The new motor for my Ego Cycle arrived around the end of July. I tried to install it then, but got hung up on the installation. I couldn't get the two bolts back in that hold the seat post to the frame. I went on vacation for two weeks and haven't had time to do the install since I got back.

Over the weekend I finished up the install. New motor working great!! Looking forward to riding to work again while summer is still here!

I'm still waiting for news on the replacement electric motor for my Ego Cycle. Until then, the machine sits in my garage!

On Thursday July 3, I was ascending a steep hill in the Summit Park on my Ego Cycle and the hill must have been too steep. The Ego cycle never rode the same again, slowly loosing power as the holiday weekend advanced. On Monday after the fourth of July weekend, I phoned Ego Vehicles and explained what had happened. The service rep asked me to remove the plate over the motor, hold the bike against a wall, turn on the ignition and give it some throttle. I wasn't sure if the pulleys were moving and the service rep wanted to know. When I did what he asked, I could hear the motor turning, but the pulleys weren't moving.

So, the service fellow Jim pronounced the electric motor deader than a doornail. I feared the worst knowing that the price of a new motor for the Ego Cycle is around $250... Luckily Jim said they would send me a new motor under warranty. And I get to install the motor myself. There are four bolts on the underside of the Ego Cycle that hold the motor down. And there are two small bolts connected to the seatpost that also secure the motor. Supposedly, you remove the batteries, remove those six bolts, remove the belt drive from the rear wheel, and the motor slips right out of the chassis.

Click Here to see some pictures of my new Ego2 battery powered cycle.

This morning I had a chance to really test the hill climbing capabilities of my Ego Cycle2. in the neighborhood of Stevenson Ranch (where I live) there is a street named Poe Parkway that goes up a LONG LONG hill. I'm not up on grade percents, so I can't even guess what the grade is. But this is a hill I never could have navigated on my Xcaliber 600 scooter. The Xcaliber 600 was only capable of very moderate grades. It was fine on level roads, but quickly ran out of oomph on more challenging grades.

This week on my commutes back from work (which is an uphill climb) I have been trying various hills. The Ego cycle2 has handled all of them with east. The bike slows down a little, but not a whole lot, and just keeps chugging along. Here's another difference - The Xcaliber would often shut down as it was going up hills - I suppose because it was starting to overheat. So I have been waiting for the Ego Cycle2 to do the same thing - hasn't happened yet - and here in Southern California we have been having a major heatwave.

So after all the hills I have tried this week I decided to try the granddaddy of hillls around here - Poe Parkway. Same thing as all the other hills I have been ascending this week - the bike keeps up at a steady speed, just a bit slower than on the flats, but not a whole lot actually. I haven't installed a speedometer on the machine yet, but it will be interesting to see the difference in uphill speeds vs. on the flat speeds when I do eventually install a speedometer.

While descending the hill on the way back down, the regen braking worked really well. With the regen braking on the Ego Cycle2, I *rarely* need to use the handbrakes. About the only time I use the handbrakes is to come to a final stop when I'm at a crosswalk, etc. I'd say 95% of the time the regen brakes always stop me.

This morning I went down into my garage to prepare for a morning ride on my new Ego Cycle and lo and behold - the rear tire was flatter than a pancake. Yesterday afternoon I inflated the front and rear tires to around 90 PSI. The instruction manual says you can inflate the tires to 100 PSI... Anyway - flat tire! What to do? I called The Sports Chalet - a local sporting goods emporium. The guy I spoke to in the bike shop there had never heard of an Ego Cycle. When I described it to him he shied away from trying to change the tire. However - he said they had inner tubes that would fit the tire.

So I rolled up my sleeves, got out my toolbox, and looked around the garage for something I could prop the bike up on. I have some left over ceramic tiles in the corner, so I stacked a bunch of those about six inches high and through a Turkish towel over them sat the Ego Cycle down on the stack of tiles. Worked great.

Removing the rear tire took a while. I had to giggle things a bit to figure out how I was going to get the tire off the bike. The instruction manual is rather terse on the subject and there are no illustrated pictures to help. I finally got the tire off.

After the tire was off the machine I could clearly see the electric motor and the supporting hardware around it. The construction quality looks excellent, very heavy duty and nice welds throughout.

I strapped the flat tire to the sissy bar on my motorcycle and road down to Sports Chalet to see if they would put a new inner tube in it. When the mechanic saw the "ringworm" tire I had on the rim he remarked "whoa! That's the tire I like!" I have to say - I really know nothing about bicycle tires. He totally gave the thumbs up to the tires on the Ego Cycle.

Re-installing the repaired tire took me a while - another "first time" learning experience. But now that I've done it once, I know what to do. It takes time to get the wheel aligned. I read the "how to" on wheel alignment in the Ego Cycle owner's manual a hundred times. Part of the problem is I don't have any proper metric wrenches. Time for a trip to Wally World. So I did the whole job with an oversized crescent wrench that kept getting in the way.

I can now see the trick to aligning the rear wheel is to keep rotating the wheel and watching how the belt rides on the sprocket. If the belt rides to one side, you make adjustments to make it move to the other side. And so it goes until you can spin the wheel with your hands and the belt stays in the middle of the rear sprocket.

I have to go into work this evening so I will ride in to the office and see how it goes. I will bring along some wrenches in case I need to make any adjustments along the way.

My new Ego2 cycle arrived yesterday. I assembled the Ego2 cycle after work. I am really impressed. The cycle is a really great value. The fit and finish is great. Everything is very solid and well thought out.

Such a difference from the Xcaliber 600. The main thing that I didn't like about the Xcaliber were the brakes (or lack of). And the brakes are one of the *best* things about the Ego2. I took the Ego2 for a short spin last night - I wouldn't have been able to get to sleep otherwise. The regen brakes work really well. You don’t really need to use the hand brakes on the Ego2 cycle that much. The regen brakes do most of the stopping.

I put the cycle on the charger overnight and she's ready to take me to work this morning.

On June 16, 2003 I rcvd an email from eGo vehicles that they are assembling and preparing to ship the Cycle. They give it a full charge so it's ready to ride when it arrives. And they add any accessories that you might order.

On June 14, 2003 I ordered an Ego Cycle2 from http://www.egovehicles.com. I will be mainly using it to commute back and forth to work. Delivery should take a little over a week. The weather this June in Santa Clarita is perfect for riding. I am looking forward to the Ego Cycle.