Aventon Aventurer can't climb steep 6 mile dirt road

[Jim D]

I just got a new Aventon Aventurer to use here in Washington to approach back-country ski routes up closed logging roads. The closest such road goes up to my favorite spring ski run on Mt. Pilchuck. I've ridden (pushed) my regular mountain bike up the 6 miles, but it's tedious work and makes what should be a nice half-day tour into a long slog.

I took the Aventurer on a couple runs around my hilly neighborhood and it handled the steep hills with aplomb, with some pedal assist.

I was very psyched last week when I took it for it's first run up Pilchuck - which is really the only reason I got the thing. BTW I'm a big 200 lb guy with a day pack with everything for BC skiing + skis. I wore my boots and hoped to just use the throttle most of the way. This went great for the first mile - assist 1 was too fast for the potholed road, so I kept letting it off to keep the speed around 10 mph. The first easier grades went well too. About 2 miles in the grade starts in earnest and I slowed way down - about 6 mph and going to higher assist levels didn't seem to make a difference. Over the next mile it struggled even more until I was barely making 4 mph. I stopped and turned it off to let it rest/cool and got going a little better for a couple minutes until it bogged down again going even slower. Another longer stop, then pretty hard pedaling to keep it going about 4 mph to the end of the road. At least it didn't totally die!

I did make it, it was faster and easier than my regular bike, but very disappointing performance. If that is the type of performance I can expect I'm going to try and return it. Is there a fail-safe that limits the power if you use the throttle too long or when it works too hard? If so there is no mention in any of Aventon's literature or web site.

The bike works fine back here in town (without pack & skis, and pedaling).

Any advice or similar experiences would be much appreciated.

 

[AHicks]

I think maybe there are other bikes better equipped for that 6 mile climb - especially if you plan on the bike doing most of the work with just minimal assistance form you. That's a pretty tall order for ANY bike.

You might look into bikes with mid drives. They can take advantage of the bike's gearing, where the hub drive is stuck at only 5:1 reduction.

 

[Deacon Blues]

The Aventurer is a great ebike, but I think you're asking it to do way more than it was designed to do.
Going up a steep hill, throttle only, and a hub motor, is a bad combo.
If you want something that has the power to go up a long, steep hill (without pedalling) maybe something like a Sur Ron https://lunacycle.com/sur-ron-x-bike-black-edition/ would better suit your needs.

 

[PedalUma]

A man had me look at a similar bike which is still under warrantee this week. It stopped working, died. I volunteered that because it is a hub-drive, 'Did he know that it cannot do sustained climbs?' Then asked him if he had attempted a sustained climb. He said 'Yes,' and said, 'But it happened just after the climb.'
The motor had cooked like a baked chicken. A chicken will still bake down to the bone, after the initial heat is reduced. It makes for a crisp skin and tender insides.

 

[Jim D]

Thanks for the replies. I've written to Aventon but they said they won't get back to me for 72-96 hrs.

 

[Catalyzt]

A man had me look at a similar bike which is still under warrantee this week. It stopped working, died. I volunteered that because it is a hub-drive, 'Did he know that it cannot do sustained climbs?' Then asked him if he had attempted a sustained climb. He said 'Yes,' and said, 'But it happened just after the climb.'
The motor had cooked like a baked chicken. A chicken will still bake down to the bone, after the initial heat is reduced. It makes for a crisp skin and tender insides.

Yeah, I wonder about this with my Trek kit bike 250W Hilltopper front hub drive.

There is an 850 foot, 4 mile climb that begins most of the interesting rides around here. My strategy has always been to kill the throttle completely whenever I can-- on the flatter spots-- and back off a bit on the intermediate sections, and even at full assist on the steep sections, keep providing a lot of leg power. (I should note that this bike is throttle only, no PAS, so when I kill the throttle, I'm using 100% human power and giving the motor 100% rest.)

--> I guess we won't know for sure without opening up the motor, but Pedal, based on your experience, do you think I'm successfully avoiding premature wear, or am I still baking that chicken, just slower?! The controller died once already, and just got replaced under warranty, seems to be fine. At sometimes I thought I might be hearing a very faint grinding from the front hub, but I didn't hear it on the last two shakedown rides with the new controller, both were only 20 minutes but included some short, steep hills but < 15%.

Jim, I feel your pain, and this is one of the reasons I got a second bike. I wanted to do 3,000-4,000 foot climbs, and I knew a mid-drive would be better suited for it. My hub drive is now for friends, or for days I just want a shorter fitness ride, or want a more moped-like experience for running down to the ATM or mailbox.

 

[AHicks]

Timpo, I agree with you. The "get a different bike" solution is a bitter pill to swallow (I think this is the first time I've used it), but I don't see any way this bike is going to do well if asked to climb this "hill" regularly. The fact he isn't lending a pretty fair share of assistance isn't helping a thing.

