I have to admit I was surprised by the Lectric brand as well. My wife and I just purchased an RV (technically, a
motor coach). Its not huge at ~30 ft, but its definitely too much for "around the town" driving (for comparison, try taking a U-Haul through the drive-through at McDonald's).
We searched for viable super-compact car options, but a lot of those had gone away; plus, we have a 7-year-old daughter, so couldn't get away with a tiny 2-seater like a Smart For2.
So instead, we looked at e-bikes, and eventually settled on the
Lectric XPedition 2 (a cargo variant with an extended rear-rack and 450 lb load capacity); I got a white one (on which we mounted the "Orbitor" - a kind of cargo pod with bob-sled style seating for two kiddos), and my wife got the blue one.
I'm an engineer, and the assembly process impressed me; the balance between function and simplicity (like the pedals mentioned above) was borderline elegant. The controls for these bikes are arranged a little differently, with a 5 button control (including left- and right-direction signals), and an 8-speed gear assembly using a linearly-arranged gauge, and thumb- and finger- triggers for down/up shifting.
I also agree that the gearing ratios could be better - as noted, even with a load, the lower gears are a bit useless for anything except extreme hills (and I do not bicycle regularly). In road-traffic conditions, I have a tendency to launch from a stop using the throttle in order to get to speed more quickly and disrupt traffic less.
The torque sensing is very impressive, however, especially in conjunction with the various pedal-assist levels. Level 1 is just a bit of boost (I think it caps at something like 100W of assist, and usually nowhere near that). Level 2, is much more noticeable, and Level 3 makes you feel like a superhero. Levels 4 and 5 don't provide much extra on level pavement - they show up more on hills.
The only real complaint I have with the hardware (and I'm not alone in this) is the kick-stand. It uses a Y-style stand that has some lateral retraction when folded. However, this means its kind of tough to actually reach the stand with your foot as it tucks under the motor, the running boards, and in our case, the saddlebags (again, these are cargo bikes). Additionally, the radius/rotation of the stand requires the bike to lift up a bit before the stand can lock into place. This doesn't sound like much of an issue for most bikes, but keep in mind that I might have (and have had) a couple-hundred pounds of supplies (including a 90th-height-percentile 7-year-old) on the back of the bike. I've actually taken to standing astride the bike and bracing with my legs and arms while my daughter clambers aboard.
However, that is a pretty minor think compared to all of the plusses.
Probably the most impressive element for these guys so far, above and beyond the actual hardware, has been their customer support. I've contacted them twice. The first one was to get a small modification part for mounting of the front cargo basket (the bikes had evolved to include an integrated front fender and headlight, which required adaptive hardware for shifting the headlight to the front of the basket)
For the second one, I was contacting them to get a quote on a replacement display screen (the same as the one pictured in the article). I had broken the previous one while unloading the bike from the rack on the back of our RV. I'd left the handlebars folded during the unload, and overbalanced while lifting it down; the bike tipped and landed with the screen between the full weight of my bike and my driveway pavers. Amazingly, the screen still functioned, but there was no way it remained waterproof.
I used an online ticketing system (by preference; I mean, talking to somebody on the
phone?!??!!! Ewwww!!!), laying out the details of the mishap, and asking for a quote (I fully expected to pay for my own stupidity). Instead, the next thing I see is a shipping notification from Lectric. They didn't even contact me back with questions; they just sent a replacement.
Its funny how a little gesture like that really hits home i this day and age. If you look at it objectively, the cost of the screen is a tiny fraction of the total amount we spent on the bikes (we definitely added a few options), but even so, there are not many companies that would have responded in the same way, no questions asked.
And having a effortless means of traveling from the RV park on Mission Bay to the boardwalk on Mission Beach?
Priceless.
