As you may know, I really like building e-bikes. Well, when faced with the prospect of creating an e-bike for my wife, I took the easy way out. I purchased a factory-built e-bike. More specifically, an Aventon Pace 500.3 Step-Through Ebike – Blue Steel:
For the kind of trail riding my wife and I will do together, this is (almost) the perfect e-bike for her. The 500.3 has torque sensing, which I think is important, especially for less-experienced e-bike riders. And all the other tech specs look good. In fact, I would be hard-pressed to build a bike for her for the price I paid for this bike.
Having completed the set-up process for the new e-bike, I’d like to share the ‘unboxing’ experience, and my first impressions. First, unboxing:
Here’s what the FedEx driver will deliver to your home (all 78.2 lbs of it).
Once the white retrainer plugs at the bottom are removed, the box can be lifted off its base, and this is what you’ll see.
And I am very impressed! The packaging engineers went above and beyond to create a compact package with excellent protection. And in addition, everything used to protect the bike is recyclable. Good job Aventon (or whoever does your packing).
When inspecting each item as I broke down the packing materials, I noticed this, which is not the fault of the packers. This is mostly a cosmetic issue related to the way wires need to be fed through the rear axle to power the hub motor. I have seen worse, and functionally this is a none issue. Also, a plastic cap is provided that covers this up when the bike is assembled.
And now for the final unpacking step before assembly begins.
Again, great job Aventon! The bike arrived in excellent condition, and it looks great too…
Assmbly is straightforward, with good instructions provided. I also found that the brakes and rear derailleur were well adjusted. This demonstrates that care was taken during bike construction and tuning prior to shipping. This isn’t always the case with factory bikes, so it was good to see that Aventon cares, and went the extra mile for their customers.
Here are a couple pictures of the final assembly. Additions to what Aventon provided include a handlebar mirror (left side only), and a jell seat cover. The only other thing I’m still searching for is an inexpensive fender set. Maybe something like this… And I’ll add the essential bell to the right side of the handlebar. For some reason I thought this bike came with one integrated into the right handbrake – not so. Oh, and I’ll be adding 4 ounces of FlatOut to each tire to help prevent flats while we’re out and about…
So here it is, ready to roll!
And an image of the handlebar layout.
Thumb throttle and control buttons on the left. Headlight and display in the center. Shifter and soon-to-be-added bell on the right.
One last thing before I end this. I’m a firm believer that charging your Lithium-ion battery to 80% five or six times, then to 100% periodically is best for the longevity of your battery. To do this effectively, you’ll need to buy a different charger than the one provided with your e-bike. This is the charger I have been using for some time and can recommend highly:
https://lunacycle.com/luna-charger-48v-advanced-300w-ebike-charger/ ($99)
Knobs on the side adjust rate of charge and percent for max charge. Most of the time, I have this set to 2 amps and 80% charge. This is a 48 volt charger. If your battery is different than this, you’ll want to buy the specific voltage charger that works with your battery.
By the way, it’s important to note that if you do decide to purchase the 48v Luna charger shown above, you’ll need to build an adapter cable to charge the battery that comes with your Pace 500.3 e-bike. You’ll need two parts to do this. First, order a 12v DC Power Cord 5.5mm x 2.1mm Male Plug to Pigtail Cable Adapter 6″ from eBay for $3 plus tax. This is what it looks like:
And your charger should come with a spare female XT60 connector that you can use to build your adapter cable. This is what the connector looks like:
A little solder and electrician’s tape, and test to verify proper polarity and you now have an adapter cable for your Luna charger that will work with your 48 volt Pace 500.3 battery.
