I've got a new e-bike here to review and this e-bike is made by Tomofree. It's the FG20.
Over the last couple of years I love e-bikes I ride one all the time, and they're my main transportation for running errands and going to town to pick up supplies and things like that so I ride an e-bike all the time. And I know what I like about e-bikes.
This style of e-bike is generally,what they would call a moped style. I prefer to call it an adventure e-bike, because it is designed for both off-road and on-road riding. This has some special features that you might not find on some other e-books.
Let's start with the motor. This has a 1200 watt motor and it is a rear hub drive motor. 1200 watts is a lot of power that will generally and this bike is specified that it will go up to 30 miles per hour and I have tested it. And on the LED display it does show that it goes up to 30 miles per hour. I haven't checked that with GPS but it shows it goes up 30 miles per hour and that's totally expected with a 1200 watt motor.
Now that 1200 watt motor is connected to a 48 volt 18 amp hour battery and you'll notice this battery looks different and this is one of the very unique features about this bike. Tomofree has put the battery down, so it is in the center of the mass. You can see that it's centered over the pedals which puts the weight down. Some bikes are trying to put their batteries up or maybe they've got them underneath the frame on the front. To put the battery down is where a battery should be because you're up high on your seat when you're sitting on your seat you're up high. If this battery is up and you've added a bunch of top weight that makes the bike a little harder to control especially if you do much off-road riding.
So Tomofree FG20 has done a good job putting the battery where it's supposed to be. And Tomofree went farther that they actually include this inside what I think is probably a cast aluminum or an aluminum box. On both sides and the battery can be taken out, and then lift it up.You slide it forward and then you can lift the batteryand take it out to charge it or you can charge it directly on the bike.
Now I like this arrangement this is a very solid mount and especially if you're doing much off-road riding, that box right there is going to protect it from getting hit by the weeds from the sticks. If you tip it over in the rocks that's going to protect your battery. Batteries are expensive to replace folks. So this is a very good idea for a bike that might be Off-Road.
Now you'll notice this has more of a squared frame. And you'll notice one of the main features, FG20 has a really long seat. Tomofree designed that for two people to ride.I don't generally ride with a passenger, but a lot of people do. And I can tell you this seat is very comfortable, it has that. It's, you can see how much it depresses it has that what they call a motorcycle style foam, which is a very soft. It's actually a really comfortable ride because it's really thick. It's almost three inches. I would say that comfortable foam gives you a really nice soft comfortable ride on your bump. Okay, but one thing that I don't like about it is, because they made this seat for two people,but then they didn't include any foot pegs for a passenger. Some people will say well I don't like the long seed,I'm not planning on riding with a passenger, you can easily modify this seat and for you guys out there that like to modify your bikes. You could easily modify this seat to be a single person seat which I will probably do. And then I will probably put my tank bag up here. Because that's how I like it but for people that do have a passenger and want to ride with a passenger, they send the long seat then you can modify it if you want to.
Now some other features you notice. Tomofree FG20 has high handlebars and I love this. I've had some other styles of ebikes like this where the handlebars were lower thatputs you in a forward angle. It's kind of hard on your neck and back especially if you're an old guy like me, I much prefer this. And you can see I'm 5'7 and I can sit very comfortably on this e-bike. Okay, I have to kind of touch with my toes, but you know this would be a good bike for a person 5'7 to 6'. And the handlebars feel like a motorcycle width. They're the same width as on my motorcycle I think and that makes me feel very comfortable. Because I do take this off-road and I'm kind of an upright position instead of leaning over into my handlebars.
Now I'll bring you around and talk about some of the other features on this e-bike.
Here you can see that Tomofree FG20 comes with the four inch tires. This has a 20 x 4 inch tires front and rear. You can see that the rims have the rim cutouts and this is not just for looksthis actually helps in shock absorption,because it gives the tube inside some extra expansion room. So if you hit a really hard bump, this actually acts as some type of shock absorption on your rims by having those cutouts,they also look kind of cool.
