Best riding new ebike I've tried lately...Yuba Spicy Curry

This thing rode great! So many ebikes seem like the riding position is weird, as if the designer never actually rode a bike. But they nailed it on this...low weight, good pedal position, and stable enough to ride no hands pedaling at 25 mph. The Currie drive isn't my favorite, but it's nice and fast for a turnkey bike. The downside...crazy expensive!

Yubas ride particularly well ( by suspensionless bike standards ) due to their long, flexy steel frame.
But a full suspension bike with the battery in the triangle will beat it any day of the week.

A very stiff, extraordinary tough front fork would help that bike out more than you could believe though, because so much of the rider weight is forward of the rear wheel. Rear wheel impacts/bumps end up getting absorbed by the front fork. In order to do this without skewing the geometry too much, you'd want to run a 700c / 29er rear wheel and a 26" front wheel.

My favorite color: Flouro-green. 8)
(Hi-lite for easier reading.) :lol:

A key feature of the Yuba Spicy is to keep the cargo rack low, so a small rear wheel is a requirement. The Juiced Riders ODK500 uses the same geometry in the rear, and it is excellent for cargo. These bikes depart in the front wheel size, where the Juiced uses a small front wheel and the Yuba uses a large front wheel. The Yuba is also larger and heavier and has more capacity, perhaps it is like a 3/4 ton truck whereas the ODK500 is more of a half ton. It is good to see more low rear rack cargo rack bikes (the Spicy is like the Xtracycle Edgerunner which has been out for awhile).

Oops, i didn't notice that... so basically, it's set up much like the xtracycle edgerunner.
In that case, you could take the same advice and run a 24" in the front plus suspension.

Any fast-winding hub motor in a 20" rear wheel will be VERY powerful and torquey, moreso than the same motor in a 26" wheel. It is a shame that this bike is not offered in non-electric form, because it would be better off to add a hub to it. The mid-drive system in a 20" wheel does not offer the same special advantage.

You'd be better off buying an extracycle edgerunner, running a shorter front wheel, and a suspension fork, then adding a hub motor kit.
http://www.xtracycle.com/edgerunner-24d-2016/

The edgerunner starts at $2000 un-electrified. Add $1000 worth of electrics, and you've got a bike that can kick this bike's ass in every way possible Do the suspension fork idea, and it will be even better. You will have spent much less money for a dramatically better bike by the end of the day.

Yes, good suggestions.

The one use of the mid drive is for really heavy loads where the hubmotor would stall, I've seen folks carry crazy loads on their cargo bikes.

One interesting setup might be an ODK500 which has front geared hubmotor, and then add a mid drive for those rare occasions where the front drive was insufficient for whatever reason - traction, weight, steep gradient, etc. Then normally use the hubmotor and just use the mid drive for those special needs.

neptronix said:

Yubas ride particularly well ( by suspensionless bike standards ) due to their long, flexy steel frame.
But a full suspension bike with the battery in the triangle will beat it any day of the week.

Click to expand...

On rocky trails, maybe. On the street, the longtail's wheelbase and rider placement offer a comfortable, stable ride without the undesirable pitching motion, noise, lateral play, maintenance, and luggage limitations of full suspension.

A very stiff, extraordinary tough front fork would help that bike out more than you could believe though, because so much of the rider weight is forward of the rear wheel.

Click to expand...

Agreed. A rigid triple clamp style fork like the one from Main Street Pedicabs would be close to ideal. That would maintain the benefits of definite wheel location and low ride height, while adding a lot of rigidity and structural integrity compared to a conventional fork.

