Transcription
Hey everyone, Miss Go Electric here.
Now, over the years, I've had the opportunity to review the first and second generation of the Velotric Discover. And this is a general-purpose commuter e-bike with an upright riding position. Today, I'm excited to review the third generation of the Velotric Discover. So, I'm going to go over the specifications and features. I'm going to take it out for a ride and share my impressions. And then, I'm going to go over the strengths and weaknesses that I see with this bike.
But, we have something extra for you today because in the third generation Discover, they have come out with two flavors. This here is the Discover 3 with a rear hub motor and is listed under $2,000. And now, they have the Discover M, which has a mid-drive motor and is about $500 more. So, I'm going to ride both of these today and share the differences and explain what you get for $500 more with the Discover M.
The third-generation Velotric Discover series supports instant class switching. One-touch cycles between class one, offering assistance up to a top speed of 20 mph while pedaling. Class two, which adds a throttle to that 20 mph top speed. Or class three, which delivers pedal assistance at speeds up to 28 mph. A custom mode unlocks a top speed of 28 mph for the throttle as well. The trigger-style thumb throttle can be disabled or removed to suit local regulation.
The Discover 3 is powered by a rear hub motor, which can deliver 750 W of continuous power and peak power of 1,100 W with 75 Nm of torque. The Discover M is powered by a mid-drive motor, which can deliver 500 W continuous power and peak power of 960 W with a maximum of 130 Nm of torque. With the Discover M, motor power is multiplied by the transmission, which improves efficiency and power to the wheel.
Velotric's sensor swap technology is available on both models, allowing riders to choose between pedal assistance detection informed by the torque or cadence sensor. The 48-V battery safety credentials include UL 2271 and 2580 certifications. The Discover 3 offers 15.2 Ah of capacity, which is equivalent to 730 Wh. The Discover M touts slightly greater 16.7 Ah capacity for 801.6 Wh. The batteries are easily removable and can be charged on or off the bike. They're also IPX7 rated for water resistance. The bike comes with a 3-A charger, which should charge a bike from empty to full in about 5 to 5 and 1/2 hours.
Velotric says the Discover 3 can deliver a range of up to 80 miles while using pedal assistance and up to 65 miles using the throttle only. The Discover M can deliver more range of up to 95 miles while using pedal assistance and up to 70 miles using the throttle only.
The Discover series offers one step-through frame style and two sizes. The regular frame can accommodate riders between 5 ft 2 in and 5 ft 11 in, while the large frame fits riders with a range between 5 ft 9 in and 6 ft 7 in. The frame electronics are IPX6 rated for water resistance. The Discover 3 offers five color options, including cherry crimson, emerald green, stone gray, Le Mans blue, and mint, like I have here. The Discover M offers just two color options, including platinum silver and olivine green, like I have here. The bike weighs about 60 lb including the battery and can support a total maximum payload capacity of 440 lb.
Both have Tektro hydraulic brakes with 180-mm rotors. The Discover 3 has an eight-speed trigger shifter and Shimano Acera derailleur, whereas the Discover M has a nine-speed trigger shifter and a Shimano Cues derailleur. The front fork air suspension on both models is adjustable with 80 mm of travel. And the Kenda e-bike puncture-resistant multi-terrain gravel tires are 27.5 in in diameter and 2.4 in wide, with the M sporting a stylish gum wall design.
The Discover has a high-visibility and user-friendly full-color LCD display, which includes a USB-C port for charging a phone or other accessory. The bikes are also compatible with the Velotric app, which allows riders to fully customize ride settings and modes, record rides, and sync health data. They have cruise control as well. The Discover 3 has five ride modes, including eco, tour, trail, sport, and boost. The Discover M also offers five ride modes, including eco, trail, sport, boost, and auto mode. Auto mode detects climbs and descents in real time, adjusting assistance automatically.
Riders with smart watches from Apple and Garmin can sync their devices with the bike and monitor heart rate as you ride on the bike's display computer. Android users can sync up with Health Connect to record their health data as well. For security, the bikes include Apple Find My and Android Find Hub capability built in for location tracking. Velotric also includes two NFC access cards and the ability to pair your NFC-enabled smart watch or phone to unlock the bike with a tap. NFC unlocking is optional.
