Turbo Vado 2 4.0 or 5.0 or 6.0?

[mschwett]

All good suggestions! Will see what I can cook up. Some thoughts...

1. You're a tough taskmaster, but pretty sure I could do 3-4 runs like that in one outing at 80-90 rpm.

2. Used the RideWithGPS route planner to scout local climbs I know of that might be suitable. Found none of at least 300 ft gain with anything resembling a steady gradient, but several with somewhat steady stretches of 4-8%. Probably the best I'll do from home.

3. Writing an assist mode as E/M, my SL 1 experience indicates that motor power falls off sharply at E < 30. So probably more meaningful to test E points in the 30-100 range.

3. Probably need to keep rider power under 120W to reduce the chance of saturating.

i think three minutes of data would be enough per run, so if we assume the last run is 120 human watts and 240 motor watts, total weight is 225lb, you actually only need a 150' hill (about 7/10 of a mile at 4%) which you ought to be going around 14mph on! i would bet dollars to donuts that the power ratios would be very close to the flat predictions, ease * 2.

 

[mschwett]

by comparison and for giggles....

this is the hill we live on - behind the tallest building on the left; our views are all in the other direction lol. it doesn't look as steep here as it does in reality. the last two blocks are 27.6% and 25.3%. i've never ridden a two wheeled vehicle of any sort up them. i wonder what it would take?!?! according to bikecalc.... 600w to go 5.2mph on the aethos, at 65rpm. a 70lb full power mid-drive would need 800w to go 5.5mph. so in theory one of those 1kw "bikes" would be able to do it!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

i think three minutes of data would be enough per run, so if we assume the last run is 120 human watts and 240 motor watts, total weight is 225lb, you actually only need a 150' hill (about 7/10 of a mile at 4%) which you ought to be going around 14mph on! i would bet dollars to donuts that the power ratios would be very close to the flat predictions, ease * 2.

Good, finding a somewhat steady gradient over 150 ft of gain will be a lot easier. The inland topography here is pretty chaotic, and all the hills on the Coast Highway are too short.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

by comparison and for giggles....

this is the hill we live on - behind the tallest building on the left; our views are all in the other direction lol. it doesn't look as steep here as it does in reality. the last two blocks are 27.6% and 25.3%. i've never ridden a two wheeled vehicle of any sort up them. i wonder what it would take?!?! according to bikecalc.... 600w to go 5.2mph on the aethos, at 65rpm. a 70lb full power mid-drive would need 800w to go 5.5mph. so in theory one of those 1kw "bikes" would be able to do it!

Looks very familiar. Once lived on Russian Hill, one street over from the famously switchbacked block of Lombard. No shortage of steep streets from there to your place.

Back then, my two-wheeler was a Suzuki GS1100. Climbed those hills pretty well without my help.

Climbed some 20% grades on the SL 1 after lowering the gearing to 22-99 gear-inches. Don't wanna think about 25-28%.