2018 Falco system
Falco motor laced into a 20" wheel installed on a Catrike Trail tadpole trike. First impressions: Just completed a short but hot 15 mile ride. Some rail trail but mostly pavement. Grades were from plus 2-3% to minus 2-3% and one short climb at 6%. Started in level 1 and could instantly feel assist which felt remarkable. Probably added 3-4 mph to my unassisted speeds. I have taken this route many times and on some of the longer 3% grades my usual spinning speeds were 4 mph. Today they were 8 -10 mph. On a long downhill I went to zero assist and stayed in zero assist on the flats at the end of the decline. No resistance from the motor. On the steep climb I went to level 4 and powered up the hill reducing it to a modest 2% oh hum. Falco is like a road grader, makes everything flat. The motor shut off when coasting was flawless. I found I could use higher gears and maintain cadence compared to no assist. I never went higher than level 1 except for the short steep climb. Down hill grades I simply back pedaled and regeneration kicks in acting as a brake. A forward turn of the cranks and regeneration stops. At one point I used this feature when approaching a stop sign. Then picked up speed quite nicely to continue. At the end of my short ride the battery was down 1 bar. Time for the ride was 1 hour. In my previous experience this same ride would be 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hour. All in all a very nice experience. Don't get me wrong, I still got a good work out. But oh so much better for my 70 year old back. Customer service is a bit slow in response times. However Rakesh and staff have only a desire to make the best hub motor with which you will be quite pleased. Charles Baker