The bell, aluminum fenders, adjustable stem, suspension seat post, 500-lm integrated LED headlamp, dual tail lamps with brake lights and turn signals, and MIKHD-compatible rear rack with a 66-lb payload are all standard. Individual accessories and packages are also available at the Velotric store for those looking to upgrade with mirrors, baskets, bags, phone mounts, bike racks, and more. Velotric owners can participate in their rewards program, which allows riders to earn points in many different ways in order to claim ranks and redeem points in their online shop. The company offers a 2-year warranty and they have over 1,200 retail and service locations across the US.
All right, well, those specifications look really promising and I'm going to start off today on the Discover 3 with my ride, so let's get to it. Now, this here is my Unit 1 helmet. It is one of my favorite e-biking helmets for so many reasons. The integrated front and rear lights here also function as turn signals. My favorite feature is the crash detection system. Sensors in the helmet communicate with the Unit 1 mobile app to send an SOS message to your emergency contact if you crash and are unresponsive to a safety check. The helmet has a magnetic brim, which accommodates this default visor or optional magnetic lenses, including this one, which dynamically transitions tint levels while riding. This helmet has several safety certifications, including MIPS, and is designed to protect e-bike riders traveling up to 28 mph. Plus, I think Unit 1 helmets, backpacks, and other accessories look awesome. If you want to learn more about this Unit 1 Aura, I'll put a link in the description below and I'll also include a discount code if you want to get one for yourself. It is very sunny today, so I'm going to need this magnetic lens, but let's get to riding.
All right, so I'm starting off with no assistance here. I'm in the lowest gear. It's actually a really comfortable bike because I'm in such an upright position and I got my almost my full stride of my leg pushing down, so I mean, this is about a 60-lb bike, no matter what, both the Discover 3 and the Discover M. I don't want to pedal too long running out of battery with a bike of this weight. But, let's get into these different modes and try out this eco mode now. The way I personally have this bike set up, I have it unlocked to the top speed and have turned on custom mode, so I can get up to 28 mph on pedaling and my throttle, but I have this set up with a torque sensor. And what that means is basically the harder I push down on the pedal, the more power it's going to give me, so it's a really natural riding feel. And some riders like a cadence sensor for the power delivery. And in that case, it's just is determining how you're moving the pedal, if it's rotating, and it'll give you power because of that cadence. And so, it's a lot less effort in a cadence mode, but I love the ability to switch it to what whatever one that you would like. And I prefer a torque sensor, so I'm in torque mode.
Now, I am in class one as well, so that would be pedaling up to 20 mph, but if I want to, I can do a really easy class switch by pressing the bottom on the bottom of the controller. So, class two opens up that 20 mph speed with the throttle, and then class three is just pedaling with a 28 mph top speed. And custom mode is what lets me have both 28 mph on the throttle and in the pedal. And I'm actually just going to cross real quick and test out this top speed because all the other parameters are really easily adjustable. So, I'm going to bump up into the boost mode and I felt a little jolt of power. Now, I have my boost mode actually calibrated so that I can have a more responsive pedal assistance. And so, I love that you can make those changes really easily. So, I'm going to try to pedal up to 28 real quick. And I'm in the top gear in the boost mode and now I'm having to put in a little extra work up to that 28, but I think I could do it. I'm going to stop though. And man, look at that performance. That was so smooth with the brakes. Those Tektro hydraulic brakes are really nice. And very confident inspiring. Love to see that it can get up to speed just by pedaling.
