For Specialized SL owners. Have you bought the bottle battery and is it helpful to you?

[mfgrep]

All this talk of cycling is annoying me. It's far too cold to ride here. Arghhhhh.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

All this talk of cycling is annoying me. It's far too cold to ride here. Arghhhhh.

My condolences. You probably shouldn't look at my latest ride post.

Curious...

Q1. Where do you ride?

Q2 . What's your personal riding season, and what limits it for you — rain, snow, temperatures, etc?

Q3. Has your riding season changed in the last decade?

Thanks!

 

[niko83]

Have any of you tried using the RE on a specialized non-SL ebike? Could it, with some tricks, be used on a levo or tero for example?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Have any of you tried using the RE on a specialized non-SL ebike? Could it, with some tricks, be used on a levo or tero for example?

Not doable. Different voltage and architecture.

 

[Spokes609]

I have Y cable so I charge both batteries at the same time. With the extender battery I was able to ride 93 miles with almost 4,000 feet of climbing. i kept the bike in Eco except for hills greater than 6%. I have both batteries in use at the same time. I was able to finish the ride with 35% of the 2 batteries left. I left out that I was able to ride the last 7 miles home in Sport mode.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I have Y cable so I charge both batteries at the same time. With the extender battery I was able to ride 93 miles with almost 4,000 feet of climbing. i kept the bike in Eco except for hills greater than 6%. I have both batteries in use at the same time. I was able to finish the ride with 35% of the 2 batteries left. I left out that I was able to ride the last 7 miles home in Sport mode.

Welcome! Impressive ride and range.

Counting the main and RE together as 480Wh, you burned 65% of that, or 312Wh, in 93 mi and 4,000 ft. That comes to 3.4 Wh/mi and 98% of the main.

I'm getting silimar Wh/mi figures on my SL 5.0 on inland rides with similar assist usage and elevation gains per mile. May have to add an RE once my rides start approaching 60 mi, but no need so far.

 

[JustRiding]

I bought the bottle ´battery but rarely used it. My SL 4.0 is now approx 4 years old and I am using it a lot. But e,g, for commuting to office and back (24 km in total) in turbo mode (flat terrain but can be windy), there is still around 40-50% battery remaining.
It's only on larger trips > 40 km I take it with me.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I bought the bottle ´battery but rarely used it. My SL 4.0 is now approx 4 years old and I am using it a lot. But e,g, for commuting to office and back (24 km in total) in turbo mode (flat terrain but can be windy), there is still around 40-50% battery remaining.
It's only on larger trips > 40 km I take it with me.

You could set the e-bike to discharge the Range Extender first, which would protect the main battery against the degradation.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

After 4 months and over 1,000 mi on my SL 5.0 in hilly terrain, my longest rides have been ~35-40 mi with average elevation gains of 50 ft/mi or more. The most battery used on a single ride so far is 51%, but that partly reflects my tendency to ride in ECO and OFF when time and grades allow.

Several SL members advised me to hold off on an RE till I had some time on the SL, and boy am I glad I listened! Spent the money on much more useful gear and improvements instead.

Bottom line: Based on this experience, no RE in my foreseeable future.