First couple of weeks with the bike

So I've owned and ridden the Neo Prox for a couple of weeks now (save a couple of weather days) and here's my initial impressions:

The Bike:

• Overall great, but there's a lot to get used to. My muscle memory is based on the Capital Bike Share bikes, which are frickin' tanks (as they should be).  While the Prox is nicely built its just not the same as the rental bike build wise. Those things can take a lot of punishment. Since I just plunked down a wad of money for this bike and am responsible for its care and maintenance I'm not so cavalier when riding it as I could have been on the rental bike.
• The smaller wheels and slightly smaller handlebars means it feels a little more like turning a razor scooter than a bike at times.
• I miss the cruise control on the Path+ (more on that below).
• Because of the design (lower frame, longer handlebar stem that breaks into two) I can feel more flex in the handlebars. Its still pretty solid, and I'm not really worried that I'll do any damage, but what little flex there is takes a little getting used to.
• Brakes are a little mushy.
• Can get too and from work on a single charge.

A little more about this last point. For the first couple of days I was using standard pedal assist as I rode through town on the way to work, and then switching to full throttle control while on the Capital Crescent Trail, much like I did during last summer's test.  On the way home I use standard pedal assist all the way back. In this configuration I get the blinking battery symbol about a half a mile from home, indicating that I'm about out of power. So the battery has been just covering the round trip.

Unfortunately, unlike the Path+ I was using last summer the Prox doesn't have cruise control, which means I have to hold the throttle open the entire half an hour or so that I'm riding. Well, the weather has been especially cold lately andI'm cutting down on the blood circulation to my thumb and index finger when holding throttle open. Even though I have gloves on these fingers go numb in this weather pretty quickly. So lately I've switched from going full throttle to using a higher level of pedal assist on the Capital Crescent Trail; I no longer am holding the throttle, plus the constant pedaling keeps the blood flowing and the body warm & I still get to work without being a sweaty mess. In this configuration I've been doing the round trip and still have a bar or two left on the battery meter.

The Commute:

• The weather's been cold as hell, but the nice thing about biking is I really don't notice it. As long as its not raining cold really isn't that bad.
• I'm consistently hitting just over an hour for the commute. Maybe 5 minutes longer on average than the walk/metro method.

As for the weather my gear is nothing really fancy. My helmet seems to keep my head warm enough, and as for clothes I basically layer up: T-shirt, shirt/sweater, fleece (I have a couple of Old Navy fleeces that were cheap and warm), this cycling jacket in yellow (nowhere near as fancy as the cycling jackets you find in stores, basically a thin wind breaker with some pockets; from China; cheap and effective when worn over the fleece) and these gloves (also from China, also cheap and effective).