This is a guest post from our friend Lennart Nout on his FlyKly. If you don’t know what that is then read on.
Why would a (relatively) fit young man like me invest in an electric bike?
Because I am lazy. I am not a cyclist, I don’t necessarily enjoy sweating and, my genetic make-up (I’m Dutch) does not make me appreciate hills, especially when I’m on my way to work. I dress for the destination, not for the trip, so anything that helps me up the hills is very welcome.
In May 2013, I “invested” in FlyKly, a new start-up company from the United States. Their Kickstarter campaign promised a wheel that would turn any bike into an electric bike in 5 minutes: a wheel with a built-in motor, battery pack and control system. As any gadget-appreciating young urbanist with a credit card would do, I immediately pre-ordered one. And so did 2,357 other people, pledging a total of over $700,000.
As is common with Kickstarter-type projects, the delivery was pretty slow. After about 8 months, the initial company announced they had merged with an Italian company and had completely redesigned the product from scratch, which resulted in an additional 6 month delay… followed by more delays. Eventually, in December last year, the wheel arrived.
Of course I was very excited– but the fun was short-lived, as that first wheel turned out to be a lemon. Long story short, and with many thanks to the efforts of the customer service department, a new wheel was shipped to me relatively quickly. And here it is:
After about a month with the FlyKly, I can finally give you a fair and unbiased review of the machine. I will judge it by five measures:
- Installation
- Operation
- Look
- Feel
- Will it change the world?
Installation (10 out of 10)
The FlyKly is delivered as an entire wheel, with all the electronic components well hidden in the aluminium hub. This makes for extremely quick and easy installation: I am literally talking 5 minutes. You take off your old wheel, you plonk in the new wheel. Done. As the Dutch would say: “A child can do the laundry”.
After the physical installation, the only thing left to do is input some settings like circumference of the wheel and the size of your cogs. The entire process, from unpacking the wheel to riding the bike, takes less than 15 minutes. I am not kidding. Ten out of ten.
Operation (9 out of 10)
The wheel settings are controlled on an app via bluetooth. That means you have to connect your phone to change the speed, power and regenerative braking power (yes! Braking recharges the motor). This can be a bit tricky, as the bluetooth range is about 5 cm. But once the settings are done, there’s nothing more to do and the wheel will run itself.
The wheel kicks in after about 10 seconds of riding; you know it’s working when you hear a gentle hum from the hub. Back-pedaling will start the regenerative braking, which makes the wheel charge itself a little while going downhill. I found this particularly useful when riding slowly approaching intersections or when there are pedestrians around. NB Don’t expect this to replace your normal brakes! Not fantastic, but a nice feature.
You charge the battery pack by removing a cap from the side of the axle and plugging in the provided charger. Again, very inconspicuous and very easy.
And the wheel shuts itself down automatically after 4 minutes (or so) of inactivity, so no need to remember to turn it off. All up, super easy! Nine out of ten.
Look (9 out of 10)
Because everything is contained within the hub, your bike won’t look like an electric bike. I particularly like this feature, as I find most electric bikes particularly big and bulky.
The wheel only adds about 3.5 kg to the weight of your bike, as well. This means that you can still quite easily lift your bike up a set of stairs or into a bike rack.
The only thing that reveals what’s inside the hub is a little blue LED that shows the wheel is “on”. This is nice, especially if you like LEDs (I do),
Feel (7 out of 10)
So how does it perform? I tested it on some of Auckland’s hills, and it easily gets you to the top of Queen Street and Franklin Road with very little sweat. The FlyKly does not transform your bike into a high-powered super speedy race bike – the top speed is 25 km/h – but what this wheel does is take the edge off cycling. It’s like somebody giving you a push all the time. It may not be powerful enough for some, but it’s perfect for me.
The range of the battery pack is approximately 35 km, compared with the 50km that many other electric bikes boast. This may be a limitation for some, but for me it’s plenty, as I usually cycle around the city with an occasional trip to Henderson or to Mission Bay (BIKE RAVE!).
World changing capabilities (7 out of 10)
The key question for all new gadgets: will it change the world?
