Power outage

[Roberto913]

Until yesterday I had never let my M30 get even close to running the battery dead. Riding home from a long 50 mile ride the bike went into the fast red blinking mode and I quickly lost all power. The light was still on and blinking but it was all me peddling the last 4 miles to the house. I was under the assumption that there would be assisted power until the bike goes dark. Anyone else had this issue?

 

[Jaxx]

Until yesterday I had never let my M30 get even close to running the battery dead. Riding home from a long 50 mile ride the bike went into the fast red blinking mode and I quickly lost all power. The light was still on and blinking but it was all me peddling the last 4 miles to the house. I was under the assumption that there would be assisted power until the bike goes dark. Anyone else had this

Mmmmmm, gonna have to give that a try.

 

[rich c]

Probably voltage sag. If you stopped riding, the voltage would have risen a little. Blinking lights is a horrible way to show battery levels, they are just a suggestion.

 

[Roberto913]

Probably voltage sag. If you stopped riding, the voltage would have risen a little. Blinking lights is a horrible way to show battery levels, they are just a suggestion.

Thanks and sounds like you are well versed in battery technology. I have over 1500 miles and 5 months on the bike and already and surprisingly seeing some battery degradation. I am 6’3 and 200 pounds and even at my size I could get in a full 60 mile ride on level 1 but barely getting 50 now. What are your thoughts on charging to full or 80% and never running the battery dead? Early retirement has forced my hand to be as frugal as possible and I want to postpone the battery replacement cost well past the warranty.

 

[dodahman]

There are whole threads on this site about batteries and charging, and chargers...My takeaway from reading them (which may be incorrect) was to charge them to less than 100%. And definitely do not store away at 100%. Good luck.

 

[Solom01]

Hi Roberto. Noticed you're in Florida so where do you store your bike when you're not using it? Since the battery isn't removeable I store mine inside the house and not the garage because it gets so hot in the garage that I'm scared it would harm the battery - so I keep it inside where it's cool. By the way especially in the US where our bikes get powered up to about 21mph if you're getting 60-50 miles at level 1 you're probably charging it to 100% and running it down really low, and lithium batteries degrade pretty quickly if you charge them above 80-90% and below 20% all the time (and very quickly if you charge them to 100% and below 20% all the time). Your options there if you consistently want longer ranges are pretty limited; either use it in an unpowered state more often (white light) or maybe consider getting the extended battery. I know that people will talk about doing 80 miles or more, but most of these folks are from areas where the cut-off is 15.5 mph and are likely to be using it unpowered for a fair percentage of the time. I really love my Gain, but I realize that with the size of the battery long range is not one of its strengths. Being in Florida we have the advantage of flat terrain, but at least in the SW coast where I live the headwinds are a bear.

 

[Jaxx]

Hi Roberto. Noticed you're in Florida so where do you store your bike when you're not using it? Since the battery isn't removeable I store mine inside the house and not the garage because it gets so hot in the garage that I'm scared it would harm the battery - so I keep it inside where it's cool. By the way especially in the US where our bikes get powered up to about 21mph if you're getting 60-50 miles at level 1 you're probably charging it to 100% and running it down really low, and lithium batteries degrade pretty quickly if you charge them above 80-90% and below 20% all the time (and very quickly if you charge them to 100% and below 20% all the time). Your options there if you consistently want longer ranges are pretty limited; either use it in an unpowered state more often (white light) or maybe consider getting the extended battery. I know that people will talk about doing 80 miles or more, but most of these folks are from areas where the cut-off is 15.5 mph and are likely to be using it unpowered for a fair percentage of the time. I really love my Gain, but I realize that with the size of the battery long range is not one of its strengths. Being in Florida we have the advantage of flat terrain, but at least in the SW coast where I live the headwinds are a bear.

Orbea offering £125 off extender battery for limited period. Had email from them earlier this week.

