What top speed to get?

[Matt_McMullen]

I edited my post as I noticed the OP stated it is for a 5 mile commute. It would be nice to know however if this is mostly on bike path or city traffic, big hills etc...

Thanks Over50, the commute is pretty flat, suburban with moderate traffic and few lights, with a painted line separating a bike lane from a 35 mph road. I hope to commute a few times a week, but I won’t be able to do it every day, but it’s Montana so there’s plenty of places to ride for fun.

From what I’m getting out of the responses, I don’t think I need to worry about the top speed, because 1) I don’t really need to go very fast on such a short commute, 2) I can set up many/most of the 20 mph bikes to a little higher anyway, and 3) I’d prefer to be on the right side of the law. But if the bike I otherwise like is 28 mph, so be it!

 

[MarkF]

My wife has an active line plus motor on her bike and she rides 50% of our rides with no assist. She simply turns the assist off and pedals with no drag. I believe the active line motors were designed with no motor drag in mind.
We have some nice paved trails here in Las Vegas and all of our rides are 8 to 12 mph with the some down hills that get up to 18 mph. Class 1 and 2 bikes here and perfect for what my wife likes to do. But when I want to take my bike to the gym down a main street. 20 mph is horribly slow to me. I wish I would have opted for a class 3 bike. You can ride any bike at the speed you want to. Just because it can go faster doesn't mean you have to. So what bike you get depends on what you want to do with it.

 

[rich c]

That’s interesting. I haven’t come across any 28 mph bikes that don’t have a throttle - I’m not saying there aren’t any, but none are on my radar right now.

Neither of my class 3 Haibikes have a throttle.

 

[Matt_McMullen]

Neither of my class 3 Haibikes have a throttle.

One thing I’ve learned is that there are a gazillion different ebikes of every imaginable type!

 

[AHicks]

One thing I’ve learned is that there are a gazillion different ebikes of every imaginable type!

That's something that's befuddled many buyers (too many choices). I would suggest you define your mission, and focus only on bikes and options that will work best to fulfill that mission. You started off well with your need for a commute. Just keep refining that plan.

Maybe focus on inexpensive bikes to let you get your feet wet without spending a king's ransom? That first bike may work out well, may need to be modified a little to suit your purposes, or you may hate it because you discovered something that will work much better for you. In any case, it will give you a darn good intro.

 

[Koriemo]

I ride 8 miles each way on a Class 1 ebike. The path I'm on has a speed limit of 20mph; I stick to 16-17. It feels fast, but safe.

 

[Normalization]

I’ve been riding a Class III Riese and Muller Roadster with no throttle for about two months now. Most of my commute is pretty flat, and there are places that I can et to the top speed, but since I'm not a very strong rider I find it difficult to reach and maintain 28 mph on flat ground without a decent tailwind.

On top of that, I find that for commuting through city streets 20 mph is close to the highest speed I'm comfortable going with other bikers and vehicle traffic nearby, so having the extra 8 mph of speed doesn't seem to make much of a difference in my commute. Sometimes I wonder if the extra torque the active line motor has might have helped me get started from a stop when I forget to downshift.

However, I find that I can easily reach 20 mph with little effort on high pedal assist levels and think that having the bike cut assist at that point would be jarring, so the extra 8 mph of room probably helps me feel like I'm having a smoother ride. I also like going fast on some empty roads that I've found while riding around on the weekends.

On the subject of legality, I think that as long as you don't ride the bike irresponsibly you should be safe from police attention, but if you get into an accident you probably won't be given the benefit of the doubt with an illegal bike. I'd personally avoid it, but I'm the cautious type.

I have a mid-drive Bosch (Active Line Plus) and don't notice any motor drag when I pedal faster than the assist limit on long gentle downhills. I do notice motor drag when I pedal with assist off, though, so I suspect it is more noticeable on acceleration at lower speeds rather than on maintaining a gravity-assisted speed.

This has been my experience with the Performance Line Speed motor on my bike. Turning off pedal assist at low speed makes me feel like I'm dragging a bit while pedaling, but I don't feel that while going downhill and pedaling over 30 mph.

 

[GregGritton]

However, I find that I can easily reach 20 mph with little effort on high pedal assist levels and think that having the bike cut assist at that point would be jarring.

Bosch motors start to reduce power below 20mph and hit 0 assistance at 20mph. Thus, the cutoff isn't jarring, but I find myself going ~18mph with good/hard pedaling on assist. (Of course, you can meet/exceed 20mph if you supply all the force or on a downhill.).

 

[Cassidy]

The Juiced ccs2 comes with a class 2 sticker But you can change it to class 3 when needed

 

[ElevenAD]

both my current bikes are class 3,they will throttle 28 or more and i could never deal with a class 1,i rarely ride 28mph but 23/24 is often helpful and having the power there if you need it is great,no one is forcing you to go full throttle.

 

[Matt_McMullen]

The Juiced ccs2 comes with a class 2 sticker But you can change it to class 3 when needed

On the juicedbikes.com site’s promotional photos, the CCS2 clearly has a class 3 sticker on the frame.

 

[Cassidy]

On the juicedbikes.com site’s promotional photos, the CCS2 clearly has a class 3 sticker on the frame.

I can tell you I had several emails with Juiced as well as researching and factually the bike comes with a class 2 sticker. They have said it ships as class 2 BUT you can change it if you like. I have kept mine as is In addition the photo you showed is not a sticker. The class sticker is yellow on the bike. Im guessing the picture you show is a graphic for the photo. If you click on details you will find this "Class 3 Capable: 28 mph (45 km/h) Default Configuration: Class 2 E-Bike Optional Configuration: Class 3 and Class 1 E-Bike"

 

[opimax]

If your bike tops out at 20 you won’t be able to go 28 but if your bike tops at 28 you can still do 20...

 

[BBassett]

I’m researching my first ebike, and one of the decisions I ran into is the top assist speed of the bike.

As I understand it, Class 1 & 2 ebikes...

Mr. McMullen, Class 1 ebikes are not considered a motorized vehicle by federal definition and can ride anywhere in America that bikes are allowed. Some states are making things as difficult as possible it seems. I went through the same thought process you are about 3 years ago and am here to tell you that 30 mph IS atrociously fast on a bike, 40 is even more horrifying. 30 mph on a heavy bike with over 100 lbs. of gear, 40 lbs. of motor and batteries, pulling a trailer with an additional 80 lbs. is nothing but crazy. 15 mph. feels just fine when I'm loaded... errr, when I'm carrying a load? That still sounds bad. Hopefully, in time people will understand that speed is more about gearing than motor size and agree upon a set speed limit for all bikes. They don't limit h.p. in cars, they just set a speed limit. Until then comply with whatever you have to to be able to ride a Class 1 ebike that's what makes them most special. Don't build a bike just for the minimum you might do.

https://imgur.com/a/3w6izz7 - Bike and Trailer
https://imgur.com/a/DKpcF0a
https://imgur.com/a/zXXlyuv

Check out 70 miles w/front panniers & trailer on Relive! https://www.relive.cc/view/g37290970278
Google bike pics:

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN67sUw0ykU-Mg5gLsOw9vF8kBMEM5cGCgCNmLT_j72h9iu5fKYFFVbLJ2Z415Umw?key=LUZqdEl1d3RjNV9id0ZvTEFickhITnBwWFZrU3hR