Hi Aalper. I think it would be pretty hard to hack the ebikemotion system since there seems to be a lot of information passed from the bike to ebikemotion. That being said, it's not going to feel slow....it's just that since you're in the UK any speed above 15.5 mph is going to come from you, not the motor. The bike itself feels very much like a regular bike and doesn't weigh 50 or 60 pounds...if I had a bike that heavy the thought of running out of battery power would really give me range anxiety. If you're looking for a regular bike with some power to help you up hills, against headwinds that type of stuff it's a great bike, but if you're looking for a bike where the motor does most of the work and allows you to ride 22 miles without working up a sweat at fast, motor-driven speeds the Gain is probably not the way to go. I've never tried the Fazua system but given the size of the battery and motor I doubt it's much different from the Gain. If you have a place where you can test ride the Gain I would strongly suggest you give it a try and see what it's like. With a 242 watt hour battery and a 250 watt motor even if you found a hack there's no way you would be able to make a round trip 22 mile commute at high speeds (let's say over 22 mph or so) at the highest power level without running out of battery power.
Ebikemotion x35 speed limiter "fix"
- Thread starter Karl
- Start date
Jaxx
Well-Known Member
What is your idea of slow? Whenever I feel like it? I can ride the Gain at 20mph without assist for a long period (because it's fairly lightweight and rides like a regular road bike) Just as easily, because the mood takes me, I will cruise along at 16mph having an easy time of it with the helping hand of the motor. I've got 2 Gains, a winter and summer version. That's my view on the Gain.
Thanks for the replies. I did try Gain D20 briefly on a small stretch of road. It works great for stop-starts or accelerating around corners. However, I could also reach the assistance limit very quickly and when the engine cuts off it feels hard to cycle because I am on the highest gear. As said I only tried it very briefly. It's good to hear you are still happy with your Gains. I can also find Orbea Gains or Ribbles cheaper than Fazua or Bosch engine cycles most of the time. So I am trying to understand what are peoples experiences. I am also not sure how much extra assistance the dongles provide on these small engines.
Jaxx
Well-Known Member
As for the dongle that came out recently, there has been a mixed reception, with one guy wishing to return or sell his. For an extra 4mph it doesn't seem to me, at least, worth the cost and hassle. But then again if I still had to commute using the bike, I would be satisfied with a 16mph journey arriving fairly relaxed and reasonably sweat free.
Hi Aalper. In a nutshell I see bikes like the Gain as being right for people who want to ride what feels like a regular bike and get some exercise while doing it. Yes, it doesn't have tons of power so you have to shift like you do in a regular bike, you can't expect the motor to do all the work. Other folks want a bike with lots of battery power so they can have fast, long range transport to quickly get to where they are going without expending much energy or to be able to carry tons of stuff. Neither one is right or wrong it's just different bikes for different needs. Only you can decide what you're looking for, just go with what you want and not by our opinions. Of course the best solution would just be to have different bikes for different purposes, but that can be an expensive undertaking. 
Absolutely. There isn’t a bike that would tick all the boxes. At the moment I am using a carbon Trek road bike that I bought used which is about 9kg. It’s been a fast bike for my daily commute of 3-4 miles. But Now I need to commute a much longer distance. I can do it with my current bike but it gets a bit tiring especially on windy days. I am hoping the electric bike will help to some extend so that I can keep using rail and cycle combination instead of driving. It has to be light to carry over rail bridges as well. I haven’t really found any online comment on Fazua engines with speed dongles.
Jaxx
Well-Known Member
For a commute, do you need the ability to carry? Surly you would also require any bike to be capable of fitting mudguards? All to be taken into consideration.
I can’t be 100% sure but all the above bikes have models suitable for mudguards. I will most likely use a seat post pannier rack with my backpack pannier from Decathlon. Works great for carrying a laptop and lunch and because it splits with a zip gives a very good balance in comparison to one sided pannier bags.