 

[Roberto913]

Hi Roberto. Noticed you're in Florida so where do you store your bike when you're not using it? Since the battery isn't removeable I store mine inside the house and not the garage because it gets so hot in the garage that I'm scared it would harm the battery - so I keep it inside where it's cool. By the way especially in the US where our bikes get powered up to about 21mph if you're getting 60-50 miles at level 1 you're probably charging it to 100% and running it down really low, and lithium batteries degrade pretty quickly if you charge them above 80-90% and below 20% all the time (and very quickly if you charge them to 100% and below 20% all the time). Your options there if you consistently want longer ranges are pretty limited; either use it in an unpowered state more often (white light) or maybe consider getting the extended battery. I know that people will talk about doing 80 miles or more, but most of these folks are from areas where the cut-off is 15.5 mph and are likely to be using it unpowered for a fair percentage of the time. I really love my Gain, but I realize that with the size of the battery long range is not one of its strengths. Being in Florida we have the advantage of flat terrain, but at least in the SW coast where I live the headwinds are a bear.

Yes, up in the Florida panhandle in Gulf Breeze just East of Pensacola. Great suggestion bringing the bike indoors during the hot summer months and I would not have done that. Yes, the wind is our hills in Florida and did a 22 mile ride yesterday out on our island a fought the 11 miles back dead into a 20 mph headwind. Also love everything about the m30 gain. The carbon frame has a comfortable and responsive quality and the subtle power assist is perfect for me. It’s rare that a product exceeds my expectations but Orbea hit a home run. I guess I need to accept the fact I won’t do future 50+ mile rides or invest in the second battery.

 

[Jaxx]

Yes, up in the Florida panhandle in Gulf Breeze just East of Pensacola. Great suggestion bringing the bike indoors during the hot summer months and I would not have done that. Yes, the wind is our hills in Florida and did a 22 mile ride yesterday out on our island a fought the 11 miles back dead into a 20 mph headwind. Also love everything about the m30 gain. The carbon frame has a comfortable and responsive quality and the subtle power assist is perfect for me. It’s rare that a product exceeds my expectations but Orbea hit a home run. I guess I need to accept the fact I won’t do future 50+ mile rides or invest in the second battery.

You can, Keep the speed down to around 17mph. Here in the UK, I get 3 30-35 mile rides in on one tank. And that is like Sol suggested, charged to 80-85% also it certainly isn't flat around here.

 

[Solom01]

Yes I am familiar with Gulf Breeze, I'm quite a bit further south in Venice (southern Sarasota County) and I'm glad to see someone else who has to deal with insane headwinds on a constant basis. What's even more fun is that sometimes it seems like you're heading into a headwind both going out and coming back. One last thought, have you considered lowering the maximum power on the different levels with the app? I've left mine at 100% for all three levels since I didn't see much power savings, but others did so maybe lowering the levels would give you enough power for your needs and give you more range?

 

[byunbee]

There are whole threads on this site about batteries and charging, and chargers...My takeaway from reading them (which may be incorrect) was to charge them to less than 100%. And definitely do not store away at 100%. Good luck.

You also should avoid draining the battery to 0. I believe the ideal range to extend battery life is to keep it at 20-80%.

 

[Roberto913]

You can, Keep the speed down to around 17mph. Here in the UK, I get 3 30-35 mile rides in on one tank. And that is like Sol suggested, charged to 80-85% also it certainly isn't flat around here.

Not questioning the amazing range you are getting but begs the question how tall, how much weight are you spinning at 17mph?

 

[Jaxx]

Not questioning the amazing range you are getting but begs the question how tall, how much weight are you spinning at 17mph?

Rob, 6 feet tall and 156lbs. I have been riding and racing since the 60's and can ride without too much effort at 15mph. But I always have level 1 switched on. A local 30 mile ride would usually include 1000 feet of climbing.

 

[Roberto913]

Yes I am familiar with Gulf Breeze, I'm quite a bit further south in Venice (southern Sarasota County) and I'm glad to see someone else who has to deal with insane headwinds on a constant basis. What's even more fun is that sometimes it seems like you're heading into a headwind both going out and coming back. One last thought, have you considered lowering the maximum power on the different levels with the app? I've left mine at 100% for all three levels since I didn't see much power savings, but others did so maybe lowering the levels would give you enough power for your needs and give you more range?

