The Good: Relatively inexpensive for the quality. Powerful. Reliable.
The Bad: Thermal cutoff can be a bit over enthusiastic, but it saves the motor. Why does it eat spokes?
Verdict: If you want a cool looking, no frills ebike of premium quality for not-a-lot of money, this is the ticket.
Earlier, I had a joke of an experience with a Chinese Vivi ebike that I got from Amazon. To be fair, there was only one flaw with the Vivi...the lack of overload/thermal protection. Had I known, I could have installed a 10 amp fuse between the controller and the motor, or the battery and controller, and it probably would still be running today. That was literally the only problem I experienced with it when I had it.
But, it was a big one.
This time, I was going to do my homework and make sure that I got something that the company would stand behind.
I read a ton of articles about budget ebikes and the Ride1up Core 5 kept coming up over and over again.
It was more expensive than the Vivi. In fact, about twice as expensive.
So, it should be twice as good, lol.
I read about Ride1up and their philosophy. They basically pick and choose solid quality components at a reasonable price and that's what goes into their bikes. There's not much proprietary on them, which makes them easy to work on should something go wrong. For example, the control display is a KD21C Adjustable Speed LCD. They're a common display and you can buy replacements on eBay. Same with the cassette, which is a 7 speed Shimano 11-32t. Also available on eBay. And of course, you can get replacements directly from Ride1up.
Complete specs.
So I sent them an email explaining my situation with the Vivi and asking how that would NOT be repeated if I bought from them. An excerpt:
Their response:
Bike shops around here are not an option in reality. They only tend to work on what they sell, which is fine. I'm mechanically inclined, so if I have someone to walk me through troubleshooting steps, I can probably get to the root of any problems. And from all accounts, this would be in my native language, not Chinglish.
So, I got the bike. Price delivered was $1005 after a coupon code. Very reasonable as far as ebikes are concerned.
Waited, waited, waited...FedEx...that's a completely different story. But anyways, I came home one day to find the bike out on the porch.
People complained that it was relatively "unassembled" when they got it. It was, but no worse than I would have expected. It's a bulky item shipped in a large box, but still has to be compact enough for relatively easy handling.
I had to install the front wheel, fork and handlebars, the crank, the pedals, and the seat. Instructions were mostly clear and I had no problems. The rest of the process was adjusting, which was not difficult either.
As I assembled it, I charged the battery so I could immediately take it out for a ride.
Throttle rolls in exponentially, which makes it seem slow at first, but when I got on it, it kept accelerating and accelerating. I'm a big guy, so it takes a bit to get me up to speed, but the motor is torquey and pulls just fine once you get it rolling. 750 watts moves things along nicely. Pedal assist seems to kick in more immediately than the throttle does making it easy to squirt across intersections in town.
It's pleasant to ride and feels solid. The gear selector and brakes were easy to adjust and setup with minimal watching of Youtube videos. The shift indicator matches up perfectly with the gears (like, when the arrow points to 1, you're actually in 1st gear, etc).
Brakes are highly effective. Some criticized the lack of hydraulic brakes, but they are plenty good enough.
The Core 5 is supposed to top out at 20 on throttle alone, but the motor usually cuts at 22. On pedal assist level 5, I can easily get 25-30 mph and keep up with traffic in town. It feels fast.
Range is excellent, but the battery does suffer from voltage lag. What seems to happen is that the battery goes from 5 bars to 2 rather quickly, then stays on 2 bars for a LONG time before dropping to 1. At first, I thought my battery might be a dud. Turn off the power for a bit and the battery creeps back up a bar. Riding on throttle alone, and admittedly hammering on it as much as possible, going between 15-22 mph, I can easily get 16 miles before battery cutout. I've never run it to empty while "taking it easy", but keeping the speeds to around 10 mph got me 17 miles with 2 bars of battery remaining. 20 miles on a charge if you were at all careful would be no problem.
Probably the only thing I miss from the old Vivi is the front shock. The Core 5 can be a little rough on unpacked or unimproved trails. You can ride them, but it's best if you go slow.
As for the motor protections...twice I've had them "kick in" and prevent an overheat/meltdown situation. Both have happened when I kept the motor at a sustained high speed for a long period of time. The most recent was yesterday.
