Hello Goodbye Kona Ute

Said goodbye to last year’s newly non-electrified Ute; felt good about it as it clearly went to a good home. Nearby photo is the new owner on his inaugural grocery run with kiddo in tow. Awesome!

And said hello to my new Electric Ute, the official new electric cargo bike from Kona. First impressions:

• I like the pedal assist system (PAS). No more throttle, just a semi-smart computer that sense when you need assistance. It guesses correctly 80% of the time, which is a good enough trade off for me. I like the simplified setup of no throttle.
• The PAS takes a bit to get used to if you are coming off a throttle experience, as you feel a definite lack of exact control for the timing of the power output. If you are coming from a normal bike experience, you’ll be thrilled the first time the PAS kicks in.
• Great battery life (boy, I hope this continues). Made two trips back/forth to town on a single charge, with ample charge left.
• Recharging is simple. With the lousy eZee kit, you really had to remove the entire battery to take to the recharger. On the Electric Ute, the battery stay in place and you simply plug in a cord from the wall.
• The architecture is almost identical to the original Ute, just ~ 2CM taller. I’ll have to make slight tweaks to my stoker bars for my seven year old, but that’s it.

The only downside I can think of to the new Electric Ute is the lack of a front disc brake. I love everything else on this bike.

Highly recommended as a car replacement vehicle.