Yes and us Floridians are preconditioned to checking the weather channel for wind speed and direction. I looked at the level one adjustment in the app and it can’t hurt, will give it a try to see if range improves.

 

[Roberto913]

Rob, 6 feet tall and 156lbs. I have been riding and racing since the 60's and can ride without too much effort at 15mph. But I always have level 1 switched on. A local 30 mile ride would usually include 1000 feet of climbing.

What spin speed are you averaging? There has to be a gear/power transfer sweet spot you are finding/hitting to minimize power consumption.

 

[Jaxx]

What spin speed are you averaging? There has to be a gear/power transfer sweet spot you are finding/hitting to minimize power consumption.

Yes there is? Especially when climbing (which won't much apply for you) sweet spot to get most out of the assist is around 75/80rpm. Now I believe the reason I get excellent distance, is because I'm a big gear pusher. My average cadence for a ride would be around 65rpm. A hilly ride would see an avg of 70rpm. Over the last year, I've done a fair bit of testing. I wasn't getting any help from the assist in the hills. That's because I had always climbed "in n out" of the saddle. Once I twigged why, I adapted to sitting down and spin a low gear. Viola, more help from the assist as opposed to zero. The motor definitely likes revs.

 

[TouchingCloth]

Hi all,
As a new owner of the gain, I'm also regaining my fitness/leg strength from almost zero it seems. I'm also playing with all the toys and discovering the little quirks.
Bearing in mind I have a UK version limited to 15mph, the power usage graph on one of the toys, drops to zero if I can exceed this speed and the motor then disengages. My current fitness level means this isn't happening very often, especially into headwinds or slight inclines of course, but my average speed is up around the 13 to14mph mark when using assist, so the motor is currently working a lot of the time, especially on hills when I ask for the top two levels of assistance. Projected range from the app hovers around the 50 mile mark from a full charge, but has risen a lot when the rides were on days with no wind or particularly flat. 65-70 being the combined total of my actual ride and whats projected to be remaining.
This brings me to my theory. If the US version is assisted up to 20 mph, unless you can get above this speed on a regular basis, the motor is going to be working so much more of the time. That extra 5 mph is a lot to find, especially for a typical person who has reason to by a Gain. To put it into context, I never averaged much above 18mph on my old road bike prior to my health issues and being reasonably fit.
Riding with my daughter I don't need a speedo to tell me how fast I'm traveling, as I reach the 15mph limit, she begins to pull away, and I have to work hard to keep up, especially towards the end of rides when I begin to tire. At this point in the ride I can actually feel the motor droping in and out as I hover on the threshold of the limit. Whilst feeling strong, the transision from 15 mph to above is impercievable.
I'm hoping as my strength improves my ability to ride above the limit grows, therefore ther amount of time the power used drops to zero increases and the range extends significantly. I will average 14 to 15mph and get improved range chasing my daughter, rather than riding alone.
Unless US riders have can average close to 20mph and ride above that limit on a regular basis, they will probably see a 25% drop in range campared to European Gain owners.
I suspect I would see an average of 18mph + on a US version, than the 14 I see now, but that would all be additional motor power not legs.

Sorry if you got bored along the way.

 

[Jaxx]

Interesting. Do owners of 20mph assist Gains, average 18mph? You still have to put in some effort.

 

[Solom01]

Yes, on flat terrain which is all we have and when there's no wind it's probably 17-18 mph with level 1 set to the default 100% and it doesn't take a whole lot of work to maintain that speed. I'm convinced that's why riders with the higher cut off version get much lower range. Cutting the power off completely makes the bike feel a little heavy, but level one is a bit too much assist. I'm going to try lowering the max. output to about 70 % on level 1, but I wish the app. would let us lower the maximum assist speed to 15.5 to see what that's like. Funny how people always want what they don't have, it seems strange to want a lower maximum assist speed, but it would force lazy people lkke me to work harder.

 

[Jaxx]

Pushing a bigger gear Sol, would help make it more difficult. I always though finish the last couple of miles spinning home, and getting the heart rate down.