PAS (Pedal Assist System) Redux. As the late Al Davis almost said "Just Pedal, Baby!"

[gv1]

I tossed up a wordy question to start a recent PAS thread and I want to try again, please.

This following question is for non-throttle riding in all ride conditions other than MTB riding and off-road environments.

Does anyone own or ride an ebike that allows you to forget you have a motor and feels like you are riding a normal bicycle? It should be fun and faster.

I believe VEB Cafe and Stromer come very close. Are there any others? What about FLX Blade or Juiced? Any other thoughts on the subject?

 

[Bruce Arnold]

When riding my Juiced Crosscurrent S in Eco mode, it feels so much like riding my old Schwinn Varsity 45 years ago - kind of heavy but great fun. Does that answer your question?

 

[Nova Haibike]

My Haibike Trekking RC is fast and fun when I use the Standard or High assist settings. I do often ride it in Eco or Eco+ on flat terrain or with a tailwind; using those settings riding is a workout. Regardless, it never feels like my road bikes. I always feel the extra weight, even when using the higher power settings. It's rather like the difference between a truck and a sports car.

 

[gv1]

Thank you Nova and Bruce.

 

[slomoshun]

Any ebike with the manually-shifted Shimano Steps system.

It has a very natural feel and doesn't add a lot of weight to the bike. For example, Trek's "Conduit" is only 44.7lbs ready to go.

 

[J Miller]

I'm still waiting on the parts for my build, but I've test ridden a bunch of bikes and briefly owned an e-bike several years back.

Of all of them, I'd say the Stromer (ST1) I tried was easily the closest to feeling like a normal bike, so much so that I could easily forget it was electric aside from the added speed.

1. The assist is torque based and turns on/off pretty much immediately with your pedaling. I hate it when a bike has any lag between pedaling and motor input, because it nearly ruins the feeling of PAS for me.

2. No whirring sound/vibration from geared drives (hub or mid), and almost no electrical whine like you get with cheaper motor controllers, just smooth, silent power.

3. The regen braking is mapped to the brake levers in a way that manages to make the brakes feel the same as on a normal (far lighter) bike.

In fact I liked the Stromer so much I nearly bought it then and there, but I didn't like how small (and expensive) their batteries were, and I strongly prefer to maintain my bikes myself whenever possible and don't mind having to learn a bit or buy additional tools (especially since I live in the states, and electric bike shops are extremely rare and hard to get to without a car).

 

[gv1]

I believe Stromer's are TDCM hub drives which deliver the performance of J Miller's 1. and 2.