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-   -   My Priority Current e-BIKE a.k.a White Lightening Review | A journey to a Fit Life! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/bicycles/256383-my-priority-current-e-bike-k-white-lightening-review-journey-fit-life.html)

While I wait for my dream EV on 4-wheels to arrive :loveit :

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/elect...ml#post5374032


I thought of getting a 2-wheeled version to experience how it rides, feels and most importantly live with it. Last week I brought home one of the most popular e-bikes here in the US- Priority Current

Likes

1. High Quality Components (Feels like an Apple/Tesla of E-Bikes)
2. Excellent Performance with top speed of 28mph (45kmph)
3. Design is clean, traditional and timeless
4. Digital Screen is flushed with features
5. Smooth and Noiseless to ride


Dislikes

1. Range is disappointing which is ~ 35 miles (55 kms)
2. Throttle as an option would have been nice at this price
3. Seat isn’t comfortable. Need to find solutions to make it comfortable for longer rides
4. Tight turns is a challenge as it likes lazy wide sweeping ones

A few pics at a lake on the trail behind home. :loveit









Note : All pictures taken from iPhone 13 Promax. Please ignore if some images aren't the best quality.

Background

Due to pandemic, I gained weight significantly and have been struggling ever since to lose weight.

I realized that dieting and staying away from good food and drinks is not possible as apart from my favorite slogan "Live to Drive", I also go by "Live to Eat":D

Which means, I have to increase burning of calories. Btw, Gym is not for me, I hate being confined in a room and pumping weights.

So I decided to try what most PNW’er does- Hiking + Biking

Washington as a state is an extremely active for outdoor activities . Normally, on weekends people go to movies, malls, restaurants etc. Here in WA, people plan hiking, camping, biking trips etc. And, craze is so much that most of the hike trails, campsites are usually full for several weeks in advance. Parking at trails is really tough if you reach late morning. All this excitement is right up my alley.

I was excited to see the awesome enthusiasm and some inspiring posts (local groups) on hiking and biking and decided to give both a try. Btw, Redmond, Washington is known as the "Bicycling Capital of PNW" apart from fact that Washington is 3rd most bicycle populist state in USA.

I tried both. (We’ll leave hiking out of this thread as I plan to start a dedicated thread on hiking ( have done 3 of them till date and, it's got me hooked like riding).

What added to the decision making is discovery "after" we bought our new home that we have a 40-mile trail 300 meters from our main door. rl:

Bought a cheap $175 regular bike to practice biking on this beautiful trail behind home.

Over last few months, on and off been riding the bike and highest that I rode was 6.5 miles in one single ride. Even this distance was a massive effort as the last 1-2 miles would be a painstaking since my stamina and weight is shot to hell.

But, overall biking as an exercise routine was phenomenal and best way to enjoy the outdoors here while contributing to achieving a better health.

If I have to enjoy biking, I knew have to settle for an e-bike as it would help me cycle like a normal bike and when I am tired, use the power assist to get back home- Kill two birds with one stone, so as to speak.!

After 3-odd months of practicing on this bike, I decided to get an e-bike with help and guidance of some knowledgeable folks.

Some pics of my regular bike that I enjoyed riding over the last few months

All these pictures are from rides on trail behind home.



Helmeted and good to go.





Riding on footpaths..LOL!













Parked @home

Booking, Delivery and Bike Assembly

Being a small start-up, Priority is super fast in customer service and they respond to emails and WhatsApp messages in literally minutes.

They answered all my questions and I was ready to place the order.

The price of the bike is $3,299 ++ and they offered free shipping.

The bike came through FEDEX and it was nicely packed and as per Priority's feedback, it comes almost 80% assembled and we need to fix the handle bars, pedals and some of the wiring.