You will notice that this is a hard tail. It does not have rear suspension, it does have front suspension. However the front suspension is not adjustable. This is a mid-level e-bike at $1499 and so they haven't put on the more expensive adjustable front shocks. However it does seem to have very good front shock support. I took it off-road and it rode just fine over the rocks. I didn't really even notice any of the bumps. Okay, but it is a hardtail so that's why you need that soft seat, and the rear wheel cutouts will also help with some absorb some of that shock.
FG20 does come with a seven speed Shimano shifter. I didn't like actually weigh it, but you can see I can lift it up. I'd say probably around uh 75,80 pounds right around there.
And you can see this does have a headlight. This is the LED style headlight which I like. It's better than the old style headlights. It has this fancy little grade over the front of it ,which kind of gives it just a different look. Okay, more than anything the headlight is adjustable, and one of the features that I really like about this e-bike is this actually has its own headlight button. You know, you know how some e-bikes in order to turn on the headlight, you have to mess with your display up here or you touch the buttons on the display to turn your headlight.
And another feature that I really like is Tomofree FG20 has a horn. Not one of those little ding ding bells that they send on a lot of e-bikes this actually has a horn like a car horn. Listen to this, so it has a horn and a headlight button separate from your LED display which I really like.
Okay I'll turn this around show the tail light to you. It has a really bright good looking tail light, they even include a license plate holder. Because this can go up to 30 miles per hour in some places they may want a register and license it as a moped, so they include a license plate holder down here.
Okay, here's the LED display which I'll give you a closer view of it. Tomofree has a very bright LED. I can see this very well. It has the battery level indicator over here with five battery levels. It has an odo meter and trip meter here.The speed limit or your speed. It does go up to pedal assist five. Pedal assist five is about 30 miles per hour and pedal assist threes right around 24 miles per hour, which is, where I ride it most of the time. And it also shows you how many watts you're using while you're riding now this bike is set to the maximum. Because it is a class 3 e-bik so that it can go up to 30 miles per hour.
FG20 also has hydraulic disc brakes. I took it out got it up to 30 miles per hour and checked out those brakes and it stopped me really fast. There was no squeaking at all. I don't see any manufacturing errors at all on this e-bike. And everything well made and it also went together really fast. You have to attach the front wheel, front fender and the headlight. I put the front wheel on it just has two bolts and a lock nut that goes in put the two nuts on so that you can tighten down the connector the holder that goes over the handlebars.
This Tomofree FG20 is a good looking e-bike here you can see it from the other side very good looking e-bike.
Tomofree FG20 is not the twist throttle. It is a thumb throttle which took me a minute to get used to that. But once you get used to it it's no different than writing any other throttle.
Now in pedal assist, Tomofree FG20 has five levels of pedal assist. Anywhere you can go from like 10 miles an hour, clear up to 30 miles per hour on pedal assist five,or you can just use the throttle alone without pedaling at all. This is a 48 volt 18 amp hour battery. Like I've said,I've had a lot of uh e-bikes in the past. I know about how much range they will generally get this e-bike. Even though I haven't checked the range should get somewhere more between 30 and 35 miles of range riding just on throttle longer than that farther,than that. If you're doing a pedal assist one or two you can get a lot more miles out of it of course. I wouldn't want to pedal this up a hill. They're not really designed for pedaling without the battery. It is an e-bike you're expected to be using the battery. The battery does come with charger in. You know first time you want to charge up for about 8 hours. Then from low should take you about five to six hours. And then you're good to go and when you know with 30-35 miles range you got a couple days worth of riding probably back and forth to work.
To make FG20 a better moped, I would ask Tomofree include foot pegs for a passenger, since they made this seat for two people.I really like the display. I love the way they did the battery box down. It's got seven speed Shimano shifter. It's got a 1200 watt motor, four inch tires with the tire cutouts and the headlight button and the horn button are extra that I really like. I wish more e-bikes would decide to include those and another thing they may consider is putting on a turn signal. I really think these e-bikes need a turn signal. Now the other thing I would recommend before you ever go riding make sure you got some mirrors. And the next time I show you this e-bike, I will put my mirrors on to show you because I don't ever ride anywhere without mirrors on my e-bike so I can see what's coming up behind me.