Trying down on the odometer on my Luna X-1 I spotted that I had simply turned over 2000km on the clock. For regular ebikes 2000km will not be a lot of a milestone, however contemplating how I solely trip my X-1 on trails and thrash on it fairly onerous on daily basis I believed I might do an article on the way it has held up and the nice, the dangerous and the ugly about this bike. There’s loads of elements I’ve changed on account of failures or simply as a result of I needed to, there may be nothing that I’ve carried out to this bike that I’ve regretted. I purchased the X-1 on June 2019 and paid $3305 for it from Lunacycle. On the time of buy this was essentially the most cash I had ever spent on an ebike by a far margin. The X-1 is not offered however has been outmoded by the X-2 and the X-2.5 which I’ve not ridden.
My morning routine is at all times about the identical, I get up and get on my double diaper (chamois shorts) on and head out the door to trip. I am going biking earlier than I eat or activate a pc or do anything as a result of I do know if I don’t get out to trip within the first a part of the day, I in all probability received’t get to trip that day, and the dude can not abide.
Issues that also bug me in regards to the X-1
My largest grievance in regards to the X-1 is the noise that the metal gear makes. It’s a bit loud, and never tremendous stealthy just like the BBSHD with the nylon gear. The latest X-2.5 (accessible right here) makes use of a peek/carbon gear which needs to be a a lot quieter. The opposite difficulty I’ve had is there’s a giant ring bearing within the entrance faceplate that sometimes makes loads of noise. It has already failed as soon as and I couldn’t get the bearing pressed out of the faceplate so Luna simply despatched me a brand new faceplate with a bearing in it. Each difficulty I’ve had with this ebike Luna has been completely unbelievable with serving to me get elements for it at a really affordable value. I might give their service division a ten/10 ranking.
The metallic piece that the rear via axle screws into has stripped threads so if I don’t tighten it down tremendous tight it will get unfastened by itself. This has by no means been sufficient of a problem to attempt to repair, however the axle is on so tight that I can’t get it unfastened on the paths with out particular instruments.
What I’ve changed on the X-1
- I swapped out the derailleur, shifter, important cassette and chain with a ten velocity as an alternative of a 12 velocity. I saved having chains break and when the derailleur began having points I simply threw all of it away and went with a 10sp X9 system stolen from one other ebike. The most important ache with the swap was getting a brand new shifting cable via the body.
- The entrance hydraulic brake failed and I couldn’t get it bled correctly so I changed the entire mechanism with a BB7 cable brake. The unique rear hydraulic nonetheless works, however I’m on my sixth set of pads.
- Sooner or later the chainring bolts got here unfastened and the entrance chainring pretzeled. I changed it with a smaller narrowwide metal ring and actually torqued down the chainring bolts. I additionally control them out of a wholesome dose of paranoia.
- The rear freewheel blew out so I changed it with a DT Swiss 350 Rear hub 12 x 148mm. This value me $239 and was a ache to relace however was price each penny. When you’re in search of extra information on that swap this text is a should learn. The inventory spokes with the X-1 don’t match within the DT Swiss hubs so I needed to order new skinnier spokes for the construct and the ultimate wheel construct wheel is barely offset by a couple of mm.
- The unique Luna pedals that got here with the bike I utterly destroyed the bearings. There was over 1cm of wiggle on the pedals once I lastly swapped them out, I do not know how they stayed on the bike with none bearings. Might have been all of the pedal strikes I’ve had with this bike because the BB is low and the cranks are lengthy.
- One of many decrease body bolts broke not too long ago and Lunacycle promptly obtained me a substitute though it was not a substitute half on their web site and it was fast and cheap.
Issues I really like in regards to the X-1
I trip the X-1 virtually on daily basis for about 5 miles or so and it has turn into my favourite ebike during the last 4 years. If there may be lower than 3 inches of snow on the path it’s my goto ebike, greater than that and I are likely to take out the 5.05″ fatty with a backpack battery. Here’s what I really like about this ebike:
- Having a inbuilt battery that’s considerably stealth
- Using one thing with full suspension
- How light-weight it’s
- The 2000W of peak energy out of a drive system that’s designed for 500W (Ludicrous controller)
- That the motor and mosfets have temp sensors that decrease the facility of the motor robotically when both will get too sizzling
- That it suits on my low-cost hanging fashion automotive bike rack
- The tires are incredible in mud and snow (Maxxis Minions), most ebike I purchase include crap tires, the X-1 nonetheless has the originals on it
- The unique bike I purchased was an XL (21″ body) which nonetheless feels a bit small for me at 6’9″ however remains to be surprisingly snug
Would I purchase it once more?
I’m knee deep in ebikes with effectively over $35,000 invested during the last decade. Of all of the ebikes I personal, the X-1 is my favourite for a variety of causes. The battery is dependable (the unique charger nonetheless works after 4 years of being left exterior on the porch) and tends to present me about 2 hours of using on single-track with pedaling. I just like the torque sensing as a result of it forces me to get extra train however it nonetheless has a throttle for the actually steep stuff so I don’t have to regulate the PAS stage. I are likely to maintain it on PAS stage 2 until the snow is deep then I am going to PAS 3. I by no means use PAS ranges 4 or 5, however I additionally actually like getting train.
In deep snow I’ve to get one in every of my extra highly effective fatbikes, however the actuality is that the a lot larger wheels and the rather more highly effective controller signifies that I churn although battery energy a lot faster. With the intention to trip over 90 minutes in deep snow I’ve to take my 24Ah 52v backpack battery which is a ache and can also be fairly heavy.
On a latest Black Friday sale the Luna X-2.5 got here out and was on sale. I actually needed to get one, however the actuality is that my 4+ yr outdated X-1 remains to be preforming so flawlessly that there actually isn’t a motive to improve. Luna is capturing themselves within the foot in a manner by promoting ebikes that work so effectively for therefore lengthy and offering such good customer support for bikes which might be manner out of guarantee that there’s simply not that a lot motivation to improve. I plan on persevering with to trip the X-1 till the wheels fall off similar to I do with my regular pedal powered bicycles. A typical non motorized trailbike lasts about 10 years for me (of day by day use) till I improve and it appears like ebike know-how has now gotten to the purpose the place you’ll be able to spend money on a top quality single-track ebike and fairly anticipate it to final about as lengthy even when using it on daily basis. I truthfully by no means thought that we might get right here, however now that we’re I really feel fairly good about it.
As for my X-1 buy though this was the primary factory-built ebike I purchased as an alternative of constructing myself, I’ve no regrets and this ebike has exceeded my each expectation.
Experience On.
