Very beginner advice for hills, such as getting started on one.

[Brightflower]

Hello. I took my maiden voyage on a Nakto 26 inch electric cargo bike yesterday. I am a 64 year young female, and have not done any serious riding for years, although I used to live almost on a bike. Anyway, I had to stop at a light on an incline. There are lots of inclines, small hills in the city of Farmington, NM. I used pedals to try to get started again. I fell--no serious injury, but I am babying a knee for a few days. Should I have just used the throttle to get started? I love the bike, and I want to use it at least half the time for errands. I have been looking on YouTube for videos that offer advice like how to stop on an incline and restart when you are a very beginner, but have not found any. Please advise.

 

[JRA]

If you have a throttle then by all means use it to get going enough to gain momentum and get your feet situated on the pedals. Probably good practice to do this at all times actually. When using the throttle however figure out how much you need, it won't be a full blast as that will make the bike move too fast.

 

[Brightflower]

Thank you, especially for the very quick answer.

 

[emco5]

When starting on a hill, the Nakto's 250w motor is going to need help. Before you come to a stop, downshift into the lowest gear. When moving off, you may need to stand on the pedals to add rider energy. Without your assist, the motor might get hot and flip a breaker.

You may need to have a bike shop change the bike's rear gears. Better climbing ratios are joy.

 

[JoePah]

Hello. I took my maiden voyage on a Nakto 26 inch electric cargo bike yesterday. I am a 64 year young female, and have not done any serious riding for years, although I used to live almost on a bike. Anyway, I had to stop at a light on an incline. There are lots of inclines, small hills in the city of Farmington, NM. I used pedals to try to get started again. I fell--no serious injury, but I am babying a knee for a few days. Should I have just used the throttle to get started? I love the bike, and I want to use it at least half the time for errands. I have been looking on YouTube for videos that offer advice like how to stop on an incline and restart when you are a very beginner, but have not found any. Please advise.

Good for you getting out there and crashing! Now you're one of us..lol

IF you are not comfortable standing on the pedal to get going, then stop your bike on a diagonal or even normal to the hill. Don't think it's a good idea to throttle up with your little motor, and probably small controlled from a dead stop, up a hill. Something will prematurely fail, probably the controller.

ONce you gain confidence you will find that standing on the pedal and using your fully body weight to get moving is the best choice.

Have fun!

 

[RoyL]

As you approach those junctions get the bike into its lowest gear on the rear derailleur. Put your pedal to the top, push off and throttle at the same time.

That should get you going !

 

[Alex M]

Should I have just used the throttle to get started?

Yes! This is what throttle is for - going uphill.

Starting uphill from a dead stop puts a bit of stress on the motor. It helps having it in low gear AND having a bigger motor too.

 

[Larry Ganz]

The key advice here is plan ahead - downshift before you come to a complete stop, so that you can use pedaling in a low gear + throttle to get started again. Too much throttle from a stop with no pedaling, while heading uphill can overheat the motor.

As you are using your brakes to slow down, you'll simply also downshift with the gear select lever, and slowly pedal a couple of cranks or turns to get the chain to move - pedal only enough to get the bike to drop to a lower gear but not hard enough to engage the pedals and push the bike forward against the brakes.

Imagine if you were just coasting along in top gear at 15 mph, where you might need to pedal 60 rotations per minute to maintain that speed - but if you only pedal half that rate (30rpm) you'd never propel yourself forward. So, if you shifted while pedaling slowly (20-30rpm) then your chain would still move up and down the gears if you shifted up or down. Now just add braking to that slow pedaling (after you move the gear shift lever).