does your Haibike Urban Plus actually go 28 mph?

[michaelwoodcock]

I've had it with my bike. I don't know if it's just me, but I can never go anywhere near 28mph no matter who is on the bike or how hard they're pedalling. Is it just me, or are other peoples 2017 Haibike Urban Plus' basically 24mph top speed to? and I mean 24 mph with lots and lots of pedaling! Downhill with a tailwind drafting a car I consider it my lucky day to hit 26 mph.

I saw Court's review where there is a USB dongle that connects to the CANBUS system. I called HAIBIKE USA help line, I think it's bundled in with other ACCEL group brands, and they tell me :"oh you don't need that, even if you had that the software is only for dealers!" So I cannot tell if my speed was set lower by a dealer to extend range. My bike is an ex rental bike.

So tonight I took my controller, the whole bike apart. Ant NOTHING is like in any manuals you can find on the Tranzx or Haibike website. Why can a company do somethings so right and not ackowledge that there exists a huge gap in dealer service? there's basically no dealer for the TranzX drives within 1000 miles from me. I took the motor controller apart in hopes that it would have a USB connector like pictured in the TRANZX software manual. But upon opening that up, there's only different connectors labbeled CAN BUS. No USB style connectors anywhere in sight.

If I were a manufacturer, and I didn't want to give the customers access to dealership software, so be it. I would find a work around. Go to meeting, or some other remote desktop application where I could access the bike via USB and do diagnostics or reprogramming.

Please let me know if I just bought the wrong bike, and your top speed is way lower than 28 mph too. Basically I've done everything, maintenance, checked to make sure there's no brake drag, tire pressure, full tuck, nothing will get me past 24 mph on the straights by the bikes speedo or GPS. I need a downhill/tailwing/draft for that.

I actually hope I'm being unreasonable. I want to like the Urban Plus, and Haibike as a brand. But the COBI system sucks, and the dealer network near me is non existent. And the support, while helpful, doesn't go the whole 9 yards. Thoughts?

I'll post pictures of the motor controller insides later but it is absoloutly nothing like the pictures on the tranzx software tutorial. So there's absoloutly no way to find a back door into the motor controller without tons of hacking/homework. It's absurd to me to think you can own a product and be unable to see what's going on with it yourself.

As my next e bike I'm either getting something with local support or something like the BAFANG where I can access everything I want without a trip to a dealer 1000 miles away.

 

[nublar]

I have the software but you need a special cable that hooks up to the Cobi display cable that I can't find anywhere. Looks like you can adjust your max speed.

As for going 28, I can go 27-28 mph on mode 4 with a some effort. I've been biking on the road for 10+ years though.

 

[michaelwoodcock]

ok I've been riding with GPS speed and it's probably a setting that was changed for top speed. It just does not assist past 24 mph you can feel a sharp drop in assist as soon as you reach that speed. That being said I can't really blame the bike for that if the settings were changed.

I have the software but you need a special cable that hooks up to the Cobi display cable that I can't find anywhere. Looks like you can adjust your max speed.

As for going 28, I can go 27-28 mph on mode 4 with a some effort. I've been biking on the road for 10+ years though.

I understand what you mean but I think I can put out the watts. I'm no roadie, I'm fit from other endeavors though but I can reach speeds on a road bike faster than some roadies I know for a short period of time. My Functional Threashold Power is pretty abysmal compared to those guys but my peak should be able to get me to 28. According to the equipment at the gym my ftp is under 250 watts, but my peak is almost 1200 watts.

Here's the inside of the motor controller. No USB hookup, but there is a 4 pin header labeled program and an other one labeled can bus.

I'm not going to get a USB cable and mess with trying to make changes unless I have significant other problems with the bike. I don't want to brick it!

 

[raceto100]

Just relaying my experience with my bike... none of this helps you. But it might suggest that your bike is performing subpar from some reason.

I have hit 28mph or even higher than that on my Urban Plus for brief flashes but it's a significant effort to do so. If I ride in turbo I can easily maintain 42kph (26mph) which I rarely do, because it's annoying to gear up to high and then gear down to a lower gear when I frequently hit a stoplight or get stuck in city traffic. My commuting cruising speed is around 32kph (20mph) to 35kph (22mph) in Level 3 which is near effortless (90 bpm heartrate) and easier on my knees and battery life. If I want exercise I use Level 1 or 2.

Here in this Strava screenshot you can see that I hit 48.2kph (30mph) on a very slight downhill grade of 2.8%.

Cheers

 

[michaelwoodcock]

thanks for that information! That makes sense. My experience is pedaling very hard I can easily maintain about 24 mph. I've never seen 28mph even down hill with a tail wind. I managed to find a dealer that should have the software for connecting to the bike a little drive away. I'll report back if I manage to get the speed issue sorted out.