I've been awaiting a review of the Pendix. It looks like the most elegant and minimal, with respect to appearance and sound change, way to convert a conventional bike to a e-bike. I doubt that many folks will even notice the motor and, in my experience, batteries are not what clues folks in to the fact that the bike has been converted to an e-bike. The biggie is probably the whine from the motor gearing which the Pendix doesn't have since it is direct drive.
My two bikes that are currently e-biked are not conventional bikes - a V-Rex and a Fusion, both older bikes made by RANS - could not easily work with a Pendix because there is no way to mount the battery/control unit where the rider could easily see it. The V-Rex, which has the Open Source Software installed, is almost as stealth as the Pendix, or at least it quiet enough and has both the motor and battery mounted where people don't notice so that other bicyclists don't notice that it has been e-biked.
I'm looking forward to hearing more about you experience with the Pendiz.
Hi Léo
I'm glad you've found something that looks like it will work for you. I suspect something like it is lurking in my future, but not the foreseeable future (yet).
Happy touring!
It's probably in all of our futures if we keep riding long enough!
Way to go Leo!
That looks like a very nice solution, Léo. May you have many kilometers of fun and exploration.
Thanks, Mark. The next test is to lower the level of drive and try it on a bike loaded for camping. I do enjoy the sensation of pedalling and getting home knowing that I have; the thing to see now is whether the balance of more autonomy that the lower setting will give doesn't become spoiled by havung little help. (An inelegantly expressed equation but you may get the meaning nevertheless).
And, no, no noise at all, and elegant.
I'll report back later.
Hi Jacquie
I still feel abashed that I have sunk to such depths but I console myself that it's not through laziness or lack of leg power.
Those of us who've read your journals have nothing but respect (and a bit of envy...)
The more caring and patient - or more likely those with high tolerance of boredom - will remember my anguish over electric bikes.
If you are not among them, you may pass along to the next and probably more interesting message.
To start the story at the end, I bought a Pendix 500. It is neat, it works well and above all it fits an eccentric bottom bracket, the sort that tandem riders and Rohloff users will be familiar with.
It looked like the only motor that could do the job and so we drove to near Clermont-Ferrand to buy one. That's six hours and therefore a long way. To North Americans, remember, a hundred years is a long time; to a European a hundred kilometres is a long way.
Pendix is a German company. Its motors vary by the size and therefore cost of the battery. The 500 is the middle of three. It is giving me 90km on a heavy although unloaded bike, chunky tyres and rolling countryside. That's on the eco or lowest setting.
The motor gives a subtle extra push to your pedalling. Someone described it as getting back the legs you had 20 years ago, and that's how it feels.
I don't intend to make much use of the higher settings, which feel as though an outboard motor has been nailed to the bike. I'm not a Puritan but I do like feeling the pedals, puffing on hills, reaching the end of the day with a feeling of achievement.
Pendix's wizardry allows me to move all the settings down a notch. If I accept less help, which suits me, jiggery-pokery with a mobile phone will halve the power of each setting and give me a far greater distance than I'm often likely to ride.
That's important to me, not because I want to bound across continents but because the battery takes five hours to charge from empty and because having it conk out during a ride means turning not just the pedals but the motor as well.
My self-esteem has been offended and I have no plans to fit a motor to my lighter, more sporty bikes. I think I explained in my previous message why I wanted one for my touring bike.
I haven't yet ridden with a full load. That can wait for the lower setting, I think. I have had to learn the new discipline of watching not just the kilometres on the computer but the colour at the top of the battery: it goes from green to yellow and then red. The tumbrils approach when the red begins to flash, after which you have about your own body length still to ride.
So far, I recommend it. Nothing has displeased me. Whether they're available where you are, I have no idea. But six hours will be nothing to you, of course.
happy days
léo
2 years ago