Sluggish GSD S00?

[Walkbytwilight]

<apologies for the cross-posting - I posted a very similar post in the RadPower bikes forum as well>

Hello! My husband ordered a Tern GSD S00 for me, and it just arrived this weekend. Prior to this, my only ebike experience was on a RadCity Step-Thru, and I love riding that bike! However, I do not yet feel the same way about the GSD. The Bosch motor feels sluggish in comparison to the pep of the Rad motor. As crazy as it sounds, I’m considering returning it and buying a RadWagon 4 instead. Before taking such a drastic step, I’m hoping to troubleshoot the GSD to get it to feel a bit more zippy.

If you have experience with a GSD, how can I get it to feel like it has enough power? Adjusting the seat height and tire pressure helped a bit, but I’m still concerned about riding in traffic when I struggle to get it to go above 14mph even on turbo with no cargo on the back. The Enviolo shifter seems really stiff and hard to shift when moving as well - is that normal with a new Enviolo nuvinci hub?

Thanks for any advice you may have!

 

[bradl]

I found as the miles accumulated the motor and shifter both felt easier. When "shifting" I easily established a habit of simply pausing the pedals momentarily and was completely satisfied with that. I found it nearly impossible to shift under certain loads if I didn't. As it happened it felt completely natural to me to pause a microsecond to make shift adjustments.

The enviolo system does 'steal' a little bit of efficiency compared to other drivetrain models and while it bugs me from an engineering standpoint in practice it did not really affect anything other than maybe range. I have dual battery so rarely care about range either. I used my GSD for commuting mostly and was pretty much Turbo-all-the-time. I really appreciated the enviolo as I had a fair bit of stop-and-go on my route.

I am not familiar with the Rad bike(s) so I don't know if that system uses a similar sort of array of speed, cadence, and torque to decide how much assistance to give at any given moment. Difference is assistance profiles would likely affect perceived performance quite a bit, I'd suspect.

 

[Walkbytwilight]

Thank you so much for all of the information! I was able to get the enviolo to loosen up a bit, and also found out that I have to pause the pedaling when shifting. The looser shifter has made the motor feel much better, and I’ve been able to get it up to speed more easily. Understanding the difference between a torque sensor and a cadence sensor also made a big difference in how I’m approaching this bike vs my Rad, and my last ride on it was much speedier (and much more enjoyable)!

I will have Electricity Bikes check that the overdrive is set up correctly when I bring it in again in a few weeks.

I really want to thank you, not just for your great advice and trouble-shooting, but for your patience and your (apparent) belief that I’m not crazy in all of this!