Giant LAFree Lite electric bike - comments LONG

07-07-2004, 01:35 PM

We're a late 50's couple who haven't ridden in many years who bought two of
these about 3 months now and put on a bit over 300 miles so far. Bottom line
is that I highly recommend them if this is your kind of bike. If you're a
purist, don't read any further.

How they work:
These are not electric motorcycles, you have to pedal to move. What they
do is provide an electric assist, up to 130% of your effort (torque) in
normal mode, 100% in eco mode, 0% if switched off at which point they are 47
lb comfort bikes. The motor drives through the same 4 speed hub the pedal
effort goes through, so shifting changes the motor's gearing also. The
assist tails off as your cadence increases, dropping to 0 at about 70 rpm in
each gear - about 18 mph in 4th with stock gearing. One odd effect of this
is a massive assist at 0 rpm, i.e. when you are starting off from rest. You
need to be careful of this at first, although it's great for crossing an
intersection. Because you get more assist at lower cadence, it's easier and
faster to go up hill in a higher gear and lower cadence than on a
non-assisted bike. On steep hills, I'm normally in 2nd at about 50-55 rpm,
about 8.5 - 10 mph in eco mode.

What they're like to ride:
As a friend put it: "They make you feel like superman!". When you pedal,
the assist comes on automatically, instantly and proportionally to your
effort, so the effect is to lower the pedal pressure you have to exert.
There is a slight gear sound when the power is on which tapers off as the
assist decreases. On level ground the bike quickly gets up to about 17.5 mph
where it is providing a slight assist, just enough to make it very easy to
maintain speed. Hills are the real win though. When we started with these,
we were not cyclists at all, but even so were able to go up an 11% hill at
about 7 mph in full power (now we do it at about 10 mph in eco). We were in
Quebec City recently and biked along the St Lawrence about 20 miles out and
back, mostly with power off. However, we then had to climb back up to the
upper ville which is a very steep ascent, plus we were getting pretty tired.
Turning on to full power let us get back to our hotel in a few minutes and
without cardiac arrest. We were both surprised at how well this worked.

The other time we use power a lot is in traffic. It allows much faster
acceleration and sustained speed, so we can cross intersections and maneuver
in traffic much more confidently.

Currently we're at the level of casual cyclists, that is, with the power
off, we easily stay with people (much younger) who ride on level ground a
few miles per week, but get passed by everyone who's a serious cyclist. We
normally ride with the power off on level ground up to about 20 miles at
about 11 mph, turning the power on when going up hills or into a stiff
headwind. However, after about 20 miles, we're both pretty pooped, so we use
the eco mode as a "get home" assist. On reasonably level ground, we find
switching on to eco mode is much like stopping for a break and often will do
that for awhile then switch off again after we've recovered a bit. Of
course, you're still moving at 12-14 mph during this break. Another use for
power is that if you go somewhere and stop for lunch your muscles cool down
and getting started again can be a real drag even on level ground. Again,
turning on eco mode lets you start pedaling to warm up, but with very low
pedal pressure, so soon you're feeling good and can shut the power off.

We use these to get to our commuter bus, about 5.5 miles each way, and
are pretty much always a bit later than we'd like,
so are trying to make time riding with eco on. This is a moderately hilly
road with two 100 ft climbs and descents, one the 11% hill mentioned above.
Currently, carrying over 10 lbs of laptops and miscellaneous junk, we
average about 15.3 mph and arrive only slightly sweaty if the air temps are
below 75F or so.

Range and fitness:
When we started, with full power on over terrain like our commute above,
averaging 13+ mph, the range was about 18 miles. In our current state, in
eco mode, averaging 15+ mph the range is about 27 miles. On level ground in
our current shape the limit is our endurancesince we don't really use the
power much. On the above Quebec ride we rode over 20 miles and used less
than 20% of the battery and both felt we could have gone another 10 miles or
so if we were in eco mode. I doubt we would have used more than half the
battery at that point. For someone with good endurance, on a reasonably
level road, the range would be very large if they only used the power for
hills.

The real limit to range is the rider's endurance, how many hills you use
power on, and how fast you want to get somewhere. We like riding with the
power off both to get some more exercise, and for the silence. The motor
isn't that noisy, but it's there. One effect we've noticed is that with the
power on, the speed is seductive. You are tempted to pedal harder than you
otherwise might because even with the minimal assist at the top end the
speed is great and the motor noise keeps lessening at you get up to and
exceed 18 mph. For people like us who are decidedly not athletes, the bikes
make getting out a lot of fun and we've both noticed our pants getting
looser (although I haven't seen any weight loss). As they say, the best
exercise is the one you actually do.