AVE XH-9

Did anybody else notice this bike manufacturer?

They list the top of the range XH-9 as 4000 euros in Spain, which all considered sounds good value for a turn key quality build.

The hard tail 29er is pretty sweet too.....

It is a true EU pedelec using the Bosch 45 drive.

Photo added below and a 50% deposit sent.

It ticks a lot of my boxes, light, full suspension, easy on the eye, 30mph capable, running through the gears, whats not to like?

http://www.ave-bikes.de/index.php/en/products2013-en/x-offroad-en/xh9-en

I called a guy in Bilbao, Spain today, as they distribute the bike and do not have a retail overhead they offered me 3,200 euro as a cost with free delivery anywhere in Spain.

I can see a value in that, I might just have to have it.

My current ebike has cost me more and is still not running! :-(

It will eventually though!

The bike shown is a 250w model that would be limited to 15mph, they do a 350w - XH9S.

The 2 models look identical except as you correctly point out the XH9S has the 350 watt Bosch 45 drive and is 45kmh capable.

That is the one i plumped for and paid a 1625 euro deposit for the other day

I am sure when I stick a Rohlhoff in the rear wheel with a larger gear ratio that top speed might creep up a little?

The 29er hard tail also looks slick and was tough to choose between.

They are building a nice range of machines, I wish them well.

I will post a review when I get my grubby mits on it in a couple of months.

http://www.ave-bikes.de/index.php/en/products2013-en/x-offroad-en/xh9-en

Bosch specify a max of 250% assistance with derailleur gear system, but only 200% with a hub gear - something to think about.

I did talk to the distributor about adding the IGH and he did mention that it should be re calibrated by the dealer if that were to be the case.

I got the sense that they want to maintain the 45kph speed limit which is understandable from a liability point of view.

When I have it hand, I will do the testing in stock setup for a bench mark, then just swap the rear wheel over and see if it stretches the legs a little...

Much above 30mph on an upright bike is not going to be possible due to the apparent wind with the power available, it might eek 50kph though?

New 36 spoke, DMX rim with Rohloff ready to rock, the Gates cog will have to go unfortunately.

It'll be interesting to see how it all goes.

My new bike arrived, I took it out of the box, tightened a few nuts and bolts, charged it, installed the pedals and took it for a spin.

The build quality and components are great, the bike was light, less than 22kg, and fun to ride.

I did notice that the pedal assist died off at 25km, flat out pedaling on the flat I saw 36km but at a pretty unsustainable cadence.

I only did about an hour on flat ground, but the integration of the pedal assist was a joy to use at the 5 levels of assist.

At the strongest assist level the bike pulled quite hard and was at 25km quickly.

This was my first use of a pedelec without a throttle, I liked it, the bionic superman feeling was not too weird.

I sent a photo and an email to the company to query why the lack of assist all the way to 45km to see if I was doing something wrong....

Shipping company had sent the wrong model!

New quicker "s" version is on route.

A more in depth review will follow when I get the quicker bike on the road, should be in the next day or so.

The AVE XH-9s arrived yesterday, it arrived 95% assembled in a big box. Only the handlebars needed to be tightened, pedals installed and the computer screen clicked into place. The battery is the 400wh Bosch type with a 4 amp, 36v charger, it is a tidy battery. Once the battery was charged from a midway point that it arrived with, it was time for a test drive. There are various levels of assist, the "Turbo" was the one I went for though. This gives a range of about 40km at full speed, full speed is flat out pedaling approaching 45kmh. A few times I could feel the motor cutting out as the target speed was reached. It is no fun pedaling at a crazy cadence, nor is it sustainable. The average seemed to be 35-40, which still required a good input, but is possible to maintain for a few miles at least. There is no throttle, speed is regulated by a torque sensor and speed is based on human input. It is a neat tidy, turn key bike weighing a shade under 22kg. The looks are not everyone's cup of tea but I do not mind it. I have a feeling this will be the girl friends bike if she enjoys her first test drive tonight and the step through type frame will be then a bonus for her comfort. Pictures will be added when I get to a different computer to upload a few later. First impressions are positive and I look forward to seeing her first Ebike grin as she refuses to get on the Greyborg!

Link below is to an electric bike magazine that I had not seen before.

http://issuu.com/electricbikemag/docs/eb06?e=4375272/1894374#search

I have been enjoying the AVE xh9-s in stock form, I was encouraged to cycle every night after work for an hour or more and that is unusual for me. It is a great inducement to get outside and get some fresh air.
I would recomend the bike as a decent turnkey option. But since there is a need for speed, I bought the "dongle" to unlimit the bikes true potential, whatever that is. Theoretically since it halves the speed signal going to the controller to confuse it into sending power to the motor when proper programming would shut it down approaching 45kph. It should allow the assisted speed to creep up a little more with the right gearing. Not cheap, will void my warranty, messes the speedo numbers up and probably get me locked up if pulled over by the law but there you go. I had to buy a special freewheel removal tool too for the querky bottom bracket.
The very helpful man (Martin) at the ebike shop did caution me that the motor should be reprogrammed for an IGH. I think it will be ok so long as I start in an apropriate gear and work through them, the theory will be put to the test.
Next on the to do list is remove the orange script and badging that the fast pedelec comes with and all mention of "s" from the frame.....

http://www.e-bikeshop.co.uk/boschdongle.html

I am approaching the 200km mark on the XH-9s and so far so good.

