Propella 2.2

Lightweight, efficient, affordable urban electric bike, offered in one frame size and one colour scheme (matte black with anodized blue accents), deep dish rims and reflective tires look cool and keep you visible at night

Driving this bike is a proven 250 watt nominally rated planetary geared hub motor from Bafang. It’s not as powerful as 350 or 500 watt solutions, but it’s smaller and lighter… and it won’t draw power as quickly. The casing is black, to match the spokes, and Propella chose a 14 amp pure sine wave controller for smooth quiet activation. Even though the motor isn’t super impressive on paper, it offers a satisfying zip. My Mom was riding around the block, experimenting with the different levels of assist, and felt most comfortable on level 2 (out of 5). This is also where I landed, and I actually felt good peddling without assist much of the time. While the maximum assisted speed on this electric bike is slightly lower at ~16.5 mph, it’s not difficult to reach and exceed 20 mph because the tires are so efficient and there’s no drag being produced by the motor system. For comparison, most ebikes are heavier and some gear-less hub motors do introduce a bit of magnetic drag. An example of this is the OHM Urban. The demo model that I reviewed was outfitted with a slightly smaller 44 tooth chainring (vs. 46 tooth on the final build) and shorter 165mm crank arms (vs. 170mm on the final build) and this sped up the pedal cadence. The rear cassette offers a very limited 14 to 28 tooth spread across seven sprockets, and uses a basic Shimano Altus derailleur, but it works well for this application and is at least one step above Shimano Tourney, which weighs more and often comes with sluggish shifting mechanisms. With the Altus shifters, you can downshift three sprockets with one finger motion. As

with most geared hub motors, there was some electronic whirring in the higher levels of assist and the 12-magnet cadence sensor introduced a bit of start and stop delay compared to a torque or multi-sensor, but it still performed well. I appreciate how the motor almost disappears between the cassette and 160mm disc brake rotor. Since the battery pack is shaped like a water bottle, this ebike is fairly stealthy.

Powering the Propella 2.2 is a compact, lightweight, lithium-ion battery pack that’s about half the capacity of most ebike batteries for this generation. It offers 36 volts, 6.8 amp hours for a total of 244.8 watt hours of capacity. Coming back to the power-sipping motor and pedal assist only Class 1 configuration of this ebike, I’d estimate 15 to 35 miles per charge. That all depends on the level of assist you choose, how much effort you expend peddling, how much you weigh, what the terrain is like, and even how windy it is. The display panel has a little battery info graphic with four bars, and I believe that the outer border also counts as a bar, but that’s not nearly as precise as a percentage readout. When Brent reviewed the Propella 2.0, he said that the battery meter would sag as he pedaled in the highest level of assist which means it’s probably relying on a realtime voltage meter. There’s also a four-LED readout on the top of the battery casing, which can be activated by pressing the rubberized power button there. Same thing, not super precise with information, and there’s no range readout on the display. I feel like I’m making a mountain out of a mole hill here, because the bike is fun to pedal and lightweight, but these are drawbacks compared to most of the fancier products in the space right now. The charger that comes with the Propella is also very basic. It outputs 2 amps, but that’s alright given the lower capacity, and it weighs just 1.2lbs, so it’s easy to toss into a backpack. The battery can be charged on or off the bike frame and attaches securely with a metal locking cylinder. Propella improved the battery interface for the 2.2 so you slide the canister down and back for a more secure fit. I didn’t test the 2.0 so I cannot say how much of an improvement this is. It looks similar and felt secure when riding. I tested the bike across grass and off curbs and the battery didn’t rattle much. I like the handle that is built into the top of the battery casing and really appreciate the blue accents and minimalist Propella logo. As I was handling the battery, mounting and dismounting, charging and lifting it, I discovered a rubber flap on the bottom with the USB symbol. Apparently, there used to be a functional USB Type A port here, but Propella was having issues with phantom power draw and decided to scrap it. I really like having USB power options for picnics and camping, but I also appreciate minimalism and reliability. It’s too bad that they had to remove it, but perhaps we’ll see a USB port on the display or added back in someday. Note that the battery cells used in this pack are 18650 size arranged in 10 series, 2 parallel form Panasonic, which is known for being higher quality. They are covered under the one year comprehensive warranty and replacement or additional packs are just £295 compared to £800+ for most

500+ watt hour packs I see from competitors.

As much as I’ve complained about the basic battery infographic and lack of USB charging, I really like the display that Propella chose for their ebikes. This thing is compact but feature rich, it comes with an independent control ring that mounts within reach of the left grip, and has adjustable brightness! No, it’s not removable or even adjustable to reduce glare while riding… it just stays in place. But, maybe being smaller, it won’t get scratched or attract as much attention at the bike rack? There are three buttons to interact with: M, Up, and Down. The M button probably stands for Mode but also acts as a power button. Once the battery is charged and mounted, just press the M button for a couple of seconds and the monochrome LCD blinks to life. The King Meter J-LCD unit shows your battery level, a clock at the top right, assist level (0-5, it starts on level 1), speed readouts, and trip distance readouts. You can cycle from current speed to average speed and maximum speed by holding the Up arrow and cycle from odometer to trip meter by tapping the M button. Holding Up and M simultaneously will activate

the backlight (which was difficult to see in my daytime filming conditions), and holding the Down arrow will initiate walk mode (which moved a bit faster than I expected). By holding Up and Down simultaneously, you enter into a settings menu where you can set the clock, adjust backlight brightness (1, 2, or 3), and change units from miles to kilometres. All things considered, it’s a nice display that leaves plenty of room on the handlebar for mounting your smartphone, a headlight, or other accessory.

Propella has been around now since 2015, with their first product being delivered in 2016. They have had two successful crowd funding campaigns, delivered most of their products on time, and earned a lot of trust. It sounds like they are moving away from crowdfunding because it adds to the cost and there is now a following. The product is certainly attention grabbing, but it backs the looks up with solid performance and thoughtfully selected hardware that will last. I didn’t go into it much in the video review, but they also sell suspension seat post upgrades (great for people with sensitive back or neck), a lightweight carbon fibre front wheel, and addi-

tional chargers and parts. The founder, Ben, was easy to reach and talk to leading up to and during my review process. It’s neat to see how closely he and his team are looking at each component, considering slight adjustments in the chainring and crank arm sizes… I’m not used to seeing that and I think it reflects positively on them. They appear to be listening to customers but also balancing that against reliability, we see this with the removal of the USB port on the battery. During my test rides, the kickstand got in the way a little bit while peddling because it was mounted pretty close to the left crank arm. At least it wasn’t mounted at the centre point of the bike (which can cause pedal lock), but it was still an annoyance for me. I considered removing the stand and asked Ben about it. He said that they were already working to move the stand back by about one inch to reduce heel strikes. Assembly went pretty well but there was an issue with the plastic end cap

breaking off of the front wheel and leaving some plastic inside the axle. I had to use the quick release skewer to bang it out using a hammer (and some foam to protect the quick release lever). I want to call out the purpose built nature of the frame which has some internal routing for electrical cables in the downtube and a reinforcement gusset plate near the headset (on the base of the downtube). The battery mount used two bolts that were spread farther apart than standard bottle cage bosses, and this adds strength to the design. The deep dish rims look neat but can catch some side winds and impact steering, especially if you upgrade to the carbon fiber wheel, and they require longer 60mm presta valve inner tubes that can reach all the way through. Big thanks to Ben and his team for partnering with me on this post and standing by to answer all of my questions. As always, I welcome your questions and comments below or in the Propella forums.