Curious how others feel about class 3 speeds

[ruffruff]

I'm just talking out loud to myself..... please don't take this as I care if you have class 3 or not. I don't ---just curious if this is a me thing! LOL
*********this is not a class 3 bash**********

I have a very steep hill in my neighborhood and it gets me up to 30mph.

Every time I come down it I say to myself, "Why do I want to go 30mph or 28mph, on a bike for any length of time!"
My new hydraulic brakes have all they can do to slow me down enough to turn into my driveway.
I can't imagine emergency stopping at 28mph and surviving.

OK, just my thinking....your mileage may vary.

 

[AlanDB]

I have a class 1 bike. The maximum speed I have had it up to on downhill is 26 MPH. I remember that incident because I hit a small bump in the pavement at that speed and almost lost control ... scared the heck out of me. So at my age, the answer is "No, I have no interest in class 3 speeds". In my younger more foolish days, it would have been a different answer.

 

[ruffruff]

Ya I'm an oldster too. Maybe that is playing into my mindset? Way less foolish now!

 

[TMH]

Having a Class 3 bike doesn't mean that one is always doing the top speed. But on flat ground I find that easily maintaining 24-26mph (more with a tail wind) is fun and satisfying. I also ride motorcycles so watching the ground fly by is natural to me. And I always ride defensively and trust in my equipment for being able to make emergency maneuvers or stops.

Personally I am addicted to Class 3 speeds and hitting the cut-off on Class 1 bikes is not satisfying. But I will say that there seems to be a big difference between the Class 1 bikes I ride. On some you really hit a wall when the motor cut-off occurs. On others I find that I blow through the motor cut-off at 20mph, but the bike still seems like it likes to go 22-23mph just with my pedal power. Obviously the latter bikes are more enjoyable to me.

I'm not young (62 this June) but I have always ridden conservatively - or at least within my own personal limits.

 

[Sierratim]

Anything over ~20mph really is at the limit of modern hydraulic brakes. I generally ride my Class 3 under 20mph, mostly due to the locally steep hills, though I do enjoy coasting faster down them on a nice day. This of course is possible on nearly any bike. So why Class 3? I do a lot of errands through town that take me on loops up to 20 miles. There are several fairly flat city streets that keeping up with traffic is the safest way to ride. The Class 3 can do this.

 

[rich c]

Anything over ~20mph really is at the limit of modern hydraulic brakes. I generally ride my Class 3 under 20mph, mostly due to the locally steep hills, though I do enjoy coasting faster down them on a nice day. This of course is possible on nearly any bike. So why Class 3? I do a lot of errands through town that take me on loops up to 20 miles. There are several fairly flat city streets that keeping up with traffic is the safest way to ride. The Class 3 can do this.

I don't ride in any traffic where 28mph keeps up with the traffic. The only place cars slow down to 30mph is in a 20mph school zone. There is no safe speed to ride in traffic. If you get clipped at 20mph or 28mph, it's going to be a major deal either way.

 

[Browneye]

Having a Class 3 bike doesn't mean that one is always doing the top speed. But on flat ground I find that easily maintaining 24-26mph (more with a tail wind) is fun and satisfying. I also ride motorcycles so watching the ground fly by is natural to me. And I always ride defensively and trust in my equipment for being able to make emergency maneuvers or stops.

Personally I am addicted to Class 3 speeds and hitting the cut-off on Class 1 bikes is not satisfying. But I will say that there seems to be a big difference between the Class 1 bikes I ride. On some you really hit a wall when the motor cut-off occurs. On others I find that I blow through the motor cut-off at 20mph, but the bike still seems like it likes to go 22-23mph just with my pedal power. Obviously the latter bikes are more enjoyable to me.

I'm not young (62 this June) but I have always ridden conservatively - or at least within my own personal limits.

^^This. I hit the limit on both of my bikes quite regularly, so a C3 chip would give me a couple of more mph and that would be dandy. Likely in my future at some point, when I no longer have or need warranty coverage for the assist motor. I've tested it out, it is really great, but really sucks the pack down.

And yes, I've hit 28 offroad and it's nearly scary. Not something I would want to do very often. And this after fifty years of dirtbike riding. Back in the day it wasn't unusual to fly across the open desert at 70. If you hit something, or a cravass, you went over the bars. Lots of broken riders. I'm rather over all that now.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I think it depends a lot on conditions, your bike, your abilities, and where exactly you ride.