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: A device like this – especially one so easy to use — takes away another barrier to cycling. It gives people more confidence when riding, as it feels like you’ve always got a little bit of help. At the same time, you don’t really have to think as hard about your route, as it will help you get up the hills a lot quicker and without effort. It allows you to dress for the destination, even on longer, hillier routes. Buying a wheel is also a lot cheaper than a whole electric bike. I got this wheel for US$600. It retails now for about $1,000, but this price is likely to drop with competition coming in. You can keep your cool, old, heavy, grandmother’s bike on the road! In combination with the infrastructure that’s on the way (hello city centre cycle network), innovations like this will make cycling a lot more viable for a lot more people.
Final verdict: Very likely to become pretty popular in the near future.
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Very cool, must be some impressive batteries inside. If they can get the price down to say $500 NZ it would be nice!
I agree, the price should come down significantly. $500 is a stretch, I think it’s worth a bit more than that, especially if you consider the price point of other electric bicycles in the market. Hopefully the competition with the Copenhagen Wheel will bring down the price soon.
Sounds great – one thing that worries me a bit (with all electric bikes) is the battery life. As in – how many years and re-load cycles will it last before it really degreades? I guess you can’t really answer that yet, but are the manufacturers making any promises?
I guess if it lasted a couple years, you could write it off as a pretty low monthly cost, one hopes.
It appears the standard response (from both FlyKly and Copenhagen) for lithium batteries is 1000 cycles so 3 years minimum at one charge a day.
Correct, FlyKly claims that after 1000 recharges, the battery will still hold 80% of capacity. I would take that with a grain of salt though.
Considering you charge it about every 30 km, you could probably get 25.000km out of a wheel, which is a lot. The batteries are also replaceable, you can send it in to get it refurbished, but I reckon a smart cookie could do it themselves.
Interesting. I agree that this form factor is much more appealing than the large battery that electric bikes normally have.
It doesn’t look as good as the ‘copenhagen wheel’ (https://www.superpedestrian.com/), but it is lighter and more importantly, available.
How does the app work, in particular the speedo. Is it off GPS or bluetooth (the post mentinos a range of 5cm but not sure if that was a joke or not).
I wonder if going forward, any public EV charging points should also have an attached bike rack and bike charging wire. Hopefully there will be an industry standard for the plug.
Personally I like the small form better than the Superpedestrian wheel. It’s very inconspicuous. Most people won’t even notice you’re riding an electric bike.
The App still needs work, they’re working on improving the bluetooth connectivity, but currently you can’t use it as a speedometer because the range is really 5cm. No joke 🙂
The speedometer (if it would work) is based on the circumference of your wheel though, so it’s very precise and doesn’t use your phone battery
Looks amazing, and I’m sure it will make a real difference to cycle use for anyone who gets one.
Just make sure you’re carrying a good lock which goes around the frame and wheel and something solid – it would be a pain to lose one of these, and once thieves work out what these are you can be sure they’ll target them. We still don’t have police taking bike theft anywhere near as seriously as they treat car theft, and until that changes any investment in a bike is also a risk.
ahah I went to a police station when my bike was stolen… not worth going back.
The police won’t do anything.
A much better rule of thumb is to have a lock that is worth at least 10% of the price of the bike, and never rely on steel cable (it takes just seconds to cut, I’ve done it myself). Something like this works well: http://www.lockyourbike.org.uk/abus-granit-steel-o-flex-1000-cable-lock-review/
I’ve had the police locate and return two stolen bikes to me out of three reported. One took about a year, another a few months. If they are searching someone’s house, they’ll check the serial number and it may turn out to be yours!
Really impressive, when the price comes down, I’ll definitely get one for my partner.
As a good Dutchman, I carry a pretty serious bike lock.
The wheel can also be locked using the app. If somebody tries to unlock it by connecting to it’s bluetooth, I will get a notification via email with the GPS coordinates of that person.