A buddy and I went for a 12 mile ride on a local trail. He arranged for us to be picked up by a somewhat sketchy aquaintance and shuttled back up to the start point where our vehicles were parked.
I figured there might be issues. Instead of waiting, right before we got to the end, I turned and rode the 11 miles back up the trail on battery power alone. I set up a makeshift cruise control earlier and had set the speed on about 16 mph. About 43 minutes in, the motor hit thermal shutdown.
I started pedaling. As I pedaled, I powered down the controller and powered it back up. I set the cruise for 10 mph and made it the rest of the way with no further problems and I never had to stop the bike. Within a minute or two, I had the speed back up to 15 mph or so.
If I hadn't owned the Vivi, I would view that as an annoyance. But now I'm almost thankful. It's MUCH better than the alternative...when this happened with the Vivi, the "thermal shutdown" consisted of melting down the motor itself...which I was never able to get fixed.
I beat my buddy back to the start point. To be fair, his guy was 1/2 hour late. But, I had no problem going 11 miles in 45 minutes or so. According to my GPS, I averaged about 14 mph, even after the shutdown.
With the Core 5, you can monitor wattage output from the motor. When I was doing 16 mph, the wattage varied between 30-60 watts. When I slowed to 10, wattage dropped to between 10 and 15 watts. Huge difference, both with battery consumption and stress on the motor. Hence why I said 20 miles would be no big deal on battery if you stayed around 10 mph. (CORRECTION - I thought there was a decimal point, but there wasn't. Actual wattage was 300-600 watts at 15 mph, and 100-150 watts at 10 mph. This makes more sense).
You can also adjust the wattage output in increments all the way down to 300 watts max to prevent hitting the overload to begin with. Of course, lowering the wattage will kill your top speed...
But, it was a big one.
This time, I was going to do my homework and make sure that I got something that the company would stand behind.
I read a ton of articles about budget ebikes and the Ride1up Core 5 kept coming up over and over again.
It was more expensive than the Vivi. In fact, about twice as expensive.
So, it should be twice as good, lol.
I read about Ride1up and their philosophy. They basically pick and choose solid quality components at a reasonable price and that's what goes into their bikes. There's not much proprietary on them, which makes them easy to work on should something go wrong. For example, the control display is a KD21C Adjustable Speed LCD. They're a common display and you can buy replacements on eBay. Same with the cassette, which is a 7 speed Shimano 11-32t. Also available on eBay. And of course, you can get replacements directly from Ride1up.
Complete specs.
So I sent them an email explaining my situation with the Vivi and asking how that would NOT be repeated if I bought from them. An excerpt:
Bottom line is, I would love to buy a Ride1up, but what happens if it breaks? How do I get it fixed? I literally live in the middle of nowhere. The nearest shopping mall is 60 miles away. The nearest bike shop is 40 miles away, and they don't carry Ride1Up bikes nor do they service them. I guess what I'm asking is, what if I have trouble during the warranty period? Afterward? How do you handle issues with the bikes? Also, is there some sort of thermal overload protection built into your bikes? Would it be possible to install a fuse somewhere to prevent the motor/controller from burning up like on my last one?
Their response:
We have a support team on staff available M-F 8-5 PST. You would be the eyes and ears, while they would provide the knowledge and know how. The better the pictures and videos are the better the support can trouble shoot and help if anything were to come up. We strive to keep our bikes on the roads, as that is where they belong! We have built them to stay there, so if you do come across any of the rare issues that pop up, we will work hard to remedy it. They also are willing to work with bike shops if ever your shop wants to keep up with the times and provide quality service to the future of biking. As for overload, we have fuses and protections built in :]
Bike shops around here are not an option in reality. They only tend to work on what they sell, which is fine. I'm mechanically inclined, so if I have someone to walk me through troubleshooting steps, I can probably get to the root of any problems. And from all accounts, this would be in my native language, not Chinglish.
So, I got the bike. Price delivered was $1005 after a coupon code. Very reasonable as far as ebikes are concerned.
Waited, waited, waited...FedEx...that's a completely different story. But anyways, I came home one day to find the bike out on the porch.
People complained that it was relatively "unassembled" when they got it. It was, but no worse than I would have expected. It's a bulky item shipped in a large box, but still has to be compact enough for relatively easy handling.
