I am a 68-year-old male with a heart problem who lives in the rolling hills of southern NYS near the Pa. border.  A few months ago, before I heard about the WE Power assist bike, I would never have imagined taking a 15-mile bike ride, let alone honestly saying that I AM ENJOYING IT!  

I installed my WE Bike Kit on a Fuji 21 speed street bike.  Now that I have “power assist” I don’t even think about the possibility of getting exhausted nor do I worry that I might have to call my wife to come to pick me up alongside the road somewhere. On the uphill grades, I just use the thumb throttle as much as I need to maintain the speed I want and let the electric motor do the heavy work.

At one section, there was a good downhill grade for about ½ mile that ended with a pretty steep grade. I hit 32 mph on that hill just coasting. Not being an experienced biker, I really wasn’t comfortable traveling that fast and rather doubt that I will “let it fly” like that again. That downhill speed made me wonder how fast I would be going when I went back up the same hill on my return trip.

I thought this would really pull quite a bit of charge out of the battery as well.  I covered the 9.6 miles in 35 minutes, which is average of 16.45 mph. I know if a serious biker saw this they would laugh at such a novice but I am just out to enjoy and get some exercise, not to be a Lance Armstrong.  

On my return trip the steep hill was within the first mile.  I wanted to pedal up this hill as much as I could before using the power assist so I shifted down into 3^rd gear. When I was beginning to get tired I pushed the thumb throttle all the way and maintained a speed of 7 mph.  When I got past the steepest part, I let off the throttle a bit and pulled the rest of the grade with about ½ throttle.  When traveling by car on this route home, you don’t notice the slight uphill grade but when you are walking or pedaling a bike you become aware of it. There is no coasting.

I found myself pedaling constantly in about 7^th gear most of the way home. I maintained about 1/3 to ½ throttle for most of the trip home.  I was within ¾ of a mile from home when I noticed the power dwindling. I had to assist more than the power was assisting. The light on the thumb throttle went from full to half and within minutes the light showed empty. I t had done me well and I found the limit. I had used the power more than was necessary for the trip and I know how far to push it now and still have battery left. The battery was nearly drained and it took 6 hours to fully charge, on a 13-mile trip, the battery was fully charged in 4 hours.  

In this area’s terrain, I feel really comfortable going about 18 miles while using the power quite a bit when needed. I don’t use full throttle except where it is absolutely necessary. I also know to start from a dead stop by pedaling to get going before using the electric power. This will conserve a lot of battery charge. * See chart on “battery info page”.

My next test will be on level terrain to determine stamina of battery in stop and go situations.