How much "power" do I really need?

[fooferdoggie]

not everybody can afford the elegant middrive bikes, some of you Guys throw 4-5000$ dollars like it is pocket change.

not everyone owns a car or 2 uses a bike for a toy.

 

[kevinmccune]

not everyone owns a car or 2 uses a bike for a toy.

You could get a nice used car for that money( keep you dry in rain as well)

 

[Nomad]

Why would anyone pay so much for a motorized vehicle that they need to push? I upgraded from a slow old VW bug years ago because it was so slow climbing mountains and overheated the engine. Same applies with my ebike. Taking a long steep hill will overheat the battery and motor if it's underpowered. Most ebikes have 7 gears, not 21. Puts a massive strain on the system to overwork it attempting too much hill with too little power. Getting the right amount of power to overcome major inclines will keep the motor and battery happy. It all comes down to the weight of the bike, rider, and terraine. Most people buy ebikes for fun and the joy of riding anywhere with ease. Not to get hot and sweaty and push the thing up a hill. That's why I left my analog bike and dumped my old VW. It's all about beating gravity where I live. Anyone getting their first ebike should take them for a test drive in the area they live before buying. Find the steepest street or bike trails around and see how easy it is to make it up the hill, sitting down using assist, no throttle. If it won't climb it then you need more power, just like it say's in the power guide article link above. More hills, more power. Less hills, less power. Simple.

a lot of E-bikes are commonly 12,11 or 10 speeds and As far as testing on the stuff you'll be riding if you can that's a no brainer.

 

[Robspace1]

What? Were are you coming from on that? If I see somebody spinning like the devil and doing 2 mph I think just push the danged thing,I have never had to push my ebikes up an hill around here and some of them will give you a 40 mph boost when you top over.If you want to zoom get a Surron or some of the other "epeds", not everybody can afford the elegant middrive bikes, some of you Guys throw 4-5000$ dollars like it is pocket change.

Exactly the point. You should never have to push an ebike up a hill. Just buy a bike that can handle you're weight on the steepest streets you plan on riding. Taking underpowered ebikes up long, steep hills puts way too much heat stress on the motor and battery. My bike is rear hub, 7 speed, with 1000 watts. I go up any steep street sitting down with assist. My bike was $1200. You don't need to spend a lot to get a good ebike.

 

[TrevorB]

Update - a bike shop about 4 hours away got in a Gazelle Ultimate C380 in a small step through frame size! It has a Bosch Performance Line motor (65Nm) and a Gates belt drive + Enviolo hub. I can't test ride it until Saturday but I am feeling pretty confident that's going to be my bike!! (so much so, I put a deposit down on it so they can't sell it to someone else before I get there. Every nearby Gazelle dealer has told me it will be months before they expect to have any of these bikes in stock.)

Also - while out searching for bikes for me, hubby found a fantastic deal on a Bulls Urban EVO 10 Step-Thru that fits him, so we'll be ebiking partners! So excited! (When we were first married one of our dreams was to be able to head out our door and go bike-trekking/camping...family demands kind of interrupted that plan - we may opt for B&Bs over camping now, but it's cool to be reviving that dream!)

If you are luck both bikes batteries will be interchangeable and very least you can share chargers. They are different lengths but some bikes with 500w have spacer to allow for longer 625w battery. There are also 2 different types of powertube batteries, vertical and horizontal, connectors are different positions. Typically vertical load from top and horizontal from bottom of down tube.

If batteries are interchangeable then spare 500wh in future could be used for longer rides.

 

[Nomad]

not everyone owns a car or 2 uses a bike for a toy.

I know I don't throw the money I spend on my ebikes around. I worked a lot of overtime and it is my second car.

 

[fooferdoggie]

You could get a nice used car for that money( keep you dry in rain as well)

what and get fat and lazy like drivers tend to? no thanks. Plus were would ˆ find the time to ride 9000 miles a year? Plus all the expenses a car entails?

 

[Nomad]

Exactly the point. You should never have to push an ebike up a hill. Just buy a bike that can handle you're weight on the steepest streets you plan on riding. Taking underpowered ebikes up long, steep hills puts way too much heat stress on the motor and battery. My bike is rear hub, 7 speed, with 1000 watts. I go up any steep street sitting down with assist. My bike was $1200. You don't need to spend a lot to get a good ebike.

