Digital Display Screen

The X1 has an LCD screen mounted in the middle of the handlebar, where you can read it without taking your eyes far off the road. It shows battery level, speed, distance, average speed and how much power the motor is drawing, and it is where you set the level of pedal assist.

What each reading is for

• Battery level. The gauge in the top corner, with a percentage beside it. This is the number that decides how far you go, so it is the one worth glancing at before you turn for home rather than after.
• Speed. The big figure in the middle, in km/h, live as you ride.
• Kilometres and trips. Total distance on the bike, and a trip counter you can reset. The trip counter is the useful one day to day, because it tells you how far this ride has gone and therefore how far back it is.
• Average speed. Your average over the ride. More interesting than it sounds if you are working out how long a route actually takes you, as opposed to how long you thought it would.
• Power usage. What the motor is drawing at that moment. Watch it for a few rides and you learn what costs you battery: a headwind, a hill, a high assist level, or starting from a dead stop in the wrong gear.

Pedal assist, set from the screen

The reading marked PAS is the pedal assist level, and it steps from 0 through 5 on the buttons beside the screen. Zero is no help at all, and you are riding it as an ordinary seven speed bicycle. Five is a firm push. You are still pedalling at every level, you are just choosing how much of the work is yours and how much is the motor's. Riding at a lower level when you do not need the help is the single easiest way to make the battery last longer, and the power reading on the screen is what shows you the difference.

The throttle works separately from all of this. That is covered on the throttle and gears page.

Reading it in daylight

The screen is backlit, which is what makes it legible in the dark and at dusk. In bright sun, angling the display slightly toward you when you set the bike up is worth the two minutes. The bracket turns on the handlebar with a basic tool.

The display and the sensor are listed on the full specifications, and what feeds the whole system is on the removable battery page.