components.
5. If I was 65 and out of shape I would think this bike would be great. However, there is a chance that you can really hurt yourself with unexpected assist at a stop. I almost did and it scared the ##@#$ out of me. Keep in mind I sold a 650 lbs motorcycle to get this bike so I'm aware of things like rider risk. At a stop you must be in a low or now power assist mode or keep you hand on the brakes at all times.
6. If you go to a bike store and watch people try bikes what sells them is power. However, what you care about once it is home and you are using it day to day are things like range, dependability, assist delivery, hill assist, and comfort. Possibly top speed. Curry will sell a lot of Dashes with its 500w motor just because the thrill compared to the bike next to it. Don’t get me wrong power is fun, but on a bike it is more about assist and range once the newness wares off. The power on all these bikes is pretty tame unless you go very high end. I know people who mod their 0-60 4 second motorcycle to get to 3 seconds. You will never have enough power if that is what you really want. On a bike it's more of an assist and assist takes very little power comparatively.
7. I lost a ton a weight and got myself back into shape after years of neglect on ebikes this summer. Ebikes can be an extremely effective fitness tool. The fact I lost some money is nothing compared to how quick and enjoyably I was able to get myself exercising daily. If you ride 100 miles a week, assisted or not, you are going to have positive results.

Pros:
1. Very powerful assist. To the point 500w was overkill for me at 165 lbs (down from 184 I might add). The 5 assist levels work well and are easy to understand. If you don't like pedaling that’s ok the bike just senses the rotation and not the force and there is a throttle. At my weight I could go up any hill I encountered no problem. Keep in mind that more power can come with more weight and weight has lots of negatives on an ebike. The negatives can far outweigh the benefits of added power long term.
2. Comes with lights and fenders, rack, and chain guard. The guard makes a lot of noise. I was passed by a Pedego City at the National Cathedral on the 4th of July at night and I could tell by the sound alone it was my same bike. Seriously. The light could be better, I noticed most people went after market. Some people I know took off the front fender. If you commute you want these things and having them come with the bike is very convent, I just wish the light was brighter.
3. Very upright position. Good if you are not pedaling that hard given you have no weight on your wrists. This is a very laid back riding position that puts you up high, makes you visible, and can be maintained for hours.
4. Very good range. I never got it below half until the shifter broke and I was all throttle home for 10 miles. I should clarify that I always pedal at a moderate level so my range tends to be twice the unassisted range. Also, I tend to keep things at 20 mph or below. I would expect that the target audience for this bike will pedal less then what I put in. In any case the range is solid.
5. Battery is solid. The system works well and I liked the integrated light and read outs on the battery. With panniers the battery is stealth.
6. Excellent display, shows energy output and is easy to operate. Ability to control max speed is also welcome given that the bike can be harsh over bumps and has complex turning physics at high speeds.