Like you say, bailing on this current bike may not be a bad solution with bike being in short supply. Then something like a Bafang Ultra or a BBSHD equipped bike would be a much better choice. Even then though, on a long climb like this, he may have to be wary of motor temps....

 

[soyabean]

the grade starts in earnest and I slowed way down - about 6 mph and going to higher assist levels didn't seem to make a difference.

Going + on the levels don't make a difference because it's merely a shutoff for max velocity.

All inexpensive "hub motor" ebikes aren't made for grades you described.

Worse, the typical consumer with the "amazon/costco" mentality push their ebikes to limits until they break, then fail when try to pass off welded motors for warranty to their LBS. This is why I often see newish ebikes with burnt hub motors on classified ads.

What you seek in a mid drive ebike. There are plenty of other threads here to explain how and why.

 

[sc00ter]

We have the Jordan bridge in south Norfolk. This bridge beats the tar outta my RadRunner, so I know the pain that Jim D is feeling. If I had to cross this dreaded bridge on a regular basis I would consider a powerful mid-drive over a hub drive. Based on his hill description I think my old 2-stroke moped would struggle on that hill!

 

[Brooks]

Normal behavior for a hub motor bike. Should have bought a middrive. Do your homework before buying next bike. Don't blame the bike.

 

[Jim D]

Thanks again for all the replies. I tried to go cheap and got suckered in by the good reviews and You-tube videos. Of course none of that addressed my specific need.

After talking with an old ski buddy who got a couple of nice mid drive full suspension bikes for he and his wife to ride down in AZ I'm thinking I might have to bite the bullet and go all the way to such a bike and see how it works for single track too. I was thinking that I might as well keep at that on my Giant Trance, which I quite enjoy, to get exercise. I worry that the seduction of power will lead to slacking off on the hills (which is where I get the best work-out of course), and going too fast in other circumstances. Like my wife says, I'm now in my sissys (66 next month) and have to start acting like one!

BTW, here is the mountain I like to ski in the spring that has that gated road I rode up. We ski that steep wide gully off the top, climb up to the ridge where I took this picture, then descend back to the trail-head.

 

[IOUZIP]

I did not see you listed the gear you were in when climbing in. Any steep climb gear down to 1st you need to keep the pedaling cadence speed up. At 3-15 mph mph you get the best power. 13-15 mph is the sweet spot for max power. The graph below is to show how the Bafang hub 750w and your 7% grade climb up Pilchuck are combine when you don't pedal.

 

[IOUZIP]

Where Motor power and Torq meet. 13-15 mph is the best speed to get the most out of the motor.

 

[PedalUma]

I did not see you listed the gear you were in when climbing in. Any steep climb gear down to 1st you need to keep the pedaling cadence speed up. At 3-15 mph mph you get the best power. 13-15 mph is the sweet spot for max power. The graph below is to show how the Bafang hub 750w and your 7% grade climb up Pilchuck are combine when you don't pedal.

View attachment 91695

The sweet spot looks to be at about 12 Mph with Blue, Green & Red in the same area. What is jaw dropping is the lower right performance box that says 'Overheat In - 1.3 minutes.' I like hour-long climbs. No wonder people fry their bikes. I have a fried bike coming in next Tuesday. The promo videos do not mention that.

 

[stw]

I just got a new Aventon Aventurer to use here in Washington to approach back-country ski routes up closed logging roads. The closest such road goes up to my favorite spring ski run on Mt. Pilchuck. I've ridden (pushed) my regular mountain bike up the 6 miles, but it's tedious work and makes what should be a nice half-day tour into a long slog.

I took the Aventurer on a couple runs around my hilly neighborhood and it handled the steep hills with aplomb, with some pedal assist.

I was very psyched last week when I took it for it's first run up Pilchuck - which is really the only reason I got the thing. BTW I'm a big 200 lb guy with a day pack with everything for BC skiing + skis. I wore my boots and hoped to just use the throttle most of the way. This went great for the first mile - assist 1 was too fast for the potholed road, so I kept letting it off to keep the speed around 10 mph. The first easier grades went well too. About 2 miles in the grade starts in earnest and I slowed way down - about 6 mph and going to higher assist levels didn't seem to make a difference. Over the next mile it struggled even more until I was barely making 4 mph. I stopped and turned it off to let it rest/cool and got going a little better for a couple minutes until it bogged down again going even slower. Another longer stop, then pretty hard pedaling to keep it going about 4 mph to the end of the road. At least it didn't totally die!

I did make it, it was faster and easier than my regular bike, but very disappointing performance. If that is the type of performance I can expect I'm going to try and return it. Is there a fail-safe that limits the power if you use the throttle too long or when it works too hard? If so there is no mention in any of Aventon's literature or web site.

