Pedal Assist... a revelation! DOH!

[Denis Shelston]

Sometimes it takes me a while to figure things out.

You see I have ridden motorcycles for over 45 years, my latest was a BMW RT1100 bought brand new in 2001. I toured all over, solo, went to the Florida Keys, San Diego and Newfoundland, and many points in between. Always loved the peaceful solo drive. In 2011 I had an accident, when a car cut me off, took a spill and hurt myself bad and totalled by bike. I retired from 2 wheel transportation right then.

I discovered E-bikes not long ago, was hoping I could get some of the kicks of riding again. Low and behold I did. There is a God!

Being from a motorcycle background where twisting the throttle is the only way to move forward, when I sat on my Téo, I twisted the throttle, nothing... hum.. So I pedaled a bit, twisted the throttle and boom, I was riding again. Happy.

Of course, I change the PA from 1 to 9. I would pedal a bit and again twist the throttle and zoom I was going again.

My complete ignorance had me ask our Téo resident expert, aka @america94, "I do not notice any differences between PA 1 or PA9"

His answer was swift... I should be able to notice a difference. Well, for the life of me, I could not!

In my sleep last night, the Pedal Assist Fairy paid me a visit. She told me: "Do not touch or twist the throttle, let it be. Set the PA and just pedal my friend. Then stop, change the setting to 4, pedal and see what happens. Do it again with a PA setting of 9. All without twisting the throttle at all. Can you NOW feel a difference? "

" Use the throttle sparingly, when extra speed is needed, at intersections to avoid incoming traffic, climb a hill, and so on, this ain't a motorcycle meathead "

So I have figured that I do not need to twist the throttle constantly, which is what I did...

I had noticed and felt the PA kick in when pedaling a bit but thought it was just that, a bit of help to get going... I would then twist the throttle... No wonder my wrist was numb... Geez.

Doh! Feel soooo stupid. Now I get it.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Fun, ain't it? There really is a sort of art to riding these things that you learn. Like going up a steep hill with a cadence sensor bike, instead of stamping on the pedals, just put up the boost to a higher level, gear it down to a good cadence and pedal as smoothly and evenly as you can... hill goes away!

And it's a different skill set for riding the mid drives than the hub cadence drives, but they're both a riot as you get better at it. I've never had such a good time as I have this past year riding these things (well maybe, but you get the point). Carpe diem!

 

[Denis Shelston]

Fun, ain't it? There really is a sort of art to riding these things that you learn. Like going up a steep hill with a cadence sensor bike, instead of stamping on the pedals, just put up the boost to a higher level, gear it down to a good cadence and pedal as smoothly and evenly as you can... hill goes away!

And it's a different skill set for riding the mid drives than the hub cadence drives, but they're both a riot as you get better at it. I've never had such a good time as I have this past year riding these things (well maybe, but you get the point). Carpe diem!

It is indeed new and loads of fun. Feels great to be on an E-bike. Best of 2 worlds.

 

[Falken]

Sometimes it takes me a while to figure things out.

You see I have ridden motorcycles for over 45 years, my latest was a BMW RT1100 bought brand new in 2001. I toured all over, solo, went to the Florida Keys, San Diego and Newfoundland, and many points in between. Always loved the peaceful solo drive. In 2011 I had an accident, when a car cut me off, took a spill and hurt myself bad and totalled by bike. I retired from 2 wheel transportation right then.

I discovered E-bikes not long ago, was hoping I could get some of the kicks of riding again. Low and behold I did. There is a God!

Being from a motorcycle background where twisting the throttle is the only way to move forward, when I sat on my Téo, I twisted the throttle, nothing... hum.. So I pedaled a bit, twisted the throttle and boom, I was riding again. Happy.

Of course, I change the PA from 1 to 9. I would pedal a bit and again twist the throttle and zoom I was going again.

My complete ignorance had me ask our Téo resident expert, aka @america94, "I do not notice any differences between PA 1 or PA9"

His answer was swift... I should be able to notice a difference. Well, for the life of me, I could not!