Cons:
1. My shifter control broke at 330 miles and took four weeks to get repaired. I live in MD and the season is not that long. So this was a major bummer. Quality is really important when you use something every day. It is a known fact that this is a cheap component on the bike and breaks frequently. I was surprised how long it took Pedego and my dealer to get this rectified.
2. The bike is extremely back heavy. This means when you go over bumps including some minor road imperfections the back can slam into the ground even though your intuition says there should not be an issue. It is very disconcerting and I regretted getting the 500w model within days given how heavy the back is. I was sold on the power during the test ride but in the real world having so much power was not needed in my case and the weight was a problem.
3. The weight on the bike is located high due to the battery placement. On a number of occasions I made a turn at around 20 mph and the bike took a very different path then what I was expecting. You just stop doing that after a while which reduces the fun of ridding. I swore I would never get a high center of gravity bike again given predictable handling at speed is very important to me.
4. The bike can lunge forward when at a stop with slight pedal moves. I find that torque sensing bikes do not have this problem to the same degree. This problem alone would justify getting a torque sensing bike in my book. Given that this bike is marketed to older riders, I would say that make sure you are aware of unexpected starts and will not forget to manage this when you are at a standstill.
5. Suspension is almost a must on a 60+ lbs bike. Yes the seat and post have springs, but you will want more if your ride includes imperfections. The tires do some but not sufficient for my rides, I had them at 30 psi but still the bike would slam down the road over bumps. It always felt like the bike was being subject to extreme force by mild bumps and made me question how long this bike would last.
6. When going uphill from a start my son said my bike sounded like a dying elephant. The bike sounded wrong and did it loudly but it worked. The seat springs were squeaking after 200 miles under hard pedaling. There was a lot of noise from the chain guard. The bearings on one of my peddles was clicking. I have a bike now that makes very little noise, it is much more pleasant and silent at 800 miles. The Pedego seemed worn out already after 300 miles.
7. I carried an allen wrench with me since the handle bars had to be tightened every 30 miles or so. I think this is because was riding the bike too hard and using them as levers. They are not really meant to handle a lot of force, just hold you up. This is how I know the bike was too relaxed for my style.
8. Bought Pedego branded panniers. Put duct tape over the word electric that is written on both sides of the panniers. Uh, I got them in part to be stealth.
9. People were confused by the styling of the bike. Many of my friends are much younger than me and in their early 30s or hardcore riders. One comment when they saw the bike was "you are getting old". Boy did that hurt. I'm older but apparently the bike reinforced the point. Note, when I show up on other bikes I got accused of showing off. I did get complements on the City Cruiser, usually from older women who liked my retro bike and knew nothing at all about bikes. I don't ride ebikes for attention (I'm trying to be stealth) but I just want to note. I think in an older group, the City would be more like what everyone else had and be seen in a positive way. I'm in my 40s and have very active friends. I got the bike for me and not for any social reasons, however the "old" comment still hurt. My friends would have the same response if I bought a Lincoln Town Car, so this is really my buying the wrong bike.
10. I have a lot of bikes, many which sold new for under $300 dollars. This bike was broken after 300 miles due to a cheap component. At around 2800.00 retail this is just unacceptable. Because of this l I feel the bike is overpriced given the quality of the components, weight of the frame and engine, and overall quality. Bicycle shift systems have been refined for over 100 years. This is just bad business and I ended up feeding it unfortunately. I should have demanded a 14 day satisfaction guarantee. Unless you know exactly what you want I would buy from someone who can take the bike back, even if it cost you 200 in shipping it - better than $1000 and buyer's remorse. I only knew the bike after ridding it on my streets for 30 miles or so. There are huge differences between ebike brands at a given price point. Do your research. This market is much less mature than regular bikes. My advice is use the warrantee to help you determine what the quality level of the product is going to be like. I bought my current ebike more based on warranty and less on features and specs and it was clearly a better decision as it has not had a warrantable failure for 800 miles. I traded power and top speed but have a reliable consistent machine I use daily without fail.
11. I lost $1000 dollar when I sold the city after 6 weeks. Part of that loss is the fact that the bike is being sold without a warranty at that point (nontransferable) and there is no way to judge the health of the battery. Make sure you have recourse or deep pockets or be willing to live with your choice. This goes double if you are new to eBikes. If you buy your first ebike from a retailer at full price without recourse in case the bike is not a good fit, you have not done your homework. There are retailers out there who understand this and will provide you assurances backed by protections that make it clear they want you to be happy with your purchase.
12. After living with hydraulic brakes for a couple of months, I find the mechanical disk brakes on the City to be marginal. This was my first bike with disk brakes and I was underwhelmed.
 
Good read. Maybe a store room where you can test ride electric bicycles would have helped too? 8)
My first ebike was a Ezip mountain trailz not a great bicycle. I personally prefer buying the right frame and then electrifying it.
 
I knew nothing about ebikes when I bought the Pedego. I went to a store room where I test drove a Neo City by BH Easy Motion with a 350w motor and then this bike with a 500w motor. The speed sold me immediately as well as the sales guy who was pushing Pedego and was salivating at the prospect of my buying one at retail. I also read on another site that this bike was given a perfect rating. Little did I know at the time how much Pedego spends on marketing and what that means to consumers and ratings. In other words, much of what you see about Pedego is sponsored by Pedego. These are inexpensive bikes being sold to naive older buyers that get overwhelmed with the ability to bike again. What they don't know is that for what they are paying for that feeling, there are much better options with better warranties, parts, quality, and designs. The other side of this is that without all that marketing many of those people would not be on a Pedego and sitting around on a couch watching TV instead of getting out. My experience is not universal I'm just way more informed these days. I love my current bike, its a Neo Jet, it just always works, has torque sensing, hydraulic brakes, 350 watt motor, and has huge range and looks awesome.
 
