PEDAL Electric All Wheel Drive II - Unboxing and First Ride Review
My new PEDAL Electric All Wheel Drive II arrived today. From unpacking, to first ride, here are my first impressions.
Packaging
My bike was packaged very well. The box that the bike came it was pretty banged up, but everything inside was fine.
- Any painted parts (frame) were wrapped in foam padding and were perfect and unscratched
- Both wheels were already attached, and ready to go
- All parts that were not assembled already were zip-tied to the frame, and easy to remove
Assembly
The parts I had to attach were:
- Handle bars - slid bars in, and tightened 4 screws)
- Pedals - screwed pedals on and tightened with wrench)
- Foot pegs - these threw me for a loop because they came with some washers, but after emailing PEDAL for instructions, I found out that I wasn't supposed to use them. The screws are not long enough if you use the washers.
- Headlight - attached with two screws, easy push-in electrical connector
- Back rack - attached with 2 screws
- Front fender - attaches with one bolt
All the necessary tools for assembly came with the bike, except for an adjustable wrench. You will definitely need one to get the pegs, rack, and fender.
That was pretty much it for assembly. The only other steps were to check that the bolts on the wheel axles were tight, confrim tire pressure, and charge the battery.
I didn't charge the battery to full before my first ride, but that's what they recommend. I took the bike out for a quick test ride just to make sure it was all good.
First Ride
My first ride on the bike was probably about 3 miles. Here's what I liked and disliked:
Controller
The contorller display is pretty bare bones. It's black and white, has very basic controls, and is kind of aesthetically clunky
All-Wheel Drive
The AWD! I learned pretty quick that you probably don't want to be in AWD or front-wheel drive when starting from a complete stop. The front tire peels aout pretty easily if you aren't already moving. I found it best to start out in rear-wheel drive, the kick on the front-motor once I got up to 10+ mph. When you turn on the second motor, it's pretty amazing. It's like a turbo boost!
Motors
During my first ride, I was not able to figure out how to get above 20 mph (more on this later), but the acceleration and torque were still nice. The bike has a few levels of pedal assist, or you can always just twist the throttle for full power whenever you want it. The best part about the dual motors is going uphill! The bike just eats them up, but probably burn through the battery pretty quick. Anyway, going up hills with my previous rear-hub motor bike was sooooo slow - this bike is a definite improvement.
Suspension
My previous bike only had rear suspension, so having full suspension was awesome for me. Although I could still feel some of the bigger bumps in the road, it was overall a really smooth ride. I don't think the suspension is top of the line, but it's not the bottom of the barrel either.