This package packs just enough performance to have fun and stay legal. The controller and battery pack are still easily accessed through a hatch on the bottom of the bike for repair work. This bike has really done a great job of integrating its electric components into the frame. The 36V controller of this bike is elegantly hidden in the downtube along with the battery.
Unfortunately there is no way to add a second external pack to this bike without doing your own warranty voiding modification. Replacement cost on this pack will run you $600. You will have complete warranty support from Currie and it is completely fire safe, and has been extensively tested to ensure that. Most importantly this is a high quality pack that will not give you any hassles. Our estimate is that you will get an 18-mile range on average with this pack. The Izip Metro has 36V / 10-Ah pack which is a 360 watt hour pack (s ee our story explaining range and watt hours). This quality pack should easily last its 500 charge life expectancy. The lithium batteries in all of Curries upgraded models are made up of high-quality and trouble-free Samsung Lithium-Manganese cells (LiMn). Wouldn’t a black motor and black spokes look better with this color configuration? Wouldn’t the motor blend right in if colored black? Its small details like this that add up, and bother me about the Metro. Here is where I have a small qualm with the Currie Izip Metro. Take a look at the photo…it is easy to spot the hub motor…it is the large silver hub in the center of the rear wheel. According to the Currie service manager motor failure is rare on this bike, and price of motor replacement is reasonable. It is more expensive to equip a bike with a geared hub motor, and hats off to Currie for making the right choice and outfitting this bike with a very nice hub motor indeed. Larri Pizzi (Currie President) has figured out that geared hub motors are some of the most efficent and lightest hub motors available, and the Metro is equipped with a nice one (Bafang BPM). Batteries built into the frame are a much more elegant solution than the old school weld the battery pack to the rear rack (such as in the Izip Zuma) where the bike becomes back-heavy. Also this gives the bike an extremely clean look with all the wires hidden and no obvious elements that this is an electric bike. With the battery built into the down-tube, the Currie Metro has a perfect weight balance when you consider the motor mounted in the rear hub. The Izip frame, with the battery built into the downtube, is my favorite element on this bike. It is rare for an electric bike company to build a bike from the ground up to be an electric bike ( read about purpose built frames).
These days all electric bikes have their hits and misses. Recently I got a chance to test ride this E-bike out of the new Izip store in Santa Monica and the following are my findings: Recently, Currie was bought by the Dutch bicycle giant Accel Group (read story) and they have decided to add a few higher quality $2000+ lithium powered bikes (the Izip line) to the Currie brand line-up, with the Izip Metro being the most popular. Currie Technologies until recently has been focused on mass market ultra affordable sealed-lead-acid (SLA) powered bikes and scooters ( see our $500 Ezip TrailZ review).
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