Hello from Bath UK

[Graham Harrison]

Hi all
I have a Swytch Bike kit attached to a Marin Rift Zone mountain bike. It works fine, but the range is only about 20 miles - much less when cycling the hills around Bath. I saw a Mercedes Smart ebike on ebay and, after making sure it worked, I bought it. I have to say that the power on hills is much less than my Swytch Bike, even on maximum power setting. One reason for signing up to this forum is that the Smart bike is now no longer produced and I don't know if there is any support for it anywhere. I would appreciate it if anyone knows where I might be able to get some help with this.
Thanks
Graham

 

[christob]

Sorry to hear about the 2 insufficient bikes...! I'm afraid I don't know about the Mercedes, but I suspect someone here will.
Welcome to the forums, regardless...! Bath is on my "must do" list; in 4 visits to England, I never manged to get there...

 

[J.R.]

Hi all
I have a Swytch Bike kit attached to a Marin Rift Zone mountain bike. It works fine, but the range is only about 20 miles - much less when cycling the hills around Bath. I saw a Mercedes Smart ebike on ebay and, after making sure it worked, I bought it. I have to say that the power on hills is much less than my Swytch Bike, even on maximum power setting. One reason for signing up to this forum is that the Smart bike is now no longer produced and I don't know if there is any support for it anywhere. I would appreciate it if anyone knows where I might be able to get some help with this.
Thanks
Graham

I think the difference in power you're experiencing is the swytch is a geared hub motor and the smart is a direct drive hub motor. Both being 250 watts for the European market. The geared hub will have a lot more torque for hills, the direct drive will shine on level ground and offer good range. It's just two very different drives. Both good, but different.

 

[Graham Harrison]

Actually, the Swytch is a direct drive front wheel motor and the Smart is a rear-drive motor with an integral hub gearbox. My wife has a Pemberton which has a rear hub motor with derailier gears and it pulls (or pushes) much better uphill than the Smart.

 

[J.R.]

Actually, the Swytch is a direct drive front wheel motor and the Smart is a rear-drive motor with an integral hub gearbox. My wife has a Pemberton which has a rear hub motor with derailier gears and it pulls (or pushes) much better uphill than the Smart.

I believe the swytch is an internally geared hub motor and the smart is a BionX direct drive hub motor. The description doesn't have anything to do with the bicycle gears. One can mount direct drive or geared hub motors on the front or rear of a bike.

This might be helpful:

http://www.ebikeschool.com/geared-hub-motors-vs-gearless-hub-motors/

And:

 

[Graham Harrison]

Thanks JR. I stand corrected. Isn't it good to learn something new every day?