Electra Townie go 8i

[caser41]

Interested in subject ebike. I live in a city that is fairly hilly. How do these bikes handle on the hills? I have observe they have no throttle, is this a hinderance while manouvering hills?

 

[Dewey]

So the big advantage of having an internal geared hub is when you come to a stop facing up hill, say at a light or an intersection, you can shift down gear when stationary.

 

[Bakari45]

Aren't the mid hub motors supposed to be better for climbing hills? I've heard that in a few video reviews.

 

[tomjasz]

Aren't the mid hub motors supposed to be better for climbing hills? I've heard that in a few video reviews.

Hills is a relative term. Ho steep? How long? Mid drives are great climbers, but geared hub motors can chug right along.

 

[Rossterman]

Hub drive motors are at a disatvange in hill climbing as they have no torque multiplication that crank mounted motors have. If

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Hub drive motors are at a disatvange in hill climbing as they have no torque multiplication that crank mounted motors have. If

That's often said but generally not the case. Most if not all the of the gears in real-world mid-drives reduce the torque delivered to the rear wheel. You get torque amplification only when the chainring is smaller than the cassette cog. Look at ebike specs online, and you'll see that few come with gears that low.

Instead, the mid-drive's general hill-climbing advantage comes from the fact that its motor efficiency is tied to rider cadence rather than wheel speed (the hub-drive case). You can then use the gears to keep your cadence in the sweet spot for maximum motor efficiency.

For example, my mid-drive motor is most efficient at 80-90 rpm cadence. Letting my cadence slip to 60-70 rpm on a hill results in a noticeable drop in motor power. Downshifting to get my cadence back up to 80-90 rpm is the fix at any wheel speed.

In contrast, a hub-drive's efficiency is tied to wheel speed rather than rider cadence — generally the higher the better. Let ground speed drop to 6 mph on a hub-drive, and most of the electrical power fed to the motor will go into heat rather than mechanical motor power out.

To the extent that downshifting reduces ground and therefore wheel speed, it will only make motor efficiency worse in the hub-drive case. But it will help you slog up the hill with little help from the motor.