How steep is your hill?

[Trail Cruiser]

I did not realize that 16 percent grade could feel this steep.

I was able to clear the hill but barely, in first gear, and standing up on the pedals, with rear wheel scratching the road surface. However, I also used the lowest level of assist since I did not want to fry the motor of my Magnum Metro+.

In my Giant MTB retrofitted with BBSHD, I did not have to stand up and it had no problem tackling the grade. However, I was using the second highest level of assist (programmed at 600 watts on my controller). In mid drives you can confidently use more power at the hill as long as your cadence is high (motor spinning fast).

 

[J Miller]

My city is flat-ish, but I live right at the base where plains transition to mountains so all the grades are on the climb up just outside the city. The roads have to accommodate cars so they don't go past 10-12% for the most part, but they go on for miles and miles at 8-12%. There are other paths but they're almost exclusively meant for hiking, and the handful that even allow bikes at all explicitly ban ebikes.

My MX3006 from Grin can make it up the 8-12% roads with pedal assist (helps that my legs are in decent shape), though it gets pretty warm. I have statorade and the temperature sensor hooked up so I'm not worried about frying it, but I'm thinking about building a second bike eventually that has either a beefier, even slower wind up with smaller tires or a mid-drive. I don't really like mid-drives though - not a fan of the wider stance, gear whirring, added maintenance, etc., and all the good mid-drives are only available on prebuilt models which I don't want because I can't get them serviced where I live.

Regen going back downhill is really nice at least. I've hit 25%+ before, and could go higher once I get a bigger battery that can safely absorb more regen amps.

 

[Trail Cruiser]

I did not realize that 16 percent grade could feel this steep.

View attachment 22845

I was able to clear the hill but barely, in first gear, and standing up on the pedals, with rear wheel scratching the road surface. However, I also used the lowest level of assist since I did not want to fry the motor of my Magnum Metro+.

View attachment 22847

In my Giant MTB retrofitted with BBSHD, I did not have to stand up and it had no problem tackling the grade. However, I was using the second highest level of assist (programmed at 600 watts on my controller). In mid drives you can confidently use more power at the hill as long as your cadence is high (motor spinning fast).

View attachment 22849

Now I know why my rear tyre is slipping going uphill even in the lowest assist level on my rear hub drive.

 

[Trail Cruiser]

 

[ebikemom]

How can I measure the grade?

 

[ebikemom]

Veloroutes is very interesting! In my experience so far (two months, hundreds of miles) This hill presented the most challenge to me. I got off and walked my bike up, using a smidge of throttle. Using the veloroutes map, I learned that the steepest part is a 28% grade. My daughter, who weighs much less than I do, zipped right up on the same type of bicycle. I was also challenged by the narrowness of the path, and steepness not only going up, but also the path is on a hill that also was sloped steeply down on the left of the path, so a bit scary when I started to wobble and envisioned tipping down the cliff through the brambles. Before starting up the hill, knowing what was coming, I got a head start and rode up using the highest PAS and lowest gear, but had to get off my bike. Maybe with better planning I could do it, but I think walking was the best choice for me in this situation.

 

[Trail Cruiser]

 

[indianajo]

I have 3 grades of 7/8" rise in 6", or 14.6% I calculate. About 100' long each. This is the short way into my summer camp. Measured with a machinists level and a scale (metal ruler). The ebikeling 1000W geared hub did fine on these, about 500W @ ~8 mph and 800 W @ ~4 mph. However, the display goes blank and power stops after about 13 miles of this or anything else, so all is not really fine. Battery is not an issue, battery voltage is maintained over 58 so far measured by a separate meter. I'm still riding these grades on good days without power since the hub is so unreliable.
I bought a new generic ebay 1000W direct drive hub two weeks ago, LY-48v1000 it said on the side. The internal drag increased dramatically afer 20 miles of flattish pedaling forcing me down to 1/3 mph pedaling in low range first, so I never got out to the battery at the summer camp to try it out electrically. I had to be taken home in a car by a friend. 7 miles more at 1/3 mph would have been 21 hours, I'm not up for that, nor the incredible force it was taking to pedal it. .

 

[Alaskan]

My last two blocks are 14%. With the Rohloff HS Bosch I do it in 2nd gear at sport assist.

 

[ebikemom]

I calculated other hills that are on usual routes I take. Generally, the steepest is 15%, which my bike and I can handle with no problem.

 

[LimboJim]

Find your road and plot the hill with this:

http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/

Even works for trails!

Using Veloroutes' map, I just checked a quarter-mile hill that my GPS tracker says is 27% grade, and it also says 27%. Awesome.

 

[Dionigi]

18.9% for .25 mile, average speed 9mph on a Riese and Müller Nevo GH Nuvinci. The power was set to turbo and the cvt was ~70%

 

[Mr. Coffee]

The last pitch to my house has a 750-foot section that climbs 160 feet, so approximately a 22 percent grade. Some sections of that pitch are as steep as 28 percent.

A Bosch Performance CX with a Rohloff hub, in emtb or turbo mode in 1st or 2nd gear gets me up it at 5-6 mph.

 

[Trail Cruiser]

 

[harryS]

I bought a new generic ebay 1000W direct drive hub two weeks ago, LY-48v1000 it said on the side. The internal drag increased dramatically afer 20 miles of flattish pedaling forcing me down to 1/3 mph pedaling in low range first, so I never got out to the battery at the summer camp to try it out electrically. I had to be taken home in a car by a friend. 7 miles more at 1/3 mph would have been 21 hours, I'm not up for that, nor the incredible force it was taking to pedal it. .

Different topic, but you likely have a short circuit between two phase wires on that motor, Either in controller or in wiring to motor.

Back on topic, cannot get the above webtool to work on bridges, which are the biggest hills I've had to ride. It's always sea level, as one would expect.

 

[john peck]

The last pitch to my house has a 750-foot section that climbs 160 feet, so approximately a 22 percent grade. Some sections of that pitch are as steep as 28 percent.

A Bosch Performance CX with a Rohloff hub, in emtb or turbo mode in 1st or 2nd gear gets me up it at 5-6 mph.

Ah hell, Coffee, that aint nothing. We got hllis ŕound here so steep the legs on the deer are a foot shorter on one side.

 

[nelzea]

Oops I posted on another thread about hills but I actually meant to post on this one (the one that got a Bee Gees song stuck in my head).

I live in a very hilly city which is why I bought an e-bike. Shimano STEPS mid-drive. I tried it out on a short 16% hill and it sailed up, so I bought it. It's super easy to get up the longer but less steep hills (7-10%). It struggled when I took it up a 20% gradient hill but it did make it. *I* struggled when I took it up a 400m 17% hill. High assist, lowest gear, lots of spinning! (I don't do hills very well).

We also have a Juiced CrossCurrent hub-drive that my husband uses that copes with the hills pretty well but not as niftily as the mid-drive. However, I have tried out going up my road just on throttle on the CC and it did the short but steep hill which was pretty cool.

 

[john peck]

Ah hell, Coffee, that aint nothing. We got hills ŕound here so steep the legs on the deer are a foot shorter on one side.

Was thinking of going hunting this year, but I can´t decide whether to hunt clockwise or counterclockwise deer depending on which side
the short legs are on. I suppose it depends on the time of day.

 

[ebikemom]

Oops I posted on another thread about hills but I actually meant to post on this one (the one t

Same song in my head!!!!

 

[Feliz]

Not trying to steel the thread but with all the collective knowledge here I'm going to ask this. I climb a lot of hills and looking for a good upright hill climber for my city commute. Trying to decide between the Biktrix Stunner and the eProdigy Magic Pro. Any advice? TIA