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Cannondale has been a family identify within the biking circles for many years now. And for a great motive. This firm has been on the innovative since its inception.
As an example, Cannondale was the primary firm to make use of aluminum and carbon fibers in bike building. That was virtually 40 years in the past.
Quick ahead to immediately, and Cannondale remains to be top-of-the-line bike manufacturers round. It is because they jumped on the e-bike bandwagon early.
At this time, I’ll be reviewing one among Canndodale’s premiere “hybrid” commuters – the Tesoro Neo X Velocity.
As its identify suggests, Neo X Velocity is constructed for, properly, velocity. However this bike is much from a one-trick pony. Because of its soft entrance suspension and huge tires, it may possibly deal with nearly all of the street shock coming your manner.
On prime of that, it comes with greater than sufficient vary to final you for weeks.
With the overview accomplished, let’s soar into the nitty-gritty particulars.
Tesoro Neo X velocity options your normal touring/commuter body design. What I imply by that is that Cannondale didn’t attempt to reinvent the wheel when designing this bike. They caught to the tried and true step-over commuter geometry.
However that doesn’t imply Neo X Velocity isn’t trendy. Fairly the opposite. It oozes type. The double-butted C1 aluminum body has extremely modern strains. It seems to be extra just like the body was forged somewhat than welded collectively.
Your entire design is dominated by the thick downtube (that additionally homes the battery) and that soft entrance suspension.
Talking of suspension, Neo X Velocity comes with an SR Suntour Raidon 34 entrance suspension with 100 millimeters of journey. Whereas this isn’t all that nice for offroading, it’s greater than sufficient for even the works of metropolis roads.
For a commuter, this bike is fairly light-weight – weighing solely 52 lbs. Whereas that is removed from light-weight because you’ll have a foul time lugging this factor round, you could take into consideration that there are commuters which might be 20 kilos heavier than Neo X Velocity.
The one nitpick I’ve about this e-bike’s body is that the rear cargo rack could possibly be a bit longer. In the event you’re planning on utilizing this bike for grocery runs, I like to recommend you get saddlebags for it for the reason that inventory cargo rack simply can’t deal with any severe cargo.
Motor
The true showrunner on Neo X Velocity needs to be the Bosch Efficiency Line mid-drive motor.
Though it may possibly solely churn out measly 250 watts, the motor is greater than able to zooming you to the highest velocity of 28 MPH in a matter of seconds.
You see, the mid-drive motor is a lot better at offering torque than rear-hub motors.
It is because the motor applies power on to the pedals as a substitute of the rear wheel.
Bosch Efficiency Line motor can produce a whopping 85 Nm of torque on a drop of a dime. What this implies for you is that you just’ll have the ability to attain that 28 MPH prime velocity mark in simply a few seconds.
The one factor that’s type of annoying concerning the motor is that it whines like loopy whenever you’re actually pushing it. Though you gained’t thoughts the whine at first, it can slowly get beneath your pores and skin and begin annoying you. Not less than that was the case with me, I don’t learn about you.
In relation to controls, they’re your normal e-bike fare. You could have your management cluster on the left-hand aspect of the handlebars. There yow will discover the buttons for turning the motor on/off, selecting the extent of pedal help, in addition to customizing the data on the LCD display.
As for the LCD display – it’s one of many highlights of this bike. It’s in full colour and is basically intuitive. It’ll feed you all of the driving that you just want, together with your present velocity, miles traveled, PAS degree, in addition to battery cost.
Battery
As is the case with virtually all Cannondale e-bikes, the Tesoro Neo X Velocity comes with a fairly beastly 48V 16.7 Ah Bosch Energy Tube battery.
Cannondale claims this battery supplies round 73 miles of vary. I’ve to confess that they weren’t that off the mark. After a few weeks on this bike, probably the most mileage I may squeeze out was round 60 miles. That’s greater than sufficient to final you for no less than two weeks of day by day driving.
One other fairly spectacular factor concerning the battery is how rapidly it takes to recharge. It takes simply shy of 5 hours to completely recharge the battery. That one hour lower than the common.
In relation to charging, you may both cost the battery whereas it’s on the bike or you may take it out and cost it someplace indoors. The battery is secured contained in the body with a easy lock mechanism.
To take the battery out, all you gotta do is put the important thing within the lock, flip it, and slide the battery out. Simple as pie!
Brakes
For a commuter e-bike, Neo X Velocity certain comes with some fairly severe brakes.
To be extra actual, this bike comes with Magura MT5 hydraulic disc brakes with 203-millimeter rotors.
Cannondale slapped these outsized brakes onto this bike as a result of it’s additionally designed for some offroading.
However with simply 100 millimeters of journey on that entrance suspension and skinny tires, I wouldn’t suggest you do this bike on a mud street. I imply, you may, however your butt cheeks and kidneys are going to really feel it.
With that little tangent out of the way in which, I’m glad to report these brakes do an admirable job of getting you to a full cease in simply a few toes. And since they’re hydraulic, they require virtually no upkeep.
Wheels And Tires
Tesoro Neo X Velocity comes with 28 x 2.15-inch tires from Schwalbe.
Schwalbes are your normal commuter tires. They’re fairly quiet and supply greater than sufficient grip on the pavement.
The story is way completely different on off-road terrains.
They simply don’t have an aggressive sufficient tread to supply any actual grip on terrains equivalent to gravel and even plain filth. Not less than they’re large enough to go over even the gnarliest of potholes with out a lot bother.
Professionals And Cons After Testing
All in all, Cannondale Tesoro Neo X Velocity is greater than an honest commuter e-bike.
For starters, you get a fairly torquey 250-watt motor that may churn out a whopping 85 Nm of torque. This implies you’ll be zooming at a prime velocity of 28 MPH very quickly.
Then you’ve that huge battery that may give you as much as 71 miles of vary. Effectively, extra like 60 miles in real-world situations, however that’s nonetheless fairly spectacular.
Lastly, there’s that entrance suspension that absorbs virtually all the street shock coming your manner. Positive, it may not be finest suited to offroading, however then once more, this bike ain’t meant for offroading.
The one factor that irks me concerning the bike is the motor whine and a lackluster rear cargo rack. I hope Cannondale fixes that sooner or later.
Recommendation To Customers
You probably have a fairly excessive funds and are on the lookout for a handy guide a rough, comfortable commuter – I like to recommend you choose up a Neo X Velocity. So long as you don’t experience it on off-road trails, you’re golden.
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