Aventon Aventurer can't climb steep 6 mile dirt road

[Ebiker01]

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.

Looks like you never rode a geared bub motor ! What is that vague statement "with a rider not suppyling much...."


Do you even know how much 250 watts is , how many wt/kg for his weight (215lb) on 6% climb just in PAS 1 ? with a gearing of 39/35 or 34/34 you climb anything., and 750watts is 1kw peak PAS 3/4, that flies uphill with the RIGHT GEARING !

 

[Ebiker01]

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.

A totally clueless statement.

We r talking about at least 250watts just in Pas 1 with another 70-125watts from the rider(on climbs the watts/kg is a lot higher ! ) And all that with a 39/21 or other easy gearing.

What the gearing does it allows the motor to use the available NM properly.

Just like we , when riding w/o a motor , we can barely go on a big gear as opposed to a proper gearing , the same way the geared hub motor works allthough it has A LOT more torque and power. And it's also a 48volt system....

 

[Brooks]

Again.... to Ebiker101
You are gearing the bike down, and not the hub motor
A mid drive allows you to gear the bike down plus gear down the mid drive motor.
You cannot ride a geared hub bike uphill in the dirt on a 30% grade.
The internal geardown in the hub motor is not enough.
How can you not understand this... and I'm not going to use the term "totally clueless" to describe your inexperience.

 

[Ebiker01]

Again.... to Ebiker101
You are gearing the bike down, and not the hub motor
A mid drive allows you to gear the bike down plus gear down the mid drive motor.
You cannot ride a geared hub bike uphill in the dirt on a 30% grade.
The internal geardown in the hub motor is not enough.
How can you not understand this... and I'm not going to use the term "totally clueless" to describe your inexperience.

This is all u need to know: LEGWORK, RPM, PEDALLING , GEARING , Do that and you will climb most hills on a hub motor and the motor will stay cool as well.

That's the same concept on mid drives. But with hub motor ebikes one has to have some biking skills(high cadence, GEARING) and apply them.

Sample:

10% hill : Use 39/21 or lower with min. 80rpm , PAS 1 or 2

 

[Ebiker01]

bike uphill in the dirt on a 30% grade.

Yes it can but we r not talking about 30% grades here.

OP hill is 6% gravel. For 30% one could climb it in PAS 3/4 with min. 80RPM and a 34/50 with 11/42 casette.

I had a triple before (28/36/48) and it was climbing (85NM , 860watts peak hub, 48volts , 21ah controller) like a Goat. Now with a 48T and 11/34 it's slower b/c the gearing it's too high and i have to put in high PAS to go as fast as before. But i don't need to do many hills.

 

[Brooks]

All you need to know is this bike is not meant for extended climbing. Add the fact it weighs 75 pounds.
Again, geared hub motors cannot supply extend torque at low RPMs needed for climbing, no matter how low the bike is geared.

 

[Ebiker01]

You are gearing the bike down, and not the hub motor

Please understand the simple logic of applying the motor power (80-90NM) and the right PAS depending on rider weight to a proper gearing. Once that hopefully clicks in, then you can study further and realize a mod motor is better only on the steeper inclines. But that still depends on rider skills, gearing , ebike motor Watts and other variables . The mid motor won't ride by itself....

And you keep mentioning gravel climb...that says that you don't have the skills to know how ride a gravel rode. If u knew, you would have known it's just as easy as a reg. climb !

 

[Ebiker01]

Again, geared hub motors cannot supply extend torque at low RPMs needed for climbing, no matter how low the bike is geared.

This is so dumb on multiple fronts.....i'll give you a few years to figure it out !!

 

[AHicks]

Looks like you never rode a geared bub motor ! What is that vague statement "with a rider not suppyling much...."


Do you even know how much 250 watts is , how many wt/kg for his weight (215lb) on 6% climb just in PAS 1 ? with a gearing of 39/35 or 34/34 you climb anything., and 750watts is 1kw peak PAS 3/4, that flies uphill with the RIGHT GEARING !

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this opinion. So helpful, and such a great attitude as well.

Unless I'm mistaken (again), you have assumed, without mentioning it, that our OP wants to put enough effort into this climb to make it, AND that he's willing to replace his freewheel/cassette as well as the front gear on this bike to do that. Sorry, must have missed that earlier.

My wife makes assumptions like that all the time. Assuming I can read her mind.....

Yes, have plenty of time on geared hubs. Own/have owned several, including a 1000w MAC 12t. The other bike is an Ultra powered mid drive, so I get the difference and I have a pretty good idea of what each will/won't do.

 

[Jim D]

Ebiker, I'm certainly not new to bike riding, and know how to change gears - of course I was trying to ride up that steep road in 1st gear. I admit that watching some of the review videos I was hoping to cruise slowly up that road with mostly throttle only - the whole idea being to save my legs for the real goal of BC skiing afterward. That seems to have been unrealistic unless I get an electric motorcycle. As stated I did have to pedal most of the way, although it wasn't optimum since I was wearing my BC ski boots to save weight on the pack. The bike got me there, easier than my regular bike, just not as easy as expected so I'm not sure it's worth keeping since that's the only use I have for it.

I'm not going to put more $ or effort into this bike to change the gearing or anything else. I'm rethinking the whole e-bike thing and like I said may just pony up for a real Mt. bike that I can have fun riding single track too, thinking of getting the e version of the bike I've been happily riding for a few years - a Giant Trance.

 

[Ebiker01]

Unless I'm mistaken (again), you have assumed, without mentioning it, that our OP wants to put enough effort into this climb to make it, AND that he's willing to replace his freewheel/cassette as well as the front gear on this bike to do that. Sorry, must have missed that earlier.

Well, i did not assumed, just tried to inform the OP that he could have climbed that hill if those variables were changed.

The wrong assumption is me saying that you did not rode hub ebikes , statement which i now withdrawn. and i want to mention that i value your informative posts & knowledge (correct assumption).

 

[Ebiker01]

real Mt. bike that I can have fun riding single track too, thinking of getting the e version of the bike I've been happily riding for a few years - a Giant Trance

Yea, that is a lot more fun . But it does not hurt having 2 or even 3 ebikes...