I haven’t tested this though…
An interesting thing about bike locks is that most people use them incorrectly, and think they need to around both the frame and wheel. They don’t – just through the back wheel is enough, within the triangle formed by the rear stays. Accomplishes the same thing, as stated by the amazing Sheldon Brown: http://sheldonbrown.com/lock-strategy.html
Of course, you might want a cable or separate lock to secure your front wheel if you have quick release levers, but that’s a separate issue.
I learned something today!
The problem with only locking the wheel is that someone could feasibly cut through the rim of the wheel to remove the lock and get away with most of an undamaged bike. Put it around the frame too and they either need to cut the lock (hard, in theory) or the frame (destroying the most valuable part).
But luckily in NZ, most bike theft is small-time and a half-decent lock will keep yr bike safe.
That assumes you have a proper bike park to lock against, half the bike parks in NZ are those wheel manglers that are too low to get a proper lock on. Like this http://www.larslaj.co.nz/product/bike-parking-i/773
Proper parks look like this http://www.larslaj.co.nz/product/practic-/435
Also, your front wheel is still open to theft. I got these quick release leavers that only open when the bike is upside down. Haven’t had a front wheel stolen since.
http://www.amazon.com/Zefal-Locking-Bicycle-3-Piece-Seatpost/dp/B001NOECEC
Anyone know if the hub will fit easily to a typical mountain bike (which has disc brakes) – A 26er and a 29er?
It won’t fit in a mountainbike with disc brakes. It’s very much angled towards the urban bicycles. You need rim brakes.
I definitely think these small sort of motors are great for cycling but the thing the reviews never discuss much is reliability which still has a long way to go (indeed, the reviewer here doesn’t put much weight on the fact that the first wheel didn;t even work properly). The hassle of a non-working piece of kit that costs around $1k is a put-off for many.
Am I right that the cogs and derailleur are still in use? For some reason I had in my head that only single speed bikes were supported by this.
I was pretty keen on this when I had my single speed, but I since moved to an internal hub with a non-chain drive and disc brakes, so I feel a bit lost in terms of options. Some research led me to http://omni.evelo.com/ which is a similar concept, but for front wheels – supposed to work with disc brakes to. Downsides are that there is still wiring – there is a cadence sensor that attaches near the pedal (measuring the pedal motion). The controller is wireless though, so it doesn’t depend on a smartphone. There was another similar idea but I can’t find it now.
Trying to justify how it’s worth $999 though, and figure out if it’s actually compatible with my bike.
From the picks I have seen, the derailer is only you you can have multiple front cogs (so a 2 or 3 speed?). The Copenhagen Wheel, if it ever eventuates has single speed and 7 speed rear cogs.
The wheel comes fully assembled without any cogs. So you can’t use the derailleur, but I just left it on because (as noted in the blogpost), I am lazy.
The front derailleur is still there, I hardly use it, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to switch to a higher gear on the flat/down hill so you can go a bit faster without paddling like crazy.
On super steel hills I switched back to first gear at the front a couple of times, but it’s not really necessary. More of a nice to have.
I’d caution against that Omni wheel — a solid disc wheel on the front will be absolutely terrible to ride with any cross winds.
It’s bad enough with a deep wheel on the front. I’ve ridden with one of these http://tinyurl.com/px5efns and it’s not pleasant when the wind’s about.
Mmm, I’ve heard some warn and some say they’ve had no issue. The Auckland wind can be pretty mean….
I’ll keep researching mid-drive solutions and see where I end up… can keep my front dynamo hub and lights then 😀
Thanks for that review, Lennart!
Would you mind please explaining the user dynamics of the regenerative back-pedal charging system? Is it akin to a very “weak” back-pedal coaster brake?
That’s exactly what it’s like. I often use it when cycling on the footpath (sue me!). At low speeds it works brilliantly, at high speeds, it’s pretty useless.
It does regenerate a bit of energy, which is nice. On my first trip to Henderson, I ran out of juice on the way back, but thanks to the long downhill on Queen Street, I got a bit of help going back up Victoria 🙂
Can you switch it off easily when you DONT want the assist (so it’s still got charge for larger hills later)?
