The Bionx kit £990.00	24 volt fully road legal within Europe, with torque sensing pedal assist to 15 mph.   8 Amp hour NimH battery pack. One of the best after market add on units available.
The gentlemans relish!	Cluad Butler, with power assist

  The full specs published on the bionx's official website, but that doesn't answer the big questions.

           What's it like to ride?

Even in 250w form it lives upto its reputation. With the speed limited to 15mph, it is without doubt one of the  best truely legal E-bike setups you can get.

The system is simple to operate, turn it on set your required boost level and away you go. With the brake cut off switch fitted you get regeneration when ever you hit the front brake, saving wear on your rims and blocks, if you set a little play into your lever you get to use the regen directly on descents. If you like your brake levers to be firm you then have to push and hold (for a couple of seconds) one button to go straight to regeneration for descents.

 The clever bit comes when your on slippy or icy surfaces when the regen has the effect of engine braking, now thats not something you get on may bikes. It will limit your speed down to  low speeds on even steep hills if set to level 4, level 1 or 2 is more normal.

 Power wise the system provides assist through the range, the proportional controller is one of the most seamless systems this rider has ever come across, there is no tendency for the pedals  to run away from the feet as found with cheap pedal action sensors, (which can leave the rider floundering in to low a gear). The best way to get the most out of the system seems to be to keep it on the boil, traveling as fast as conditions permit. There is a slight sense of the motor cutting in and out around the  limited speed of 15mph, but this is gentle and confirms the legality of the setup. If the speed limiter is disabled for off road use it will give assistance above the legal limit, the maximium speed seems to be slightly dependant upon the wheel size, but the the relationship does not seem to be direct. Upto about 20mph with a 26" wheel and 18mph on a 20" wheel. The combination of Bionx and mountin biking can make for serious climbs and very interesting descents, you'll be glad of that engine braking in the mud.

Where the motor realy counts is on hills and it does just what it says on the packet. There are two ways to use the assist, you can race the hills using the motor to speed you over the creast or just sitt back change down  through the gears and let the motor share the load as you cruise up them at a more normal hill climbing speed, either way seems to work.

The Bionx  kit is one of the best , most advanced and most complete systems around, but being sophisticated needs to be ridden well. to get the best results, if your prepared to learn how to ride the system it will reward you in kind.

On my run in to the shop I have a hill 60 yards from my door, a gentle climb  takes me down to second gear, about 46" on my old Suzhou Bafang powered bike (36v, 20amp controller,  720w maximium power consumption, say 560w output), with the  Bionx motor at the same speed, (250w continuos rated,  450w maximium output), it's very hard to point to any difference in rider input.

Fitting

 To fit to most standard bikes takes around an hour, the most complicated job is aligning the torque sensor, there is a cut out in the left hand shaft which has to point down vertically, (a two minute job). Other than that if you can change an inner tube with tyre, fit two screws to hold the battery bracket to the bottle fittings, fit one quick release bracket to the handle bars and apply a few tie wraps your done with the motor fitting. The brake cut off can be fitted to give regenerative braking and full compliance with Euro rules or left off. We recommend fitting it it takes two minutes to stick the magnetic sensors in place or may be five minutes if you want to drill and tap the fixings, ( both sorts are supplied), you then just plug in the sensor, motor and fit the battery.

                              Check out the official website at                                            

BIONX.CA