3000 km ride!

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FrothNinja

Veteran
Well today the eBike topped 3000km while I was riding it.
It's taken 30sh charges, 2 chains, and13 months to do it. I only rode it once in that first month.
It has been ridden in all weathers & took me to Scotland and back. It has to share my time with some old treaders, and for the last few months, with a modern CX bike. Never been beat off road yet - and only bucked me a few times. Time for some new tyres by the end of summer...
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Tom...

Guru
Which bike is this, please?
 
You must be using a low assist level to get 100km out of every charge especially if using the bike off-road. That's 5 watt hours per kilometre. I saw on a thread on endless sphere where someone was claiming to have got I think 6 watts per kilometre using a geared hub motor with the clutch disabled so could enable regen and that was road only and allowed for regen recharging the battery and many were suspicious although the general rule of 10 watts per kilometre isn't that far away. Now that I think about it it could have been 6 watts per mile so only about 4 watts per kilometre.

The expected range of that Bosch battery is probably around 50km but off-road its sometimes halved. Also the Bosch motors that peak high like 85Nm have been shown to go up over 700W in power sometimes close to 800W despite their 250W rating for short periods of time. That clearly would increase battery consumption. You can't have high torque/high wattage and low battery consumption.

Is it a good bike for just turning the motor off for flat roads and downhill? It looks pretty chunky and weighty.

One thing to be careful with is the battery. I was reading the other day of someone who had a fault with their Bosch motor, I think around 5,000 miles or kilometres and it was out of warranty and the expected repair price was over £$1000 possibly a replacement motor which the person couldn't stomach at the time especially for a heavily used and worn bike so the bike was left in the shed/garage for over 7 months. Anyway the battery self-bricked. The BMS is programmed to fail if it senses it is disconnected from power. The batteries are highly proprietary, filled with glue and have special electronic handshaking so you cannot use third party batteries. They also prevent you re-using the BMS by being programmed to die if disconnected from power so you can't reuse them. This also happens if the battery discharges too far. You could also argue that the battery cells themselves would be damaged by such a self-discharge but they have the potential to be recovered but sadly the BMS prevents that, the whole pack is useless. The battery still may have the potential to be re-used with other motor systems. I think even Shimano nowadays allow third party batteries so the cells could be re-used with a universal BMS. It's impossible to buy Bosch compatible BMS boards as far as I understand though. Anyway as Bosch battery packs age and the cells become lower capacity and may not hold charge as long a good regime of charging the battery perhaps every 2 months when you aren't using the bike is probably wise. I seem to remember another Bosch owner bought a newer model with a different motor system so the older Bosch model got less use and then the battery bricked itself.
 
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FrothNinja

FrothNinja

Veteran
I only use assist if manual pedalling drops speed below 5mph. No need for assist otherwise. I bought the bike to improve my fitness so using assist all the time would be pointless, I would just use a motorbike if that was how I rode.
Also, I ride 'normal' bikes too. My anaerobic fitness has never been much of an issue - it's the aerobic side that needs sorting. I dare say if I was elderly or infirm then I would use assist more often. I don't believe the mileages I attain are that unusual. The fella I ride with most often get's similar mileages out of his Cube (2019 model) and there are probably plenty of folks on Youtube that do similar or better.
Horses for courses - I didn't get an electric for an easier life - initially it was a cost effective alternative of tricking myself into getting fit again as the nearest flat bit of open road is a mile away up a stiff climb & I was almost retching climbing it on my old steelies.
The more I ride both types of bike the more my average mileage per charge is increasing. The bike is 25kg but rolls nicely if you play smart with your cadence.
 
Not sure about your range calculations.
I can generally get about 60 miles (96 km ish) from my Bosch system - using a 300 battery - or I can in summer anyway
That is mostly on the flat - canal paths and roads without many proper hills
and mostly in Eco mode with occaisional use of Tour if I'm having a bad day!
and also the bike, and hence the battery, has just gone over 7,200 miles in about 3 years

Obviously if I went off road - or more off road that canal paths - then that would cut the range down
 
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FrothNinja

FrothNinja

Veteran
Not sure about your range calculations.
I can generally get about 60 miles (96 km ish) from my Bosch system - using a 300 battery - or I can in summer anyway
That is mostly on the flat - canal paths and roads without many proper hills
and mostly in Eco mode with occaisional use of Tour if I'm having a bad day!
and also the bike, and hence the battery, has just gone over 7,200 miles in about 3 years

Obviously if I went off road - or more off road that canal paths - then that would cut the range down

I base my calcs on me - they are bang on. I have recorded them since I bought the bike & have pics of the trip & total mileages from many of them. I make not claims on potential ranges of other riders. Theoretically if one lived somewhere very flat, the range could be hundreds of miles between charges. It is totally dependant on how often you call on the assist - simple physics, mechanics and maths,
 
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FrothNinja

FrothNinja

Veteran
These should make things crystal clear. 1857-1774=the distance on last charge
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I agree - it is best to make the calculation based on your own riding


For example - I know that there are certain roads where I will use almost no charge at all because my average speed is over the motor cut off
hence the motor does nothing

On others I use a lot - especially tracks - as I am constantly slowing down, and even stopping, then accelerating again due to having to take care around walkers
And I also know that on a sunny day in the school holidays I am likely to give up an switch the assist off as I can never get up to any speed and may as well just bimble along at a slow speed in a low gear because there is no way I can pass anyone
 

Gwylan

Veteran
Location
All at sea⛵
Thought I was the only obsessive with a battery bike.
For best part of 3k km I've recorded the distance and what the readout says is the remaining percentage of the battery

Have about 50 data points, so it starts to become relevant.

What is clear is that, if I dared, I could probably get >60km out of a charge.
Early on I got caught out and had to summon the cavalry to get me the last 10 km. That after I'd done 10km and realised I was pushing the dead weight of a robust frame, a large battery and a very heavy motor.
Become much more cautious since then. Also pedal a bit more too!

My next e bike will be better chosen rather than gratefully accepted as a gift
 
I have run out of charge a couple of times due to inattention or over optimism

worse was about 4-5 miles from home but luckily it is quite flat round here so I just pedalled home slowly in low gear
 

youngoldbloke

The older I get, the faster I used to be ...
Almost 4 years and over 9000 Km now on my Orbea Gain. For me a rough estimate of range is 1mile/ 2% of charge at best. Depends on the terrain and % of ride at over 15.5 mph. So for an average ride 40 - 45 miles per charge is realistic. Essentially - the less you use the battery the greater the range. That's it!
( I'm 74, have peripheral vascular disease affecting both legs so rely on assistance - it's tough maintaining speed above the cut off - if I could I'd still be riding my non-assisted bikes)
 

Gwylan

Veteran
Location
All at sea⛵
Almost 4 years and over 9000 Km now on my Orbea Gain. For me a rough estimate of range is 1mile/ 2% of charge at best. Depends on the terrain and % of ride at over 15.5 mph. So for an average ride 40 - 45 miles per charge is realistic. Essentially - the less you use the battery the greater the range. That's it!
( I'm 74, have peripheral vascular disease affecting both legs so rely on assistance - it's tough maintaining speed above the cut off - if I could I'd still be riding my non-assisted bikes)

Welcome to my world.

If I'd believed people I would have taken more care of my non warranted body.

Really hard accepting that there are limits to your body.
 
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FrothNinja

FrothNinja

Veteran
Turns out I have been running a 625 not a 500 all this time.
Was told it was a 500 when sold the bike and rather embarrassingly, only noticed yesterday :blush:
 
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