Riding an e-bike in "no-assist" mode - how heavy is ok?

[Andrea Bozoki]

I am hoping to buy an e-bike soon, and am somewhat surprised at the weight of many of them (>45 pounds). How hard is it to ride a bike that heavy without the motor giving assistance? What factors make it easier to pedal a bike that weight: should I focus on finding a sub-45 pound bike or focus more on getting one that has 7+ gears? Are there any other factors that play a role? Do any of you ever deliberately shut off power, or choose to ride a long enough distance that you know you'll be peddling "on your own" for more than a few miles?

As a side note, are there any issues with putting a 50 pound e-bike on a rear-mounted bike rack? I assume you remove the battery first. Any other concerns to know about?

 

[mrgold35]

A possibility might be converting a regular bike into a mid-drive with a kit like from Luna Cycle. Then you would have a lightweight platform that is already geared for faster un-assisted speeds.

 

[emco5]

> I am hoping to buy an e-bike soon, and am somewhat surprised at the weight of many of them (>45 pounds).

I think Trek has one or more mid-drive eBikes under 45 lbs. Check the reviews and specs here at EBR for others.

If you go with the popular add-on mids made by Bafang, the motor and battery will add about 16 pounds to a bike.


> How hard is it to ride a bike that heavy without the motor giving assistance?

On level ground the weight makes little difference, it’s almost unnoticeable, but you will feel it when climbing. With a MTB pedal bike having a triple chainring and tractor gearing you can climb with a heavily loaded bike at a crawl pace with moderate effort. eBike’s tend not to have that range of gearing [single chainring], so they will be more work on inclines.


> What factors make it easier to pedal a bike that weight: should I focus on finding a sub-45 pound bike or focus more on getting one that has 7+ gears?

Tires are important. High pressure, narrower tires have less drag. Although wide and heavy tires do offer some flywheel effect, you will work more to keep them spinning. So, pick a bike that has rims allowing some tire options. Get a light bike, too.

eBikes are available with 10 cogs in back. A rear cluster with a 11-32 or 11-34 range is good.


> Do any of you ever deliberately shut off power, or choose to ride a long enough distance that you know you'll be peddling "on your own" for more than a few miles?

That is my riding style. I don’t travel as fast with the assist turned off, but conserving the battery lets me go a lot farther.


> are there any issues with putting a 50 pound e-bike on a rear-mounted bike rack?

Other than lifting the bike, be sure the rack and its mounting are rated for the capacity and will solidly support the weight.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

The truth of the matter is that unless you are a very strong cyclist, you won't have very much fun pushing a heavy bike around very far without some kind of assistance. Depending on your level of fitness that distance might be as little as a few hundred yards and might be as far as a dozen miles or so. There is a very good reason racing cyclists and tourers aggressively shave weight from their bikes.

You are right that there are other factors that come into play other than the weight of the bike. A big one is rolling resistance. In particular with a hub motor, you will probably have quite a bit more rolling resistance that you will be overcoming. All other things being equal, a mid-drive bike will have less rolling resistance than a hub drive.

Another factor is that nearly all e-bikes end up with a fairly narrow range of gears (the biggest exception is the higher-end bikes with internally geared hubs).

On the average, you'll notice the high rolling resistance more on gentler terrain, and the heavy weight on steeper hills.

Yes, getting a heavy beast of bike onto a rack and making sure the rack is strong enough is something to think about. I'd recommend buying your rack from a bike shop and hopefully trying it on for size at the shop. The other thing to think about is that an e-bike will have parts (like the display and the connectors for the battery) that need to be protected when the bike is on the rack. You should either consider covers or wrap the vulnerable areas in plastic when hauling your bike.

 

[Solom01]

When you say rear mounted rack hopefully you mean a rack that attaches to a hitch and not a trunk mount. I've never found a trunk rack that I really trust. Even being in a flat area with a really light ebike at anything under medium pas assist I'd rather be on a light non-ebike. If you get a bike with a larger battery and go light on the assist maybe you would get enough assist and range so that you wouldn't have to use it in non assist mode except rarely?

 

[PaulGee]

A capable hitch mounted rack is a must and if you are doing this solo make sure you are comfortable lifting 45 to 55 pounds of dead weight (without battery). Finding the proper hand lifting balance points on the frame is the key.

 

[Denis Shelston]

Another factor is price. Of course it's relative. For some $2000 is OK, for other $4000 is OK. A friend, who drives a $80,000 Audi thinks his $6000 bike is pretty cheap... I drive a $20,000 Toyota

You will find that light E-bikes are 'relatively' expensive.

