That said, the Prodigy was disappointing to me in one way: There’s no throttle. But I spend most of my time on the streets of LA and the smooth Strand bike path that runs along the beach from Playa Vista to Redondo Beach, and the bike handled well and felt perfectly comfy for those rides. I reviewed the ST version of the Prodigy, so I didn't have a chance to evaluate the XC’s suspension.

It’s a premium bike experience for $2,300. The Prodigy’s torque sensor, on the other hand, kicks in instantly with no perceptible delay, accelerating you in direct proportion to how hard you're pedaling, every step of the way. The result is an enormous amount of manual effort to get started followed by an awkward jolt when the pedal assist begins. The problem with cadence sensors is that they are laggy and imprecise when you start pedaling from a full stop, for example, it can take a full revolution of the pedals before the motor wakes up and starts assisting you. You can switch among three PAS levels and toggle the lights with the Borse color control panel. Unlike the more common-and far cheaper-cadence sensor, a torque sensor matches the effort you put into pedaling for a smooth ride that feels like the bike is responding instantly to what you do with your legs. The Brose motor uses a torque sensor to deliver power to the wheels, which is this bike’s secret sauce. But there’s a lot more to riding the Prodigy than just an objective assessment of its top speed. Ride1Up Prodigy Performance: Like Riding A Feather On A CloudĪs you might expect, this is a level 3 ebike, which means this bike can get to speeds as high as 28mph using pedal assist. The upscale styling even extends all the way to the slimline 40-pound cargo rack, which has a rear LED light built right in. Like other Ride1Up models, the battery elegantly integrates into the frame-it doesn’t look simply bolted on, because it’s not. There’s almost no exposed cabling, which gives it a clean and premium appearance. The Shimano 9-speed shifter is smooth and authoritative.

Felt motorized bicycle