How's it working out? Very well..
Do I wish I had front suspension? Definitely not. The 2.35" tires are plenty cushy for the road and path. I ride full rigid MTB or a drop bar cross bike on the local trails, so am adapted to it. The loaded longtail Envoy does return a solid thump jumping curbs due to inability to unweight the rear tire, but I try to avoid that.
Changes since last post are some 3D printed phone and light mounts. Plus added a laser cut and engraved rear deck. The most useful addition was drilling out a small hole next to the button that turns on the display light and filling it with glow paint so I can find the proper button in the dark.
It's been raining for months non-stop here in the Pacific Northwest, so there's only 400 miles logged since purchase. Had 1 flat tire at speed. Went through 1 long and completely soaking rain storm. Had 1 fully drained battery with 400 feet of 12% grade yet to climb and was able to stay in the saddle grinding it up without too much effort. With temperatures in the forties F the range seems to be reduced 20% or more. I hope it will recover in the spring. Still runs fine and have had no motor or drive-train issues.
With some practice hitting the motor's efficiency sweet spots it goes faster than I thought. Over 40mph on the flat with aggressive pedaling. 35 no pedal in a tuck. 15 up my big hill. It comes with 11-34 in the rear and I reduced from stock 46 in the front to a 42, but if I didn't have the big hill to climb, 46 would be just right.
A few notes on the Envoy discovered late. It's great to have so many mounting lugs all over. Several of them were crudely cut from the factory and just spun on first removal. They are in place now only due to liberal application of thread-lock. The crank arm threads were also crudely cut. One was so loose I had to replaced it. The brake hardware is roughly made which makes it time consuming to adjust. Once adjusted it works fine with very good although squeally stopping power. Both panniers have broken with the same failure. The sewn threads on mounting straps unraveled. Lost one load due to this and have now discarded both. Love the bars, grips and saddle.
