The Smalo LX2 aims to revolutionize the ebike industry with AI. The Smalo LX2 made by Beve, a Taiwanese company features automatic gear shifting and AI driven pedal assist so that your ride lasts longer and exhausts you less; that equals more fun! Let’s look into the Smalo LX2 a bit deeper.
Features
What is unique to the LX2 ebike is the AI powered drive system. The artificial intelligence will learn your riding style and automatically shift to the appropriate gear when it feels you pedaling harder. The LX2 is a Class 1 ebike; meaning there is no throttle, just pedal assist.
The LX2 integrates security into the bike that includes an electronic rear wheel lock, GPS system for tracking, and a theft alarm to help deter any would be thieves.
The built-in e-lock lets you depress easily with your toe to lock the rear wheel. You can only unlock it with the app. The rear wheel lock of course does not stop someone from picking up the LX2 and placing it in their car or truck. It does however add another deterrent layer that will prevent someone from hopping on it and simply riding off into the sunset.
There is an electronic horn on the left, easily depressed with your thumb. The horn works but there’s a slight delay whether you press it once or multiple times. The duration isn’t very long and the horn sound itself isn’t very alarming either. You might be better off simply yelling out to any pedestrians.
Specs
Smalo’s LX2 is equipped with a 504Wh Battery that provides you with plenty of power for a total range of 37 up to 74 miles. Charge time is 2hrs 30 min for up to 80% and a Full Charge in 3hrs 40 min from empty. A 4A auto-sensing charger brick is included.
Top pedal assisted speed is 20 mph which is standardized by local laws. The total weight of the LX2 is 51.1 lbs. Comes with 28 x 2.0 wheels, these are the same rim diameter as a 29er wheel.
On the neck of the LX2 is an LCD screen with some basic info: battery life, present gear, a USB-C port with wireless connectivity. You can keep your phone connected while you ride but you’ll need to purchase a smartphone cradle from a 3rd party as we are unable to locate one on the BESV site. Smalo also provides you with an app that you can connect to the LX2 via Bluetooth for some on-demand info and settings. The Smalo app supports both Android 7.0+ and iOS 16.0+.
The Smalo LX2 is designed to fit riders 5’8″ to 6’4″. The top tube is quite tall. As a 5’11” male, with feet flat on the ground I am only just able to clear it. In other words my crotch rests on the top tube. The nice thing is that it is contoured and wider than a rounded top tube so falling on it could be slightly less painful than normal. Nestled inside the top tube is the LX2’s brain along with the power button.
Like any electric vehicle or personal EV, the LX2’s range is based on specific conditions so do not expect the full documented range for battery life in the real world. The numbers are based on a 150lb rider, no extra luggage, while using Smart mode 100% of the time, on flat ground. The app can give you estimates on range but again this is based on specific conditions. Best to take battery life and range with a grain of salt with any personal EV.
Bike Components
The LX2 frame is made of Aluminum and does not include any front or rear suspension so it’s a completely traditional road ride in that respect.
Equipment includes the Shimano MT200 hydraulic disc brakes, Shimano Nexus 7 speed, auto-sensing 380 Lumen LED headlight with tail light, Schwalbe Big Apple Performance, RaceGuard 50-622 road tires.
The MT200’s easily engage with a 2/3 finger grip. The Velo VL-6331A saddle is solid and comfy no complaints.
What the LX2 could use is a quick release lever for seat adjustment but was likely not included for security sake. In this day and age, we would probably not choose to leave this or any other ebike locked up and unattended in a public area.
It’s the age old rule, don’t get off your bike.
E-bike Classifications
There are currently 3 types of e-bike classifications that most US states have adopted (you’ll need to check your local laws for more specific information);
Class 1 – A Class 1 ebike is pedal-assist only with a max speed of up to 20mph.
Class 2 – A Class 2 ebike can be pedal-assist but also has a throttle assist with a max speed of up to 20mph.
Class 3 – A Class 3 ebike can have a max speed of up to 28mph but no throttle assist and cannot ride on bike paths.
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- Left side, Horn and Automatic Shifting button
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- Right side Manual Gear Shift and Boost button
Quick Overview
You are not able to simply crank a throttle and have the LX2 fully powered. Instead the LX2 is only a pedal-assisted electric bike; meaning you still need to pedal but you gain the benefit of electric power when the bike is under 20mph. The max assisted speed is dictated by the local laws and not by its physical limitation.
On flat ground or small to moderate inclines is where the LX2 performs best. Auto-shifting lets you take your mind off of shifting gears and focus on the terrain as you enjoy the ride.