I know you can't touch a quality full suspension emtb for anything close to $1,200

 

[Nomad]

You could get a nice used car for that money( keep you dry in rain as well)

how much money we talking for a good used car?

 

[kevinmccune]

Not so long ago you could pickup a good 2000 plus series Accord for under3K among other things, good mechanicals, reliable and keep you dry in the rain.

 

[Nomad]

Not so long ago you could pickup a good 2000 plus series Accord for under3K among other things, good mechanicals, reliable and keep you dry in the rain

here a good car would cost you more than that. I'm not talking anything special other than it was inspectable and was reliable.

 

[kevinmccune]

here a good car would cost you more than that. I'm not talking anything special other than it was inspectable and was reliable.

My daughters 08 Civic looks a little rough but still going strong at 250K, I did let my early 2000 Fit go cheap (1500$) because the former owner apparently put it up wet many times on the streets of some city in Ohio, smaller car same gas mileage as the Civic,it looked to have been wrecked many times, the kind of a car that makes the owner a net profit with insurance money. Think I saw it sitting on the street in the town where I traded it, now the real surprise( the stealership claimed they gave me $1500 for it, smoke and mirrors) looked really nice where the stealership flipped it.
The real surprise in all this the CRV my wife acquired will return 33 mpg on the highway( with me driving) and around 31-32 mpg around here in the "Ridges" It has many new features AWD, leatherseats, the works and is roomy and comfortable.
The whole thing in a nutshell,I could never imagine my Wife on an ebike or trike for that matter( I have invited Her too) Different strokes for different Folks,I am still miffed about Obama and that stupid cash for clunkers fiasco, I watched them give a late model turbo( kompressor for you Deutsche folks) they drained the oil added the pre requisite 2 qts of"waterglass" after the drainplug was reinstalled and run it up against the rev limiters for several minutes, finally he turbo gave up with a terrible squeal then finally the motor seized. The moral of this "unmitigated greed and stupidity" I would imagine this car was donated to the bureaucratic mafia so some else would not get it, this action is a real thing by the way,I have seen it happen so any times.
I hate to pour water on some greenie embers. the thing its going to be awhile before electric transportation takes over big time( I expect Merkle isn't too popular in Germany now Till we actually get some Thorium reactors on line(surprise the Germans were working on this during world war 2( what did you say, Solomon[ nothing new under the sun?] Simply put electric cars(and I love the things) are not exactly carbon neutral,the soot is coming out of a coal fired plant out of sight somewhere( if the scrubbers are not working and coal fired powerplants have killed more people with cancer and nasty deaths then the "Nukes" ever had,the "Wormwood" powerplant probably wouldn't have failed if not for ineptness, coupled with the fact if the energy is available you can make"carbon neutral" fuel basically out of thin air( the Navy has already done it, what you say? yes its a thing, the Navy has more than one ace up its sleeve,.
Forget this Fusion and Hydrogen nonsense.( OTH if the anti gravity tech is released to Public Domain,Fusion should be relatively easy)

 

[Nomad]

My daughters 08 Civic looks a little rough but still going strong at 250K, I did let my early 2000 Fit go cheap (1500$) because the former owner apparently put it up wet many times on the streets of some city in Ohio, smaller car same gas mileage as the Civic,it looked to have been wrecked many times, the kind of a car that makes the owner a net profit with insurance money. Think I saw it sitting on the street in the town where I traded it, now the real surprise( the stealership claimed they gave me $1500 for it, smoke and mirrors) looked really nice where the stealership flipped it.
The real surprise in all this the CRV my wife acquired will return 33 mpg on the highway( with me driving) and around 31-32 mpg around here in the "Ridges" It has many new features AWD, leatherseats, the works and is roomy and comfortable.
The whole thing in a nutshell,I could never imagine my Wife on an ebike or trike for that matter( I have invited Her too) Different strokes for different Folks,I am still miffed about Obama and that stupid cash for clunkers fiasco, I watched them give a late model turbo( kompressor for you Deutsche folks) they drained the oil added the pre requisite 2 qts of"waterglass" after the drainplug was reinstalled and run it up against the rev limiters for several minutes, finally he turbo gave up with a terrible squeal then finally the motor seized. The moral of this "unmitigated greed and stupidity" I would imagine this car was donated to the bureaucratic mafia so some else would not get it, this action is a real thing by the way,I have seen it happen so any times.
I hate to pour water on some greenie embers. the thing its going to be awhile before electric transportation takes over big time( I expect Merkle isn't too popular in Germany now Till we actually get some Thorium reactors on line(surprise the Germans were working on this during world war 2( what did you say, Solomon[ nothing new under the sun?] Simply put electric cars(and I love the things) are not exactly carbon neutral,the soot is coming out of a coal fired plant out of sight somewhere( if the scrubbers are not working and coal fired powerplants have killed more people with cancer and nasty deaths then the "Nukes" ever had,the "Wormwood" powerplant probably wouldn't have failed if not for ineptness, coupled with the fact if the energy is available you can make"carbon neutral" fuel basically out of thin air( the Navy has already done it, what you say? yes its a thing, the Navy has more than one ace up its sleeve,.
Forget this Fusion and Hydrogen nonsense.( OTH if the anti gravity tech is released to Public Domain,Fusion should be relatively easy)