You know Aalper the more you describe your needs the more likely it seems that an Orbea Gain will work for you. You're not looking for a motor scooter type bike and compared to most ebikes it's quite light when it comes to carrying it. I think that with the way you use it the built in battery will provide more than enough range for your needs. The only issue since you're in the UK is the cut off at 15.5 mph. Although the motor doesn't drag above that speed it seems a shame to be adding 10 pounds or so of dead weight whenever you exceed it. Since I don't live in the UK I'm sure you have your reasons for the cut off, and you certainly don't need a foreigner telling you what is right for the UK, but just about any non-ebike cyclist can easily exceed that speed on a regular bike. If the UK is trying to wean people away from cars and into greener forms of transportation it seems counter-productive to punish people using ebikes. If it were at least a 20mph cut off it would be so much more like speeds regular cyclists hit all the time.
Jaxx
Well-Known Member
Sol, it's an EU directive. Hopefully once we get BREXIT done???? We will then be once again masters of our own laws and can repeal the cut off. Could you for one minute imagine the USA having to abide by protocols written in Canada or Mexico?
I've always been confused by that. I understand that in a crowded city center like London maybe you need a lower speed, but we have a lot of British snowbirds here and they are the most law abiding people I've seen. No need to cripple bikes, just post a speed limit where needed. That would never work with Americans, Italians or many other groups but at least the Brits we have here would stick to posted limits even if they bikes couple go 60 mph. 
Jaxx
Well-Known Member
This is utter nonsense. The UK government (Tories) decided to harmonise the electric bike legislation with the EU law in 2015. This was due to demand from industry because UK legislation was even worse. UK government could and still can diverge from that legislation if they wanted to. Similarly there is nothing preventing individual EU countries from having different traffic regulations. Germany has Autobahns without speed limit for instance. This whole speed limit on eBike assistance is an industry driven effort.
So I had the chance to test orbea gain d20 and focus paralane2 carbon with Fazua so far. I only tested them for about 20min so it’s hard to make a full judgement. My impressions are orbea is faster to react and kick in the motor for stop starts or after slowing down. Fazua takes a few seconds longer. However at top speed I felt ebikemotion x35 cuts off more strongly than the Fazua. Fazua has a more refined area at top speed where it manages to assist. I still felt the motor was stopping and starting but it was less intrusive. Whereas orbea at top speed cuts off and then I need to wait for it to kick in. As I said this is only for a short trial. I think they are both great. Though I really wish they could assist a bit more than 15.5mph. I also had the feeling they both stop the assist sooner than reaching that speed. If there was a dongle that worked effectively for ebikemotion I would buy a bike straightaway because bikes with ebikemotion are considerably cheaper.
Jaxx
Well-Known Member
I've tried my Gain on the rollers, motor shuts off at 16.5mph. Very smoothly, also returns in just as gradual.
youngoldbloke
Member
I've been informed on other forums that the 25kph/15.5mph assistance cut off limit was chosen as being appropriate to 'utility cycling', city cycling - that being seen as the probable function of ebikes. The emergence of the e-road bike genre as typified by the Orbea Gain demands a rethink. Even riding with my club's leisure rides the group's speed often drifts over 15.5mph, on long level stretches, and it can be difficult to stay with the group. An 18- 20mph cut-off would be much more realistic for e-road bikes..
Since they cut off at 20 in the US ( in reality it seems to cut off at about 21.1 ) is there any possibility that the cut off would change if you changed your location to being in the US in the ebikemotion/ Orbea sites/ app? I doubt it would be that simple, but has anyone tried it?
Jaxx
Well-Known Member
You're up early Sol? Was told your LBS could do it. However they would quickly lose the franchise. Everything they do and you yourself to any of the X35 system is reported back to Orbea via the internet.
Wiliertrestina
New Member
The reason why the dongle is not fully effective is simply because as you said, the assist start to decline before the speed limit (23km/h on a Wilier), this is due to the power curves designed by the bike manufacturers (see my post on that topic). So the dongle let the battery providing power but the curve continues to go down (quickly) after speed limit.
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