We tried it - LAOTIE FT100, the 1000 watt bike monster
It’s hard to decide whether it’s a bike or a scooter, but it’s sure to go a long way.
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Check out the LAOTIE FT100 on the go in our video test!
Introductory
I have been riding my own electric bike for two years now. In recent years, I’ve tried a lot of scooters, bikes, and even an electric skateboard this year. I love everything, I loved it, but the bikes are still closest to my heart.
Among the pedalers I have had so far, there has not been a really strong piece, only ones that have more or less met the expectations that the EU sets for an electric bicycle to be legally a bicycle rather than a scooter.
Of course, I’ve always longed for me to try a more powerful machine, one that knocks the control ceiling a lot, tears apart the stride and casts a wide grin on my face. Anyone who knows me knows that I am a motorcyclist, for me, riding on two wheels, especially if you can get dynamic, great pleasure. And the LAOTIE FT100 was a great pleasure, not so much as my 800 engine, but bigger than a traditional scooter!
Unpacking, assembly, exterior
The LAOTIE FT100 comes in a larger-than-average box (158 x 28 x 79 cm) because it is not folded. The front wheel is disassembled, but the bike is still a big piece, so it needs space. The net weight of the FT100 is average anyway, the manufacturer writes 27 pounds, which is approx. also right.
Assembly is normal. The lamp, front fender, seat, steering wheel and front wheel are out of place. We have to screw these up and of course we have to take the bandages and the various impact protection elements off the frame.
We get a tool, of course not very serious, but if you don’t have any tools at home, you’ll still prosper. Installation is really not complicated, all you have to do is make sure you have the right amount of space, don’t get caught in anything while screwing.
In terms of appearance, the LAOTIE FT100 is a typical 20-inch FAT bike with thick hose wheels. Of course, the price shows that we will find a lot of things here that cannot be found on the entry level, but I will write about them in the next chapter.
So the bike is 100 x 80 centimeters when folded and 177 x 120 centimeters when opened. I hope the pictures will show you how much of a toy this structure is!
The manufacturer also put a front fender in the box and a rear one. There’s a good quality LED light on the front, but there’s nothing in the back, not even a cat’s eye. I’ve been wondering for a long time why the taillight is being saved. The power could easily be taken back in the frame, it could be switched on together with the front light, but it could even be a brake light, because most bikes have a sensor on the brake levers. Even so, the tail light always lags behind for some reason.
Everything is in the usual place and everything is in the usual place on the government. From left to right, the front is the rear brake lever, followed by the on-board computer, which is found in many other manufacturers, the S886, which also has a service menu. On the right is the shift switch, then the throttle grip, and of course the regular grip. On the right side than on engines, the front brake lever.
The frame can be folded in the middle as usual, here you can also slide out the battery if you want to charge it in the apartment or office. The pedals can be folded down as usual, making it easier to transport. There is a telescope at the front and back as well, the only thing I miss is a handrail that can be used to lift the bike if e.g. i want to put it in the trunk of the car.
Overall, the exterior is more than beautiful. It's wildly sporty, the polished rims, the paint on the frame that matches the color of the rims, the design of the rear swingarm are all beautiful. It’s an amazingly cool piece, so if you like to stand out from the crowd you’ll appreciate the FT100!
Paper form
As usual, I will start with the factory data and then tell you about my experience in the next chapter. So here you can see the data provided by the manufacturer, it is mostly worth treating with enough skepticism.
Let's start with the electrical system!
The battery is 48 volts with a capacity of 15 Ah. This drives the 1000-watt motor built into the rear wheel. When it comes to the battery, it is important that all existing protections are built in, so there is protection against overcharging, overcharging, short circuiting, overheating and overvoltage.
As usual, we have three modes for use. Pure pedal mode without assistance, assist pedal mode and moped mode when driving without pedaling, only by pulling the “throttle”.
Both the auxiliary and the purely electric drive have 5 gears that can be switched on the on-board computer.
