suavecarve
LIFE MEMBER
Reason for starting post is a couple of questions and possibly more about our recent purchase of a folding electric tandem.
Firstly neither wife or i are anywhere near cyclists. We can ride bikes, we can do 20 mile on a bike and have a sore bum, she has always wanted an e bike, i have always said, "waste of money" mainly because I am a tight fisted old git.
We have a garage that takes a suzuki address 110 so we dont need 2 extra bikes on the back that i didnt think we would use and then have to charge them. Leaving them on the back is not as secure as inside (imho) so it was a no go.
Until we were at the moselle a couple of weeks ago. Maybe 40 vans and 39 of them had e bikes. I began to wonder if I might be wrong and everybody else was right. I held on to that idea for a couple of days before admitting e bikes have their moments and we have the money so we would look at them with no promises.
Got home and worked a night shift where i did my research and came across this ecosmos folding tandem. What enticed me to it was it was 2 bikes for the price of one. I was expecting a grand per bike for us and this thing was advertised on ebay for £1,369 but if you went to the shop it was £1,299 delivered but they were out of stock, quick email and one was available for £1,299. Ordered it (had discussed with wife)
Came 2 days later in the post. Had to unfold it, add the pedals and handles, put the chain on, blow up the wheels and turn the battery on. That was it. No looking at instructions as there werent any and they arent required. Instructions for the on board computer were read.
Went out for a ride and realised we needed more air in tyres and tightening up all the bolts would have helped. Teething issues but no skin lost !! Then we realised the gearing is incredibly low and other reviews of the bike indicated this so it was not an unexpected problem. Cycled out to a pub and 3 couples started chatting about the bike, which personally i think looks ugly, but not everyone apparently. It is certainly a conversation starter. We have since had 2 other couples chat to us about it and the man from the cycle shop who was well intrigued by it.
We changed the drive chain from 36 teeth to 44 teeth and now it is pretty reasonable along the flat. We cycle at 18-20 kph on the flat, any faster and we would be getting near sprinting because it is only 20 inch wheels. From reading about it one bloke has changed the shimano gears (14-28) for a cassette 11-32 but bike shop man said this couldnt be done. So thats why we went for the 44 tooth drive sprocket. (Now this might make you think i know something about bikes, you would be wrong)
The battery is 250 watts and good for pedal assist for 40 miles or 60 kms. It is a king metre km256 (i think) and we may orr may not have an issue with this but the company are dealing with it as i dont think it is set up right and have sent them a video, but dont let this put you off because it is the first time they have come across the issue i raised and it is unknown if i am right or not. I ll try to update when it is resolved but its no biggy.
It has disc brakes which i am told are required because of the extra weight and having done some hills that needed stopping at the bottom i would suggest they are. The pedals are independant of each other, so the captain (front man) or the stoker (rear man) can stop pedaling and freewheel and let the other one continue to cycle. We like this. But then again we have never tried anything different. It would appear that experienced tandemers cant get their head round it and it is likely to make it feel wrong for them, but we dont know any different and it feels all right for us because we cant compare it to anything and dont really want to !
We have bought a set of panniers to go on the back, a thermal sort of picnic bag which goes on top of the panniers, a repair kit which goes under the frame and i ll probably use a disc lock and d lock with strong loop when we are out.
I was expecting to have to fold it into the garage of the motorhome. We are going to take the motorbike and tandem on next holiday late August. The motorbike is going to sit more on the back wheels and there shold be plenty of space (with a couple of new floor fastenings) to get both in without having to fold the bike. We intend to to get away for a couple of days next week just with the tandem.
By all accounts it goes into the back (folded) of a small car with the seats down (we have hyundai i20) and measurements indicate it goes in there.
All in all, having done a grand total of 65 kms on it, I think it is an excellent bike for what we need which is trundling up and down rivers and canals. We dont intend to do Ventoux on it. I doubt we will ever do 40 miles in a day as our bums will tell us we have gone too far. If you are a cyclist, it may not be the bike for you. If you arent a cyclist it may be.