You can press the boost button for on-demand riding power; the button is located on the right side grip. Your tendency may be to press it often but the pedal-assist won’t engage if you are over the 20mph.
Ride Experience
Riding up steeper inclines can still make you work. The built-in torque sensor lets the LX2 know, hey I’m pedaling harder please help. Although the auto-shifting did not engage as quickly when riding up hills it did engage. There were times where the incline was quite steep where we nearly had to put a foot down due to the slower auto-shifting.
Where the LX2 shines is on flat ground cruising. You can quickly reach the full 20mph speed in just a few seconds and enjoy a very casual power assisted ride. The boost will not engage if you are just coasting and it will only give boost when the bike is in automatic shifting mode and only if you are pedaling.
Power assist
The LX2 still feels like a bike ride, meaning it does make you work a bit and the LX2 does not provide as much power assist as we were expecting. That said, this is a learning bike so theoretically the LX2 will respond quicker and quicker as you ride the bike more. If there were an improvement here it might be that the motor would engage with less torque pressure when riding up steep inclines. The 51.1 lbs on a steeper incline can really still make you work.
While it might sometimes feel like the bike is NOT providing power assist, when you disengage the auto-shifting you’ll realize immediately that it was. The LX2 toggles power assist automatically on and off to match your ride when you’re in auto-shifting mode.
Braking is powerful with the Shimano Hydraulic MT200 disc brakes. But due to the extra weight of the bike and that you often might have power assist being applied, you’ll want to give yourself extra room to stop.
The bike is 51 lbs, plus the avg weight of 150-200lbs that’s still a good amount of weight to try and stop instantly. The Shimano MT200 disc brakes work very well but the bike can easily skid if you try to stop too abruptly. It can be similar to trying to stop a big long Cadillac vs a 4 or 6 cylinder car.
Security Features
- Rear Wheel Lock
- Anti-theft Alarm System
- GPS Find My Bike
The LX2 comes equipped with multiple security features for redundancy. To engage the physical wheel lock push down on the plunger with your foot/toe. That extends an aluminum bar that is on a hinge and effectively blocks the spokes so the rear wheel cannot rotate. The security lock is an added deterrent as any determined thief can theoretically break off the wheel lock with a pair of channel locks.
There is also a security sensor that will alert you via your Smalo app if your bike gets moved. You can adjust the sensitivity to suit your taste. At the most sensitive setting the alarm did not sound for minor bumps and vibrations but if you try to move the bike the alarm will sound. The alarm itself isn’t the loudest but it’s enough to draw attn when you park in a populated area.
Smalo’s LX2 is a smart bike after all, there’s onboard GPS so you can keep tabs on your bike’s location and receive alerts if it is moved. You just need to make sure you keep that feature ‘on’ via your Smalo App.
Connectivity & Firmware updates
The LX2 connects to the Smalo app via Bluetooth. We are not big fans of Bluetooth due to connectivity issues that you can experience across most any device. Our experience with the LX2 just reinforces it. There were a few times where the Bluetooth just would not recognize the connection and it took about 10-15 min for the bike to respond to the app and were unable to disengage the wheel lock. We were locked out of the bike for a period of time.
If you’re like us we do not normally keep Bluetooth on due to the battery drain so hopping on the bike and riding off instantly doesn’t seem to be a reality.
Turn on Bluetooth, launch the app, wait a moment to connect to the bike; all that makes it nearly impossible to hop on the bike in a hurry and take off from a locked or off state.
In this day and age of put it out now and tweak it out later there’s hope. Since the BEVO is sending out periodic firmware updates to improve on the experience, the ride, connectivity and firmware updating experience can change for the better..
When performing firmware updates you’ll want to make sure that you are not only near the bike physically for your app to connect solid but also that your bike is well within range of WIFI. Firmware updates are easy to do, simply navigate to Settings/About/Firmware updates and you’ll see buttons for the 5 firmware items. When the button is lit, there’s an update. We ran into an issue updating the firmware, though it did resolve itself eventually we were effectively locked out of the bike for about 20 min.
Conclusion
The Smalo LX2 features pedal assist up to 20mph, physical wheel lock, GPS, onboard headlight and tail/brake light and AI driven technology. The LX2 can be put into manual mode but the charm is that this is a learning bike; You just need to ride it and the LX2 will learn your riding style and adjust accordingly. No thinking to shift or engage the motor (unless you want to), everything happens on it’s own so you can focus on your ride and negotiating the terrain in front of you.
LX2 City Electric Bike $2,980.00
www.smalo-ebikes.com
