Your kind help is requested on choosing a fattyre e-bike which can easily triumph the hills of Barcelona, Spain...

DandyD

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Europe
Hi all, I live in the hills of Barcelona, actually close to the top near to the village of Vallvidrera, and I have been investigating to purchase an fat tyre e-bike for my daily transport into and back up out of the city center.


About me: 186cm (6,1") in height, and about 95kg (209lbs).


As a test I rented the city fatbike BostonBikes with about 500w, but this toy didnt even close made it up the hills...

In order to see if any e-bike would go up I rented an e-MTB from the luxury brand Riese & Muller, the Super Delite Mountain which had a 1125w battery and a Bosch CX 85Nm motor.

This bike indeed made it up hill, but still I had to peddle quite a bit, which might also have to do with the fact that I'm a newbee in this field... :)

Also, it didnt have the fat tyres which I definitely prefer...!


Btw, I always thought the peddling was like an extra, but that it would go 100% effortless if you wanted, but as for my testing bikes this was not the case.


For the lady of the e-MTB shop who knows the hills of Barcelona I learned that not only the numbers of watts are important but also the torque, which in her opinion should be above the 80Nm.


The fattyre e-bike I like a lot as for the overall design is the one from SUPER73, the RX.... But, the answer which I received on the question if this bike could easily thriumph hills wasn't very convincing either, especially when I mentioned I sometimes travel with two persons... :)


All-in-all, due to my limited technical knowledge I find it very difficult to make a good selection / find the proper, and fancy fattyre e-bike that would meet the requirements..?!


The question I am hoping to get answered here on this lively forum is as follows:

1.
Is the fattyre exclusively more for city riding, and thus are no, or very few fattyre e-bikes available that can champion (any) steep hills..?

2.
If there are any fattyre e-bikes that do have what it takes, can you please list one or more so I can check (regardless of price, this comes later)..?

3.
What technical (Watt, Torque in Nm, etc.) characteristics do you believe are mandatory for an e-bike to go up steep hills?

4.
Do you always have to peddle with the e-bikes, or are there also e-bikes available which take over the peddling for 100%, without having the need to shift many gears etc.?

5.
As these bikes are an interesting target for thieves, what you believe is the best locking system available?

6.
As you need to wear a helmet, are there fattyre e-bikes that also have a storage for a helmet?

7.
And, lastly, do you know of strong e-bikes (fattyre) which can easily carry two persons up the hills of my beloved city?


Many questions, long post, I am really looking forward to your help, much appreciated, my gratittude is eternal :)

BR, Louis
 
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Fat tires (over 3 inches) are originally made for sand and snow. They can make fine plush city bikes if you are OK with the extra weight and dimensions. I have 2 and love them. In that category, you will want a 750 or 1000w mid drive to be truly competent on steep hills. My Rize RX Pro out of Canada handles anything I can throw at it, and climbs all but the steepest hills at better than 15-20km/h. I have yet to find a hill it truly struggles on. By comparison, my 750w rear hub drive (Same company) is decent, but just can't keep up on the steeper hills and I'm forced to put in the work in a very low gear. I can definitely drive throttle only on the 1000w mid drive, but that is hard on the drivetrain if you use too much throttle all the time. No 'bicycle' is really optimized for that, and you would look towards one of the scooters for throttle-primary use. There are a couple of mid-drive cargo bikes that would meet your needs and move two people, but you may have to compromise on other features. An idea or two just for a starting point:



 
Fat tires (over 3 inches) are originally made for sand and snow. They can make fine plush city bikes if you are OK with the extra weight and dimensions. I have 2 and love them. In that category, you will want a 750 or 1000w mid drive to be truly competent on steep hills. My Rize RX Pro out of Canada handles anything I can throw at it, and climbs all but the steepest hills at better than 15-20km/h. I have yet to find a hill it truly struggles on. By comparison, my 750w rear hub drive (Same company) is decent, but just can't keep up on the steeper hills and I'm forced to put in the work in a very low gear. I can definitely drive throttle only on the 1000w mid drive, but that is hard on the drivetrain if you use too much throttle all the time. No 'bicycle' is really optimized for that, and you would look towards one of the scooters for throttle-primary use. There are a couple of mid-drive cargo bikes that would meet your needs and move two people, but you may have to compromise on other features. An idea or two just for a starting point:



Hi Theemartymac, I salute you as the first replier on my first post, for which many thanks, and much appreciated..! I take your comments, and hope to await another couple, and dive into it. I already learned from your post that I am looking for something not so common as indeed the fat bikes are more for sand, snow, and city biking and not so much intended for championing the hills :cool:

Thanks and all the best!
 
Well, I built this one specifically for steep hills and on trails it can climb just about anything. Its not even remotely light weight though. 100mm rims too. This is more of a doubletrack trail bike not technical singletrack. Also I rely almost exclusively on pedal assist, and keep the front motor output down to around 250w which is the sweet spot for power vs. controllability in highly uncertain terrain where a wheel can pop up and come down pointing in a different direction.

IMG_20200911_153242.jpg


If I were attacking steep hillsides probably the first thing I would do is remove the panniers. I have wheelie'd up a hillside before... pedaling just enough to let the front wheel come up and stay off the ground but not so high that the bike flips. That is a white-knuckle experience to be avoided. On this bike the front bag holds the front motor controller and patches/tools to give some weight to the front but not so much it affects steering. the brick on the front rack is a weatherproof charger, not a controller.

If I werebuilding a full suspension fat bike, I would use a Salsa Bucksaw alloy frame (2016 or earlier), which also has enough clearance in the triangle for a Luna Wolf battery pack.
 
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