It's all about the boost, bout the boost, no throttle......

[fxr3]

I just took delivery of my 3rd ebike- Bulls estream evo 45 fs (or something like that. Lol). So far, so good.
I test rode all the mid-drive players at Long Beach expo last month and the 28mph bulls/bros was an easy winner in my opinion.
4 years ago I was diagnosed with heart failure stagec/class3- kinda serious condition where your heart cannot pump enough blood to satisfy your body's requirements. Shortness of breath and fatigue are primary symptoms.
Circumstances steered me into ebikes, as my ex jr high sweetheart/ lifelong friend sort of saved me with healthy lifestyle and bicycling.
Her passion is biking for exercise on a daily basis and I bought my stromer st1 to join her. My health improved rapidly and the rest is history.
St1 is almost 4 years old now(4000+miles) st2 is 1 1/2 years old(2000miles), and bulls, 4days old(maybe 50miles, so far).
A couple years ago on this forum, a guy posted jail breaking codes for st1, including how to increase boost mode from 12mph to 20mph. I've taken a ton of knowledge from this forum, based all purchases and aftermarket parts from advice and intelligence learned here- and that boost upgrade was prolly the best.
Now that laws have eliminated throttle/boost from where you can ride equation, seems like all mfg's should offer it, for lots of good reasons. Personally, I dig it because when I need a break from pedaling, I can take it and not be punished by speed reduction(especially the cogging kind inherent in a direct drive motor).
Out of curiosity, can anybody give me a good reason for mfg's not to include 20mph boost?
Thanks, Barry

 

[fxr3]

I couldn't stop thinking about this after a 12 mile ride last night on the bulls. I can maintain low to mid twentys for a mile or two before I need to coast for 20 seconds or so, then pedal again....... I knew power was not as robust as stromer, and more gear changing was necessary to keep it on "pipe" through its narrow power band before buying it- so it did not surprise me I needed to coast more often to catch my breath. I caught 5 stop lights in 12 miles and still maintain 17mph for the trip. Bike will undoubtedly make me work a bit harder- but that's good for me. The fact that coasting is not penalized with cogging almost gives it a boost quality anyway.

 

[J.R.]

If I were forced to buy another ebike today, it would be this. For my style of riding, I hope this same bike is available as a hardtail 29'er for 2018. I may or may not be able to wait that long

Congrats! Great bike.

 

[Devon]

I had actually reached out to Bulls a few weeks ago while searching for a bike for myself. I have a restricted airway that severely reduces my ability to be active and having a throttle is something I really want. However, Bulls stated that they are a

very conservative German bike company and our policy is that we make bicycles that must be pedaled. So we don’t make anything that comes with a throttle.

Also, it may be indicative of motor placement, as the same Bulls representative also stated that

Throttles usually work very well with rear hub motors. However, for mid-drive motors, a throttle would be very hard to use as your chain ring would have to spin when the motor works. This might be uncomfortable or clumsy as when you pedal you would have to speed up your pace to the motor’s pace.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I just took delivery of my 3rd ebike- Bulls estream evo 45 fs (or something like that. Lol). So far, so good.
I test rode all the mid-drive players at Long Beach expo last month and the 28mph bulls/bros was an easy winner in my opinion.
4 years ago I was diagnosed with heart failure stagec/class3- kinda serious condition where your heart cannot pump enough blood to satisfy your body's requirements. Shortness of breath and fatigue are primary symptoms.
Circumstances steered me into ebikes, as my ex jr high sweetheart/ lifelong friend sort of saved me with healthy lifestyle and bicycling.
Her passion is biking for exercise on a daily basis and I bought my stromer st1 to join her. My health improved rapidly and the rest is history.
St1 is almost 4 years old now(4000+miles) st2 is 1 1/2 years old(2000miles), and bulls, 4days old(maybe 50miles, so far).
A couple years ago on this forum, a guy posted jail breaking codes for st1, including how to increase boost mode from 12mph to 20mph. I've taken a ton of knowledge from this forum, based all purchases and aftermarket parts from advice and intelligence learned here- and that boost upgrade was prolly the best.
Now that laws have eliminated throttle/boost from where you can ride equation, seems like all mfg's should offer it, for lots of good reasons. Personally, I dig it because when I need a break from pedaling, I can take it and not be punished by speed reduction(especially the cogging kind inherent in a direct drive motor).
Out of curiosity, can anybody give me a good reason for mfg's not to include 20mph boost?
Thanks, Barry

Barry, it is possible to add a throttle.
But most of the bikes like Haibike or Bulls are built for EU markets and are shipped to the US with minor modifications. The US market is less than 5% of the EU market , the US counterparts don't have enough say in the product design.
If there is enough market, I am sure they will do it. They want to sell what people want!

Most importantly, people misusing throttle or hacking them and using it like a moped is a much bigger concern. The last thing any E-bike company wants to see is some jerk riding full blast on a multi-use bike path and bring bad name to the whole e-bike community. This is especially important as the market is just beginning to mature.
If too much negativity spreads around, then E-bikes may never take off the way they should. So, they are willing to sacrifice some sales in favor of building goodwill.

Believe me, PAS only bikes make you a stronger and better cyclist. It prompts you to pedal more but there is a market segment that can definitely benefit from the throttle feature.

 

[fxr3]

I agree with you Ravi. In fact, I never use my boost for anything but high speed brief coasting because I don't want people to think I'm throttling around basically taking advantage of bicycle shortcuts and paths on a moped.
The paths, shortcuts, running red lights, etc are all excusable because I'm on a bike. IMO.
I'm not too far away from being physically fit enough to keep bulls clipping along in mid twentys for long durations!
Prolly a better goal than day dreaming of a boost!

 

[fxr3]

I've concluded the bulls coast so good, I'll be good without boost or throttle. For those who would benefit from throttle taking off from dead start- ?.
I will predict a throttle "dongle" coming soon, it's a natural progression.