Photo incoming next as its on my phone.
Any questions I am more than willing to answer.
Firstly neither wife or i are anywhere near cyclists. We can ride bikes, we can do 20 mile on a bike and have a sore bum, she has always wanted an e bike, i have always said, "waste of money" mainly because I am a tight fisted old git.
We have a garage that takes a suzuki address 110 so we dont need 2 extra bikes on the back that i didnt think we would use and then have to charge them. Leaving them on the back is not as secure as inside (imho) so it was a no go.
Until we were at the moselle a couple of weeks ago. Maybe 40 vans and 39 of them had e bikes. I began to wonder if I might be wrong and everybody else was right. I held on to that idea for a couple of days before admitting e bikes have their moments and we have the money so we would look at them with no promises.
Got home and worked a night shift where i did my research and came across this ecosmos folding tandem. What enticed me to it was it was 2 bikes for the price of one. I was expecting a grand per bike for us and this thing was advertised on ebay for £1,369 but if you went to the shop it was £1,299 delivered but they were out of stock, quick email and one was available for £1,299. Ordered it (had discussed with wife)
Came 2 days later in the post. Had to unfold it, add the pedals and handles, put the chain on, blow up the wheels and turn the battery on. That was it. No looking at instructions as there werent any and they arent required. Instructions for the on board computer were read.
Went out for a ride and realised we needed more air in tyres and tightening up all the bolts would have helped. Teething issues but no skin lost !! Then we realised the gearing is incredibly low and other reviews of the bike indicated this so it was not an unexpected problem. Cycled out to a pub and 3 couples started chatting about the bike, which personally i think looks ugly, but not everyone apparently. It is certainly a conversation starter. We have since had 2 other couples chat to us about it and the man from the cycle shop who was well intrigued by it.
We changed the drive chain from 36 teeth to 44 teeth and now it is pretty reasonable along the flat. We cycle at 18-20 kph on the flat, any faster and we would be getting near sprinting because it is only 20 inch wheels. From reading about it one bloke has changed the shimano gears (14-28) for a cassette 11-32 but bike shop man said this couldnt be done. So thats why we went for the 44 tooth drive sprocket. (Now this might make you think i know something about bikes, you would be wrong)
The battery is 250 watts and good for pedal assist for 40 miles or 60 kms. It is a king metre km256 (i think) and we may orr may not have an issue with this but the company are dealing with it as i dont think it is set up right and have sent them a video, but dont let this put you off because it is the first time they have come across the issue i raised and it is unknown if i am right or not. I ll try to update when it is resolved but its no biggy.
It has disc brakes which i am told are required because of the extra weight and having done some hills that needed stopping at the bottom i would suggest they are. The pedals are independant of each other, so the captain (front man) or the stoker (rear man) can stop pedaling and freewheel and let the other one continue to cycle. We like this. But then again we have never tried anything different. It would appear that experienced tandemers cant get their head round it and it is likely to make it feel wrong for them, but we dont know any different and it feels all right for us because we cant compare it to anything and dont really want to !
We have bought a set of panniers to go on the back, a thermal sort of picnic bag which goes on top of the panniers, a repair kit which goes under the frame and i ll probably use a disc lock and d lock with strong loop when we are out.
I was expecting to have to fold it into the garage of the motorhome. We are going to take the motorbike and tandem on next holiday late August. The motorbike is going to sit more on the back wheels and there shold be plenty of space (with a couple of new floor fastenings) to get both in without having to fold the bike. We intend to to get away for a couple of days next week just with the tandem.
By all accounts it goes into the back (folded) of a small car with the seats down (we have hyundai i20) and measurements indicate it goes in there.
All in all, having done a grand total of 65 kms on it, I think it is an excellent bike for what we need which is trundling up and down rivers and canals. We dont intend to do Ventoux on it. I doubt we will ever do 40 miles in a day as our bums will tell us we have gone too far. If you are a cyclist, it may not be the bike for you. If you arent a cyclist it may be.
Photo incoming next as its on my phone.
Any questions I am more than willing to answer.
see picture below.