What mode do you ride in and why?

[newts]

I mostly commute 10 miles rt on my Gazelle 380+ (Class 3) and I almost always run TURBO (the highest boost 4 of 4) on the road. In the morning I might let the bike do more work so I don't arrive sweaty and in the evening I will give normal effort and generally average between 20 and 25 MPH. Lately I have been using a lower mode and pushing harder going home.
On the weekends I usually do a rail trail somewhere with my wife and then I mostly use ECO (1 out of 4) assist mode or OFF at about 15 MPH or so.

 

[Roamers]

C380: Usually off, sometimes eco as the ride goes on. Higher assist on hills. Used turbo once just to see what it did going up a steepish hill; don't see the need to accelerate to 20 mph up a hill.

But I am a recreational rider. 12 to 15 mph is plenty for me just like when I ride my analog bike. If I was a commuting to work I'd probably kick up assist to avoid sweating.

 

[indianajo]

Throttle only; this scooter controller that fits my sensor connectors doesn't have a PAS input. Has a "door switch" input, whatever that is on a scooter. Has a "hi-low" input (3 wires) that does nothing when center is shorted to one of two outer wires. .
I use power mostly on hills although with a 15 MPH headwind like Sunday it didn't take much of a hill to get me to twist throttle on. 94 deg that afternoon, too. I averaged 6.75 mph, a little faster than all summer. Was 6 mph in May. I used to ride 30 miles 8 to 9 mph without power, before bouts of covid of 151 days, 51 days (delta) 13 days (BA5) . No hospital required, probably because I was in such good shape aerobically.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I used to use turbo when I could not put any effort into peddling because of my health. but I feel better and I don't like using it as the bike does not feel like a normal bike.
usually I am in tour or feeling really good eco. I notice I can go faster in sport and I actually tend to average more watts on my part but my heart rate tends to be lower average. I don't like riding without power the bike is too sluggish. this is tire size and weight your dealing with.

 

[Cowlitz]

I guess Tour mostly on my Gazelle. I live in a valley. I use Turbo to get up one of the hills as quickly as possible as car traffic is a problem on it and the road has no shoulder. Turbo is also used on other steeper places that I ride. Sport on not as steep hills and Tour on slight grades. Eco on flat or I'll shut it off if there is a tailwing.

I'm always shifting and I consider the assist levels to be another set of gears. Bringing home a watermelon and other groceries is a battery sucking event.

 

[McApple]

If I am riding on a rail-trail I will usually use eco, unless there is a headwind, then I will shift so tour. I do a weekly ride with a local cycle group, our average speed is around the 25 kph range through hilly terrain, I use the tour setting and usually lag behind on flat ground and downhills but have no difficulty catching up on the uphill climbs. I ride a 2015 Haibike xduro pro.

 

[Solarcabin]

I have a few more options on the Ariel X than other ebikes and I ride PAS 1 Eco for leisurely riding around 15mph. Pas2 and 20mph usually in town so I can slow down fast for bad drivers, hazards and stop signs. Pas 3 is 28mph for legal roads and most of my country roads. I can also go unlimited PAS 4 or 5 and get up to 35mph but I generally keep that for off road or back country roads where there is no traffic. We have designated EV trails in my area so I get to experience the best of both worlds.

I can get 30+ miles range in PAS 3 and 50+ miles in PAS 1 eco but I rarely ride long distances at that slow of speed.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

• Eco or Off for downhills or good tailwinds
• Tour or Eco for gentle terrain
• Sport or Turbo for long uphills

 

[retiredNH]

Depends. If I'm riding with my 30ish daughter like last weekend, Tour or Sport, in order to keep up. Otherwise, ride recreationally and for exercise, so I use as little power as I can, and only uphill, but this depends on my chemotherapy cycle. At the end of a cycle (28 days), I feel a lot more fatigue, so I might use more power. Rarely use Turbo unless it's an unusually bad day, since speed is not my goal.
We live in a hilly area. For example, my weekend ride with daughter was 18 miles with 2000 feet of climbing, at the end of a chemo cycle, so I was in Sport a good part of the time on the uphills. Used about 1/3 of the battery on my Trek 8s, 625 wh.

