Hi all,
I just wanted to share a few thoughts of being an owner of the Pendix System for a whole Weekend. I will share any updates as we go along.
It’s a mid drive, supporting the cranks. I can keep all gears and I can use all my bags. Also the torque works against the drive, where I hope the wear is in easy to replace components (chain, chainring, rear cassette)
Costs
The 500Wh Battery version is currently below 1500 Euro in any countries they directly sell to (which seems like only german speaking countries, possibly to provide support)
You need around 150 Euro in Tools from them (amazon is about 10eur cheaper for one of the tools)
You need to pick the 250mm motor cable
I put this on a used 1000 Euro H6L – not the best deal but it is in good condition and the 6 speed version in my size is a bit hard to come by.
2650 for an electric brompton is an OK deal for me. Compared to 3600 brompton new with just over half the range. Another battery is 650 Euro. Or if 300Wh are sufficient, Pendix costs 200 eur less.
If you live near one of the installation partners in non-german speaking countries, I am sure they can make you an offer including installation.
Installation
There are videos like https://youtu.be/sIF_FscUDkQ?si=Mywk4FFppssdJFBN in german, which really helped me.
The hard part was getting the cranks and pedals off, but that was on me and the bike I chose.
I monkeyed a bit on getting the crank screws to bite. Not sure what was misaligned, but after couple of minutes it seated nicely and was easy to install
The battery holder can be installed on bottle mounts, but the brompton doesn’t have any, so you strap a bottle adapter with sleeved steel straps to the bike.
The battery interferes a bit with my handlebar clamp fastener, I will try the stock ones and could move it towards the seat a bit. But since I am probably too lazy for that, I will order the round clamp thing.
Cycling
I also have a large e-bike (Specialized Turbo Vado SL 4.0) which is a bit unwieldy to transport. I have never ridden a brompton electric, so I only have that comparison
it drives in one word: amazing.
The handling in my opinion improves a lot by lowering the center of mass down and center. I can now let it roll without having the hands on the handlebars. Impossible on my daily driver C-Line. The motor is super super quiet – you won’t hear it with city noise, The speci is a screamer in comparison
The assist is kicking in super smoothly. Just very occasionally when I hesitated for a second before continuing to pedal, the assist was still on and so I had a quarter of a turn which felt like a mis-shift, where I had almost no resistance. Starting the bike in mud was also OK, nothing one enjoys, but it managed to kick me out of it after the first half turn.
For range, I took it out for a longer tour. 110 km, hills in the beginning and mostly flat towards the end. I gave it 20% charge over lunch.
First long ride, I forgot to put it in eco for a bit and it was cold. I emptied it 6km before the goal (yay). 80km are realistic, depending on the terrain. From a gut feeliing, I believe my Vado can get me a littler further with the same amout of Watthours
Driving unassisted does add drag. Depending on your fitness level not much, but you should switch on the assist uphill. It rolls as normal.
However with this said, I think once you convert a brompton, you should treat it as an ebike. Leaving the battery at home can work in a pinch, but it’s less fun compared both to an analog c-line and having the assist on.
It adds 7.3 kg, where 3 are the detachable battery. I carry the bike unfolded on the shoulder. For this it’s great. Throwing it on the train like that might not be for everyone, I think I can manage.
The app (android in my case) is basic but has all one needs. After connecting, I would like to get it to the home screen. I don’t need to see my serial number 🙂
Customer Service
So far great, I had a question about which cable length is needed for a brompton. I asked via email and got a phone call back. On the email, I would have liked an ACK and a rough time when the engineer calls back. but it’s a small company and you speak to real people who are actually super helpful.
But they could also provide a list on their website about what is needed for a specific make of a bike. It’s great you can put it on anything. But why not market specific models and cut down confusion and service request.
Sorry for the dirty bike, I just gave it a quick rinse in the dark, but it shows which conditions it was driven in. I am not too keen on the looks, but I have an idea for at least the battery. In the end, it doesn‘t matter it drives brilliantly.
Thanks for reading. What do you guys think? Are you interested? I was a bit surprised, their webshop isn‘t shipping at least throughout the EU.
by holger-nestmann