The bike works fine back here in town (without pack & skis, and pedaling).

Any advice or similar experiences would be much appreciated.

Looking at it from the other end, what ski boots did you wear and would they be ok for pedaling? If you're using AT boots, even lightweight ones like Dynafit, then probably not. I've used cycling for backcountry skiing access (Wasatch) as you're doing, and it can be tricky. If I'm using light telemark gear with walkable boots, I've been able to use them for pedaling. My Scarpa NTN tele-boots, no. It may be, as was suggested, your hub motor could have kept up with the climb if you had been pedaling and adding a steady 150 watts or so up the climb. Certainly if you get a mid-drive you may want to pedal. My Bosch mid-drive doesn't take me anywhere without pedaling, but a Bafang mid-drive with throttle would still have the advantage of using the bikes lowest gear ratio, and might be able to go up throttle only. I still think setting up your gear so you can pedal is a good idea.

 

[JASmith]

Thanks for the replies. I've written to Aventon but they said they won't get back to me for 72-96 hrs.

How fast did they get back to you? We were looking at Aventon but some people on Reddit were saying that they respond instantly if its something simple, but as soon as its a warranty issue its taking forever to respond and that has me worried.

 

[Jim D]

JA, I finally heard from them (after 3 weeks), after I got their inhouse review e-mail where I ripped the bike with the description above. Their response was basically that it ain't an electric motorcycle and I shouldn't have expected that. In many ways I do agree with them, and all the advice replies here. I'm selling the bike at a small loss - hopefully the guy who is coming to look at it today will take it. If I were using it around town I would keep it for sure. Too heavy and clunky for the tight single track I ride though.

 

[Ebiker01]

You prob. were not aware that your ebike crank can be changed to a double like 39/50 , 34/50, many other variations or even a triple.

Having known that and and with a cassette such as 11-42, you could climb 30% hills. You didn't mentioned what gearing you had used , which tells us you r new to using a bike shifting system.

For the readers, i will let them know : you were in 46t in front(single ring crank, NO GOOD for doing climbs...) . And it has only 8speeds , clearly even a vastly inferior Bosch system would go faster due solely to this wrong gearing. Nothing wrong with the ebike controller, motor; they could have unleashed that monstrous power with the right .

Now hopefully the Boschers (due to prior posts in this thread , presented a total lack of knowledge of WHY your ride didn't powered up on that hill..hint : wrong gearing ) won't scream that 46t is also on their ebikes....2nd newbie hint: reduction...that's why a 34/50 , 34/48 , 39/50 would have been perfect in your case. I would have climb it in 34/32 or 34/21 or 39/21, 39/ 32 in either Pas 1 or 2. Pas 1 has plenty of power in those gear ratios for that type of climb. And you seem to have plenty of strength to put some wattage as well.

Hopefully u didn't sold it, b/c it can be upgraded to a nice ebike and 20mph throttle is kind of rare for mass produced ebikes.

 

[Brooks]

No. The bike cannot climb 30% grades by changing the crank and cassette. This gears the bike lower, but it does not gear the motor lower. The motor wants to go 12mph and you cannot do that uphill.... in the dirt. Going uphill 3-4 mph the motor is geared too high.

 

[AHicks]

You prob. were not aware that your ebike crank can be changed to a double like 39/50 , 34/50, many other variations or even a triple.

Having known that and and with a cassette such as 11-42, you could climb 30% hills. You didn't mentioned what gearing you had used , which tells us you r new to using a bike shifting system.

For the readers, i will let them know : you were in 46t in front(single ring crank, NO GOOD for doing climbs...) . And it has only 8speeds , clearly even a vastly inferior Bosch system would go faster due solely to this wrong gearing. Nothing wrong with the ebike controller, motor; they could have unleashed that monstrous power with the right .

Now hopefully the Boschers (due to prior posts in this thread , presented a total lack of knowledge of WHY your ride didn't powered up on that hill..hint : wrong gearing ) won't scream that 46t is also on their ebikes....2nd newbie hint: reduction...that's why a 34/50 , 34/48 , 39/50 would have been perfect in your case. I would have climb it in 34/32 or 34/21 or 39/21, 39/ 32 in either Pas 1 or 2. Pas 1 has plenty of power in those gear ratios for that type of climb. And you seem to have plenty of strength to put some wattage as well.

Hopefully u didn't sold it, b/c it can be upgraded to a nice ebike and 20mph throttle is kind of rare for mass produced ebikes.

So we're all on the same page here, we're talking about a geared hub motor here with a rider not supplying much in the way of assist. I'd agree with your thoughts if talking mid drive, but we aren't.

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