 

[Trail Cruiser]

I am hoping to buy an e-bike soon, and am somewhat surprised at the weight of many of them (>45 pounds). How hard is it to ride a bike that heavy without the motor giving assistance? What factors make it easier to pedal a bike that weight: should I focus on finding a sub-45 pound bike or focus more on getting one that has 7+ gears? Are there any other factors that play a role? Do any of you ever deliberately shut off power, or choose to ride a long enough distance that you know you'll be peddling "on your own" for more than a few miles?

As a side note, are there any issues with putting a 50 pound e-bike on a rear-mounted bike rack? I assume you remove the battery first. Any other concerns to know about?

An ebike is about 15-20 pounds heavier than an equivalent regular bike. If the power is turned off then it feels like riding a bike with 20 pound payload. Other than that, there is no increased pedaling resistance (unless of course if you have the direct drive hub motor).

 

[Joe EE]

Hi Andrea. These bikes are heavy. I ride a Voltbike with fat tires and I couldn't pedal it a block on the flat without the motor assist. Although at the lowest level it feels like a regular bike. The fat tires allow very little coasting in my experience. I also ride a Surface Colt with 2 inch tires. Even though both bikes are over 60 pounds the Colt "feels" a lot lighter and it coasts really easily. As far as racks for transportation, I couldn't find anything reasonably affordable for my pickup so I DIYed one and even though I have those suckers strapped down in multiple places I still don't feel overconfident when driving with them. Good luck with your purchase, even with all these caveats these bikes are great fun!

 

[elyhim]

I am hoping to buy an e-bike soon, and am somewhat surprised at the weight of many of them (>45 pounds). How hard is it to ride a bike that heavy without the motor giving assistance? What factors make it easier to pedal a bike that weight: should I focus on finding a sub-45 pound bike or focus more on getting one that has 7+ gears? Are there any other factors that play a role? Do any of you ever deliberately shut off power, or choose to ride a long enough distance that you know you'll be peddling "on your own" for more than a few miles?

As a side note, are there any issues with putting a 50 pound e-bike on a rear-mounted bike rack? I assume you remove the battery first. Any other concerns to know about?

I ride a Trek Powerfly and stay on singletracks. When I ride with my kids I turn assist completely off and depending on the day average 6-9 mph of beginner/intermediate singletrack 10 mile rides. I've been riding for about four months and reduce assist and turn off assist more and more. I turn on turbo when riding with my much faster friends.

 

[rich c]

You will find light bikes, and not always expensive, but it will have a very small battery pack, and low wattage motor. So you will definitely be riding it with no assist at one time or another. The advantage of higher end bikes, is a better computer system. I get constant feedback of range left on the battery pack on my Haibikes. It's very easy to tell when to turn around and head for home, or when to keep it on economy mode to stretch the mileage. I can very easily ride 50 miles on my Haibike Trekking with the 500wh battery pack. There are times it tells me 70 miles left in the range because it calculates range based on the last several miles. I rode a cheap Sondors fixey with a small battery pack. I never rode it without assist, and not sure I could get away from a light with any kind of incline. The Haibikes are lighter, 11 speed, but with 50 mile range it's longer that I care to be on the saddle anyway.

 

[Robie]

Hi Andrea,
Yes it is challenging riding without power assistance .Mine is 62 lbs. And has a double chain ring in front which helps with lots of gear choices. I have ridden a few miles like this slowly with lots of gear changes. The downhill runs are brisk because of all the weight. Extra care is needed in crossing traffic , as your initial pedaling moves at a snails pace. I ride like this to increase stamina , and to conserve battery power. Your question on battery removal was correct on removal for transport on bike rack.

 

[TrevorB]

The mid drives with comuter tires at 50-80psi are quite easy to pedal on flat 10-15mph. With likes of Bosch or Shimano Steps, leave display turned on, then assist is only button press away for getting back up to speed or an incline.

The best thing you can do is test ride lots of different bikes and systems.
Happy hunting.

 

[WilliamT]

I am hoping to buy an e-bike soon, and am somewhat surprised at the weight of many of them (>45 pounds). How hard is it to ride a bike that heavy without the motor giving assistance? What factors make it easier to pedal a bike that weight: should I focus on finding a sub-45 pound bike or focus more on getting one that has 7+ gears? Are there any other factors that play a role? Do any of you ever deliberately shut off power, or choose to ride a long enough distance that you know you'll be peddling "on your own" for more than a few miles?

As a side note, are there any issues with putting a 50 pound e-bike on a rear-mounted bike rack? I assume you remove the battery first. Any other concerns to know about?

