Thomas Teichman on the ARCC Intelligent Drive Pod

Soon after the ARCC Intelligent Drive Pod launched, British-Hungarian investor Thomas Teichman gave his review of the kit, which we had fitted to his Brompton bike. You can see what Thomas had to say below:

"The ARCC Intelligent Drive Pod has been designed by ARCC Bikes to provide unique intelligent bike power. It combines variable power levels with automatic hill/gradient compensation and launch control.

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The ARCC Intelligent Drive Pod has given me an extra set of muscles and power in my legs.

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I’ve been riding a bicycle around London for over thirty years from Highgate to Forest Hill. The ARCC Intelligent Drive Pod has given me an extra set of muscles and power in my legs – or that’s how it feels. The power comes on very smoothly just when I need it up hills and on starting, but not in excess. When I take the pressure off the pedals, the electric motor goes into neutral. My brakes work just as they would on my non-powered bike.

It’s very easy to attach the battery pack and, more importantly, to detach it quickly when transporting the bike. I carry a spare battery for extra distance, but around London that’s hardly necessary. The powerful 36V 4.0 Ah Bosch battery is easy and fast to charge, and the front-carried battery pack and hub motor are almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye.

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I've tried the bike on some steep London gradients and it changes a big sweat into a very light pleasant body height.

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Cycling and keeping up with very energetic fit bikers – who are working very hard to keep up with me – is a joy, and very amusing as they can’t work out how I keep up the energy, as I cruise by them going up hills! I’ve tried the bike on some steep London gradients and it changes a big sweat into a very light pleasant body heat. You do get a bit of proper exercise, unlike some electric bikes, but you get a lot more immediate payback for your effort.

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There is no downside to this product.

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Apart from the slight extra weight, which you hardly notice, and extra wires here and there that don’t interfere with my bike at all, there is no downside to this product.

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It's very easy to see and operate.

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ARCC’s latest innovation is the remote control on the handlebars to vary power and effort ratio, which is now run by Bluetooth to the control panel on the battery and hub motor. It’s very smooth, switching from one power level to another, except for a tiny half-second lag. It’s very easy to see and operate.

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I’ve ridden motorbikes and bicycles around London for many years, and I think this is the ideal solution. Power when you need it combined with an efficient well-engineered bike. Perfect!"

If you have a bike you are keen to retrofit, email its specification to info@arcc.co.uk and our technicians will check if it's compatible.

For further evidence of our the short work our kit makes of hills, we recently put the ARCC Electric Conversion for Brompton bikes to the test on one of London's most notorious hills, Swain's Lane...See the difference the ARCC Intelligent Drive Pod and its hill assist function made in our video below.