Gazelle Innergy X2
Posted: Fri Sep 06, 2013 1:46 am
G'day folks,
Long time anonymous stalker, first time poster and would like to share my experience thus far...
So after a failed attempt at utilizing a flat-bar road bike to commute to work (12 km... ) I decided to purchase a electric bike after reading some blog out there where they promised that it will vanquish my many, many excuses of not commuting to work as often as I should. (Too lazy to tackle the hills, cold showers at work because the stupid hot water system keeps blowing up, bringing spare clothes... )
After months of trawling through the Tubes of the Internet and scouring bicycle shops around Western Australia, I bit the bullet and purchased the Gazelle Orange Plus Innergy XT! ... except for it was during model transitioning time and was delivered the 2014 Gazelle Orange Plus Innergy X2 instead (Thanks Nick & team (AT) Garland Cycleworks!)
And I got the Step-Through model (as I'm clumsy and I always "pole" it when dismounting to stop at the lights)
One thing to note, I didn't notice the difference between the 2013 XT motor and the 2014 X2 motor. This is because I only tested them on flat surfaces without a chance to tackle a hill. Apparently the X2 motor provides a lot more torque then the previous model.
Amateurish punditry from a lazy 30 year old:
Pros:
- Best (urban-class) bicycle I've ever ridden. (Caveat: Urban Bicycle experience consists of riding a frozen Hangzhou hire-bike, a stepthrough that survived the Cultural Revolution, some bike that survived the Vietnam War and a Boris)
- Sturdy, very solid and stable ride.
- Smooth ride on roads and the shared paths.
- It eats those hated hills for breakfast and makes me feel like superman climbing up those hills with minimal effort.
- Comes with everything that I've already got in the garage! A built in lock, kickstand, bicycle pump, lights, crank case, mudguards...
- I can ride it to work wearing business clothes without stinking like a durian (we'll see how that goes in Perth's summer.)
- Its a personal thing, but I reckon its beautiful.
Cons:
- This thing is heavy. Its fine while riding and you don't feel the weight (Contributes to the stability?), but when your trying to man-handle the bike inside the garage or lift it up to the bike racks at work (wall mounted bike racks) or stack it while trying to press the pedestrian button on the traffic light, that 21.4 KG excluding battery does get annoying...
- Although they quote "virtually silent", you can still hear the motor whirring away when its in use <-- nitpicking
- Another nitpicking thing, there's this exposed thick (power?) cable that comes out of the crank case and snakes into the rack. It ruins the look and it seems quite dodgy.
Things I would change?
- The saddle. I'm not a fan of the Selle Royal Coast saddle that comes with it. Although I didn't feel it at the time while riding the bike, I definitely got the saddle bony-cramps afterwards (The point where you can feel the bottom of the pelvic bone meets the seat). I plan to swap it for the Brooks B67. Lounge on Wheels apparently.
- Finding a way to get rid or minimize all those wires that hang at the front of the bike (tie them along the stem with zipties?)
- My habits, thus far I've left it on Boost all the way. Quite a shock when you kick start the bike on 1st gear.
I've clocked a healthy 20km on it so far (only one day, cut me some slack) - but in the tradition of the other threads, I'll post some updates once a while.
Cheers,
-Lan
Pic of the beast:
Stats (copy and pasted)
Frame - Aluminium
Gears - 7
Brake system - Shimano V-Brake Front & Rollerbrakes Rear
Gear system - Shimano Nexus 7
E-Bike Sensor - Motion & TMM Sensor (With X2 Motor)
Front fork - Suspended
Saddle - Selle Royal Coast RVL Special
Seat post - Suspended
Rims - Rodi Vision
Tyres - Schwalbe CityLite
Spoke pattern - Conventional (Extra Strong)
Front light - Fendervision (Light Integrated in Mudguard)
Dynamo - Battery
Rear light - E-Bike
Stem - Switch
Lock - AXA Defender RL with Microchip and Cable Lock Insert.
