DahonElectric
100 W
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2008
- Messages
- 149
Dragged race, Bionx lost 9C wins by a big margin obviously!
Finally built up a second e-bike to complement my Bionx Dahon bike for things like shopping, hop on it and just ride without changing into those Lycra bike suit type and for heading down to the beach! And I want something affordable, expandable and attract the least attention for which Bionx isn't doing a good job so far. So here's my review of the 9C vs Bionx -- both ride very differently indeed!
When my attempts failed in trying to sell my spare hybrid touring bike as I don't do long tours anymore, I decided why not make this my 2nd ebike! It's got a long chainstay (46cm as opposed to 44 to or even 42 on some other bikes) and it also have a strong cromoly fork, both of which are now paying great dividends. The bike was designed to haul stuff with a thicker than usual top tube (to prevent the effect of fish tailing when you have too much weight at the rear), I mean I've hauled 50-60lbs of camping gear. The more weight I put on, the more stable the bike becomes. Ebike components are heavy and bike handling is usually compromised because bikes that are not designed to haul heavy stuff usually suffer badly. Not my Devinci. I rode it today at full throttle and OMG, it rocks! Fast, stable and superb handling -- couldn't ask anything more.
The front kit all came from ebike.ca and Justin was very nice to explain to me what the differences between the 9C, eZee and Crystallite system. By far, eZee sells the most because people look for the freewheel hub. The 9C is DD. I was debating between the eZee and 9C, but the inclusion of the Cycle Analyst won me over to the 9C. I'm so used to the Bionx control panel, I need info to gauge my bike and battery performance and so far, I'm impressed with my CA.
How did the 9C front performed. It performed very well. Fast with lots of torque! When it spins however, it emits a notable faint turbine noise. Unlike the Bionx P-250 (250W), the 9C gets up to 18mph no sweat finally tapering to about 23.5mph or so on the flat. It goes up the hill unassisted pretty well, so my quest for a grocery hauling ebike comes true! Woo hoo!
Now everyone wants to know the rolling resistance when moving forward without assist. There is some, but surprisingly not very much, at least a lot less than the Bionx system. It really rolls quite well, though it still emits a turbine noise even without using the throttle, so you can be fooled sometime that you think you're applying power to make the bike move. The feeling of this drag is the same as the Schmidt Dyno hub that a lot of randoneurs use on their 100 mile to 200 mile rides. Certainly it ain't no eZee.
However, I have 2 concerns. Wheel build on the front 9C is passable at best. The rim is of extremely poor quality with the joint seam to be slightly off. This gives a horrific pulsing feeling as you apply your front brakes, so bad that I'm going to evaluate the safety and may bring it back to ebike for either a return or exchange. The spokes are loose and gives a noticeable pinging noise as you accelerate or decelerate.
Build quality is worse than what you can buy from a machine build wheel from say Performance Bikes. Secondly is with the battery and charger. The 36v Ni-cad after about 14 hrs of charging is still showing the blinking red light. I even rode it today and consumed 4ah before the battery starts dying on me. It is rated 8ah and now 6 hrs later on the charger, it is still blinking red (not green). Very odd. I'm going to again evaluate this for a few days and if it doesn't improve, I will bring it back to ebike.
Compared the quality of this to the Bionx however, there is simply no comparison. Wheel, battery and charger worked the first day.
The difference between a Bionx bike and the 9C is that, the 9C is more difficult to sync pedal wise with the motor. The motor is so fast and torquey that most times, I just decided to use the throttle instead and do the pulse and glide and pedal a bit. Whereas with the Bionx bike, the strain gauge entice you to pedal and match pedal rhythm seamlessly . So there you have it, the 9C doesn't replace the Bionx nor the Bionx replaces the 9C. They are both unique..
Cheers..
DE.
Finally built up a second e-bike to complement my Bionx Dahon bike for things like shopping, hop on it and just ride without changing into those Lycra bike suit type and for heading down to the beach! And I want something affordable, expandable and attract the least attention for which Bionx isn't doing a good job so far. So here's my review of the 9C vs Bionx -- both ride very differently indeed!
When my attempts failed in trying to sell my spare hybrid touring bike as I don't do long tours anymore, I decided why not make this my 2nd ebike! It's got a long chainstay (46cm as opposed to 44 to or even 42 on some other bikes) and it also have a strong cromoly fork, both of which are now paying great dividends. The bike was designed to haul stuff with a thicker than usual top tube (to prevent the effect of fish tailing when you have too much weight at the rear), I mean I've hauled 50-60lbs of camping gear. The more weight I put on, the more stable the bike becomes. Ebike components are heavy and bike handling is usually compromised because bikes that are not designed to haul heavy stuff usually suffer badly. Not my Devinci. I rode it today at full throttle and OMG, it rocks! Fast, stable and superb handling -- couldn't ask anything more.
The front kit all came from ebike.ca and Justin was very nice to explain to me what the differences between the 9C, eZee and Crystallite system. By far, eZee sells the most because people look for the freewheel hub. The 9C is DD. I was debating between the eZee and 9C, but the inclusion of the Cycle Analyst won me over to the 9C. I'm so used to the Bionx control panel, I need info to gauge my bike and battery performance and so far, I'm impressed with my CA.
How did the 9C front performed. It performed very well. Fast with lots of torque! When it spins however, it emits a notable faint turbine noise. Unlike the Bionx P-250 (250W), the 9C gets up to 18mph no sweat finally tapering to about 23.5mph or so on the flat. It goes up the hill unassisted pretty well, so my quest for a grocery hauling ebike comes true! Woo hoo!
Now everyone wants to know the rolling resistance when moving forward without assist. There is some, but surprisingly not very much, at least a lot less than the Bionx system. It really rolls quite well, though it still emits a turbine noise even without using the throttle, so you can be fooled sometime that you think you're applying power to make the bike move. The feeling of this drag is the same as the Schmidt Dyno hub that a lot of randoneurs use on their 100 mile to 200 mile rides. Certainly it ain't no eZee.
However, I have 2 concerns. Wheel build on the front 9C is passable at best. The rim is of extremely poor quality with the joint seam to be slightly off. This gives a horrific pulsing feeling as you apply your front brakes, so bad that I'm going to evaluate the safety and may bring it back to ebike for either a return or exchange. The spokes are loose and gives a noticeable pinging noise as you accelerate or decelerate.
Build quality is worse than what you can buy from a machine build wheel from say Performance Bikes. Secondly is with the battery and charger. The 36v Ni-cad after about 14 hrs of charging is still showing the blinking red light. I even rode it today and consumed 4ah before the battery starts dying on me. It is rated 8ah and now 6 hrs later on the charger, it is still blinking red (not green). Very odd. I'm going to again evaluate this for a few days and if it doesn't improve, I will bring it back to ebike.
Compared the quality of this to the Bionx however, there is simply no comparison. Wheel, battery and charger worked the first day.
The difference between a Bionx bike and the 9C is that, the 9C is more difficult to sync pedal wise with the motor. The motor is so fast and torquey that most times, I just decided to use the throttle instead and do the pulse and glide and pedal a bit. Whereas with the Bionx bike, the strain gauge entice you to pedal and match pedal rhythm seamlessly . So there you have it, the 9C doesn't replace the Bionx nor the Bionx replaces the 9C. They are both unique..
Cheers..
DE.
The nicads do take a bit of time to charge though, and may have to cool off before you can start too. Still, the nicads are great for rides that can be done in 8 ah, and no bms worries. 