My bike has upgraded 203mm rotors just because the 180s weren't cutting it. I highly recommend that upgrade for most e-bikers.

On roads with good pavement and good sight lines I routinely hit 35mph on the downhills, with no disasters and only a few moments of High Drama**.

Under optimum karma I've gone just over 40mph.

On decent unpaved roads I usually keep it below 25mph. Again probably the dominant issue is sight lines and width of the road -- I don't want to come whipping around a corner into a cloud of dust and into the grill of a logging truck. Although I don't really enjoy riding a seriously washboarded road fast, and I doubt my bike does either.

On some roads, either because of surface, traffic, wildlife, or poor sight lines even 20mph is insanely fast.

**The moments of High Drama have involved charismatic megafauna (1 moose), not so charismatic megafauna (e.g. cows or wild turkeys), a peculiar combination of high tire pressure, very smooth and damp pavement, and fork lock-out that produced a frightful shimmy above about 32mph, and a missing grate on a highway shoulder (basically a two-foot wide crater in the middle of the shoulder).

 

[AHicks]

If you live in an area where there's a lot of hills, it's not going to make one lick of difference what class bike you have, you're very likely going to see uncomfortably fast speeds coming down some of them.Making matters worse, there's cross roads with stops signs at the bottom of some of them.

 

[Sierratim]

I don't ride in any traffic where 28mph keeps up with the traffic. The only place cars slow down to 30mph is in a 20mph school zone. There is no safe speed to ride in traffic. If you get clipped at 20mph or 28mph, it's going to be a major deal either way.

For me it's either ride with traffic or don't ride locally. Of course you're right, getting even a 'gentle tap' from a car is a real issue for a cyclist, regardless of speed. I use lots of flashing lights, clear hand signals and defensive riding. So far no crashes from ebiking with traffic in nearly 10 years. I've had 3 on dedicated out of the area bike trails where other cyclists made mistakes. I wasn't doing 20mph, but it still hurts!

 

[Nova Haibike]

In my past life I rode down hills on regular bikes approaching 55 mph. On my e-bike I have hit close to 40 mph (not as large or long of grades). I know if I crash it will hurt. But I don't think about that when I am doing it. As far as stopping from high speeds is concerned, I don't think brakes is that much an issue; at least is hasn't been for me. If I really need to stop in a hurry, the main thing is getting my butt off the saddle and over the rear wheel so I can really clamp down on the front brake.

 

[Deacon Blues]

I find the faster I go the less time I have to look at the scenery. There's a couple of big hills I go down and often hit 40mph. At that speed I'm NOT looking at the scenery.
My upcoming ebike will be able to go faster than 30mph, but I doubt I'll hit those speeds very often. Still, it's nice to be able to when I want to.
For the most part, I'm happy riding at around 20mph.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I ride a Class 3 e-bike because I don't want to be limited to the European Class 1, 25 km/h. I hardly ride faster than 40 km/h (25 mph). The benefits of the European "Class 3" e-bike as for me are:

• I don't need and and am not allowed to ride on bike paths/lanes. Moving with the traffic gets me faster at my destinations;
• If there is a bike ban on a road, I deliberately use a bike path riding far slower (and accepting getting a ticket but it hasn't happened so far);
• Sometimes I have to ride very very fast to escape a large truck being slowed down by me on the road. There are numerous dangerous road situations during which riding faster means safer;
• I prefer low-traffic roads; I'm covering large distances in shorter time. Faster ride means more scenery to see
• When I'm very tired I want to be at home fast;
• Class 3 e-bikes are just sturdier than the Class 1 ones because the former are designed for safety at speed;
• Riding fast means having a lot of fun

It is very important I live in a flatland so I need a speed not the capability to conquer any hills.

My average speed on the Class 3 is rather low, some 24 km/h (15 mph) but it is so nice to travel with occasional speed of 37 km/h (23 mph)... If my maximum speed is 25 km/h (15.5 mph) I feel like I were crawling...