As I am poor in DIY, took help of some of my friends/colleagues who incidentally had come home for dinner. Between all of us, we put the bike together in about 1-hour. :)

How I heard about Priority Current

There are tons of e-bike options in US and I was thoroughly confused which one to choose. There are options to choose a cheap e-bike for as less as $500 to as expensive as $5,000.

I happened to discuss with fellow BHPian TSK1979 and he asked me to blindly go for the Priority Current which he uses for his daily commute to work in Bay Area, California.

Honestly speaking, I never heard of this brand or bike before Tanveer’s recommendation. I looked them up and found that-Priority is New York City based small start up with only online presence. They make some very high quality bicycles and use best components in this industry.

There are plenty of cheap, folding options to luxurious e-bikes. Falling somewhere in the upper part of “in-between” is the Priority Current.

Their price point is certainly not cheap but, is also not entirely unattainable and loved it for the components they use at the price it’s offered which brings me to its key features and components at a glance :



1. 500W torque-sensing mid-drive motor with 140NM of Torque
2. Pedal assist up to 28 miles per hour
3. 35–40 miles of range
4. Shimano 5-speed sporty transmission
5. Composite Fenders
6. Front and Rear lights which come on automatically based on ambient light
7. Digital Screen
8. Goodyear Sports Touring Tires



Performance, Ride, Handling

Priority Current is a Class 3 E-bike, which means its the fastest e-bike you can buy in USA. It does not come with throttle which is good as my primary purpose to buy an e-bike was to get some exercise under the belt.

White Lightening has a pedal-assist motor and will reach and sustain 28 miles per hour. It has a classically stylish, somewhat minimalist look, and is available in only 2 colors-White and Dark Grey.

WL boasts of a 500W torque-sensing motor with a ridiculous (for a bicycle) 140 NM of torque that provides plenty of power and acceleration.

When you receive the bike, it’s in a Class 1 Avatar (Meaning top speed is restricted to 20mph which is what is maximum limit in most states- Example : New York City where Priority is based out of). It can be easily bumped up to Class 3 (28mph) via. Simple adjustments through it’s digital screen.

It has a 500-watt hour battery that delivers a range of 30-60 miles (claimed). I am getting roughly 35 miles (56 kms) per charge as they said it depends on rider weight (I’m 6.1 and 240 pounds), road conditions (Ride on beautiful 40-mile paved trail with not much elevation gain).

It would be an understatement, if I say I am disappointed with the 35-mile range. I was hoping it would be closer to their claim and at least 50 miles.

It boasts of a Shimano Inter 5 speed HUB which is a pleasure to use as the gear shifts are silky smooth and reminds me of ZF transmission in my BMW. LOL!. Shimano allows you to upshift to higher gears without having to stop pedaling and gear transition is smooth. While downshift, take a pause in pedaling for a second and even this transition is super smooth.

At the center of the handlebars is a digital display that allows you to view and control an impressive array of data and settings, from pedal-assist and Class levels, to battery level and trip information, and more.

You can even use it to set a password or switch the Current into “walk assist” mode, which will propel the bike at a continuous 1.5 miles per hour to keep pace with someone who wants to walk alongside while you ride the bike.

This bike comes with a Mid-Motor. Here is a quick comparison between a more common rear hub motor.

Mid-Motor vs. Rear Hub Motor- This means that motor is in center of the frame and this allows for better balance and easier pedal assist. This placement is always better than a rear wheel motor hub placement. Most of the expensive bikes will use this architecture.

Another awesome feature is this bike comes with “Gates Belt Drive’ which means this bike is literally “zero maintenance” as there is no chain to lubricate or oil periodically.

Seat comfort is average and need to look for solutions to keep my backside comfortable for longer rides. Now I take a break after every 3 miles for a few minutes before resuming my ride.

Thankfully, my bike was shipped with Goodyear Touring tyre which is the most popular tyre and was taken off due to supply chain issues but, got reinstated back recently. This tyre gets rave reviews from PC owners on the internet.

