How to Ride an Ezee Sprint

Short answer is hope on and pedal, but here's the break down of what actually goes on.

First off here is what you will be faced with on the handlebars.

This is what we have from left to right.

-first left is the throttle (don't confuse this with the gears or you will likely take off into something), to use the throttle just twist toward yourself, this works the motor, turning the front wheel. (Do not use this if you are on gravel or wet road, the only way to use the throttle in these conditions is if you transfer quite a bit of your weight through your front and onto the handlebars. If you do not have weight bearing down on the front wheel the wheel will skid out from under you). The throttle is great for giving assistance while taking off while on a hill or pulling into quicker moving traffic, it just gives you a burst of speed to get you going.

-next is the front break (which I hope is self explanatory).

-The bell, which everyone likes to use differently but is basically for warning people in front of you travelling in the same direction that you are approaching from behind.

-Odometer, mine is a Cateye and measures; distance, speed, time, and gives all the averages of these.

-Here is the most notable difference, we'll call it the controller (as I am not 100% sure there is a technical term for it), the top row show the battery level,with my battery I have worked out I get 20km per bar (total of 100km). Underneath this is your pedal assist setting, the higher the setting the more assistance the bike will give you as you pedal, I like to keep mine at 3, if i'm in a big rush 4 and if I'm just cruising on the flat 2, the wee arrows (going up and down) on the side of this box are the adjusters for this level.

-Second last is the gear dial (showing which gear you are riding in) and the twister to change it (toward you to go down a gear and away to change up).

-Last off is the bake brake (again I'm hoping this is self explanatory)

When you hop on your bike you are going to need to check your battery is charged and pick a power setting. Once you have done this you are ready to ride. As you push off your first few pedal rotations are going to feel a bit hard (as you have such a heavy bike) but on about the third rotation you will feel something else kick in and go forward (quite suddenly if you are not expecting it), don't panic this is just the pedal assist kicking in, the pedal assist will keep assisting as long as you pedal, if you don't pedal for about 5seconds then you will have to start over with a few more difficult pedals until the assist kicks in again. While riding use your gears as you would in a normal bike to make things easier or harder. I find that the slower you pedal the more work the bike does and less you have to. If you are wanting a good workout just set the power lower and pedal quicker, if you are wanting to get from a to b with not much effort set a higher power setting and pedal slower. If at any point you feel you need a little more help just to start off or get over the final part of a hill simply twist the throttle and this will give you a bit more power.

My eZee Sprint

It was either an electric bike or a moped/scooter. The prices were roughly the same so I couldn't be swayed either way by that, what it came down to was with a bike I would either be in cycle lanes or on the edge of the traffic, not right in it (and for someone only just learning to drive the thought of being right in with the traffic and having to hold your own on the road is...shall we say, daunting), I also did the calculations for how much each ride would cost and maintenance each year (or rather my Dad did those and we discussed them). It worked out something like $2-3NZD a day for a moped and 12centsNZ for the eZee bike, either way it was way cheaper than a car!! The second reason for getting the bike was for fitness, we live on a rather long hill (or it feels that way) and so getting out to exercise is all too often too much bother. Thirdly I am a type one diabetic and I felt that if I was to go low it would be easier to pull over and sort it out on a bike than on a moped.
Thus decision made, the eZee bike it is.
The next decision I had to make was between a step through frame or basic frame, I tried both out and loved how I could just swing off the step through!! But it felt slightly sluggish. When Dad and I got home we looked up the specs for each and the step through is 2-3kg heavier than the basic because of the need to reinforce the frame. Now I need to make it up a hill and make it up with as much ease as possible (or I wont be wanting to do it often) so anything that I can do to help this process I will, thus the basic frame was chosen.

My new eZee Sprint 7M electric bicycle from 'The Electric Bike Hub' ordered through 'Avanti Bikes' right here in Dunedin.