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I received my Rush City Speed Friday after a long, 5 month wait. The installation went smoothly, thanks to the included wrenches that fit every bolt on the bike, and the unboxing video.
My first test ride was disheartening. I was pedaling like crazy going 12 MPH and couldn't seem to get the enviolo to help out by shifting. I returned home wondering if buying a bike based solely on the wonderful specs and state of the art components was a bad idea.
Saturday I rejoined the cause. I first downloaded the Enviolo app to my iphone and paired it with the rear hub. It immediately did a firmware update. That was a good start. It then had me calibrate the hub, which was also good and necessary.
Finally, I loaded the app to the Configuration screen and set the RPM to every number from 50 to 90, but 70 was just about right. I picked Sports mode. The "Gear Ratio at Start of Ride" baffled me. I moved it around (while riding) and couldn't figure out if it only affects the "start" or also had an affect during the ride? The Enviolo website just said "try different .1 increments until you find the right setting". I still don't know what value is right for me, and no amount of searching could give me a clue.
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So now the bike felt more comfortable. I next did the bedding in of the brakes. I followed the training video and "got to it". The brakes seem to be nice and sticky.
My next challenge was to train myself. Coming from a Specialized ebike, I am used to a manual transmission. It is just a habit. And I wanted the S1 to mimic that by reading my mind. Once I got over that, I started to appreciate the simplicity of the design, and just experience how the S1 performed on my ride.
So I took the S1 out for a 25 mile ride, with 2,500 vertical feet of climb, some long flats, and long downhills.
Eco mode on the hills is a non-starter. Even on flat terrain it was not very much fun. It was harder than my (non electric) street bike. Likewise with Tour.
But Sport was perfect. It was responsive to my efforts and cadence when needed. I could feel the shifting by more resistance to my pedaling which was great as it helped me accelerate. On the flats, while gliding at 16 MPH and not peddling, When I resumed pedaling, I was afraid the Enviolo would shift back to a low gear, but I was happily surprised that it picked up where I left off and I had the right resistance right away. There were a few steep climbs that needed Boost mode, and I found changing the RPM setting to 80 was better for the big climb, and I switched it back to 70 at the top.
I don't thing that the Enviolo takes slope into account when calculating gear, or the brose motor either. My iphone cycling app, however, does know slope, and I think that is missing in brose/enviolo power and gearing. (I have to believe the first automatic cars had similar challenges on hills). The enviolo app could (if the app designers wanted to) get slope data and send it to its computer to adjust to easier gearing and a little more power.
But on more gentle slopes and flat ground, the hub gave me a good resistance. A bit more than my Specialized, but I liked it because I felt more connected to the riding, like on my regular non-electric street bike.
For me, I don't see any reason not to stay in Sport all the time. Except battery life.
Battery Life: I left for my ride with the battery fully charged. The brose display has a calculation for ride length based on battery available and power mode. As I switched thru the modes from Eco to Sport, the miles till empty showed 54, 24 and 16, no where near the 100-25 miles I had read about and hoped for. However, I stayed in Sport mode, and for 6 hard uphill miles, it still said 16 miles till empty. At mile 12, it dropped to 9, and the battery meter was down 2 bars (out of 5) so the battery and 9/16 both showed approximately 40% used. So it appears the brose is not knowledgeable about the 704 watt battery or mis-calibrated, either way the miles remaining is useless.
Top Speed
The top speed is advertised as 28 mph. I had a long stretch of flat road, so I cranked up the bike and pedaled as fast as I could. I quickly accelerated from 16 MPH to 25 MPH and then couldn't go any faster. I went into Boost mode and I persisted for about a minute, then gave up. Like my experience in the hills, I don't know what combination of settings can get me to 28 MPH. 25 is plenty fast, but I do want to reach 28 MPH or at least learn how to hit that speed. Again, I believe it is a problem with coordination between the Brose motor and the Enviolo hub, probably software related. I don't know if firmware updates are needed for this bike or if others cannot hit maximum speed?
When I finished the ride, the battery was about 1/2 used. My estimate is on Sports mode in hilly biking I could get 50 miles, and 4,500 vertical feet of climbing, which to me is good. On a more flat ride, in power eating Sports mode, I could anticipate 75 miles of riding, which is plenty in one day (for me).
I hear S1 is coming out with their own app, which I hope layers on top of the Enviolo app and weighs in current speed, cadence and SLOPE to adjust power and gearing. My co-riders were shifting, and I heard a lot of gear mashing on the hills as they tried to find the right gear.
At the end of the day, even with these small issues, the S1 ride really was fun and it was great to have it shift gears on hilly climbs under load to help make my climbs easier.
