FlyKly – electric bike review

FlyKLy is a Chinese made electric bicycle sold (also supported and maintained) in NYC by a small start-up store in SoHo.

The bike looks great and handles well. Even though it’s a bicycle it looks like a scooter – which provides both benefits (lights, mirrors, blinkers – all for safety) and problems (because it looks like scooter people expect it to behave like one). This was my girlfriend’s and mine first venture into electricity powered vehicle so we really didn’t know what to expect – what convinced us to buy was my absolute hate for MTA and its corrupt ways as well as a need for some mobility freedom – oh, and of course, the bike looks cool.

Safety features… There is plenty. The bike has front and back light. The front light comes in 2 flavors: LED light so that others can see you at night and more powerful (thus more battery draining) bulb that you can light your way in the dark. Whenever you press brake (even if your lights are turned off) back red light lights up giving cars and vehicles behind you some warning. The bike comes with large blinkers in the front and the back so whenever you make a turn you can signal that to the traffic around you. It also comes equipped with two very useful mirrors (not pictured in the photos).

Bike is much lighter than traditional scooter/motorcycle so anti-theft prevention measures are important (so people simply don’t pick up your bike and walk away with it). Thankfully FlyKly is packed with those. You need key to operate the motor, the same key that lock and unlocks the turning of front wheel. Yet another (simpler) key locks the back wheel. The battery compartment containing very valuable battery ($600 based on FlyKLy’s website) is lockable too but for safety (and to recharge) I take it to my apt overnight. As extra precaution I also tend to chain the bike whenever I can.

Performance. FlyKly website claims that the bike can go 40 miles per charge but actual results are very different. Between me and my girlfriend we weight about 280lb and with this load and driving at medium speeds the battery lasts for 21 miles (24-25 if driven at its slowest speed – 20 mph or if driven at medium speed but with only the driver). The bike does get about 45 ODOMETER miles… Watching odometer you discover that the miles seem to be accumulating awfully quickly and indeed when you plot your route on google maps you will see that the actually driven distance is about half of what the odometer shows. The internal circuitry seems to be calculating miles drive based on the electricity output (as well as on many other factors) and if you look at the mileage at the beginning of the trip then you will know that you have about 45 odometer miles before the battery is dead. That way you can plan your trips accordingly. It seems with about 20 mile distance limit you will spend considerable amount of time plotting your route on google maps or even simply checking if you can get to your destination and back without running out of juice. …Because when you do run out of energy the fun stops. The bike doesn’t have any gears so pedaling this thing without the assistance of the motor is not fun. Though the pedals are not here only for the looks as they do come in handy. After a few trips you will realize that it’s sometimes best to relieve the motor (or rather the battery) from unnecessary strain so if you drive up the hill it does help to pedal a bit to allow the motor maintain its momentum (you don’t have to but that way you save yourself a bit of battery power).

It’s a pleasure to drive this thing. I never would have expected that a battery powered bike can get as much kick. It starts up fast (the other day I drag raced a guy on engine powered scooter and won – though when his scooter started picking up speed it started to take over my bike) and its speed is high – you can easily (though you kinda shouldn’t as legally this bike should max out at 20 mph) keep up with other cars in regular traffic. Then there is no noise pollution – you can barely hear the motor – the loudest part of the ride is the wind in your ears!

Craftsmanship. Because the bike is Chinese made (which the store owner isn’t hiding) you get all the “quality” we came to expect from Chinese craftsmanship when it comes to the parts finish: switches that feel a bit too flimsy, the knobs that you feel could use a bit more precise manufacturing, etc. – then again as it’s something that one can feel while test driving the bike I knew what to expect. Another point of initial dissatisfaction is how hard you have to press to lock the battery compartment/seat – it turns out that the locking mechanism lacked any kind of much needed lubrication and little bit of bike lube solved the problem.

Cool factor / how other see it. Riding this bike around town you will get many questions: what brand it is, how far can you go and how fast – unfortunately most of those questions come from, surprise, middle aged men. So if you thought that this bike will let you score with hot young girls of NYC… Well, I hope you have a back-up plan. Because the bike looks a bit like a scooter you will probably want to watch out and NOT behave like other bikes. Don’t run the red light and drive aginst the traffic and whenever you are in bike lanes on the bridges try to use the pedals along with the motor so you won’t make other bikes envious (and angry) while zipping past them while going up the hill.

Price. The bike goes for $1900 (taxes including) which at first might seem high -especially since you can find similar bikes online for about $1250 (with shipping) – yet apparently the other guys (based on the store’s info) use acid battery (which cost about $300) instead of Lithium-Ion (about $600) which gives this bike way longer battery longevity. Also FlyKly provides local tech support, the other day i got a flat tire and a tech came to change it the next day – all free of charge, while the other guys… well, they barely respond to your emails as I have found out. You start saving money pretty soon. Between me and my girlfriend it takes $10 to get somewhere and back on the subway, or, as I mentioned earlier due to my hate towards MTA, cabs and car service add up. A typical excursion can cost from $15 to $30 / day with 3-4 excursions per week you can average up savings of about $85/week or about $350/month.

Summary. Looks cool, has decent range and good speed. It is a bit pricey but over all i’m happy that we purchased one (I just wish that the range discrepancy wasn’t so huge).