PESU is an electric bike company started in Shenzhen China in 2016 that is launching a first round of products through Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowd funding websites. As this review was underway, their Kickstarter campaign had raised more than double the goal and the PESU Monster 252W was the most economical offering. This is a mid-level value priced electric bike with fancier LCD display system, centerdrive motor from TTIUM, and 522 watt hour Lithium-ion battery pack. What struck me as being unique, was how nice the color display panel was, that the bike offered two USB type A charging ports, and just how small and quiet the motor was when riding. Although the bike is priced at £1,499 USD, the crowdfunding websites list an additional £89 for shipping to the US, £289 for Canada, and £389 for parts of Europe (which appears to include VAT). Considering that PESU is only offering a seven day money back policy and thirty day exchange for another bike, and because you’ll have to partially assemble the bike without dealer support, it’s worth doing some introspection on how comfortable you would be “on your own” with this thing. This is one of the big reasons I was so excited to review it! I got to meet part of the PESU team at Interbike in September 2017 in Las Vegas and they had the Monster and slightly nicer Valador on hand for test rides… possibly with the intention of courting UK dealers? As the show was winding down, they gave me one of the Monster 250W models to take home for this review. Before leaving, I asked what PESU stood for and was told “Power Energy Speed Unlimited” and that they had one team member stationed in California who could answer questions and help me out. And so, I secured the bike to my car rack and drove away… through some heavy rainstorms. After two days of driving, I took the bike off of my car rack, hosed it down gently, and wiped the water away with an old towel. I let it dry overnight as I charged up the battery pack and then took it for a test ride. The performance was quiet good, and I was able to get an idea for some unique design choices such as the elevated chainstay (notice how both sections of chian run below the right stay), the smaller 14 tooth chainring (which is roughly equivalent to a 40 tooth traditional ring), and flipped stem (which made the bike feel more spread out and aggressive). I would probably flip the stem to be angled up for a more upright and comfortable ride, but it’s worth noting that PESU is selling the Monster in three sizes for improved fit regardless of stem position.
