Creo setting to negate bike weight?

[kattanm]

I think it is 15/25 to negate bike weight...

 

[jodi2]

In our heads yes, then you definitley feel the support.
If you put in in a bike calculator, 15-25% of the SL power equals 50-15kg (depending if it's flat or 10% uphill). Even at 20% it still equals about 10kg more. At 30% it's about 5kg, so the extra weight of the SL drive.
With 15-25% I was already able to do my longest tour so far together with fitter lighter riders on lighter bikes.

 

[StmbtDave]

I find at 15/50% there is very little difference between boost and no boost. Raising it to 20/50% and there is a noticeable boost. I suppose the neutral point is somewhere between these, but you can only tune in steps of 5.

 

[kattanm]

I suspect it is 10/20 and I'm lying to myself wishing it were 15/25.

 

[mschwett]

I suspect it is 10/20 and I'm lying to myself wishing it were 15/25.

there's just no mathematical explanation for it being anywhere near that high.... it's practically negligible on flat ground, once moving, unless the creo is far less aerodynamic than it looks, or when the motor is engaged, there are other frictional losses.... but presumably those are overcome by the motor, not the rider, or it wouldn't be assisting at all.

114 vs 116 watts to go the same speed on level ground. of course accelerating will show a slightly bigger impact, so perhaps we could be generous with ourselves and say it's 3%, not 2%?

throw in a 5% grade, and the difference goes up to 5% - 244 vs 256 watts to go 15kph. there is a nearly linear relationship between speed and additional power needed to climb until one gets to very high speeds, which aren't possible when climbing anyway, so a setting of 5/anything would pretty much mathematically negate the mass of the bike:

at 5kph, i need 76w to climb 5% with an 8kg bike, but 80w to climb 5% with a 13kg bike. 76w * 1.05 = 80w.
at 15kph, i need 244w to climb 5% with an 8kg bike, but 256w to climb 5% with a 13kg bike. 244w * 1.05 = 256w.
at 25kph, i need 458w to climb 5% with an 8kg bike, but 478w to climb 5% with a 13kg bike. 458 * 1.04 = 478w.

the increment gradually shrinks just the tiniest amount to do increasing contribution of wind. note that the highest power scenario there is still only demanding 20w of assistance from the bike to negate it's own weight, so relative to the bike max, even 10% would do it. so a setting of 5/10 would be enough for all those scenarios.

another interesting question is "how much faster can i go on level ground!?" let's say one can put out 125w sustained, and the bike's reported 300w is only really 250w at the crank.

125w on level ground with the 8kg bike and 88kg rider is 26kph. add the 250w from the bike (this would require a setting of 100/100), for 375w, and the speed goes up to 40kph!
i tend to sustain around 250w on level ground, which is good for 34kph. i don't really use the motor on level ground, but if i did, our combined 500w (which would require a setting of 50/100) would yield 44kph. this matches my real world experience that i can do about 20mph/32kph myself, no wind, but it's actually very hard to get to 28mph/45kph even with the motor. makes me think the 45kph limit of a class 2 bike is really just a theoretical thing, in practice not many people capable up putting out 300w+ sustained are using that extra 250!