Carrara subway e bike

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plumber

New Member
Have bought a new subway e bike , a bit annoying Halfords claim the mileage is around 40 I have ridden on eco mode only and at a average speed of 16/18 mph, cannot get over 28 miles , have fully charged battery so that the green light is showing switch off and back on it will go back to red and charge for about another 20 mins before it shows green again, any ideas please.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
That's normal for any ebike - you never get the full mileage - you might on a warm day, not in the cold.

Battery protection circuits will go green when charged, then accept a trickle after if you switch off and on. I wouldn't advise doing that, as the protection circuit senses it's charged, so leave it there, and not keep trying to top up more.

Batteries don't like the cold.
 
Errr
hang on
if you are riding at 16/18 mph then the motor should have cut out for a lot of your ride - or at least only helping a bit

so 28 miles is VERY low

BUT
I'm not sure exactly what you are saying - and EXACT is important here

When you charged it - how long did it take from start to fully charged??

what did the charge display show after the 28 miles??

was the bike assist cutting out at the ed of the ride - or riding with normal assists - or NO assist

If it was on charge for x hours (where x is 1-4) then OK
when it is unplugged and then restarted it will take a while to work out what is going on and what colour the light should be.

I suggest that you assume the charge is FULL

then go for another ride - do the 28 miles - or something like that - ending with a loop close to home - maybe a few loops so if it cuts out you are close to home

then charge it and see how long it takes to get to full charge

then post the mileage and charge state here -

let us know what the result are and hopefully someone can comment on whether or not the battery needs to be returned

it is s known problem with ebike that some of the batteries sit on shelves for ages with no usage and no charge - and this can mess them up
although as the demand has been massive recently it seems unlikely at the moment

but let us know!
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Halfords claim "Max range up to 40 miles". They do not claim it is something you'll realistically achieve every single ride, so I see no reason to be annoyed. In warm weather, on flat terrain with light rider and intellogemt use of the modes it is doable.

As an owner of the same model myself I can confirm that 28 is not an unrealistic mileage - I can do more than 28, but I can drain it in as little as 22.

However, if youre genuinely averaging 16 to 18 you should hardly be using any juice. You're either misrepresenting the average speed (I'm fighting to to that as an average on my carbon roadie, never mind on my 18.5kg Subway E, so I do question if that really is correct) or you really do have a problem.

Also be aware that cold weather can hit ebike batteries hard. My own experience of the Subway E is a 20% or so drop in range for a drop in temperature from 12°C to 2°C.

Use your mobile phone and the Strava app to record your ride independently and get an authoritative average speed, then look again. However, your mileage is within the range that Subway E riders report, and that I experience myself, so I suspect there's little wrong with it - they're great bikes, but 317Wh is one of the smaller ebike batteries out there.
 
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Agreed - but also pay attention to the speed that the motor ACTUALLY cuts out - and how accurate your mileage is - again Strava can help here - as can other apps
My ebike cuts out at 16.x MPH according to the display - but also logs more miles than strava and other GPS apps so I think is is over on mileage!

So when you are doing 16 mph you may actually be doing less - or more
see if you can hear the motor. Although if it is working properly it will help less and become quieter as you get closer to the cut off so the cut off may be slightly higher than it sounds like.

but if you are doing slightly over the cutoff you should be using NO battery!
I find that the tendency is to do a speed that is around the cut off speed - because you pedal up to the cutoff then go slightly over on the flat - then when it goes downhill you go faster - but when there is a slight hill you drop a little bit and the motor kicks in and help a bit but you hardly notice.

So it is complicated - but if your are pedally at around the cutoff you should do a reasonable mileage - if they say 40 - 28 would seem a minimum if you are on pretty flat land at around the cutoff speed
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Indeed. Mine cuts out at an indicated 16/17 mph on the display, but GPS shows it really is down in the 15 mph range, exactly as it should be.
 
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plumber

New Member
Thanks for all the advice , I think the average speed was high maybe but will give it more runs have run the battery flat a few times 28 was the most it did with warmer weather coming may get a better reading .
 

Legomutton

Senior Member
Have a look at the Bosch range calculator. It's designed for Bosch system bikes but it enables you to see the relative impact of speed, bike type, tyres, average speed (up to 16mph) riding position, season (temperature), terrain type, assistance mode, battery size, etc. Temperature seems quite important.

I think the cut off of assistance above 15.5mph is probably a red herring. You can set up to 16mph average on the Bosch estimator which implies a substantial proportion of unassisted pedalling anyway.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
I think the cut off of assistance above 15.5mph is probably a red herring. You can set up to 16mph average on the Bosch estimator which implies a substantial proportion of unassisted pedalling anyway.

The Bosch range estimator also caters for their Speed pedelec motors which assist up to 28mph/45kph.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
I think my dad is on the trigger for getting either the subway or the slightly more expensive carrera. Need to go with him and check sizes as he's not particularly tall. Need to take into account the weight too.
 
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