Long time anonymous stalker, first time poster and would like to share my experience thus far...
So after a failed attempt at utilizing a flat-bar road bike to commute to work (12 km... ) I decided to purchase a electric bike after reading some blog out there where they promised that it will vanquish my many, many excuses of not commuting to work as often as I should. (Too lazy to tackle the hills, cold showers at work because the stupid hot water system keeps blowing up, bringing spare clothes... )
After months of trawling through the Tubes of the Internet and scouring bicycle shops around Western Australia, I bit the bullet and purchased the Gazelle Orange Plus Innergy XT! ... except for it was during model transitioning time and was delivered the 2014 Gazelle Orange Plus Innergy X2 instead (Thanks Nick & team (AT) Garland Cycleworks!)
And I got the Step-Through model (as I'm clumsy and I always "pole" it when dismounting to stop at the lights)
One thing to note, I didn't notice the difference between the 2013 XT motor and the 2014 X2 motor. This is because I only tested them on flat surfaces without a chance to tackle a hill. Apparently the X2 motor provides a lot more torque then the previous model.
Amateurish punditry from a lazy 30 year old:
Pros:
- Best (urban-class) bicycle I've ever ridden. (Caveat: Urban Bicycle experience consists of riding a frozen Hangzhou hire-bike, a stepthrough that survived the Cultural Revolution, some bike that survived the Vietnam War and a Boris)
- Sturdy, very solid and stable ride.
- Smooth ride on roads and the shared paths.
- It eats those hated hills for breakfast and makes me feel like superman climbing up those hills with minimal effort.
- Comes with everything that I've already got in the garage! A built in lock, kickstand, bicycle pump, lights, crank case, mudguards...
- I can ride it to work wearing business clothes without stinking like a durian (we'll see how that goes in Perth's summer.)
- Its a personal thing, but I reckon its beautiful.
Cons:
- This thing is heavy. Its fine while riding and you don't feel the weight (Contributes to the stability?), but when your trying to man-handle the bike inside the garage or lift it up to the bike racks at work (wall mounted bike racks) or stack it while trying to press the pedestrian button on the traffic light, that 21.4 KG excluding battery does get annoying...
- Although they quote "virtually silent", you can still hear the motor whirring away when its in use <-- nitpicking
- Another nitpicking thing, there's this exposed thick (power?) cable that comes out of the crank case and snakes into the rack. It ruins the look and it seems quite dodgy.
Things I would change?
- The saddle. I'm not a fan of the Selle Royal Coast saddle that comes with it. Although I didn't feel it at the time while riding the bike, I definitely got the saddle bony-cramps afterwards (The point where you can feel the bottom of the pelvic bone meets the seat). I plan to swap it for the Brooks B67. Lounge on Wheels apparently.
- Finding a way to get rid or minimize all those wires that hang at the front of the bike (tie them along the stem with zipties?)
- My habits, thus far I've left it on Boost all the way. Quite a shock when you kick start the bike on 1st gear.
I've clocked a healthy 20km on it so far (only one day, cut me some slack) - but in the tradition of the other threads, I'll post some updates once a while.
Cheers,
-Lan
Pic of the beast:
Stats (copy and pasted)
Frame - Aluminium
Gears - 7
Brake system - Shimano V-Brake Front & Rollerbrakes Rear
Gear system - Shimano Nexus 7
E-Bike Sensor - Motion & TMM Sensor (With X2 Motor)
Front fork - Suspended
Saddle - Selle Royal Coast RVL Special
Seat post - Suspended
Rims - Rodi Vision
Tyres - Schwalbe CityLite
Spoke pattern - Conventional (Extra Strong)
Front light - Fendervision (Light Integrated in Mudguard)
Dynamo - Battery
Rear light - E-Bike
Stem - Switch
Lock - AXA Defender RL with Microchip and Cable Lock Insert.