Shimano Nexus Internal Gear HUB



Shimano 5-Speed Gearbox. Smooth and a delight to use





Disc brakes at front and rear



Test ride by my colleagues after the bike was built in our community



Few pictures from ride on the trail

















Lights are integrated and come up automatically when in ambient lighting. It draws power from the bike's battery so no hassles of battery/cell changes.

I have owned the bike for less than a week and have completed 70 miles (110kms) or riding which isn't too bad. Don't you think?:D

My initial goal is to do 50 miles per week and sustain or marginally increase it and reach my personal goal of 100 miles/week.

If I am consistently doing 100 miles per week. Hopefully in a year, I should become fitter and most importantly increase my stamina.

Here are some screenshots after each ride and as you can see the highest I have ridden till now is 16.2 miles (26 kms) in a single ride.

And, max speed achieved is 23 miles (35 kmph) per hour. clap:

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today :thumbs up

I usually get less than 20 miles of range as I am mostly using it for commute at assist 4-5

"2" gives you atleast 40 miles on a full charge. Most lightweight pedal assist bikes are range limited as they try to not have batteries more than 500Wh. Priority does sell a 532Wh range extender to double the range, but it comes with a weight penalty. However its well integrated and doubles up as a rack for panniers and stuff

Get a budget suspension seatpost, and it will give you much better ride quality, even on paved bike trails. The best investment. I use Venzo which is around 70$. There are more expensive options if you want something with a little more travel and cushion.

Panniers make it a good grocery hauler. Though I ran out of room and had to hang one bag on the handlebars


Another pic near a cold war era radar station


I also noticed that the speedometer/odometer used to report about 7-8% higher than actual speed. So I set wheel diameter to 26" and now it reports 2-3% lower speed, but on the plus side I can go faster than 28mph as the motor cutoff is based on the speed. I guess you can set it to 20, and then just give it all in assist 5 to take it to 35mph :D

Congratulations on your ebike vs conventional bikes an advantage of e-bikes is that they keep us hooked up with biking for office or daily commute.

From 2019 April U have stopped using ICE 4W or 2W (only for emergency now) for regular commute duties to govt clinic or travel upto 60-70 Km & regular commute in my city Patiala I use ebike only.

My first ebike was Lightspeed Dryft later on I added Firefox Adventron both were rear hub driven, range was around 60-50 km per charge i used them for 5k km around combined later on sold both.

Back in 2020, I got myself Scott eRide 10 it’s a Bosch mid drive system eRide 10 is equipped with Performance Cx Motor, 500 mAh battery, with Four modes to toggle with just added latest Bosch Nyon display to my ebike yesterday.

I am getting a consistent range of 100-110 Km in mixed modes, in Eco mode range can be even more than 120 Km, currently it has clocked around 4500 km, I still believe in my opinion ebikes are the best way to commute for urban cities if dedicated infrastructure is created this can add to ebike adaptation in India.

Wow, looks like an amazing bike, thanks for sharing.

I can understand a need for this if you use it for commutes etc, but, if fitness is the sole purpose, wouldn't a normal cycle be better?

Valid question indeed even in case of e-bikes you have to pedal to ride hence ur effort is required to propel the ebike the motor just assists you.

For people who don’t have extra time from daily schedule for gym or work out these e-bikes come handy for commute & fitness both go hand in hand.

Chances that you stick to your ebike for commute are more vs conventional bike in long run.

Selection of modes in ebike are simply like doing a cardio on treadmill.

Link :

https://www.bicycling.com/news/a2881...-levels-study/

God to know that mid drives are becoming standard. Hub drives combined with throttle are prone to burn outs.

