Buy IZIP Ultra Electric Bike - 2011 Model

Customer Ratings:

I should mention, this is the 1st time I've owned an electric bike. I wish I had gotten better advice on what to expect from these things.

The Good: In electric mode, the motor does deliver a good deal torque on level ground. The torque sensor works pretty well. One thing to keep in mind only turn the the controller on while off the bike and no pressure on the chain ring. I found the 10AH battery to be very generous and I was able to beat the 25 mile range several times.

This bike is overall poor quality. The brake and gear cables snag and bind. The rear derailer was out of line when I bought it, and I still cant get it to line up. For me, this is one of those "find a good gear and stick with it" bikes.

The inner tubes had to be replaced the tubes that came with bike were filled with Slime. Slime tubes on a $2,000 bike? Anyway, the Slime had settled to the bottom of the tire, froze, and both wheels were horribly out of balance. This out of balance caused the one disc rotor to warp. Now, the thing has become a money pit. I think the Slime settling may be a big factor in slowing the bike down. If you buy one of these, replace the tubes while you charge the battery up.

Going up a slope for more that 50 yards and the motor will cut off. This is a problem, you see, the bike weighs 60 lbs. and now I have to granny gear this thing up the rest of the hill. When the motor is off, the rear wheel has considerable drag. DON'T USE THIS BIKE TO CLIMB BIG HILLS it handled short hills fine.

EDIT: I found that when the motor shuts down on hills: power down the controller, get off the bike, power it back up, get back on the bike, and the electric assist works for me the rest of the way up the hill. I don't know enough about electric bike to say if this is acceptable or not, but this the only thing that works for me so far.

Also, with all the drag on the back wheel, the poor quality cables, the Slime and an additional 30 lbs, this bike is not very useful without engaging the electric motor. After about 3 miles on human power, I found it better to get off and walk the bike. Plan your trips well, you don't want to try to make it home on human power. The batteries are not detachable, so you'll have to go home to get the car to haul this thing home.

I so hate myself for buying this bike; what was I thinking?

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I have been riding this bike for a few months now and it is a lot of fun. I've begun using it as my main form of transportation around the city. My 8mile ride to work only takes 25-30 minutes and I don't have to break a sweat if I don't want to. I did the 16 miles round trip on a full charge with full power assistance and 3 of the 5 battery indicators were still lit. The power assist can keep you pegged around 20mph and I've broken 30mph downhill. Passing other bikers struggling up a hill while I leasurely fly by is quite entertaining and even gets some comments like "cheater" occasionally. The bike gets checked out everywhere I park it and usually gets some questions.

It's an expensive bike and I know there are some less expensive electric bikes out there but this one has just been a joy. It's fast, fun, and gets me where I need to go for pennies per mile. I only have one complaint. After I put a rear cargo bag on the bike something about the weight seems to throw off the bikes stability. If I try to ride with no hands the front wheel will start to oscillate. I think the light weight flexible materials that the front fork is made of cause som sort of resonance. Probably safer to ride with your hands on the bar anyway.

ADDITIONAL REVEW: I have started using this bike much more often and I recently passed the 500 mile mark. I have begun having major spoke breakage problems on the rear wheel. Spokes have broken 3 times. The second time I had the whole wheel retentioned and within 40 miles another spoke broke. Now im having the wheel rebuilt THE RIGHT WAY. I have researched wheel building and the problem is clear. The rear wheel has 13 guage spokes when the hub holes were clearly drilled for a larger guage spoke. Because of this the spoke head sits at an angle and the "knee" of the spoke doesn't sit flush against the hub. This puts major stress on the spoke knees and is a common reason for spoke breakage. Every spoke that broke was on the knee. These spokes should have been built much better from the factory. Im being generous and only subtracting 1 star for this because I have really enjoyed the rest of the bike. I've already spent over $100 on spoke repairs and now I will be spending even more to have the wheel hand built with stronger 12 guage spokes.

FINAL REVIEW AFTER A YEAR OF USE: IZIP ended up giving me a whole new rear wheel with the motor for free and I was using it while my 12 guage wheel was being built. After a week I had my hand built 12 guage wheel and after a year and several thousand miles the bike has been perfect. Not a single issue.

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I have been riding this bike because my neighbor wants to try My Busettii and the IZIP Ultra is a dog on both hill climbing and range. With no pedaling it will stop dead on any hill with over 4% slope (which is every hill). My Busettii and my friends E+ will go up really big hills (18% slopes) with no pedaling all. For $2400 they should give you a much bigger battery ! 36volts 10 ah is a kiddie wimpy battery. The Busettii Big 50 mile comes with a 52 volt 15 ah which is more than double the power for just $1790 or $700 cheaper than the Izip Ultra. Basically Currie is giving you a $300 battery on a $2400 bike which is too much like a scam. There are just too many bikes for less than $2400 that will give a much bigger motor, battery and warranty for $600--$800 less money. If you ride the bikes before you buy them it will be easy for you to see what I"m talking about. Good luck !