Interesting, even revue. Thanks. You'd possibly be better served with a mid drive with "waterbottle" battery in which the weight is centered. I've discovered that a light bike with front hub motor and mid battery still behaves much like a "normal" pedal one; the extra weight seems balanced and riding the bike pedal - only works fine. That said, there are some things to dislike about front hub systems.
 
The motor on the neo jet & city commuter is the same dapu motor.
I''m pushing 4000 miles on mine , motor never opened up, original brake pads, front brake needed adjustment once, never got a flat, original chain, rims are true still, spokes still good..
My shifter broke also, i ride mine as a single speed, they updated the shifters & send them right out next day as warranty replacements, I never installed mine prefer the single speed setup, chain fell off 4 x while going over bumps & motor cut out 3 x. .
Bike is back heavy, it's design hurt my crotch real bad till I found oakley bike shorts, fixed the setpost & found the right saddle then topped it with 2 cheap chinese gel coverrs, now i'm fine with the riding position, no pain, Oh also installed bigger Big Apple tires.
I took a 700 dollar hit on my first one too a Prodeco & sold it within a month as well, hated it. It does seems like there's a Pedego " cult " following this company & it's reviews I thought the same thing but I can tell you I've put over 12k miles E-Bikes in the last 5 years from home made kits bikes to my R Martin MIPower, the Podeco, & this Pedego bike is good, I would try one out first true the geometry of the bike is " unique " back heavy as you said but thats the design. I would've sold mine by now if it sucked, i thought it was really cheap too when my shifter broke, i suck @ writhing reviews but touched upon this in my review of the bike. I had many of the same opinions about it being bordorline cheap , still do but have to admit it's holding up & they just sent me a brand new 15 AH battery for free, so I'm a happy with the company as long as the bike it doesnt break in the near future @ 27 MPH & send me hurling to an early death, I'm still a fan :)
Also wanted to add I never used the pedal assist only the twist throttle so that could be crappy for all I know . The fact my bike has been so easy on brake pad wearage & the fact it has gotten no flats & the way it covers ground, gallops along like a throughbred horse with excellent range has me sold, i used to get flats flats flats all the time, i moved to a different state { Florida } but I think the bike's designed with it's huge 29 er wheels make's it less prone to flats.
Please give a review on your Neo Jet, I'm curious to see how it hold up @ the different mileage intervals as my Pedego has. You opened your review by comparing it to it a lincoln town car & you needed a sports sedan that is a good description of the city commuter & I can add a lincoln that has been suprising dependable thats easy on components & goes really far on a charge & is fast & fun this bike thats the selling points, also a great workout thats easy to obtain with this bike, far from perfect but theres no such thing as a perfect bike.
 
I really like the Neo Jet. It is a stealth ebike with battery integrated in the down tube, 360 watt geared rear hub motor with speed, possibly cadence, and torque sensing. Hydraulic brakes are standard along with Suntour front suspension. What I like about it is that there have been no part failures other than a flat at 700 or so miles caused by a huge pot hole. It has almost 1000 miles. Easy Motion has a 5 year warranty and feels like it was built to last. There are no signs of predatory cost cutting that come to mind. The bike is solid and dependable which I appreciate.

The bike is also safe. Having the weight low and moderately centered means it handles enough like a bike that does not take odd paths through turns. Torque sensing means the bike does not leap if there is pedal motion at stop, the force provide by the motor is in ratio to the force on the pedal, so a light touch does not buck the bike to life. The suspension usually takes the pain out of bumps. I saw stars more than once after hitting potholes on the Pedego which has a cheap seat post solution and springy seat. At 25 mph it could be brutal.

The range on both bikes is very good. I pedal a lot on my Jet and never have gotten below 2 bars out of five on my rides of 25-50 miles. There is good range on the Pedego as well, but did not pedal as much as the riding position was very relaxed. Pedego would go 25 mph which was pretty cool and had a 500watt motor which I felt was too much power for what I needed and just made the bike overly heavy. I'm just looking for assist to go longer distances faster, not for unassisted riding. I'm much more into range over speed.

Both bikes have difficult flat repairs. Pedego did not ever get a flat and had slimed bulletproof tires but that was over 6 weeks as opposed to 1000 miles in 3 months.

The easy motion line has excellent styling and build in my opinion and the look is very slick. Step through is nice since both my wife and I can use the bike, we are both around 5 foot 6 inches. There is no plug on the bike. This is fixed in 2015. The ride is very quiet and there is not any of the Pedego's annoying clicks and rattle and moans which developed fast.

