Review of 2008 IZIP EzGo Electric Folding Bicycle

2008 IZIP EzGo Electric Folding Bicycle
By: Currie Technologies Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 7
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The best bicycle I've ever owned (to date)!!!

On: 2008-09-19

-This is a great bike. Every where I ride it, I get people staring at me, wondering what kind of bike it is. Sometimes, I even get a thumbs up, or a "nice bike!".
-Great for biking on gravel, grass, and uphills.
-The instruction pamphlet is a joke. Several pages that tell you how to install training wheels. (the seat is so tall, no child can safely ride it) Theres even fewer pages that tell you how to assemble the front wheel (THE MOST IMPORTANT TOPIC!)
-When the seat is completely lowered, it is still very tall. Im 56" and I have to stand on my toes just to sit on the seat. What a joke!
The designers/manufacturers want extremely tall and light people to ride this?
-Though the seat is huge and has massive shock absorbers, its very uncomfortable riding on uneven surfaces. (due to the small tires)It feels as if youre sitting on a hard metal beam thats thrusted on your backside whenever you hit/bike over the slightest bump. However, the speed of the bike makes up for this design flaw.
-Although this bike is fold-able, it isnt compact enough for most spaces. You might as well leave it unfolded to save more space and a backache.
-The top speed is misrepresented. By my GPS (which is accurate to my cars speedometer), the top speed I can go without pedaling is 12MPH (downhill). Its still very very fast but should go a lot faster.
-Ive ridden the bike with just using the throttle for less than 20 miles. That almost completely drained the battery. For the amount of charging versus how far you can go with this bike, the battery needs to be redesigned. 8 hour charge for less than 20 miles...

-If there is one major thing I would change/upgrade, its the battery. Its heavy, doesnt last long, and it takes hours to charge.

-Aside from the flaws, overall, this bike is fairly good. Its fast, doesnt emit any exhaust, folds, light(relatively), and looks great.
You want to bike some where and meet strangers along the way, get this bike. It is a definite attention grabber!

Awesome for the city

On: 2008-09-15

This is a great electric bike. It folds to a very compact size so you can put it almost anywhere. On the road, the ride is surprisingly comfortable considering the small wheels. Power is sufficient for most hills and not a problem if you do a bit of pedaling along the way. Battery life has been terrific, with long days of riding at the beach or in Central Park with plenty of power. My only complaint is the gearing is too weak and it would be great to have more torque to push the bike along more.

Izip EZGO well engineered.

On: 2008-09-03

I have had my Izip EZGO for two days now. Assembly went well, under one hour, only needed a cross-tip screw driver. It comes with an allen wrench for the steering and a wrench for the pedals too. Bike delivered by UPS only missing one screw for the front fender. Arrived well packaged and wrapped to avoid shipping scratches. I think my handle bar may have been very slightly bent but it may have been built that way.

Assembly was simple. The bike arrives mostly assembled. I had to release the brakes and install the front wheel and fender, and install the handle bar tubes, align the bar and tire, slide the seat pole into the mount, and install the pedals. The most time consuming task was aligning the front wheel with the handle bar. Even the tires were pre-inflated.

Charged for 8 hours upon arrival, per the instructions, rode it for 4 miles that night. I weigh 210lbs and the bike peaked at 12mph with me on board. It was a more comfortable ride than my $500 Specialized.

The wheels seemed a bit stiff, dont know if that is a lack of lube or supposed to be that way but if you spin the tires in the air, they stop spinning almost right away - which is not good on a bicycle. Otherwise the bike is a good investment and folds easily into a small heap of metal.

The motor is very quiet and very strong. I use it to assist on hills and against the wind, otherwise I pedal myself. It is a little stiff to get moving but once underway I was never aware of rolling resistance. The ride is like my 20" bike with high-rise bars and banana seat back in the 60s. with single speed and coaster brake. This bike incorporates the rear brake into the rear hub.

I live in Arizona, home of cactus needles and flat bicycle tires. I did find one kevlar-like tire in this odd size, Schwalbe Marathon 16 x 1.75 are the only ones I have found. They are sold by a bicycle store online from Squaw Valley, CA. Replacing the rear tire may be an ordeal.

One thing I would change is to add a hole in the battery lock so a small padlock could be used to deter theft of the battery when parked in a mall rack. As-is, the seat and battery could be easily stolen.

Do I have any buyers remorse? Nope, not at all. I am very pleased so far with this bike, but I am not looking forward to my first police encounter which I think could be avoided by pedaling all the time the motor is running. I am going to add a basket, 2 lights, and digital speedometer. I dont think you can add straps to the existing pedals. And Amazon was the lowest price I could find online.

Battery & Charger Dead on Arrival

On: 2008-08-30

Amazon delivered the bike very fast and in brand new condition with no damage to the box. It took less than an hour to assemble the bike. When I started to charge the battery charger light was green (as per the manual/label) indicating battery is full but charged it for 4 hours anyway. No change in green light. Placed the battery on the bike to see if there is any charge. Nothing.