Recently I bought an eBike for my son for his College; after searching through a whole lot of options, settled on Radmission (class 2) from rad Power, good build and decent pricing ($1000). my son is happy with it.

https://www.radpowerbikes.com/produc...tric-city-bike

Any idea why e-bikes are so expensive? I was looking at e-bikes here in Sydney, and was quite shocked to see that a starting-range bicycle (the NCM Milano, for the curious) with a small 250W motor and a 630Wh battery cost 1800AUD. Then I stumbled upon this post where the bike costs 3200USD, making the one I'd seen seem relatively tame in comparison. The battery certainly drives up the cost, but surely these rather miniscule batteries aren't THAT expensive? I can see a replacement battery for said 1800AUD bike go for 500AUD. What gives?

Woah, Woah! You didn’t tell me about the range. Not fair. :D

Jokes aside, the bike is awesome. It’s smooth and a pleasure to ride. Yes, I am aware about the battery extender.

I’m thinking of complaining to Eddie from Priority and get him to send me the extender free of cost for my “disappointment” of range of stock battery. LOL!

Honestly speaking, I don’t need the perks of an extra battery as I will probably never ride more than 30 miles at a given time.

This bike is purely for exercise and will never be used for commute. I cannot ditch my Blau Rakete for White Lightening when it comes to commute.

Thanks. Seat for my big bums isn’t too comfortable. At least it’s better than the regular bike I have.

I get down from the bike every 3 miles to give it some rest and then continue.

But, if I find a good seat that helps me ride continuously for 10 miles without having to stop would be really awesome.

Any link to the Venzo seat post? Also, installing is easy?

Wow! This is interesting. You know I love high speed driving/riding and I know eventually 28mph will feel slow for me. This is a good workaround.

Priority recommends not to change it as it ships with correct wheel diameter.

What happens if we reduce the diameter from 27” to lower number apart going faster? Is there any change to the physical setting of the bike?

Tanveer, Another question on battery. Can I charge it daily and what's the life of this battery? Is it 2000 miles or more?

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing the lovely pictures of your bike and your story.

I see you get a better range than me. What exactly is range dependent apart from power of motor, speed assist usage? How can one improve the range?

Also, I see your bike is chain drive. What is the typical maintenance time and cost on it?

It may sound abnormal to use an e-bike for fitness. But, a simple comparison

I have been using the regular bike for > 3 months and must have clocked less than 150 miles as it would feel like a chore to take this bike out for obvious reasons

With e-Bike, I have clocked 70 miles in 5 days.

Since the e-Bike is pedal assist (which means that pedaling is mandatory at all times since there is no throttle.), isn’t it great to have this as an exercise routine?

Other than frequency, with regular bike I never exceeded 6 miles per ride. With an e-bike, I am already clocking 16 miles per ride.

At the end of the day, all I need is a reason to get out of the bed and ride every day (if possible).

Hope to clock 100 miles per week which is my final target.:thumbs up

I have an erratic work schedule with travel thrown in. So getting time out for some exercise is always a planned routine as I have to reschedule meetings to step out for an hour or two during weekdays.

I have no clue that they are becoming mainstream. I saw some videos that tell me that a mid-drive motor is way better than a rear hub motor. But, do you see it happening in India for a $3000+ price point? Because here in US, bikes until $2k-$2.5k usually come with a rear hub motor and chain drives.

Excellent. Good to know. Thanks for sharing.

Quote
Pricing
Hub motor ebikes are much cheaper than mid-drive models. Mid-range hub motor ebikes cost around $1000-$1500. To compare, similarly specced mid-drive ebikes cost around $2000-$3000. Premium mid-drive ebikes can cost as much as $5000-$8000. On average, a mid-drive ebike costs around $600-$1000 more than a comparable hub motor model.

https://wheretheroadforks.com/mid-dr...moving%20parts.


Mid drive bike in Chennai cost:

Quote
Priced at Rs.86,499 (as on 10th January 2021) the Pedaleze H2 is an Electric Hybrid useful for commutes, fitness and leisure rides.

Choosemybicycle dot com.

I believe it uses a bafang mid drive clone, made in Taiwan, the Tongsheng TDSZ2 36V, 250W motor, with torque sensing.