you mean the cash clunkers SCAM! I live up north so you'd be hard press to find a 2008 in good condition.

 

[kevinmccune]

you mean the cash clunkers SCAM! I live up north so you'd be hard press to find a 2008 in good condition.

Yes actually in this part of the Alleghanies as well they throw salt on the road when it clouds up, my 07 Dakota was lent out when I was in Prison the borrowers would take it out in bad weather and never wash the salt off( I was religious about that myself) it rusted the brake lines, exhaust manifolds and skid plates practically off it. All in a matter of 2 years.I know its hard to wash salt off when its cold,if it stays cold the salt doesnt attack the steel as fast, above freezing "Katie bar the door" I would take it out to the sunny side of the house and if I was lucky the water would dissolve the salt before it froze again, if its real cold you better have a hot pressure washer. So I am no stranger to what you say, the down side of that if you actually didnt get the base metal above freezing the hot water would freeze quickly.
I tried to wash my dumptruck off before going in a turkey house to haul litter one morning( to prevent disease spread) the water froze almost immediately it was foamy looking and the boss accused us of using too much soap( dont think I was actually using any soap hardly at all) Her civic lived in VA.Beach for a good while and usually not much snow or ice over there, you can go to Georgia and find a lot of basically rust free vehicles there.

 

[Dorkyman]

Our Lectric XP 2.0st bikes have a hub motor and controller that outputs 48v @ 18a, or about 1hp. Working through the numbers, 1hp will lift bike and rider about two vertical feet per second up a slope. The big thing is to have a low-enough first gear. We swapped the stock 14-28 freewheel for the much-better 11-34 version, and now we not only don't have to pedal like dervishes at 20+mph but also we have a nice low gear when needed. 7 gears is good spacing for our needs.

On our weekly market runs we need to climb a serious slope for maybe 30 seconds. No problem.

Also, many ebikes (perhaps most) are like our Lectrics in that they have a walk mode. If the hill is truly horrible, the bike will walk itself at about 2mph; just walk alongside and keep up.

 

[kevinmccune]

Our Lectric XP 2.0st bikes have a hub motor and controller that outputs 48v @ 18a, or about 1hp. Working through the numbers, 1hp will lift bike and rider about two vertical feet per second up a slope. The big thing is to have a low-enough first gear. We swapped the stock 14-28 freewheel for the much-better 11-34 version, and now we not only don't have to pedal like dervishes at 20+mph but also we have a nice low gear when needed. 7 gears is good spacing for our needs.

On our weekly market runs we need to climb a serious slope for maybe 30 seconds. No problem.

Also, many ebikes (perhaps most) are like our Lectrics in that they have a walk mode. If the hill is truly horrible, the bike will walk itself at about 2mph; just walk alongside and keep up.

Thats interesting about the freewheels,I did change the freewheel on a big cruiser I had, you could get Her over 30 mph then, maybe I am doing something wrong I have never used the lower gears much,I like the feel of resistance in my quads when I am grunting up a steep hill, the whole thing in a nutshell is I am just not athletic enough to be a "spinner' and my acquaintances think I walk too fast, I do not stand up and pedal,I guess each to His or Her own, I think the Western flyers ruined me when I was a teenager, liked that old bike twisted the crank off doubling one of my brothers up a steep Hill. Just wasn't much bike money in those days.
Now I have a little semi-free time I just want to casually cruise up and down the backroads.