Called the company Izip. Their rep was rather rude and told me to read the manual. She said charger light can still be green if the battery is not fully charge. She said you have to rely on "the clock" to make sure it is charged. Told me to charge for 24 hours and then try again. If still no charge "condition the battery" which is supposed to take 3-5 days (charge/discharge cycle)

After 24 hours charging when there was no charge in the battery again I called the company again, this time the rep was less rude. But still did not accept the battery and or charger is dead on arrival. Asked me to charge it again and go buy a volt-meter to check the voltage of the charger and the battery. Said if charger has at least 24v then battery must be defective. But if battery is defective why does the charger indicate full charge=green light? It might be the case that both of them are defective. Second rep said after I buy volt meter and check voltage I should call them to have the battery and/or charger replaced. (So after having the brand new bike for 3 days without being able to use it I might be told by the manufacturer if its brand new part are defective!)

Their policy: customer pays for shipping of the replacement part. Ground shipping of new battery/charger from California to NYC will take at least a week at my own expense. So after buying a brand new product I may be able to use it after 10 days of waiting and dealing with not-so-polite reps and not-so-responsible company.

Surprising discovery: Both reps asked me where I bought the bike. When I said Amazon.com they could not believe it. Second rep, even after I said Amazon.com itself, asked me several times if it is from an Amazon market place seller. They did not know their bikes are sold by Amazon.com. Box the bike came in has the original shipping label that shows it is shipped from izipusa to amazon.com. This made me question the reliability of the company if they do not know who distributes their products.

Further reading the manual/battery FAQs and talking to the rep (and reading blogs), I realize that battery may not last more than a year. In this case, I would not want to deal with this manufacturer in the future since their service is not reliable.

I am returning the bike to Amazon. I am very glad that I bought it from Amazon.

I Love My IZip

On: 2008-08-04

I just received my IZip EzGo from UPS. Box was in good condition. The bike was also in great condition. The bike comes partially assembled so, there is a bit of building involved. Easy to build. There are two things you have to do that the directions really do not explain well. First in order to install the front wheel you must release the front brakes. Second when you install the handle bar assembly it can only go in one way. There are grooves inside the locking shaft that need to match up. The directions are not to clear. But most people can figure it out. Make sure you read the piece of paper that has the directions on how to install the pedals. Once your bike is assembled charge the battery FULLY. I ride my IZip to work and around town. I live in Florida where it can get hot during the summer months so, I dont like to get sweaty on my way to work and I can say that I dont come into work hot and sweaty anymore. Yeah. At full speed it only takes me five minutes to get to work which is 1.4 miles away from my home. It took me ten minutes on a regular gear bike going 9-10 miles an hour provided I didnt have a head wind. So far I made the right choice by buying the Izip Ezgo and buying it from amazon the shipping charge was only $5.00. So if your thinking about an electric bike just to scoot around town the IZip is for you. And just remember all the gas you will be saving not to mention less CO2 emission. Its a win win. Hope this helps.

Fun - too much fun

On: 2008-07-28

This think is compact and great. I am a big guy and this thing make biking as easy as riding a stationary bike on the easiest setting (even up hills). I am going full speed with very little pedaling effort. My only complaint is that the seat feels like it is a bit high so it is hard for my old mother to experience the exhilarating joy I get from riding this bike.

This bike may seem underpowered, but I think there are governmental regulatory factors as well as cost factors that have this bike as fast as it is (18mph).I guess if you want something faster you will need to spend like $3k on a vehicle that would probably need to have tags or something. This thing makes me feel like a little kid without feeling the out of shapeness of my age.

An almost perfect short-commute bike

On: 2008-07-14

I bought the 2007 EZGo a month ago and have been using it about 3x per week since then to commute to my office. Its a gas (no pun intended). Since I dont like arriving all sweaty to work, I save the pedalling for the ride home and use throttle power only on my way to the office, which takes about 30 minutes for a gentle, mostly on the sidewalk, 4-mile ride. Even though its still got plenty of juice left in the battery - certainly enough to get me home again - I still take the charger with me to work so I can fully recharge it before heading home (I also charge it when I get back home). After a 4-mile ride, it fully recharges in only about 2-3 hours. I LOVE this little bike and look forward to riding it every time. The tires are tiny at only 16", and there are no gears, so youre not going to go very fast on pedal power only but, add the throttle, and you can cruise along at a respectable pace. Others in the bike lane will fly by you, however, so if your ego has a problem with that, this isnt the bike for you. But Ill trade speed for portability anyday, which this bike has in spades. The throttle-assist is also great for any uphill portions of the ride. The bike arrives only partly assembled so, if youre not mechanically inclined (which Im not), be prepared to have some help standing by (which I did). Also, once assembled, its a good idea - and worth the extra money - to take it to a bike shop so that they can check it out before you take it on the road. Im very happy with my purchase and would have given it 4.5 stars if I could have. Ive added a bell, head and tail lights, a good lock and two rear folding baskets and Im set for small shopping trips and errands (nothing too heavy, mind you). I save on gas, get some exercise and fresh air and it brings a smile to those who ride it or just see it go by. What more could you want? WORD OF WARNING: Be careful not to let your house keys come in contact with the prongs on the battery or youll be in for a shock. My keys accidently brushed against the contacts (which should have a protective cover on them, in my humble opinion) and it sparked and sizzled. Scared the bee-jeezus out of me but no apparent harm done.