Dear Volt,
I have been the not so proud owner of the new 2009 Bionx PL350 for a little over a week now. I chose to purchase the Bionx after riding a friends (pre 2009) PL350. However, the 2009 model, after taking three months to arrive, is sadly lacking in a number of ways.
Firstly, the 32 km/s (20 MPH) speed limit can not be deactivated - this is somewhat of a grey I realize area for legal reasons, although everybody does it.
Secondly, and this is the big one, the new software control system now starts to limit the power assist from 25km/s (16 MPH) onwards, and is quite significantly reduced by 28 - 30km/s, by then the Bionx is hardly delivering any power to the rear wheel. This is really unfortunate since my usual cruising speed is in the 28 - 34 km/s range, leaving my Bionx idle for around 75% of the time I ride it, rather, it is nothing more than a heavy and costly dead weight to my bike. On the weekend I did a 60 km/s (40 Mile) ride (flat ground) with the Bionx set to level 4, when I returned home my battery meter still read 1/2 full. This is a measure of how little assist the Bionx gives at speed over 25 km/s.
And thirdly, my proportional assist system as of this morning is causing the power to surge on and off, this is particularly noticeable on hills, and feels as if the bike is erratically braking. The only way I can ride the bike is with the thumb throttle now.
As you can imagine, I'm not happy or impressed by Bionx and subsequently brought all of these issues to their attention. At first I received a flurry of responses and questions from Bionx, however, all has now gone quiet. Since my bike is barely over a week old I am going to push for a full refund, now I would still like an electric assist bike, but which one?
My requirements are as follow:
1. power assist to at least 32 km/s, faster would be awesome....ideally up to 40km/s
2. 26" rear wheel
3. light weight
4. easy operation (proportional pedal assist would be a nice to have)
5. min 40 km/s (30 Mile) range
6. under 2K - under $1500 would also be a nice to have, under 1K would be Fantastic!!!
7. easy integration with bike
8. battery on the frame (like the Bionx) would also be a nice to have?
Any Ideas?
And yes, is this the Bionx PL500 I'm looking for?
Cheers
Max Revs
Hi Fellow Voltage Folk,
I had a long conversation with Alex at Bionx today, where I voiced many of my issues regarding the 09 Bionx. He was very sympathetic to my concerns, many of which he suggested were caused by altering the 3773 code on the command console to turn off the 32km/s restriction. Where this would have worked on the pre-09 PL350, there is little point attempting it on the post-09 version since it makes no difference to the max speed, however, it could potentially cause your system to misbehave in a number of ways, as I have explained in my previous messages.
I have to admit, (sorry Bionx), maybe I was a little too quick off the gun to be so critical of Bionx so fast, however, I had just spent a ton of money and wasn't getting what I expected for it. Alex, has promised me now that he'll work through my issues to my satisfaction. Cool....and I'll keep you updated.
Therefore, I'm now going to switch my code back to "1" (3773 - mode) this weekend, I have a 60kms ride on Saturday, I'll see if this clears up the auto assist problems and high speed re-gen (braking)coming on.
Of course, I chose the Bionx system after much research, and many of the good points are still very relevant, light weight, great user interface, high quality of manufacture, seamless integration (it still feels like a bicycle to ride) and ease of use are still very much true. It also "kicks ass" off the line and climbs hill with ease, if we can sort out the the way it reduces power in the 25 - 31 km/s zone (new software code maybe?), plus, and I'm hoping that the other issues go away with the speed code re-set to the factory setting, I still think that this can potentially be a great product.
Cheers,
Max