Mostly for Neptronix.. but for one.. it's not steel its aluminium, and feels stiff and light as cargo bikes go. It also has a 1.5" steerer tube instead of the usual 1 1/8", so it felt plenty stiff. And as was pointed out, mid drive with small back wheel gets you lots of advantages, low cargo height, great hill climb under load, and and a hard to break wheel size. I test ride a lot of bikes, the Bosch drive Haibike full suspension is slower (20 mph) , ditto the Felt full suspension, so when you say "beat the Yuba" if you're talking about a mountain trail, maybe you're right, but around any city environment hauling a big load this thing would lap them on speed alone. And having just moved my drive system from a full suspension bike over to a longtail, and having a super torquey small hubmotor wheel... for the speeds most people want to travel at, vs the weight gain you get with the hubmotor.. I think it will fill most needs well just like it is.. Yes you could get an
Edgerunner and electrify it cheaper. But that goes for almost every turnkey bike on the market.
My personal bike... So I do know the feel you write of.

Ah yes, my evil nemesis, anti-suspension man has arrived..
When i said stiff fork, i meant a particularly well built full suspension fork designed for high loads and lots of abuse ( downhill, etc ).

And no, a fully unsuspended cargo bike may be better than a regular bike due to it's length and rider position, but it still pales in comparison to one with suspension.. a front suspension fork ought to be the minimum of what you use.



Anyone remember this bike of mine? While it was fast and fairly comfortable, it was also incredibly unsafe. In 5 years of ebike riding, it is the only bike i have ever wiped out on, and when i wiped out, i wiped out hard at 20mph and still have those 2 year old injuries hurting me. It could not handle the sudden side-load to the wheel with the unsuspended front fork, for starters.



This was my previous bike and it's top speed was about 35mph. Bumps in the road would unexpectedly upset the front wheel quite often, leading them to lift off the ground and then land in a different place than i expected. I always had to pay an incredible amount of caution to the road at 30mph and scan ahead or slow down for irregularities. I added a front suspension fork later, but this did not prevent the rear wheel from being thrown off track suddenly on big bumps.



I now ride this and consider it very safe. Any upset from bumps, potholes, etc is nullified by the suspension. I feel confident riding it at 40 miles per hour across our broken streets that are so bad that they rattle my bones in my car. I still look ahead for irregularities in the road, only for maintaining a comfortable ride. If i hit a 2 inch dip, my wheel is still going to remain on track

I have no issues with lateral play, undesirable pitching motion, noise, or major maintenance issues. If i need to carry something, i have a backpack. The worst thing is that i have to put some air into the rear shock every 3-6 months.

If you do not need cargo carrying capability and don't have perfect roads, a full suspension bike is for you.
If you need cargo carrying capability, the best bike you can buy right now is an edgerunner and add a strong suspension fork on the front.

Chalo said:

neptronix said:

Yubas ride particularly well ( by suspensionless bike standards ) due to their long, flexy steel frame.
But a full suspension bike with the battery in the triangle will beat it any day of the week.

Click to expand...

On rocky trails, maybe. On the street, the longtail's wheelbase and rider placement offer a comfortable, stable ride without the undesirable pitching motion, noise, lateral play, maintenance, and luggage limitations of full suspension.

A very stiff, extraordinary tough front fork would help that bike out more than you could believe though, because so much of the rider weight is forward of the rear wheel.

Click to expand...

Agreed. A rigid triple clamp style fork like the one from Main Street Pedicabs would be close to ideal. That would maintain the benefits of definite wheel location and low ride height, while adding a lot of rigidity and structural integrity compared to a conventional fork.

Click to expand...

Weight gain from a hubmotor is nullified by the crazy levels of power it can produce, especially in a 20" wheel. Even a small geared hub will gain a lot of power potential from running at a higher rpm in a smaller wheel.

I ran a BBS02 for a while on a full suspension bike. I'll admit that the lack of unsprung weight made it great for offroad handling, but in city and light offroad riding, it simply was a pathetic motor in comparison to hub motors. A MAC motor, being 2lbs heavier, would blow past it in a hurry.

Up big hills and on majorly bumpy offroad, a MAC motor would melt though.

So your motor choice very much depends on what you are trying to do.

If i had a 20 inch wheeled bike and weight was my concern, i would rock a 5lb. geared motor at a very high voltage. It would produce BBS02 wattages at less weight..

