UrbanMover Sprite electric bicycle - ordering, shipping, assembling

Evening update: report of its behavior under power here.

I've been wanting to get an electric bicycle for years now - in a hilly town where temperatures top 100 degrees (F) in summer, pedal-powered bicycling makes for hot and sweaty travel. So even for short trips I've generally taken the car instead, enduring the consequent jeers from passers-by (you know who you are) and from my own conscience.

AFAIK nobody within 100+ miles of here sellsstocks* electric bicycles, which makes taking test drives difficult (what range will it have, on our terrain? how will it do on our hills?), which makes the decision to purchase one difficult as well.

The one electric bicycle I was able to try, an E-Bike*, was OK, and climbed our hills fine with a bit of pedaling; but then I had to give it back, leaving me once again powered by gas or my own two legs.
(when not under power, riding the E-Bike on flat ground felt like pedaling a (very) small tank, and pedaling uphill was hopeless; even so, all was forgiven when the power kicked in...)

Real Goods (owned by Gaiam) recently added two UrbanMover electric bicycles to their Electric Vehicles lineup - a street bike (the Sprite) and a folding bike (the Terrain). These bikes look attractive and bikelike, and they have NiMH* batteries rather than SLA*ones - yielding greater range, lighter weight and (AFAIK) less toxicity. The bicycles are the same price (currently $1199) as the (no pedals) eGo electric cycle.
(Real Goods doesn't yet offer my #1 preference, UrbanMover's mountain-bike style Glider model, nor UM's new, better, but lots more expensive lithium-polymer batteries.)

I'd been waffling, but finally jumped when Gaiam sent an email offering a short-term 20% discount*.

Upon phoning in the order, it was disconcerting to hear "This item is drop-shipped from the manufacturer*; it should arrive in 4 to 6 weeks." Ouch.

Ha.
It arrived 6 days later - a 34" x 6 ft x 10" black-plastic-wrapped cardboard box, lying flat on the bed of a DHL truck and, fortunately, weighing much less than it appeared.

The packing and shipping were buggy:
The driver said he'd received no instructions to require a signature (also, order taker had led me to understand that I'd have advance notice before it arrived; there was none), and upon stripping off the black plastic covering, the warnings "Do not lay flat", "Keep upright" came into view, emblazoned on the cardboard underneath.

Oops.
It doesn't look like there's been any real damage, but I don't know for sure - haven't ridden it under power yet, the battery's still charging*.

Without the battery, the bike weighs about 42 pounds and handles pretty much like a normal, only slightly heavier, bicycle - the only problem so far is that just 5 of its 6 speeds are accessible. Adjusting the derailleur(?) gave me the choice of either gears 1-5, or 2-6. IMO this is a minor flaw, since I tend to spend most time in #1 anyway.
update: derailleur's been readjusted, now the bike reaches all 6 gears.

The bike is a handsome, dignified dark blue, and has a plucky little "here I come" bell on the handlebars - but if you're using the brakes, you will not need the bell.
(next step - wash wheel rims and brake pads with dilute soapy water, to remove any grease that might cause the squealing)
update: the squealing went away on its own.

Still to try: riding it in "electric" mode, and discovering how well the 'street' wheels perform when subjected to our legendary potholes.
(Also, the technical specifications say that the "gradient capacity" is 12% (FAQ says 10-14%) with pedal-assist (VPAC*); not sure what the typical max. gradient of our hilly streets is*, so it'll be interesting to see how well the bike climbs them.)
update: some streets (e.g. Nevada St) _are_ too steep; not healthy for the motor. Avoid them. OTOH, Pine St in Nevada City seems to be fine, as does Sacto St, as do Nevada City Hwy and East Main St in GV

I will report further on the Sprite, and would welcome correspondence from other current or potential electric bike owners - if you send email (to ncfocus2003@yahoo.com) regarding the Sprite or other electric bikes, please put "UrbanMover" somewhere in the email's Subject line.