According to LAOTIE, these abilities are enough to drive at a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour, to climb a 35-degree ascent, and to do 45-65 kilometers in purely electric mode and 90-120 kilometers in pedal-assisted mode. Nice big numbers, I'll get back to them in the next chapter. Which also includes the maximum load capacity, which in this case is 150 kilograms.
The equipment of the bike is absolutely good, if not the full top. The transmission is the Shimano Tourney with 7 gears. It’s nowhere near the pinnacle of Shimano shifts, but to say the least, Xiaomi uses it too, and if it suits us, it will.
Of course, we get disc brakes back and forth, and here comes one of the abilities that’s worth highlighting. It is no different that the brakes are fully hydraulic from the brake lever to the cylinder. It also includes a screw on the brake lever that can be used to adjust the strength of the brake, which also comes in handy sometimes. I'll tell you more about that.
The other very important thing is the damping, which I need to say a few words about.
Cheap bikes also have first shock absorbers, but those spring members really have nothing but a thread spring. There’s no oily damping, no tensile damping either, so they know the minimum.
However, the LAOTIE FT100 received a full-fledged oil shock absorber in advance. It has damping not only when it compresses, but also when it bounces back, and when it compresses, it feels completely different than it does with smooth spring members. An extra extra is that the LAOTIE shock absorber can be locked and its hardness can be adjusted. That is, we can tailor the damping to the quality of the road.
Of course, the 20-inch, high-sidewall, wide rubber, on which we also find some terrain, contributes greatly to the shock absorption, ie to absorb the vibrations. The cams are not crazy, so the bike can be used in woods and on asphalt.
Experiences
This promises to be a long chapter again, I have a lot to cover. Let's start with how powerful the LAOTIE FT100 is, how much is 1000 watts worth!
Well, in terms of top speed, it’s clearly the gear ratio that limits the speed. The engine would have the force to push in pedal mode, but due to the transmission, it is simply impossible to drive faster than 40-45 Km / h. I can't roll faster than that. The solution may be a larger sprocket in advance, for the pedal, these are not expensive on the Aliexpress.
According to the factory data, in the purely electric mode, the final speed is 40 Km per hour, which for me was 100 with 38 kilometers. So we can say that the factory data is correct in this case!
The other impressive value given in the catalog is the angle of climb that can be climbed. I was given 35 degrees for this, and I can say that there is no exaggeration in it, in fact! If you have strength and muscle, then the steeper ascent is not an impossible obstacle, say, you have to lie on the steering wheel.
So there can be a steeper ascent on the asphalt, but in the woods, on loose ground, on bumpy roads, I climbed ascents with the LAOTIE FT100 that I haven't known with any other bike, electric or smooth winder.
So 1000 watts is 1000 watts, happy to push a lot!
The accessories on the FT100 are sensational. The first telescope behaves like a professional telescope. It was good even on hard but really hard terrain, and because it could be locked, it also allowed comfortable driving on asphalt.
What’s a huge positive is the hand-screw on the brake lever, which allows us to control the force of the brake. Let’s say we want to be very factual, we don’t regulate the force of the brake, but how far the brake lever moves away from the steering wheel. The more we remove, the more we can squeeze on it, the bigger the brake will be.
This knowledge was specifically saved, as I had to go down a terribly steep road during a larger forest hike, interspersed with torrential rains, sometimes half a meter long. The brakes worked almost continuously, and after a good 10 minutes of fighting, when I got down to the bottom of the slope I noticed that both the front and rear brakes were tight and the wheels were not spinning.
All that happened was that the disc, the brake shoes and probably the entire brake mechanism became hot, causing the brake fluid to expand and the brakes to tighten. With the help of the small knob, I recalibrated the grip of the brake in about half a minute, and I could go on.
Without the possibility of adjusting the braking force, I could have been in the woods for a long time!
Range is always an important issue. I didn’t drain to zero, but I went with it a lot trying to estimate how much the real distance can be in a single charge and in pure electric mode. Since I’m a little far from the 65-pound weight we used for factory measurements, I didn’t even expect to have 45 to 65 miles. It didn't.