...but what i'd really do with a 20 inch wheel is run a crazy voltage on a large hub motor.. like so:



125v madness..

Whats with people on here that when you offer a converse opinion suddenly you're the evil nemesis? I'm just saying it rode great.. are there other better riding bikes? Probably. Are there cheaper bikes? Sure. Do I like full suspension and hubmotors? Hell yeah. Not knocking any of that stuff... just saying I ride a LOT of bikes, and the feel of this one was great in comparison to many expensive turnkey bikes.
Re the Edgerunner comparison.. the $2400 27D is a better starting point (same Schwalbe tire as the Currie, better components than the $1999 24D), then add a Bafang middrive with battery and shift interrupter ($1200 ish), and hydraulic brakes ($200), labor if you can't install the kit yourself, shipping and assembly of the bike if you don't live near a dealer, well, you might end up with a pretty nice steel bike that prob voided the warranty on the frame, for a bit cheaper. Oppps.. forgot about fenders and lights..not included on the Edgerunner either.
But anyway, the original post wasn't about its relative value.. but more about how nice it was to hop on an ebike that balanced and pedaled nice enough to go riding around no hands, compared to the many squirrely, no tracking, wobbly, BSOs out there, not that it is somehow the ultimate bike.

Chalo has a big bias against suspension and disc brakes and he's argued strongly with me and others before for years.

I'm sure it rode great. But you did ride it at a slow speed. Suspension, frame material, unsprung weight etc all start mattering more and more the faster you go x how crappy your terrain is.

All i'm getting at is that this type of bike could be much better. If you are unlike me and not reaching for the apex of ebike performance, you can disregard everything i said.

But, value wise, it's not a good value anyhow. The bafang figure you quoted would still give you a better ebike with at least double the range and quicker land speed. Who knows if the frame warranty would be voided.

The small geared hub motor scenario would give you an even lower total price and similar performance.

All i'm getting at is that these prebuilt ebikes are pretty overpriced for what they do. They could be much better equipped at the price, but there are huge profit margins attached to these bikes.

Voltron said:

Whats with people on here that when you offer a converse opinion suddenly you're the evil nemesis? I'm just saying it rode great.. are there other better riding bikes? Probably. Are there cheaper bikes? Sure. Do I like full suspension? Hell yeah. Not knocking any of that stuff... just saying I ride a LOT of bikes, and the feel of this one was great in comparison to many expensive turnkey bikes.
Re the Edgerunner comparison.. the $2400 27D is a better starting point, then add a Bafang middrive with battery and shift interrupter ($1200 ish), an hydraulic brakes ($200), labor if you can't install the kit yourself, shipping and assembly of the bike if you don't live near a dealer, well, you might end up with a pretty nice steel bike that prob voided the warranty on the frame, for a bit cheaper.
But anyway, the original post wasn't about its relative value.. but more about how nice it was to hop on an ebike that balanced and pedaled nice enough to go riding around no hands, compared to the many squirrely, no tracking, wobbly, BSOs out there, not that it is somehow the ultimate bike.

Click to expand...

Hey its evil me again... just so you dont think I'm against suspension...



I love some boing boing too.. but at a certain power level no regular full suspension is going to not be a wheelie machine unless it has an extended swingarm.
As for as slow speed goes, the 29mph I was able to pedal the Curry up to without trying really hard is faster than most people want to go. Not for those that are after attaining the pinnacle mind you...

Nice ^_^

Yes, you do need either a longer swingarm or a well-honed phase amp to battery amp ratio in your controller.. or throttle ramping, torque control instead of speed control, etc.. it's a challenge.

It is really hard to lift the front wheel of a cargo bike.. levers, weight, and all that.. :lol:

Too bad there is no such thing as a decent full suspension midtail. I'd buy one in a hurry and throw my detuned 1500W leaf motor / 3000W MXUS controller programming aside and shoot for basically a hair under the limit of the controller's FETs is..

Being able to carry lots of beer on ice and pizza is handy sometimes when you don't want to wear a backpack