Killer Slopes

[steve mercier]

Wondering if even a Bafang Ultra 1000w 160nm would make it up the hills with our 15 degree (27%) slope. Does walk mode help?

Walk mode is only for when you are walking the bike up a hill. You cannot use it to ride up at all.

 

[CCroft]

Hey Pharroh--thanks for your posts on this thread. I'd like to hear a little more about your tire experiences. I've got a BBSHD converted fat bike running Jumbo Jims 4.8". A pretty good tire all-around, but always on the lookout for better options. Most of my riding is trail and off-trail, and the wet/slushy grass can be a challenge with much incline/decline. THanks!

I have 2 bikes and both are Mid drives BBSHD and Ultra G510 1000W both bikes and after playing with the programming a lot I am sure either one would go up any hill you could probability think of or at least everything I have found so far they have gone up them the only time they would not is because of Traction issue on the trails I ride.

I had the wrong tires for riding in that sort of terrain and it was quite a bit mushy that day and had to walk it a few times so I learned my lesson when it comes to tires for traction .

But it was a lot of fun finding my way out I had to use my Phone on google maps to get out of there.

The tires you see on the bikes now were NOT on them at the time of the excursion into the trails

The Ultra (black bike) I have Spider tires (heavy but does great in everything including 1 FT of snow like butter.

The green one I mostly use for local street riding and mild bike trails in the parks ( Both 48V 17ah )

 

[fooferdoggie]

That is HORRIBLE mileage I get at LEAST on either bike and I mostly use assist 1 or 2 and get over 50 miles on either of my bikes . something is wrong with yours in some way or other . Mine are both 48V 17ah BBSHD & Ultra 1000w and I actuially went 63 mile one day and when I got home I had 17% battery left

I use them for exercise and ( Health Reasons ) I do about 15-25 miles a day on most days but some are shorter distances according to weather if not to cold

thats on full assist going over 20 mph. that really eats up batteries. if I knock it down to 1 or 2 I could get over 60.

 

[Pharroh]

The biggest drawback on the spider tires are they are very heavy compared about 3 lbs heavier per tire than most tires out there or the tires I have tried over the years.

I think i have tried about 9 different tires in total and I still go back to the Spider tires for any kind of traction on the trails.

They are great tires rolling resistance is really high when it comes to hardtop surfaces you really do feel them when you get on blacktop surfaces and you can hear them as well they sound like suction cups when riding in rain or anything for that matter but the traction is unbelievable even going around corners in the pouring rain it just sticks to the blacktop. LONG LIFE even after 5 years and many miles.

Street and mild trails riding I use the Bell comfort glide tires (very low rolling resistance) and a feature I did not know about and found out by pure accident.

When I was out for a long ride one day about 6.5 miles from home I got a flat tire and I did not have any way to fix it.
I stopped by this gas station and tried to pump it up but it would only hold air for a very short time and within 10 minutes it would be flat again.

Well since it was at 3am and NOT the best of neighborhoods I figure I would have to accept it and push on and pump it up at the station and just take off on electrics only and see how far I could make it before it went flat again I made it about 4 miles and then just accepted it that the wheel and tire are going to be trashed and continued on the complete flat tire until i got home.

The next day I went to the garage expecting to have to put one of my extra set of wheels on.
I was pleasantly surprised that not only did the wheel NOT have a scratch on it the Tire only had a few scuff marks on the sidewalls.
I just went ahead and pulled the wheel and patched the tube and put it back on and everything was good to go.

With in a week I got another flat tire with the Bell comfort glides and when it happened it went flat fast so I knew it was a big hole the slim I put in the tube came out everywhere. ( front tire this time ) almost same as before but different time of day so I just road it home FLAT and when I got home just as before NOT a scratch on the wheel and the tire was ONLY scuffed.
After this time I knew what tire I was going to use all the time for street and mild trail riding because I really did not have to worry about getting a flat anymore because I could ride it home even though it was flat with out any damage to wheel or tire.

Bell comfort Glide tire VERY LOW rolling resistance Light weight Kevlar sidewalls they have a HUMMING sound on blacktop and they are $ 28 each when I bought my first set I have 2 set of them 4years ago.

( I have 4 extra sets of wheels with different tires on each )

Spiders (very heavy) Best traction I have found in any terrain & Long Life about 3lbs extra /Tire Steel Bead
Bell Comfort Glide ( Light weight ,low rolling,Kevlar sidewalls,Run Flat,Hum sound)
Kenda Sports Pro tire that come on most bikes wear out very fast even on trails.
Vee Speedsters good for Street and water ONLY
Eclipse Edge Similar to Kenda tires ( better rolling and smoother & quieter )
Big Smoothly (Very weak sidewalls) Traction is just OK Light weight (I went through 4 sets of these in about 3 months) NO MORE
Snow Shoes ( great tires but Heavy noisy ) Not comfortable when having to ride on Blacktop to get to trail
Origin8 supercell (heaver than you think good traction on street not rain)
Panaracer Fat B Nimble ( noisy but good traction on mild dirt tracks )

So in conclusion I will use Bells for street riding and Spiders for trails .

I am just saying this is my experience over about 6 years but others may have had different experiences or Ideas of what they like.

 

[vincent]

Good write up on the tires, thanks for taking the time to do that

Very interesting

 

[tomjasz]

I have a brand new set of Fat Be Nimble. Personal tires, not related to the company I work for.
If interested, PM.

 

[FlatSix911]

 

[ElevenAD]

The guys who run stealth are very much cyclists, they may have slipped farther down the motorbike slope than most of us are comfortable with, but a stealth p7 is more bicycle than your ultra or bbshd in pretty much every country except the us. ( at least from a stretching the legal definition perspective ) . Again, not my thing. I'm a strong believer in the joys of conservative ebikes that allow widespread acceptance and trail access. At the end of the day, I'm perfectly happy riding my puny but legal 250 w giant pretty much everywhere I like in Australia. It has more than enough torque to test traction / geometry / my skillset. I'm yet to find a situation where lack of power prevents me getting up a hill - it's either traction, flipping, or fear that stops me.

well here in America Stealth offer 2 actual ebikes and 3 electric motorcycles 2 of which have pedals slapped on so they can be called E-Bikes and no good can come of this,thankfully i dont think they sell many bikes here.

 

[vincent]

thanks Ahicks, good to know about the bafang motors