In reality, under real urban conditions, with a load of 100 pounds, the end is closer to thirty kilometers than to 45. That's not a bit. If we help with our feet, that is, we use the pedal mode, the range can be much longer than that, but the number of hills and ascents is also very important here. The factory data is 90-120 kilometers, but I feel that the 75-80 here is more realistic, although I can honestly say I didn't go that far with the bike.
By the end, there’s one more thing, the shift, which as I wrote “just” a Shimano Tourney, but it does its job so subtly that we can’t have a word on it. Not a misalignment, not an unnecessary click, crackle or anything else. It was really flawless, even though I had skinned this shift humanly now, I gave it to his face, but it didn't tickle him.
How does it feel to use the LAOTIE FT100?
Anyone who reads my articles knows that I also ride a bike and I really like riding a bike. Among other things, I love my own electric bike because it feels a bit like riding a motorcycle. At higher speeds, the thick 20-inch wheels behave just like a motorcycle, meaning the centripetal force generated by the rotating wheel gives a similar feeling to that of an engine.
In the previous paragraph, the focus is on speed! That is, the motorcycling experience comes as I progress. Fast. And with its 100 watts, the LAOTIE FT1000 is quite explosive, accelerating from scratch. Sure, I wouldn’t dare measure this for my own 800cc engine, but for a smaller scooter, the experience can be measured loosely.
And now comes the key message of this article, which is that the LAOTIE FT100 is not a smooth electric bike, but rather a scooter, in essentially every respect.
EU lawmakers have said an electric bike could be called up to 250 watts of electric, and above that it will be called an auxiliary bike. Yes, just like a scooter with a 50cc engine.
For a long time, I was also against the rule, but the more powerful electric vehicles I try, be it a scooter, a skateboard, or a bike, I have to see that 250 watts is a limit set at a good value (350 watts for a scooter).
These 500-1000 watt or even stronger vehicles, as I said on the LAOTIE ES8 scooter, are simply not suitable for children. Their use requires practice, prudence, maturity.
I do not feel at all it is an exaggeration for anyone who owns an electric vehicle of this power to have the wit of being able to put down an auxiliary motor vehicle license. This is one of the basic requirements for these devices.
So the point is that the LAOTIE FT100 is much more of a scooter than a bike. We don't want to trick ourselves or the medium with it, we treat it like that, like a scooter, even if we can embark on forest roads where I would never go with a scooter.
I definitely recommend watching the recommended video at the beginning of this article, you can see the LAOTIE FT100 in action!
Summary
So let's sum it up!
The LAOTIE FT100 is not an entry-level electric bike (or rather an auxiliary bike), its power and equipment fly it well to the bottom of the upper category. One thing could be even more advanced if it were not a pedal sensor but a torque sensor, but that would throw another order of magnitude at a price that is no longer low.
The LAOTIE FT100 is insanely strong, enabling you to overcome roads and inclines you wouldn't go near without assistance. You can feel like a real superhero in your saddle, especially on roadless or slightly better quality roads in the woods. The latter, just like on asphalt, have a comfortable speed of 40 kilometers per hour, and this is quite an experience, not a little adrenaline.
But that's why the LAOTIE FT100 is far from child's play. With a good heart, like the EU legislators, I would not give it into the hands of someone who does not have at least one auxiliary engine license and has not reached the age required to do so.
So the LAOTIE FT100 feels much more like a scooter on the road than a bike, even if we have the opportunity to help it on foot. Its equipment also matches its strength. The strength of the brake, the dispensability, the adjustability of the shock absorber, the lockability are all super things, and I feel they are needed for such a strong bike.
By the end, as usual, the price may come. The LAOTIE FT100 isn’t cheap, but at least we know, I hope the article revealed to you why it isn’t. Fortunately, we can order from an EU warehouse, so it arrives quickly. If there is a frame on it, a BGHU2227 with a coupon code exactly 515 HUF, then I dare to recommend with a warm heart, there is no point that could be disappointing.
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