Now, when I get to the end of the road here, I'm just going to turn around real quick and then do a throttle test as well. Now, one thing that you can do with the throttle here is you can make an adjustment so that it a power delivery is either smooth, more balanced, or turbo. So, I have it set in just the default setting which is in the middle. 3 2 1 Now, one thing I usually comment about the throttles is that they're a little slippery and that is the case with this Discover 3 with this new throttle mechanism. But, as you can see the performance is really nice and smooth. It it's very easy and to getting off the line, but easy at 28 mph on this flat surface. So, really happy with that performance. And just to note that that custom mode and unlocking the throttle up to 28 mph that is restricted to certain regions like California. You cannot have they have certain restrictions on how fast you can go certain speeds. So, if you're in an area like me, I'm in the Chattanooga area as of right now, regulation is that I can access that 28 mph top speed.
I'll let me comment about this riding position because this is one of the reasons why I absolutely love the Discover and it's been one of my favorite bikes out of all the bikes that I've reviewed over the years and that's because of this riding position. I'm basically sitting very upright. This is super comfortable and this handlebar system comes back and sweeps back towards the rider which also helps enable that upright position. I don't have to be reaching over too far and leaning forward and then this has the adjustable stem. So, this combination is just so comfortable and now they've added that standard suspension seat post which is even better. Velotric does a great job of making it a bike that anybody can hop onto. It's very easy to understand and when they ship the bike to you a lot of the materials they give you in the assembly instructions and all that are really really clear and easy. Very very user-friendly. So far, grips are comfortable as well. This is my favorite style and to be fair, I'm in a really upright position as I mentioned. So, I'm not leaning too much on them, but I love the rubber material for a day like today where it's nice and hot out and the ability to plug in a phone right onto these handlebars if I want to record my ride and have that as a second navigation computer. And one of the easier bikes to get on and off because of this deep step-through. I think that this 8-speed shifter is paired very nicely with the speed that it goes. It matches it where I don't feel like I'm ghost pedaling or anything like that. But, so far I'm really really just ecstatic about how comfortable this is to ride. And an air suspension and having it being an adjustable air suspension, I think is a wonderful addition here. Good high quality 80 mm of travel is sufficient for this kind of a bike. I think this is going to fit a lot of people's needs. Love that it has a bell as well. So, there's something to alert people when you're on a path. And you know, when I was going 28 mph, I felt like super confident in this because this tire is also a little wide. So, it feels very very stable. It's not too wide for like you know, in comparison to like a fat tire where it can kind of feel like it's hard to manage and maneuver. But, strikes the right balance I think of providing stability, comfort but still feels a little bit nimble for this category. But, all right, I'm going to swap out to hop on the Discover M. See how that feels in comparison.
So, now we're on the Discover M. I'm actually feeling like the front wheel might be out of true or something like that because I can kind of see it shifting and it feels a little bit unsteady, but we're going to continue on. Now, I can already hear that this motor is a little bit noisier than the rear hub motor. And this mid mid-drive is a 500 W nominal, but a peak of 950 and I'm only in the eco mode. So, it's very very mild power right now. I'm actually going to move into that custom mode and increase that top speed for both the throttle and the pedaling to 28. Now, one thing to know about a mid-drive motor is some bikes that are mid-drives that compete in this category have an automatic shifting system that you can opt to use and that way, you know, the person riding doesn't even have to think about shifting under load. And shifting under load basically, if you put too much power what down while you're shifting could snap the chain or damage your components and things like that. So, you just want to be really thoughtful about that shifting process. So, it's not as user-friendly as a rear hub motor. But, one great thing about this that I'm already noticing by taking that turn real quick was that the weight distribution feels a lot more balanced. So, with the motor being centralized and down at the end of the frame and the battery which is also a huge weight component of this bike it being central it feels good to maneuver, especially nimble situations where I'm turning on the sidewalk like that. This now this does have a lot more power with torque and I could feel it even in the most uh you know, low eco mode and for it to basically feel like it's like coming off of with the power delivery in a almost like a jolty way is something that still you can make some changes customizing it, but you will get a lot more torque out of this bike versus the rear hub motor because of the you know, mechanical delivery of it being right at the pedals. So, that is just something also to consider.
