Throttle only bikes that will climb hills

[Rob EV]

Hi guys,

I'm looking for an electric bike that will be used like a mountain bike. On trails and some hill climbs.

I want to use it similar to a scooter or motorbike, riding around up and down hills with doing very little pedalling or manually changing gears.

There are some scooter brands now like Dualtron and Nanrobot that have the power to do that, the problem with those is the small wheels, it won't be comfortable going on bumpy trails, I wouldn't be able to hop up a curb or over anything more than a couple of inches.

Will a standard electric bike do this or do I need to look at something like a Sur Ron or Bultaco Brinco?

Does anyone know what happened to Bultaco? Apparently they went declared bankruptcy last year but their website is still up and running.

Rob

 

[DDBB]

Look for a e-mtb with a bafang ultra mid drive. That'll do what you want... FLX blade for instance

 

[indianajo]

I'm climbing 15% grades (measured) and maybe steeper, at 330 lb gross with a "1200 W" geared hubmotor. For legal reasons you mostly can't buy these in a bike. You have to buy a kit. Mine is shown left on a 63 lb yubabike. The motor kit cost $220 with kit controller throttle brake handles & LCD display, in august 2017 from ebikeling.com He doesn't sell geared hubmotors in the 48 v variety anymore, only 36 v. You can get a MAC 1000 W from luna now.
I had electric-bikes.com cancel an order for a MAC 12 when he found out we have 15% grades in Indiana. He tried to sell me a crystal direct drive motor, which I have found an ly1000 DD uses about 2.5 times as much electricity (watt hours) as the ebikeling motor on my hilly 30 miles route. I think geared hub motors have trouble shedding heat on long grades. Mine are short.
The geared hub will slow to about 4 mph full throttle on 15% grade at 300 lb, which is about .13 hp mechanical . 33000 ft lb/min is a mechanical horsepower.
This diy rig was $2850 with 840 wh battery. The cargo frame is overkill for a MTB hill climber. I carry 6 days supplies out to my hilltop trailer. You need to carry maybe a tube, a tire changing kit, maybe lunch and a map.

 

[rich c]

Hill climbs on throttle only? You don't want an eBike. Nearly all eBikes are basically electric assist, not electric propelled. The controllers and most motors are not made for extended long climbs, and hill climbs on throttle only and will overheat.

 

[Rob EV]

Hill climbs on throttle only? You don't want an eBike. Nearly all eBikes are basically electric assist, not electric propelled. The controllers and most motors are not made for extended long climbs, and hill climbs on throttle only and will overheat.

It doesn't have to be throttle only, some pedalling on hills is fine. The Bultaco and Sur Ron come with pedals which you can use on steep hills and to make the battery last longer.

Check out some videos of dualtron scooters on youtube, they can climb hills fairly easily.

 

[Rob EV]

Look for a e-mtb with a bafang ultra mid drive. That'll do what you want... FLX blade for instance

Thanks, will check them out. The FLX doesn't look cheap. I was hoping to get something for under $3k

 

[DDBB]

I think it looks cheap, but it's expensive

 

[rich c]

It doesn't have to be throttle only, some pedalling on hills is fine. The Bultaco and Sur Ron come with pedals which you can use on steep hills and to make the battery last longer.

Check out some videos of dualtron scooters on youtube, they can climb hills fairly easily.

Of course the Bultaco and Sur Ron have pedals. That's so they can creatively market them as eBikes. It's a rare owner that uses them for anything more that foot rests. Ever seen a video of someone using them? I haven't . When someone asks for an eBike that is similar to a scooter or motorbike, I just assumed they had no intent to pedal. Sorry to assume. But, you did say throttle only in your subject line. To me, a hill climb is a competition of speed and technique to get to the top of a steep hill. If a scooter is going up the hills you intend, then we have very different ideas of what a hill climb is.

 

[AHicks]

The fact he mentioned he doesn't like to shift gears kinda makes even a mid drive a stretch?

 

[indianajo]

I climb maybe 40 hills 50-100' long on my 30 mile route. I pedal unpowered on about 1/3 of them on the route I followed for years. After electricity I added about 20 hills on a long detour that keeps me off state hwy 3 mostly - I use electricity climbing those. That maintains my constant time 3.3 hours I established on flatter Hwy 3. About 8 mph average unless the wind is favorable. On a hot day with wind in my face the motor casing gets pretty hot. I gain about 200 ' total elevation going NE. One way uses from 51 to 45.5 v of a 17.5 AH 13 stack battery.

 

[DDBB]

The problem we run into with high powered ebikes is that eventually there will be a backlash and we might ALL lose the privilege of riding bike paths with our modestly powered class 1 bikes

 

[tomjasz]

BBSHD mid drives are popular with the off road crowd. Somewhat forgiving of gearing errors. Go someplace like Luna, or search “vector eBikes “. Fortunately this forum is more a eBike crowd. You’re not wanting a bike and frankly I hope you don’t step into that class and then hit bicycle trails. Electric dirt bikes belong on 4x4 dirt roads and trails, not mountain bike trails and bike paths.

Here you’d be called out in short order. Nothing worse than hotrodding mountain bike trails built and developed by the hard work of cyclists.

It’s making it difficult for responsible assisted eBike riders to be accepted.

 

[Rob EV]

Some of you have jumped to conclusions here. I won't be using it on dedicated mountain bike trails.

I have quite a lot of private land and next to me is a woodland and fields that barely anyone goes to. I currently ride my mountain bike there, which I quite enjoy.

 

[DDBB]

That's cool Rob EV

 

[tomjasz]

I currently ride my mountain bike there, which I quite enjoy.

That's great to read! Some of us have had some disappointing experiences with abusive riders. As I wrote, go to endless=sphere and look at vector and sur ron "bikes".