Smartmotion E-City – how is it going?

Before I decided on the E-City, I searched the internet for “User Reviews” or “Rider Reviews” of Smartmotion bikes and found very few written or filmed by real owners. Most were by bike shop staff and used remarkably similar words tending to discuss the features of the bike and not what it is like to live with one.

So I thought I would discuss my first few weeks with the bike hoping it may help a prospective purchaser. This isn’t a cycle ride entry so if you aren’t thinking about Smartmotion bikes this probably isn’t for you.

Let’s first of all discuss what I want from the bike – it’s a specific list of requirements driven by a desire to cycle without pain and to be able to cycle decent distances – at an ever-advancing age.

Quite simply, I wanted a bike that was comfortable and easy for me to ride and to ride both on road and on gravel.

Now, as you know if you have been following my blog, I am getting on in years and have quite a bit of arthritis. Some years ago I sold my favourite Vivente tourer as it grew difficult after a couple of hours solid riding. It’s riding position was just no longer for me and I made the move to recumbents.

Recently I got the urge for 2 wheels again mainly for ease of transportation to new areas to cycle. For that to work I need a bike that allows me to sit up straight with little or no weight on my hands. Plus the gear change action has to be light, the saddle comfortable and the electrics have to provide a reasonable level of pedal assist.

I decided that one of the Smartmotion bikes might suit. After a visit to the local showroom I thought they were worth a try and was about to tee up a test ride when I happened to look on Gumtree and found an E-City for sale in Launceston. It wasn’t quite the Xscapade I had looked at but the 26” wheel, mid-sized E-City looked interesting. I had a test ride, it felt promising, I bought it.

Do I have any regrets? Not at this time following suitable adjustments and a series of local rides. How it and I will go on a 60-70k ride is yet to be tested.

Riding Position and adjustability

Initially the bike was working OK but I did not really fit. I had to work with the handlebars and stem positioning in order to dial in the upright stance. The initial riding position had me leaning too far forward with too much weight on hands and wrists but I knew that could be changed.

When I got the bike home, the stem and handlebar positioning proved to be very adjustable and after a few days with a few rides and with a number of micro adjustments, I got it right. I do feel like I am sitting up high and the bar position is quite different to any other bike I have ridden but then, so it should. I need that different position. I’m riding a bit like Father Brown (ABC TV series) on his ancient upright push-bike but without his leaning forward stance to make riding look fast!

The saddle

The saddle is really (and surprisingly) comfortable for something that looks so broad and bulky. The bike has non-adjustable front suspension which works well for someone unused to suspension. The seat post is a suspension post but I didn’t play with that for a while. The manual discusses how to set it up and I plan to do so over next couple of days; maybe by the time I finish this post I can report how that went.

I adjusted saddle height using the simple measure of a nearly straight leg at the point of max extension with the heel on the pedal while sitting on the saddle. It generally works for me and did so again on the E-City. There is a minor issue. When the saddle is high enough for good leg extension I can’t easily touch the ground when in the saddle. So, when stopping, I have to vacate the saddle!

I visited the bike shop this week and, while there, had a look at the latest E-City model. The saddle is still the same shape but the dimensions have been reduced. So it looks very similar but a shrunk version! Should mine prove not so good in the long run I will try one of the new ones.

Late News : I adjusted the seat-post suspension yesterday. The actual adjustment is simple enough to do but the measurement of how much the saddle should drop when you sit on it was harder to gauge. There may well be a series of micro adjustments needed here. It does make a difference to get it right.

Wheels and tyres

The wheels at 26” wearing Schwalbe Big Apple 26” by 2” balloon tyres are so different to the narrow 16” Marathons on my Brompton that they took a bit of getting used to; to really trust them. Although most of Smartmotion bikes have wider tyres than the E-City, I think these will do what I want. So far I have had no troubles with grass, light road gravel or even the thicker gravel on the road edge. Unless I try something silly the bike just goes where I want.

The Frame

The step-through frame is exactly what I need. No longer can I throw a leg over the saddle to mount a bike – ah, those were the days! So a crossbar-less or drop saddle bike is a must. The crossbar-less frame seems stiff enough – especially at the speed I take corners these days. I have been watching the Tour de France and admiring both men and women undertaking speedy, bendy downhills (well, down mountains) and imagining doing the same. I do realise (and am frequently told) that’s something I should no longer do except on the recumbent trike – when a good brakeless downhill is still irresistible!

Electrical discussion !

The e-City is an e-bike of course. I will need pedal assist to be able to cycle 60-70k in a day when I fancy a good ride. In Tasmania we have hills and lots of headwinds – the e-bike should allow me to get out there and cover the distance.

The power is delivered by a 250 watt 16 amp rear hub motor. It says on it “Smartmotion” but I would think there is a bit of re-badging there. There are no further clues as to who made it but it’s probably fair to presume it’s made in China like many other hub motors. The battery capacity is 16amp hours and is said by Smartmotion to have Samsung or Panasonic cells in it so it should be OK.

