Living with an Ola Gen 2 S1 Pro

I have had a noise from the front which is persistent. It seems to be from the disc as it is connected to the wheel rotation.

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It’s been a few weeks since I took the delivery of my stellar blue Ola Gen 2 S1 Pro. I had booked the scooter on Feb 27 and was supposed to get delivery by March 13 but ended up getting it on March 8. A few observations

Fit and finish (5/10) - The charger port feels like an after market unit. At the service centre, I had the opportunity to test the port on S1 pro Gen 1 and it was perfectly fine. There are other panel gaps elsewhere

Drive train (8/10) - I have a Ather 450 which I got in March 2019. Compared to that, the Ola is a revelation, the engine is super smooth and has much better performance. One of the thrills is to move the mode from Normal to Sport to Hyper when on the move and the rush in speed is addictive. It gets to 80-90 in no time and stays there. However, unlike my Ather where the throttle response is immediate, this has an initial lag which can be disconcerting. I’ve got used to it now

Range (9/10) - One of the USPs was the range which was supposed to be 195 under ideal conditions and 130 km under real life. To test this, I took it on a test ride on the new STRR along with a couple of friends on their big bikes. They were zooming at speeds in excess of 100 kmph and I followed with a long stretch at 90 kmph. The way the range was falling was alarming and I slowed down to speeds of 60-70. At the midway point (Bellary Road), I was down to around 49% after 56 km. On the return, I decided to come back via Bellary Road so that I have access to a hyper charger. I reached RT Nagar with around 8% (more on this trip below). A subsequent day had me riding around 110 km at reasonable speeds and I reached home with around 10% charge. So, I believe the real range is around 120 km.

Practicality (10/10) - The large boot is a real benefit. I have been able to put everything that I take during my intra city rides, a messenger bag, bottle of water and other bits and ends. With the wide flat floorboard in front, I can pretty much replace my car for most purposes.

Comfort (7/10) - The seat is a lot better than the Ather. As mentioned above, I have done a couple of 100 km days and been none the worse for it. This would have been unthinkable on my Ather with its sloping seat. When I ride the Ather now, it feels like a gen old product that it is. The suspension is nothing much to write about, there is hardly any travel and bad roads make their presence felt. 

Reliability (6/10) - This was one of the concerns that I had about the scooter. I’ve had one really bad experience that happened during my STRR run. I put in on the hyper charger and went for a coffee after ensuring that the scooter was charging. However, after 45 minutes, I returned to find that it had not charged at all. When I unplugged, the scooter became unresponsive and the display was blank. I tried restarting the scooter and could make out that the screen was very dim but unresponsive when entering the pin. So I called the customer care for a pickup. It was a 30-45 minute wait for the truck. During this time, I decided to retry the restart procedure and lo and behold after 20-25 minutes, I found the screen to be a lot brighter and I was able to unlock and start the scooter. I cancelled the RSA and rode to a nearby showroom where I was able to top up enough to reach home. This has not happened again. I wonder if it had something to do with my high speed range run. To be on the safer side, I have set a reminder to restart the scooter on a weekly basis.

Service (1/10) - This has been the worst part of the experience. I have had a noise from the front which is persistent. It seems to be from the disc as it is connected to the wheel rotation. I have tried everything over the past 2 weeks, tweets, customer service nothing has worked. Their home service technician never comes, I tried going to the service centre and gave up given the crowd and disorganisation. Given the sound I am wary of riding it too fast until it is diagnosed and repaired. This has completely ruined an otherwise positive experience for me.

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