Now, I do want to test this out with the throttle here. And once this car goes by, actually let me put my turn signals on because that is one great feature of it. I love that it makes this chime, this audible noise to remind me to turn it off, but that is something that you can turn off in the app. I'm going to actually move into the street here and then I'm going to stop here with no traffic behind me and just see how the throttle performs. I'm going to bump it up into the top mode. Actually, go to boost. See how this performs with the throttle only on this mid-drive. A very very slow take off. And it's picking up the pace. Getting up to 20 miles 25 mph 26. So, it is a a little bit slower. I hit about 26 and it and that was about all it was doing on this flat surface and obviously depending on how much you have your tires filled and what kind of surface you're on and weight and stuff like that, that's going to determine whether or not you'll be able to get up to that 28 top speed, but on that flat surface, it looked like 25 was where I could get it as a top speed. But, very slow going which, you know, is not that surprising. I will say that engagement even when I go between pedaling and throttling is very smooth with the mid-drive. Uh smoother than I thought it was going to be, that's for sure. Um I think they've done a good job with calibrating this to be able to accommodate the throttle.
Now, I like that they have upgraded to a 9-speed with this bike too because that really gives you a lot of that mechanical power to get up to those higher speeds. And when you're at those higher speeds to make it easier for you to pedal. So, so far this shifter seems pretty smooth and works well in combination with the mid-drive. If you're a person that wants you know, more torque and a more efficient riding experience, maybe a little bit bigger of a battery with a little bit more range depending on how you use the bike. I think this is a great option and they've done a pretty good job. The only thing I would say is uh maybe that they should include an auto shifter like some of the others just to make it a little bit more user-friendly, but at least people can opt for the regular rear hub if they want to.
Now, there is one more mode that I want to test out and that is called the auto mode and that is really designed to work well on hills because it adjusts the pedal assistance mode automatically when you're on hills. And so, let's go find a hill and test that out. And so, let's see how this is going to perform. So far it is really easy right now in this auto mode. And wow, I I almost it's an interesting sensation because I'm I'm not pushing that hard on the pedal, but it does feel like almost like it's like pulling me up the hill. And wow, that just makes it so much easier. I didn't even have to really shift for that to be comfortable, which is a big surprise for me. So, wow, yeah, if you're living in a very hilly area and you want a bike to do the work for you, I love this auto mode specifically for that. I'm actually just going to go up it one more time because I want to see the difference of going into like say I'm going to go just into a whoops, let me go into like a trail mode. So, not the lowest pedal assistance, but I just want to see the difference of putting it manually into a pedal assistance mode and how I'll feel. I'm going to put it back into the sixth sixth gear like I was before, but seeing with this steep of a hill how the performance feels. And already off the bat, I do feel like I'm having to put in a little bit more effort. Of course, I could move up into the pedal assistance. I could shift down a little bit, which does help a little bit, but I like how responsive the pedal is regardless even if I'm in that trail mode. But I can feel a big difference between auto and essentially feeling as if I don't have to really do any work if I don't want to. I will say though, this motor definitely is a little bit more noisy than the rear hub. And I think it's also a combination of this particular gum wall tire. It's a little bit noisier than the other one.
All right. Well, I'm really curious. I want to try the Discover 3 on that same steep hill just to see how the difference of the torque is because I put in boost mode, I put it all the way up to have full pedal assistance power, full acceleration and throttle and torque. So, let's give this a go up this hill in the boost mode with everything maxed out just by pedaling. Does absolutely feel like a little bit more effort on my part even in the boost mode. Definitely. Definitely. >> [laughter] >> You can tell less less torque on the Discover 3 even when I'm maxed out entirely, but still good performance. I will say this is still going to get you uphill and you know, you have that throttle capability to hopefully be able to get you up that steep hill as well. So, I'm just going to turn around in this driveway real quick and see at a standstill how this throttle performs up this hill. All right. I'm full bore on the throttle here up this hill and it's going 17 mph. It's getting steeper. We're dropping speed a little bit, but it's still it's still getting up this hill. Dropping down to 12 mph, 11. Just hitting the crest of this. I got as low as 10 mph, but it made it. So, your best bet, in my opinion, testing both of these bikes up this steep hill is that if you have a hilly environment that you live in and you want to make sure that you have substantial power to get up it, that Discover M while you're pedaling in the auto mode is a breeze. It's really impressive. Let's head back and I'm going to share my final thoughts on the third generation Discover.