Thanks for the terrific review. Nice to see an honest opinion. I believe that the rear gear is 18 cog which is about second from the highest speed gear. Does the rear wheel seem to do most of the work? It would seem like a pain starting off in that high of a gear. Is there an option in the settings when setting of wheel size for a 29 inch tire? I am there an eco mode and what assistance and speed is it set at? Your response would greatly be appreciated.
Hi Jonathan,
You’re right about the cog, it’s an 18. It’s not hard to start up at all, that’s actually super fast. The wheel pushes you up to a certain speed and than maintains that speed.
You buy the wheel whole, but you can change the settings to make the wheel more or less powerful if you prefer a bit less assistance (if you cycle mostly on the flat). The speed is adjustable too, up to 25 km/h.
What happens if you go above 25kph? Does it stop assisting, still provide some but not more assist, or start regenerating (ie. try to slow you do)?
What does setting the ‘speed’ and ‘power’ do? Is it kinda like the throttle on an e-bike, only set once at the start of the trip, so you can dial up or down the amount of assist and let the battery last longer?
Is it always assisting, does it somehow detect when you are struggling up a hill and only assist then, or is it also assisting you down the hills (unless you back pedal?)
What happens when it’s flat? Just rides as a normal bike only slightly heavier and with no rear gears?
Hi everyone, nice to see so many comments. If you have any other questions, we will be glad to answer them info@flykly.com or here. We see that Lennart answered almost everything so far.
@Jonathan – we offer rims, that go with 20″, 26″ and 28″ wheel and tyre. You can also order hub only and then find spokes and rim, that fit your needs (for example for 29″).
@everyone regarding compatibility – we fit with almost any bike, dropout of the frame has to be among 120-135mm, which is standard for most bikes. Smart Wheel is perfect for single speed and can also work with bike with gears etc, as Lennart said, front gears remain useful. You can check all different bikes with the Smart Wheel on here: http://community.flykly.com/. If you really want to make sure, you can also email us with a picture of your bike.
Can you please explain how the wheel works with a multi-speed cassette?
Does the wheel’s freewheel have splines or is it the older threaded style?
If splined, would I be correct in assuming it is Shimano style splines? Also, what is the maximum speed you can run on the back? 8? 9? 10 speed?
I’ve had a look at your website but wasn’t able to find this particular information on it.
Any FlyKly users on here? The FlyKly Kickstarter backers are livid about the poor quality of this wheel, contrasting this review and the EBR website review that appear glowing in comparison…
Noel & others, I’ve a FlyKly recently shipped new to me here in Palmerston North NZ, seems to work sporadically at best, keen to compare notes esp on chargers for the wheel – anyone out there?
I ordered this wheel in April 2015 and have not received it yet. It is now December. I have been in contact with their service people and have been promised multiple times that it will be delivered. All promises have been broken. I would not order this wheel and would not recommend to anyone based on their very poor service. Beware!
I ordered the wheel in November 2013 as part of the initial kickstarter program. The wheel finally arrived in the fall 2015. Shy of two years. I’m not an expert with bicycles. I just ride one for fun and exercise. So I didn’t invest much in one. Flykly claims on their website that the wheel will work with either multi-speed or single speed bikes. This is not true. At least as they ship it. I have a generic 7 speed that uses shimano shifter and the chain on the bike doesn’t fit the gear on the flykly wheel. I emailed them a couple of weeks ago and just got an answer back saying it works with a normal fixed gear bike. They also said my question was forwarded to a technician and they would get back to me asap. I’m still waiting. The problem with a normal fixed gear bike is that the brake is built in to the wheel. So if you swap it out with a flykly wheel you need rim brakes. So if the chain worked then starting with a multi-speed bike makes sense.
I received my Fly Kly late last year and it wouldn’t fit on the bike I had bought for it, as it had disc brakes and the chain wouldn’t align with the cogs. aWhen I took the bike and wheel to a bike shop it was going to cost me $450 to fit everything. I am now looking for a bike to fit it onto but am at a loss for what to look for? A fixie or a 7 speed or a 21 speed knowing that the rear derailer will have to go, but at least I might get some front gears. I thought this was nuts but having read all the comments, I’m beginning to think I may have to pay that for it. Any suggestions welcome?