And for around town and shorter rides, I would leave the cadence at 70 RPM and stay in Sports mode and just enjoy the ride!
My first test ride was disheartening. I was pedaling like crazy going 12 MPH and couldn't seem to get the enviolo to help out by shifting. I returned home wondering if buying a bike based solely on the wonderful specs and state of the art components was a bad idea.
Saturday I rejoined the cause. I first downloaded the Enviolo app to my iphone and paired it with the rear hub. It immediately did a firmware update. That was a good start. It then had me calibrate the hub, which was also good and necessary.
Finally, I loaded the app to the Configuration screen and set the RPM to every number from 50 to 90, but 70 was just about right. I picked Sports mode. The "Gear Ratio at Start of Ride" baffled me. I moved it around (while riding) and couldn't figure out if it only affects the "start" or also had an affect during the ride? The Enviolo website just said "try different .1 increments until you find the right setting". I still don't know what value is right for me, and no amount of searching could give me a clue.
So now the bike felt more comfortable. I next did the bedding in of the brakes. I followed the training video and "got to it". The brakes seem to be nice and sticky.
My next challenge was to train myself. Coming from a Specialized ebike, I am used to a manual transmission. It is just a habit. And I wanted the S1 to mimic that by reading my mind. Once I got over that, I started to appreciate the simplicity of the design, and just experience how the S1 performed on my ride.
So I took the S1 out for a 25 mile ride, with 2,500 vertical feet of climb, some long flats, and long downhills.
Eco mode on the hills is a non-starter. Even on flat terrain it was not very much fun. It was harder than my (non electric) street bike. Likewise with Tour.
But Sport was perfect. It was responsive to my efforts and cadence when needed. I could feel the shifting by more resistance to my pedaling which was great as it helped me accelerate. On the flats, while gliding at 16 MPH and not peddling, When I resumed pedaling, I was afraid the Enviolo would shift back to a low gear, but I was happily surprised that it picked up where I left off and I had the right resistance right away. There were a few steep climbs that needed Boost mode, and I found changing the RPM setting to 80 was better for the big climb, and I switched it back to 70 at the top.
I don't thing that the Enviolo takes slope into account when calculating gear, or the brose motor either. My iphone cycling app, however, does know slope, and I think that is missing in brose/enviolo power and gearing. (I have to believe the first automatic cars had similar challenges on hills). The enviolo app could (if the app designers wanted to) get slope data and send it to its computer to adjust to easier gearing and a little more power.
But on more gentle slopes and flat ground, the hub gave me a good resistance. A bit more than my Specialized, but I liked it because I felt more connected to the riding, like on my regular non-electric street bike.
For me, I don't see any reason not to stay in Sport all the time. Except battery life.
Battery Life: I left for my ride with the battery fully charged. The brose display has a calculation for ride length based on battery available and power mode. As I switched thru the modes from Eco to Sport, the miles till empty showed 54, 24 and 16, no where near the 100-25 miles I had read about and hoped for. However, I stayed in Sport mode, and for 6 hard uphill miles, it still said 16 miles till empty. At mile 12, it dropped to 9, and the battery meter was down 2 bars (out of 5) so the battery and 9/16 both showed approximately 40% used. So it appears the brose is not knowledgeable about the 704 watt battery or mis-calibrated, either way the miles remaining is useless.
Top Speed
The top speed is advertised as 28 mph. I had a long stretch of flat road, so I cranked up the bike and pedaled as fast as I could. I quickly accelerated from 16 MPH to 25 MPH and then couldn't go any faster. I went into Boost mode and I persisted for about a minute, then gave up. Like my experience in the hills, I don't know what combination of settings can get me to 28 MPH. 25 is plenty fast, but I do want to reach 28 MPH or at least learn how to hit that speed. Again, I believe it is a problem with coordination between the Brose motor and the Enviolo hub, probably software related. I don't know if firmware updates are needed for this bike or if others cannot hit maximum speed?
When I finished the ride, the battery was about 1/2 used. My estimate is on Sports mode in hilly biking I could get 50 miles, and 4,500 vertical feet of climbing, which to me is good. On a more flat ride, in power eating Sports mode, I could anticipate 75 miles of riding, which is plenty in one day (for me).
I hear S1 is coming out with their own app, which I hope layers on top of the Enviolo app and weighs in current speed, cadence and SLOPE to adjust power and gearing. My co-riders were shifting, and I heard a lot of gear mashing on the hills as they tried to find the right gear.
At the end of the day, even with these small issues, the S1 ride really was fun and it was great to have it shift gears on hilly climbs under load to help make my climbs easier.
And for around town and shorter rides, I would leave the cadence at 70 RPM and stay in Sports mode and just enjoy the ride!