Negatives for the jet are the back tire is tricky to remove and replace. I should have practiced at home. The front breaks are prone to squeal unless expertly configured. The ergo hand grips do not have lockers. While the assist algorithm works well there are some situations, mainly gentle uphill grades where it’s a struggle to balance cadence with the assist as the bikes speeds up down in a 1-2 mph range at low assist levels. This only occurs when going under the top speed and hold around 15 mph on speed limited paths. I end up working more than I would like or going too fast. The Pedego was pretty good at holding speeds and your assist was less important to how fast the bike went.

Really look at warranties and the negative reviews. Most of what I read about happened to me on the Pedego and it happened quickly.
 
Electric bike report has a video on Youtube of the 2015 Neo line shows the EVO cross, Jet & Race , I can see the build quality of these bikes { got a 27" 2014 Imac, details amazing ] I can see why your sold on this bike really nice.
I know that feeling when you spend a chunk of $ & it seems the company has cut corners on quality especially when saftey is concerned, this Pedego is overpriced a bit I forgot to mention that I believe it { I bet it costed about $ 900.00 to buy them wholesale from China } Ok they do add Schwable tires, battery has Samsung cells & Avid BB7 brakes are very good but labor to build it was maybe 25 cents an hour :)
Another good thing with the Neo bikes is these Dapu motors in my opinion after owning both types are better then the gearless hub motors for the weight savings, stealth factor { being smaller } OK drawback is you may need to change the nylon gears every 5k miles or so but they pull so much better, more torque much easier on removing the wheel to fix flats. Mine still sounds the same, I'm easy on the motor, lost 50 lbs @ 160 lbs now, I dont bog it out in the mud like trying to use a cordless drill with a dull bit, LOL.
You have to change the bearings on both typs anyways ..Good luck with that bike, they are nice I can see why your happier with that. I just hope it's not prone to getting flats { It looks like my MiPower RMartin a lot battery placement, frame design } & I averaged a1 flat every 750 miles or so, bad roads though where I lived on Long Island.. :) Oh & also I would consider running Schwalbe tires maybe Marathons & Schwalbe tubes, people think tubes are pretty much the same but these are oh man quality tubes bought them from a EBay UK seller, I think that'll make the difference after getting stuck 20 miles from home with a flat & having to wrestle that damn wheel LOL, Oh man, so many times i changed that rear flat on these things, thats why I'm content with this Pedego rig, 8)
 
I'm a bit disappointed you didn't enjoy your Pedago and suffered problems. I bought a Pedago Interceptor last May and it has been trouble free with the exception of a broken shift mechanism which the dealer replaced promptly and it just broke again but Pedago has changed brands and style so when the replacement comes, under warranty next week, I expect it to solve the problem.
Not being a young person and not being a light person, my Pedago for the most part exceeds expectations. At 72 y/o and 250 pounds with pedal assist I get a normal Sunday morning ride of 34 miles with sufficient reserve to be comfortable. If I get greedy with speed then my reserve will suffer but the gauges provides plenty of warning. The bike is quiet, the riding position comfortable and the light is awesome. The rear tire does show wear and will have to be replaced shortly yet will deliver 1,500 miles before "danger" sets in.
As for the price I felt the bike was very reasonable. My previous bike was a Boss beach cruiser I had converted using a Crystalyte 1000 watt motor and a 48 volt 20 AH LIpo battery. With the price of the bike, motor, battery and accessories it was considerably more expensive then the Pedago albeit it was faster (32 MPH) with a slight longer range at 20 mph then the Pedago is at 12-14 MPH. My dealer, Island Life, in St. Augustine has been nothing but helpful and is very knowledgeable. A major problem I experienced, more then once, with my previous bikes conversion was rain. The controller and the motor did NOT like rain and each failed when they got wet. Fortunately help on the forum allowed me to repair the motor (ypedal) but the controller required replacement which simply added to the overall cost and caused additional downtime. The Pedago battery with the built in controller solves that problem and the waterproof connection to the motor so far has eliminated any problem with the motor shorting out.
My non electric bike, a Trek hybrid with front suspension, has experienced mechanical breakdowns with far fewer miles then the Pedago.
Mike
 
It's time to join the build-your-own club. You can do much better than this for a lot less. An ebike build with a 250-350w motor plus an even lighter battery that would fit in the triangle would be a HUGE improvement.