The bike is still behaving and I have had no issues with it in stock form.

45kmh is fast enough for me, 95% of the time I find. The multi level assist works really well and is intuitive, the battery range is huge on minmal assist, over 100km, roughly 45km+ at full power.

I do find I switch the motor off when surounded by pedestrians or running with my girl friend on her non-assisted bike, so the small 400wh battery has so far been more than enough, which did surprise me.

To get up to full speed on flat ground is a workout and sustaining 40kmh+ speeds is not something I can do for long periods, but you do kind of find you get there in a hurry and therefore you do not have to work real hard for that long.

The real joy is blasting up hills at 30kmh which would be a chore to just peddle up, it flattens hills.

I find the top 4 gears are all that get used, the low gears would only get used if the battery was flat and you had to cycle home up hill.

That is my 2c on this bike, maybe a kind moderator could move this to the review and testing thread, which may be more appropriate as the long term test continues?

I recently enjoyed clocking up the first 500km on the AVE xh9-s and can honestly say I am still really enjoying it.
The stats on the screen are currently:

514 total distance
55.4 max speed
26.5 average speed
19:27 elapsed time

The only issue I have is a couple of near death experiances which were in part due to the high speed nature of the bike. First issue was a car reversed from a parking spot, directly into my path as I travelling down an otherise empty main road at 40kmh, I managed to slow down enough to pass ahead of him, he did have a surprised look on his face and I needed a change of shorts. Second close call was passing a black Hummer that had stopped and caused a short tail back, I was coming past on the inside at roughly 40 kmh when the passenger door opened and I had to go off road, I did not even have time to slow down, just swerve. At full speed it takes longer to stop, even with good brakes, than a normal bike, it is certainly something to be cautious of and takes a while to used to.

The bike will sustain close to 45kmh on the flat in max assist with a good measure of human input, 40-41 is normal for fast cruising. The trick with hills is getting in the right gear to maintain a good cadance as the motor helps based on the pedals turning. Once the balance is found it will tackle the steepest of hills without an issue.

I will try the speed dongle upgrade and the Rohloff wheel change in the coming week. I am just waiting on a new sprocket for it and really wanted to get used to the stock performance before tweaking things.

Excellent info Comradegerry.
Most of your conclusions match mine for my ebike.

I hit a speed limit of 37kmh at max assist and max. comfort level despite swapping the chainwheel from 44 to 48t and running low-resistance tyres.

Good luck with your hack, hope you hit 50kmh.

Chris.

Installed the Rohloff rear hub with a Surly singelator chain tensioner.

The gears work but it slips chain on just pedal power... I think the single speed rear sprocket may not be compatible with the chain I had on there, despite good wrap and tension.

Also tried removing the crank arm to do the motor restriction bypass and stripped the treads on the crank arms, grrrr.

Will try a single speed chain this week and see how she goes.

I now need a new fork as the meaty rear tyre looks odd with the front road tyre, I would like them to match and the Kenda Nevagal tyre will not clear.

Ave are nice bikes.
You can buy them in Australia at Electric Bikes Brisbane http://www.electricbikesbrisbane.com/collections/electric-bikes?page=1

Managed to get the chain to stop skipping by using a 7 speed chain and stong tension on the chain tensioner, so far so good.

The Rohloff adds a bit of weight to the rear wheel which is noticed carrying the bike but not really riding it. The meaty rear tyre adds a bit of rolling resistance so it may get switched back to the street tyre for road riding which is what I do most of the time.

With the current 20T cog on the rear I have lost some top end, down to 40ish on the flat, max assist, pedaling at an unsustainable cadance. Only gears 10-14 see any use really, starting in 10th is easy on the flat and it does not take long to get up to speed.

I have a 15T cog ready to be installed this week which will hopefully stretch the gearing in the direction I want it to be.

Still a happy AVE customer approaching the 800 km mark with no real issues.

Just passed the 900km mark and the Rohloff on the rear proves to be a good combo.

I swapped the rear tyre back to the stock item and it is easier to hit 45 on the flat. Gears 10 through 14 are all that generally get used on the flat.

Few new parts swapped out for lighter items, seat, seat post and clamp, pedals, titanium bolts etc. More new parts on the way include a carbon integrated handlebar and carbon crank arms, even lighter ti spindle pedals, 44T ti chain ring. I have a 13T for the rear ordered so the chain length should stay the same.

Taking the badging off was a pain as it has been clear coated over... I had a few burn throughs when I hit it with 2000 wet o dry paper. No more "S" mentioned on the bike. I was thinking of respray any way, gloss black with mud accents should look good. Will likely bore a hole in the right side, in the plate at the stem to run the 2 gear cables and the one brake to tidy things up.
There is also a rear mud guard in carbon that needs to be cut and reworked to fit with some cloth and resin.

I am happy i got one of the older series Bosch drives, most of the newer ones seem to have chain line issues with the smaller drive sprockets.

Once this is tidied up it will be time to get back to the LR GNG Greyborg that is feeling as neglected as a spotty fat ginger child.