Well, I learned a lot today riding around on the third generation Discover on both the rear hub motor on the Discover 3 and the M with the mid-drive. So, let's go over the improvements that I'd like to see and then we'll get into the things that I think they really nailed with the Discover.
The first opportunity for improvement has to deal with the Discover M here. Now, this one is a quality control issue it seems because this one was shipped to me and the front wheel I believe might be out of true because it feels unstable and wobbly when I ride it. And not only that, but the shifting wasn't perfect out of the box and the motor itself is really noisy. Now, I can't be sure if this is a global engineering problem for all of the motors that are made for the Discover M or if this is specific to my Discover M and this is more of a local quality control problem where maybe they didn't put enough lubrication for the internal gears for the motor, but I have reviewed other bikes that have mid-drive motors that are comparable in power and in price and they are much quieter.
In my opinion, the primary competitor to the Discover 3 here has to be the Aventon Level 4 wreck. It's listed at the same price of $1999 and they're very comparable in specifications and features except for the Aventon has quite a bit more when it comes to some of the security and anti-theft technology. The Level 4 has an embedded modem for online connectivity, so owners can use geofencing to determine where the bike works. It also supports geolocation tracking and the ability to physically lock out or unlock the rear motor so that people can't roll away with the bike. So, the opportunity for improvement for the Discover 3 to be more competitive with the Level 4, I would say maybe they could drop the price point $100 or $200, but if they don't want to drop the price point, then maybe they add something and I think something that would be really cool to add is to integrate navigation and media into the display screen. So, that way people don't necessarily have to mount their phone to get that information. And I envision that looking something like maybe an Android Auto or an Apple CarPlay type system where it interfaces with your phone through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connectivity so that you can transfer that information right to the display. And I've reviewed some other bikes with that functionality, so it would be cool to see it on the Velotric models.
And usually I like to come up with three opportunities for improvement and I'm really stretching for this one, but it's a minor aesthetic thing that I personally would like to see an improvement on and that is the cable management. It's just fine. I just wish it was a little bit tidier.
So, now let's move on to the positives and there is a long list of them because over the years of me reviewing these bikes, they have come a long way in refining them and to be honest, they're pretty much near perfect at this point. Now, the first major positive for me has to be the completeness of these bikes and that goes for both of them, but in specific, I think that the Discover 3 fits most people's lifestyles and I would recommend that most considering the price difference. But I love the fact that both of these bikes come with fenders. They come with a rear rack that has MIK HD capability with a nice payload of 66 lb, a suspension seat post to make it nice and comfortable. It has turn signals, brake lights, a nice headlamp, cruise control and this awesome adjustable stem. And if I was to recommend this to to and family, then I wouldn't have to tell them to buy a bunch of accessories for it because it comes with a bunch of stuff.
The next big positive for me has to be comfort. Now, personally, I have never ridden a more comfortable bike than this Discover 3. I absolutely love it and that is combined with its geometry and the upright riding position, the super comfortable saddle with a suspension seat post, a nice air suspension up front with 80 mm of travel, a solid nice tread tire that is just the right width, the handlebars that sweep back with a nice comfortable grip, and the power delivery is a part of that as well with a really smooth torque sensor.
The final big positive has to be the user interface. This is one of the most easy to move through as far as the computer display goes and the app to be able to customize everything and make it operate exactly how you want it to. I also like that it has Apple Find My and Android Find Hub so you have location tracking to some extent. And I also love that the app allows owners to get warranty support, replacement parts, and things like that from their over 1,200 dealer locations.
Well, I hope this review of the third generation Discover was helpful and if you want to learn more, I'll put a discount link down below along with a discount code. It would be really great if you use that code if you decide to get one of these bikes to help support our channel. I'll also include the discount code for this helmet if you want to grab one for yourself as well. Well, thank you so much for watching and until next time, drive, fly, ride. Go electric. Go electric.