 

[Art Deco]

I ride a Class 3 e-bike because I don't want to be limited to the European Class 1, 25 km/h. I hardly ride faster than 40 km/h (25 mph). The benefits of the European "Class 3" e-bike as for me are:

• I don't need and and am not allowed to ride on bike paths/lanes. Moving with the traffic gets me faster at my destinations;
• If there is a bike ban on a road, I deliberately use a bike path riding far slower (and accepting getting a ticket but it hasn't happened so far);
• Sometimes I have to ride very very fast to escape a large truck being slowed down by me on the road. There are numerous dangerous road situations during which riding faster means safer;
• I prefer low-traffic roads; I'm covering large distances in shorter time. Faster ride means more scenery to see
• When I'm very tired I want to be at home fast;
• Class 3 e-bikes are just sturdier than the Class 1 ones because the former are designed for safety at speed;
• Riding fast means having a lot of fun

It is very important I live in a flatland so I need a speed not the capability to conquer any hills.

My average speed on the Class 3 is rather low, some 24 km/h (15 mph) but it is so nice to travel with occasional speed of 37 km/h (23 mph)... If my maximum speed is 25 km/h (15.5 mph) I feel like I were crawling...

Stefan, some of your points are the very same reasons my wife drives a BMW rather than a econo box car: better build, better brakes, much better response, etc. She doesn't speed (much). Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[GypsyTreker]

I seem to find 15mph a comfortable speed on my bike. Class 2. 20-30 mph, after riding motorcycles for years, just isn't a rush. Speed seems to be relative. Years ago, when I was racing as an amateur (m/c) my uncle asked if I wanted to crew on his sailboat in a Long Beach harbor regatta. On a downwind leg under full sail my uncle is losing it, barking commands getting stressed as we try to attain maximum speed that I believe was... 5 knots. Point being, unless it makes it more difficult for eBikes to be accepted, if someone likes going like a bat out of hell in the 20mph range, more power too them

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stefan, some of your points are the very same reasons my wife drives a BMW rather than a econo box car: better build, better brakes, much better response, etc. She doesn't speed (much). Nothing wrong with that at all.

Art Deco, my other bike is a street legal Class 1 Euro bike only the restriction is off. That makes the e-bike the U.S. Class 1 effectively. I don't regret buying the bike, the U.S. Class 1 for touring, the Class 3 for zooming

 

[Bruce Arnold]

I like being able to go fast. Most of my riding is in the 15 mph range. But when time is a factor, having the ability to go 25+ mph is welcome.

There is a 5 mile stretch of 4-lane highway between my little village and the next town of any size, where all the shops and my office are located, that I usually average 25 mph on. I don't think it makes me safer necessarily. I'm just eager to get that part of the ride over with. Honestly, I'm safer out on the slab than I am on the city streets.

And then there's the fun factor. Sometimes, I just like going fast.

I disagree that hydraulic brakes are not effective enough at over 20 mph. Not in my experience. As a motorcycle rider, I know that you grab a big handful of front brake because that's where the weight goes. Not neglecting the rear brake mind you, but you have to use plenty of front brake when you want to stop quickly. If hydraulic brakes aren't working for you at over 20 mph, there's something wrong with your brakes or your technique.

 

[byunbee]

The common theme for class 3 seems to be...

• It's nice to have when you need it or want it for short periods, but most people don't use it consistently for the duration of their rides
• It really drains your battery

I agree that most people normally wouldn't go beyond the 20 mph speed even if you have the power to go faster. It's also true that maintaining 28 mph is not a cruise in the park. So, the difference really is the 2-4 mph that is sustainable on rides. For some, it's worth it, but for most, probably not.

 

[TMH]

The common theme for class 3 seems to be...

• It's nice to have when you need it or want it for short periods, but most people don't use it consistently for the duration of their rides
• It really drains your battery

I agree that most people normally wouldn't go beyond the 20 mph speed even if you have the power to go faster. It's also true that maintaining 28 mph is not a cruise in the part. So, the difference really is the 2-4 mph that is sustainable on rides. For some, it's worth it, but for most, probably not.

I don't get the 'worth it' part: Not all Class 3 bikes are any more expensive as compared to similar Class 1 bikes. For example the Ride1Up 500 and 700 series bikes are rather inexpensive for e-bikes of their quality and specification level, and both are Class 3?

 

[RabH]

I'm more than happy with my 15.5mph cut off, it gives me more range and I live in a very hilly area where I regularly hit over 40mph so no real need for more power where I'm concerned! My hydraulic brakes are more than capable of stopping me at high speed, a little grey sqirrel will testify to that one today! I think being a motorcyclist helps a lot in that respect!