Jeremy McCreary
Bought it anyway
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Forgot to mention that I usually ride at low assist, even up hills. In most cases, my 500W, 65 Nm hub motor still has plenty of help to give at 5 mph. Usually in no hurry, but if I want to climb faster, I can up the assist and still get a useful motor response.34-105 sounds good with 500 W of assist ready. You could pedal at 20 mph with a cadence of 78, I think, but sitting upright, you'd want assistance against air drag. At a cadence of 85 in low, you'd be going 8.4 mph. Below that, the motor might not offer many watts of assistance.
With a lot of huffing and puffing at way below preferred cadence, this hub-drive once climbed a half-mile 22% grade at assist 7/9 without overheating.
Incidentally, was still catching my breath a few minutes later when a big 50-something guy on an unmotorized 18 lb gravel bike joined me at the top, not the least bit out of breath.
Getting the feeling that there's a lot of gray area in hub- vs. mid-drive climbing ability, and some of it has to do with gearing, technique, and exertion tolerance.