The bike wasn’t used for some time before I bought it but the battery was tested in Launceston before the sale and found to charge up to 41.5 volts – a little below the expected 41.7. After a couple of weeks of regular riding and charging it did read 41.7v this weekend, according to the handlebar display. Maybe cell balancing has straightened things up after the longer charge I gave it. It does seem to have a large voltage sag though when really using power and this is something I will watch with interest.

Cycling around the Longford area (very flat and ‘no wind’ days) using mainly PAS 1 and 2 (14-16kph) with an occasional PAS 3 (20kph), the bike covered 120 kilometres on one charge. That had me checking my figures! It is surprisingly good and I have ridden another test to double check results. The results are in and at a distance of 110 kilometres covered there is still enough in the battery to tackle at least another 10-15 kilometres. All good.

Of course, when I ride using PAS 3 to 4 (at a comfortable 20kph) and tackle a route with more hills, this distance will reduce considerably. I will run a test on that too, to see what happens. It’s all part of life’s rich learning curve.

Power delivery is quiet once over 10 kph and is settled at all times – no jerkiness at all. I try and keep the speed up over 12 kph to ensure the whinging stops as I know hub motors can stall and/or overheat climbing hills at low speed. I assume it’s grumbling is linked to this.

Brakes

Brakes are disc brakes. They work. There is an issue with mine as there is a bit of “pulsing” where one or both seem to grab then release then grab and the sequence continues until the bike stops. It’s something I haven’t looked into as yet and is not something I would expect on a new bike.

When the brake levers are “pulled in” a microswitch advises the power system and power to the hub motor correctly disconnects – a safety feature.

Rack, bag and panniers

The rack is a substantial affair. It’s a bit cramped in the battery slot and when I first mounted the rear bag, which uses velcro straps to hold it in place, I wrapped the straps around the top rungs of the rack. There they pressed against the battery, binding it in place making it hard to pull the battery out. I then put the straps around the outer rails but this did not totally solve the problem. So I have put a layer of corflute between the rack and bag to stop the straps pressing onto the battery.

Bike Balance

One thing I had a bit of trouble with was the balance of the bike. Having the battery up high on the rack then filling the bag, which is positioned on top of the rack, with heavyish things like tool kit, flask of coffee etc noticeably raises the centre of gravity. I now place heavy items in the panniers attached to the bag thus having them sit lower. For me this helps. For others it may not be an issue.

I am thinking about moving the battery to the water bottle point on the frame thus moving some 4 kilos from on high. I could do this using my existing recumbent batteries and doing some interesting wiring. I could even do that plus leave the existing battery position operational then I could ride with two batteries for longer distance trips. Hmmm. Now that’s an idea but first I must locate the controller – another difference between this and my other e-bikes where the controller was a seperate unit.

Lighting

The bike comes with front and rear lights both using power from the battery. The front light is bright, throws a good beam at night and is visible during the day. Go back two pictures and it can be seen that there is a strip of led lighting down both legs of the rack plus there is a larger light just under the rack. while all this lighting is great at night it is not really eye catching at a distance during the day – so I have added a bright flashing red light to catch motorist’s eyes.

Transmission

The bike has a single chainring and an eight speed Altus cluster on the back. The gear change mechanism is very light and easy to use.

As I wrote about in the previous post I did manage to damage the gears by falling on top of the bike! They now work OK after straightening the derailleur but there is a slight movement which causes the bike to move out of low gear to sprocket 2 when backpedalling! That’s not the bike’s fault – it’s mine.

Other stuff

The bike has a twist-grip style throttle fitted as part of the left hand handlebar area. When riding normally the rider’s hand is not touching it but when needed you move your hand in a bit and twist away. The manual say it is limited to 6 or 8 kph. It is not.

I have disconnected mine.

As an ex motor cyclist I am used to a right hand twist-grip throttle. When pushing the bike I tend to forget where my hand is and it is too easy to twist the throttle with the push. With PAS level 0 selected I expected no power to the throttle. Wrong!! So I fell over and damaged the gears.

I then had a second incident when manoeuvring the bike on the roadside gutter. In an instant the bike had done a wheelie with me holding just the left side of the handlebars with the bike pawing the air rushing across in front of my legs. I managed to get my hand off the throttle without dropping the bike again and brought it back to earth – all unharmed. I put the bike on the stand and disconnected the throttle cable there and then. Is this the sort of thing that causes e-bike accidents or am I just an idiot?

Another power initiation thing. Generally when you start to pedal away from the stop, the pedals should not immediately trigger the motor to fire up. Mrs C’s tricycle takes 1.5 to 2 turns of the cranks to start producing power. The E-City seems to take about one quarter of a turn. If you scoot on one pedal to get going then I advise against lifting the pedal to give you a downstroke before scooting. If you have stopped and left the PAS at a high setting, the push you can get as you are mounting can be truely unsettling!

Wrap-up

All in all I am enjoying riding the E-City. After several hundred kilometres ridden I have (I hope) learnt all it’s tricks and we will now have a great Spring and Summer together exploring some of Tasmania’s less populated areas.