Rear Wheel Drag

[jcanavera]

Interesting discussion, new to ebikes have a Wing Freedom and on last ride there were some reasonable downhills over 25mph and I could definitely feel the drag from the motor when I stopped turning the cranks to turn on the assist motor. It was annoying coming from a conventional bike that would have coasted much better. I did check brakes and other things but its the rear hub motor. From what people are saying its endemic to the design and have to live with it. The Wing comes with a fairly basic controller but it does have a lot of settings however Wing doesn't want people messing with it as they have a warranty so I am not sure what all the settings are. Do all mostly have a regen braking setting? That would be nice but I don't think its turned on.

The regen breaking on the RadCity that I own is only activated when I physically apply the brake. Don't confuse that however with the fact that the direct drive motor used on the RadCity is not totally free wheeling due to the properties of the motor which has no gears and the slight drag is magnetically induced within the motor. I don't find it annoying in my initial rides. On flat ground I usually have the PAS set to 1 and the motor assist is active in a very limited mode only calling for 67-90 watts of power. When I do stop peddling due to very small downgrades, I find the loss of speed negligible.

 

[Dirkdaddy]

Thanks for reply. As you mention the hub motor w/o gearing does apparently have a built-in drag, so I guess its part of the experience.
How do you like the RadCity? Curious.
Rad is kinda close by (I'm in Portland they're in Seattle). Their bikes look great in spec but on heavy side and so I went with a lighter (48 lbs) more pedal oriented bike although "only" 36v and 350 watt has less mass to push. We got it intended for wife to get exercise on way to work without killing her on hills, which it has been perfect for.
Bikes are changing so fast! Voltage, gearing, drive system...

 

[jcanavera]

I just started riding so I've got about 34 miles on mine. First ride was on a 8.2 mile bike trail ) 1 way pretty much flat with a gradual decent from beginning to end. I rode with PAS 1 on. On the return I rode with PAS 2. Very nice. Then I did another trail that was along side a river then to a county park. Relatively flat although a side trail took me to a levee along side the river so I got to push the PAS up to 5 to see how it did on climbing the levee. Was impressive. Overall 24 miles on that first trip was left with a battery that showed 3/4 charge with no load, dipping occasionally down to 1/2.

Just came back from a 9 mile ride on the streets of my subdivision. Roads were from flat to very hilly with the steepest that had in incline of about 80 feet over the course of 3 blocks. So I used all the power assist levels and derailer gears to get a good feel for the bike in hilly terrain. Again I was happy although I need to try some seat adjustments because the old butt gets sore after about 9 miles. I'm going to try to tip the seat up slightly in the back and see if that takes off some of the pressure. The person who assembled the bike said that Rad tends to tip the seat higher in the front and she lowered it somewhat. But before I go seat shopping I'm going to try some adjustments first.

Saw the regenerative braking in action on the steep downhill segments of the ride. Saw the regenerative wattage peak at 291 watts. On the uphill side on the same hill I saw 749 watts used when peddling on PAS 5.

All in all I'm very happy with this purchase and after first riding a Pedego Interceptor, and the mid motor Raleigh Detour, I have no regrets on going with the RadCity. I'm not a commuter and will be using this bike for recreation only.