 

[Cowlitz]

Oh, and bump up the assist if knees start hurting. That's what I really like about an ebike.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

I generally ride in "Normal" which I have set at 60% boost, with the next level at 80% and Turbo at 100%. I rarely use Eco, which I have set at 30%.

Oh, why? Because I like the zing of 60%. The higher levels I use as needed on hills.

 

[fooferdoggie]

on our tandem we don't usually go about tour because we cruise right at the cutoff speed doing most of the work. only hill climbing or when we are really tired do we go above that.

 

[Alaskan]

I ride in all modes, depending on topography, weather, how I feel, how far I plan to go, how much battery remains, etc.

 

[Taylor57]

I mostly commute 10 miles rt on my Gazelle 380+ (Class 3) and I almost always run TURBO (the highest boost 4 of 4) on the road. In the morning I might let the bike do more work so I don't arrive sweaty and in the evening I will give normal effort and generally average between 20 and 25 MPH. Lately I have been using a lower mode and pushing harder going home.
On the weekends I usually do a rail trail somewhere with my wife and then I mostly use ECO (1 out of 4) assist mode or OFF at about 15 MPH or so.

Mostly throttle

 

[rich c]

2nd Alaskan's report. I have gears and multiple assist levels. I use them all. Sometimes I don't even use the motor if I am hypermiling to get the range I need for the trip.

 

[Nomad]

I use mostly turbo and peddle all out but use other assist modes depending conditions and range and of coarse the right gears. once your over that 20 mph it's all you and below that it can still be 100% of you just the motor multiplying that or you could put in less effort and get that multiplied by the motor.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Riding in Turbo only (as convenient as it might be) is bad for the mid-drive motor e-bike because it makes the chain stretched soon, and the drive-train worn out prematurely. For any e-bike, riding at maximum assistance requires the battery to be recharged often. It means a big number of recharge cycles that would end up in premature battery degradation. Meaning, a new battery is to be bought in a few years, and it means high cost and issues with availability.

As the Specialized e-bikes I ride allow tuning both of the Assistance (the Boost Factor) and the Maximum Motor Power for each of the ECO, SPORT, and TURBO presets, I carefully setup these parameters before any long ride. I reserve 100% Turbo of my full power Vado for steep mountain climbs, and use it only in emergency otherwise. (It is not much fun when you feel the e-bike is actually "riding you")

 

[Avg_Joe]

• Try to stay in Eco or assist off as much as possible, incl long flat stretches or downhill.
• Eco (20-40% assist) and Sport (35-70% assist) for rolling terrain.
• I only use Turbo for 1 particularly difficult winding dirt hill climb of several hundred feet.

Typically only experience 400-600ft of elevation gain during weekday rides, but much more on weekends.

Funny thing is, depends on weather. Since I got my Vado a few months ago, it's been 90's and humid every day, so the scheme above mostly works. We had about 6 days recently in low-mid 80's, and I was in Eco (or assist off) for almost all of it; used Sport on the hill where I used Turbo before. I have no tolerance for the heat and humidity and sweat like a horse, but still try to get a workout. Probably going to be a bit more generous w/ the assist until it cools off (90's and humid again) as I find myself exhausted for the day when trying to get a hard workout.

Last fall and winter on my Rad Rover, I felt I could ride for hours and hours (and sometimes did) on PAS 1 and 2.

 

[Cowlitz]

So, it's going to hurt my ebike if I ever ride the steep 9 mile long grade again? I was mostly in Turbo and either first or second gears. The road roughly gains 2200 feet in elevation in that nine miles. It is a power sucking road.

 

[fooferdoggie]

So, it's going to hurt my ebike if I ever ride the steep 9 mile long grade again? I was mostly in Turbo and either first or second gears. The road roughly gains 2200 feet in elevation in that nine miles. It is a power sucking road.

no but you may wear out the drivetrain faster so keep an eye on it.