I have a Radwagon that with my gear (2 sets of clothes, dress shoes, 17 in laptop, etc.), is a little over 100 lbs. There have been a few times where I turned off the battery and just biked home (11-12 miles) on flat and some hills. It adds about 30 minutes more and I have to ride back on a very low gear. It's definitely a tough ride and I get home drenched in sweat. There are times where I'm climbing a steep hill and was tempted to turn it on but I held back and eventually cleared it. (I'm 5'6 145 lbs). I definitely wouldn't recommend it though.

For me, its the gears (2 up front, 7 in the back) that allowed me to do this. Weight really didn't matter once the bike is moving.

I have a rear bike carrier (Thule T2 Pro XT) that holds up to 65 lbs per bike. The radwagon won't fit, but my other e bikes (< 50 lbs each) have been fine.

 

[Franklo]

I am hoping to buy an e-bike soon, and am somewhat surprised at the weight of many of them (>45 pounds). How hard is it to ride a bike that heavy without the motor giving assistance? What factors make it easier to pedal a bike that weight: should I focus on finding a sub-45 pound bike or focus more on getting one that has 7+ gears? Are there any other factors that play a role? Do any of you ever deliberately shut off power, or choose to ride a long enough distance that you know you'll be peddling "on your own" for more than a few miles?

As a side note, are there any issues with putting a 50 pound e-bike on a rear-mounted bike rack? I assume you remove the battery first. Any other concerns to know about?

My bike is 43# without the battery. my rack is rated for 40# per bike. it's a 2 bike rack. so i do use it without problems. my other bike is 53# without the battery. i haven't tried that one on the rack and probably won't. and i definitely wouldn't put both on at the same time.
if you have a trunk or rear hatch type of rack, they're not usually rated much above 40# per bike, that I know of anyway. if you get a very heavy e-bike 60# or more, that type of rack might not work. you'd have to go to more of trailer hitch receptacle type.
plus, if you want to peddle without assist, a 60# bike would be a bit of a workout, but can be done ,especially on flat roads. my one bike has 20 gears the other (heavier one) has 28. i try to use minimal assist just for range- but it's sure nice to know you got that power when you need it.
Faraday makes a really light weight bike. I'm not sure how many gears they have though. My bikes are Easy Motion. one has a throttle and one doesn't.
I f you go back to the "general discussion" section of the forum and scroll down a few pages there was a lengthy discussion about e-bikes and racks. Good Luck in your quest!

 

[harryS]

Except for one store bought electric beach cruiser, all my other ebikes are regular bikes with motor added. Weights range from 34 to 54 pounds w/o battery. We live in flat Illinois, and I have no problem pedalling any of these at 12-14 mph w/o power. Also have ridden a few other commercial ebikes, 50 pounders, and they're about the same.

We took two of those bikes to Colorado this week. Wow. What they call a mild hill (300 feet) is a monster to me, especially at 9000 feet. I could do it w/o power, but it sure was work. So it's all subjective. Best advice is to tes tride the ebike that interests you.

I use a Swagman XTC2 platform rack. Didn't realize it's rated for two 35 pound bikes. I have one 35 pound bike and a 45 pound bike sitting on it right now. Pulled off batteries and seats to get the weights down. Added 20 pounds of chain though. Driven 2045 miles so far. Another 700 miles and I'll be home tomorrow! My car is a VW with only a 1 1/4 hitch. Wish I still had my old SUV with its 2" hitch.

 

[Andrea Bozoki]

I have bought (but not yet received) a Surface 604 Colt. 10 gears. 55 pounds. Yikes. I can lift it from the ground but not sure I can get it all the way up to bike rack height without help. My SUV has a 2" hitch, and I have a rack that holds 5 bikes, but I haven't checked to see if/what it's total weight limit is. We're going to go on a 4 hour car trip to the other side of the state soon, and I'm planning to bring everyone's bikes including my new one. I guess I'd better check to be sure it will hold that much weight. I'm very curious about the range I get, and how long it takes to recharge to >80%

 

[Roxlimn]

I generally shut off power when I'm in a slow speed zone (less than 15 kph). These are usually high pedestrian traffic areas where power would be dangerous. Sometimes, I get off and walk the bike. Having said that, I don't pedal for more than a few km in "off" mode. I have other bikes in my stable that would be better for that, if I wanted to do that. The ebike can mimic that on Eco mode. I stay there if I want to get some exercise.

 

[JRA]

Sometimes I'll just leave the battery off and go for a ride, bike is about 35 lbs. as seen in the picture. It rides really well without the battery weight actually. My plan if the electronics ever happen to break down far away is to stash the battery beside the road somewhere and go back and pick it up later.

 

[Joe EE]

Hey Andrea. Congrats on the bike. I think you will love the Colt, I love mine. My son and I did a 26 mile round trip last weekend but he likes to really lean on the battery. It was pretty close to exhausted after that ride. Good luck and have fun!