We have a local dealer here who sells these. They are heavy.. they are not refined.. not having suspension makes them rough to ride, the battery is in the wrong place for good handling. Pedego should know better than this, at this point. I wonder if they only test their new products on crystal smooth terrain.
 
Mvadventure, you are why Pedego exists. Me, not so much. It sounds like you are living a healthier live style with the bike and that is awesome. You can live with two sifters going bad, I just could not. Maybe my attitude is to critical.
 
Neptronix the fact the bike isnt refined is it's charm,
I havent just seen one in a shop I've ridden one over 4k miles & owned it for a year, also I've built E-Bikes as well & owned other factory bikes.
I think it's a CAD well thought out design more then people think. With engineering the slightest weight shift in design & geomerty for example makes all the difference & sometimes leaves you scratching your head thinking " wow " I didnt think that would be.
Well I'm here to tell you from ownership of this bike it's turning out to be a very good if not a " special " bike, but it's not a refined bike.
It's a big 29'er with a mixture of quality & entry level components but..
Now this is what has me sold as I sit here after a 20 mile ride along the back roads along the Gulf of Mexico.
No flats my man, lucky ? Better roads then Long Island ? maybe but I used to get flats all the time averaged them under 1000 miles on all of my other bikes, center battery designs, Pedego, Schwinn MTB kits, I changed flats all the time & it's a PIA with these E-Bikes as we all know.
Now, who knows, maybe next week, month , year the rims my fail, a weld may break, the forks may fail prematurly & I'll change my tune but it's proven to be a very maintenance free bike, very ridable , my favorite bike so far because I ride a lot, it's a usable & dependable, fast & fun , but is it refined, NO..like a 1978 Ford LTD II Ihad, car was in a groove with it's 351 M motor, LOL this bike reminds me of that Ford.
Also you mentioned the weight & it's is fine BTW, not heavy & I dont miss a suspension one bit { but did upgrade to Big Apple tires }..
I think it's a CAD design well thought out more then people think, hey who would think a 13' Boston Whaler could handle rough water like they do, it's all in Engineering & product testing, I've been putting this bike through some miles in the hot Florida sun & I'm a satisfied customer. :D I'm impressed ....to date
 
Thank you for the information about the failure of the left hand side speed twist shifters. I hit that milestone on my way home from my lunch outing. Everything else on my City Commuter has been an enjoyable experience. I take it back and forth 4 miles each way from the train to work. 3 of those miles are dedicated bike paths with grade separation, so I can beat the Light rail if I want to. Another bonus has been the adjustable handle bars. The main reason is that it would not fit in a bicycle locker without that feature. I am 6'4 plus and need the extra ride height. I also opted for the bigger battery. Thanks again for the posting, sent off a request to Pedego support about the speed twist shifters.
 
Update: Sent in support request about twist shifter. Received a reply that recommended replacing a thumb shifter on right side. Everything covered under Warranty.

//////
Good morning. The next step would be replacing the broken grip shifter with a right sided thumb shifter, so shifting will move to the throttle side or we can send you the same grip shift you have currently. With this replacement a longer grip will also be with the shipment of the shifter which will be covered by the warranty.
//////
Pixelmaestro
 
My local dealer (Island Life, St. Augustine) delivered and installed the new shifter on the right hand side last week and it is a vast improvement. Couple the shifter with the dealer provided tune up and I have a brand new bike. One of the major advantages of my Interceptor over my Trek hybrid (power assist aside) is its ability to go on hard packed trails and it isn't dependent on paved surfaces. In my community we are blessed with miles and miles of bike trails, most are paved and include gorgeous wooden bridges, often very long, over swamps and canals. Bikes with narrow tires however find the "dirt" trails difficult and that's a shame as they are often the most beautiful.
Mike
 
Mike, with the Schwable Big Apple tire upgrade I did she is really confident on trails, I think an improvement over the fat franks as these tires are wider & taller, i had to remove fenders though.
Maybe 4 % of my riding is on trails though, when my Panniers are packed with my fishing rod & gear mostly but I take it easy on them, little TLC I'm mostly worried about the battery rack welds & extra weight I have back there in my bags, but she does well.
I still just leave my gears on smallest cog, keep chain aligned & cleaned dodnt even switch gears have been doing so for 3k miles or so, even on the trails she pulls so well bike is fine as single speed .
 
Back
Top