In my sleep last night, the Pedal Assist Fairy paid me a visit. She told me: "Do not touch or twist the throttle, let it be. Set the PA and just pedal my friend. Then stop, change the setting to 4, pedal and see what happens. Do it again with a PA setting of 9. All without twisting the throttle at all. Can you NOW feel a difference? "

" Use the throttle sparingly, when extra speed is needed, at intersections to avoid incoming traffic, climb a hill, and so on, this ain't a motorcycle meathead "

So I have figured that I do not need to twist the throttle constantly, which is what I did...

I had noticed and felt the PA kick in when pedaling a bit but thought it was just that, a bit of help to get going... I would then twist the throttle... No wonder my wrist was numb... Geez.

Doh! Feel soooo stupid. Now I get it.

Don't beat yourself up Denis. We are all having fun with the learning curve on these bad boys. One thing I'm sure you know but I just thought I would caution you on... High PAS number in a low gear. Lets clear something first. I call low gear 1st gear...high gear is 9th gear. Maybe its wrong or backwards but that's what makes sense to me. I have been playing around with the PAS on hills etc, and I've found each gear I change I can then change the PAS and get kind of the same "boost" So 1st gear on a hill I start in PAS1. AS speed increases I shift up to 2nd and correspondingly bump up to PAS2. This continues throughout and seems to keep my "boost" at around the same level as I'm climbing and gaining speed. All good. Just remember when you slow down and shift back to the lower gears to also bring your PAS down as well. 1st gear with PAS9 = possible wipe out.

 

[Denis Shelston]

Good reminder @Falken, keep the gear in line with the PAS level. Makes sense now. Just as Gear 9 with PAS 1 would make it impossible to get underway, hence the throttle...

I am not home right now to test it, but as soon as I get home I will.

 

[Falken]

Good reminder @Falken, keep the gear in line with the PAS level. Makes sense now. Just as Gear 9 with PAS 1 would make it impossible to get underway, hence the throttle...

I am not home right now to test it, but as soon as I get home I will.

Exactly. Hey I just picked up something on your thread. When you twist the throttle nothing happens....you have to peddle to get throttle. The same thing is happening with both our bikes. The new ones were supposed to have throttle without peddling. I've emailed Benoit, and he says he has a fix. He said he would get back to me yesterday, must have got busy. I'll check in with him again.

 

[Falken]

Actually you know what......Maybe the way it is, is the better way to go? Not sure I would want the bike to just take off if you grab the bars and accidentally twist.....Hmm.

 

[Falken]

Definitely the safer route I'm thinking. Benoit is emailing me as we speak. I'm replying because I'm not understanding what he is asking 100% lol! Where is the controller on this bike Stephane? Is it in the battery or in the frame of the bike? Surprisingly enough, I haven't ripped this bike apart yet to see how it works......

 

[Denis Shelston]

I think I like

1. Pedal first

2. Twist the throttle to move forward

My grand kids were playing with the buttons... Can you imagine? Could be very dangerous.

As a matter I would have liked to have the key play the main role of driving off, as opposed to a support role in just locking the battery... But that's just me being cautious..

 

[Falken]

I think I like

1. Pedal first

2. Twist the throttle to move forward

My grand kids were playing with the buttons... Can you imagine? Could be very dangerous.

As a matter I would have liked to have the key play the main role of driving off, as opposed to a support role in just locking the battery... But that's just me being cautious..

I hear you completely. If little kids manage to turn the bike on by holding that button......yikes! I don't even want to imagine the things that could go bad very quickly

 

[tarhead]

'saw an incident first hand. My wife and daughter have another brand of e-bike. My daughter was bringing them into the house after a ride but my wife had forgotten to turn hers off. Suddenly the bike popped a wheelie, literally vertical. Fortunately the kid is a big, strong girl with good reflexes (she's an accomplished equestrian- kinda like an e-bike with a brain of its own ;-) so no damage.
I have mixed feelings on the issue. I test rode a fat bike from another company and definitely liked the immediate throttle for clearing intersections. Part of my reasoning is that, after years of riding with toes clips, I find that I feel insecure without them; like my foot will slip off or not be in the right position when I need it to be. So I would likely add them to a new bike. The problem with them is that they can be a bit tricky to get into at times so being able to boost without pedalling could be a benefit. Yes, I can pedal without getting them on but then they are on the down side of the pedal and drag and scrape.
Seems like there is no "perfect" solution.

 

[Falken]

OK ty. Not sure if I'll mess with it just yet