Gazelle Orange Plus X2 Innergy

All A-OK (except the spokes)!!!! – The bike is quality, however do not expect a road rocket, the bike weighs a lot! I mean a real lot!! The motor is adequate and will see off most small climbs with ease, coming back the speed is governed and even in seventh gear you will be pushing it (no pun intended) to get it to go over 35 kph. Main problem is the standard of the spokes, the bike is right now having the rear wheel completely respoked as the S.S. spokes as supplies fail regularly with "crevice corrosion" the spokes being not high tensile S.S., the corrosion causes pitting across the spokes circumference and they snap when the metal gets down to about 1/3 of the spokes cross sectional. The only other thing is that the inner tubes are still using "Dunlop" valves. It would be easier if Schrader type valves where fitted from new,

August 29th 2019 Update: Further developments on Gazelle Innergy

Since writing the last review there have been developments. The Gazelle outlet in Australia was started not by Gazelle but by a couple of entrepreneurs, however the company that controls Gazelle, a Dutch/German affair, too control again. At the same time the front drive gave up after being in a collision with an old lady!! and the planetary (outer) gear collapsed. A later look at U Tube has a section showing a similar failure, however as the dialog was in German/Hungarian/Czech/Slovak (anyway in a language I do not speak) I had to closely watch the video and concluded the same thing had happened to me. The dealer put a new gear train in and it works, but, not as well. Time came to renew the spokes and rear tyre. The whole of the back wheel spokes had to be replaced as they had stress fractures caused by corrosion eating half way through and eventually snapping diametrically opposed spokes. Took it into the only Gazelle dealer in town and he did a great replacement with up graded spokes. However the drive is still not giving out 100 percent, the Gazelle distributor will only deal with the bike store and the bike store has said he will just have to wait until Holland gets back having interpreted the test results from the computer. It will be nice to get the bike back to the stage that when Boost is selected a physical kick is experienced unlike the weak response I have now!!

Second hand bike try-out in Balmain – I bought this bike as a second had one. I read some great comments about it, so I thought I give it a go. First try-out on fairly flat roads went really well without a hitch, and the motor helped out really well. I could use all gears and I did feel there was some real help. Second try-out on slight inclines I noticed that you need to keep peddling, otherwise the motor cuts out. fair enough as it's not a scooter. I didn't feel it was much help though and I needed a fair bit of leg-work to get op that hill (not really a hill though, rather a slight incline). The gear selection, nor the level selection didn't seem to make much of a difference.

Third try was on a steeper incline. The motor just gave up (even in lowest gear and boost selection), and I had to peddle my best to get those 30Kg up the hill. That was very disappointing, as I expected that little bit extra especially on those hills that "normal human beings" just cannot climb themselves with normal bikes.

I guess I just have to take the long and winding road rather than the steep direct way.

Great bike – Have had mine for 18 months and it's already paid for itself with saved car costs and public transport. Smooth ride, and reliable electrics plus integrated design make it the best of its type - pedal assist could be more powerful for Sydney hills tho. And the cheap plastic chain case is not rugged enough. Also make sure you buy schwalbe ultra marathon tires to replace the cheap lites they supply with the bike. Otherwise punctures are a real pain with this model. But overall an excellent product. Reliable, smooth gearing, Plastics on chain guard, tires underspec, lack of power on steep hills