Hi, from Adelaide, South Australia

[cirdan]

Recently bought two Smartmotion e-bikes. One for the missus, a Smartmotion Mid-City and a Smartmotion X-City for myself. Originally these bikes were designed for posties in NZ and now assembled in Brisbane, Queensland. Both these bikes come with 36v 15.6ah battery, Tektro hydraulic disc e-brakes and high torque mid-motor with 40T motors. The difference between them is the number of gears and the Smartmotion X-City has a stronger construction and wider off-road tires. Both very comfortable to ride but being our first e-bikes, the gears and the power assist are taking some getting used to. We have both spent many years riding standard road bikes over the years but for my wife, that is twenty years ago. For me, bike riding is more recent but I stopped about 8 years ago. As we are now approaching our seventies, e-bikes seem to be the perfect option in order to resume and continue riding for many more years. One question I have for the more experienced e-bike riders is, we have both cadence and torque sensors on both bikes. Unsure of when to ride using the cadence sensor and when to use the torque sensor. The torque sensor seems to be the most "comfortable" so far but we are unsure about when and where to use the cadence, if at all.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Recently bought two Smartmotion e-bikes. One for the missus, a Smartmotion Mid-City and a Smartmotion X-City for myself. Originally these bikes were designed for posties in NZ and now assembled in Brisbane, Queensland. Both these bikes come with 36v 15.6ah battery, Tektro hydraulic disc e-brakes and high torque mid-motor with 40T motors. The difference between them is the number of gears and the Smartmotion X-City has a stronger construction and wider off-road tires. Both very comfortable to ride but being our first e-bikes, the gears and the power assist are taking some getting used to. We have both spent many years riding standard road bikes over the years but for my wife, that is twenty years ago. For me, bike riding is more recent but I stopped about 8 years ago. As we are now approaching our seventies, e-bikes seem to be the perfect option in order to resume and continue riding for many more years. One question I have for the more experienced e-bike riders is, we have both cadence and torque sensors on both bikes. Unsure of when to ride using the cadence sensor and when to use the torque sensor. The torque sensor seems to be the most "comfortable" so far but we are unsure about when and where to use the cadence, if at all.

Welcome to EBR Cirdan. I'm not the "more experienced", just saying Hi till they show up. (I've been into ebikes for a few months.)

I'm surprised to see you refer to choice between the two sensors like you could choose at any given time. As I understand it some bikes only have one or the other. And bikes that have both seem to be set to use one at one time and to a certain degree and the other at another time and to a certain degree. For instance I saw a chart listed where a high end controller used torque sensing at the beginning of starting out and then as you got up speed it added in a higher and higher % of cadence sensing and dropped off an equivalent % of torque sensing. I believe the idea of that was to smooth out the motors adding of power and make assist feel more natural.

I'll be interested to see what more experienced people have to say and to see whether your bikes have some form of selection.

Again, welcome, Merle

 

[Merle Nelson]

Made me think to do a forum search....there is some stuff here I would like to read.

Search results for query: torque sensing vs cadence sensing

electricbikereview.com

 

[cirdan]

Thanks for your replies Merle. Gives me plenty of reading to do. I'm not sure what you mean by "choice between the two sensors like you could choose at any given time". I wouldn't change a sensor during a ride but only before I begin a ride. I think the best thing is for me to go on a ride by myself and try the bike out using the different sensors and get a feel for what suits me. So far, when riding with my wife, I have been busy focussing on her not falling off, engaging the gears correctly and using the brakes and most appropriate power assist levels.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

we have both cadence and torque sensors on both bikes. Unsure of when to ride using the cadence sensor and when to use the torque sensor.

Can you really select either of them? I thought the torque and cadence sensors should work together...

 

[cirdan]

Can you really select either of them? I thought the torque and cadence sensors should work together...

Yes, you can select either of them.

From the manual:
Torque/cadence Mode if the tick is next to POWER this means it is in Cadence mode, if it is next to NORMAL it is in Torque mode.
Toggle between Torque and Cadence modes by pushing S E T twice quickly.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Huh. Only way I had heard of change previously was in the electronic settings in more involved ways that sounded like you would do it at night for the next days ride and at most change it after riding for the following day. This sounds like you could fine tune your pedal assist within the very ride, depending on conditions.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The e-bikes I'm riding use both sensors. With a mid-drive, the torque sensor gives you variable assistance, depending on the power you're inputting with your legs. Cadence sensor provides fixed assistance independent of the way you are pedalling. The former gives more natural riding assistance while the latter is better for commuting (constant speed achieved easily). Using the torque sensor is more appropriate if you want to travel at low speed at times, and faster when you need it.

 

[cirdan]

Both my wife and I are finding the torque sensor works well. Doubt that I'll need to use cadence at all.