I had to install the front wheel, fork and handlebars, the crank, the pedals, and the seat. Instructions were mostly clear and I had no problems. The rest of the process was adjusting, which was not difficult either.
As I assembled it, I charged the battery so I could immediately take it out for a ride.
Throttle rolls in exponentially, which makes it seem slow at first, but when I got on it, it kept accelerating and accelerating. I'm a big guy, so it takes a bit to get me up to speed, but the motor is torquey and pulls just fine once you get it rolling. 750 watts moves things along nicely. Pedal assist seems to kick in more immediately than the throttle does making it easy to squirt across intersections in town.
It's pleasant to ride and feels solid. The gear selector and brakes were easy to adjust and setup with minimal watching of Youtube videos. The shift indicator matches up perfectly with the gears (like, when the arrow points to 1, you're actually in 1st gear, etc).
Brakes are highly effective. Some criticized the lack of hydraulic brakes, but they are plenty good enough.
The Core 5 is supposed to top out at 20 on throttle alone, but the motor usually cuts at 22. On pedal assist level 5, I can easily get 25-30 mph and keep up with traffic in town. It feels fast.
Range is excellent, but the battery does suffer from voltage lag. What seems to happen is that the battery goes from 5 bars to 2 rather quickly, then stays on 2 bars for a LONG time before dropping to 1. At first, I thought my battery might be a dud. Turn off the power for a bit and the battery creeps back up a bar. Riding on throttle alone, and admittedly hammering on it as much as possible, going between 15-22 mph, I can easily get 16 miles before battery cutout. I've never run it to empty while "taking it easy", but keeping the speeds to around 10 mph got me 17 miles with 2 bars of battery remaining. 20 miles on a charge if you were at all careful would be no problem.
Probably the only thing I miss from the old Vivi is the front shock. The Core 5 can be a little rough on unpacked or unimproved trails. You can ride them, but it's best if you go slow.
As for the motor protections...twice I've had them "kick in" and prevent an overheat/meltdown situation. Both have happened when I kept the motor at a sustained high speed for a long period of time. The most recent was yesterday.
A buddy and I went for a 12 mile ride on a local trail. He arranged for us to be picked up by a somewhat sketchy aquaintance and shuttled back up to the start point where our vehicles were parked.
I figured there might be issues. Instead of waiting, right before we got to the end, I turned and rode the 11 miles back up the trail on battery power alone. I set up a makeshift cruise control earlier and had set the speed on about 16 mph. About 43 minutes in, the motor hit thermal shutdown.
I started pedaling. As I pedaled, I powered down the controller and powered it back up. I set the cruise for 10 mph and made it the rest of the way with no further problems and I never had to stop the bike. Within a minute or two, I had the speed back up to 15 mph or so.
If I hadn't owned the Vivi, I would view that as an annoyance. But now I'm almost thankful. It's MUCH better than the alternative...when this happened with the Vivi, the "thermal shutdown" consisted of melting down the motor itself...which I was never able to get fixed.
I beat my buddy back to the start point. To be fair, his guy was 1/2 hour late. But, I had no problem going 11 miles in 45 minutes or so. According to my GPS, I averaged about 14 mph, even after the shutdown.
With the Core 5, you can monitor wattage output from the motor. When I was doing 16 mph, the wattage varied between 30-60 watts. When I slowed to 10, wattage dropped to between 10 and 15 watts. Huge difference, both with battery consumption and stress on the motor. Hence why I said 20 miles would be no big deal on battery if you stayed around 10 mph. (CORRECTION - I thought there was a decimal point, but there wasn't. Actual wattage was 300-600 watts at 15 mph, and 100-150 watts at 10 mph. This makes more sense).
You can also adjust the wattage output in increments all the way down to 300 watts max to prevent hitting the overload to begin with. Of course, lowering the wattage will kill your top speed...
I'm at well over 1000 miles on the Core 5 as of the date of publication. One thing that I have noticed is that the bike tends to eat rear spokes. So far, I've broken 3. This might be user error due to not tensioning spokes correctly, or it could be because the 750w motor is powerful enough to overcome the strength of the spokes. But I've never had it happen on any other bike, even the two other ebikes I have had experience with.
Other than that, just minor adjustments and maintenance. I'll soon be coming up on a year with this bike and I'm still very happy with how it functions.
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