New E road machine

[jowwy]

Isn't this Spesh crank drive though ?

so is the cannondale neo........or the giant road E.......focus with fazua....trek domane+......cube agree and probably a few more

all cost a lot less than the spesh too

 

[Mart44]

It's a nice bike alright but built for lottery winners I think ..and where's the mudguards and saddlebag rack?

 

[mustang1]

The battery pack doesn't look big enough?

 

[Smudge]

so is the cannondale neo........or the giant road E.......focus with fazua....trek domane+......cube agree and probably a few more

all cost a lot less than the spesh too

I was more thinking of comparison with the hub powered Orbea.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Blimey 12kg, that is light. It'll be like a rocket ship compared to others.

 

[CXRAndy]

Wow that's alot. I dont argue that they are nice bikes.

But I've just built up a lovely shopper/cummuter bike for the wife which has far better performance for £1k, that includes the bike too, a Genesis.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Why SO expensive? Even with the Roval wheels and Dura Ace Di2 etc you appear to be spending well over the odds for the frame and electrics. Think of a number and double it time?

 

[Archie_tect]

Blimey 12kg, that is light. It'll be like a rocket ship compared to others.

Shame about the heavy person riding it...

 

[Sharky]

I like and understand the concept of an e-bike, but I fail to understand why they are making them to look so much like a conventional road bike.
For instance, why do electric bikes have gears? The e-assist kicks in I presume when speed drops below 15mph, so you don't need to change down and revs are kept the same. If you go quicker than 15mph, a single speed of about 70" is more than capable of coping with 20+ mph and above this, you can just freewheel.

So why don't they make e-bikes single speed and somehow use the braking/descending to recharge the batteries to extend the range?

 

[Pale Rider]

I like and understand the concept of an e-bike, but I fail to understand why they are making them to look so much like a conventional road bike.
For instance, why do electric bikes have gears? The e-assist kicks in I presume when speed drops below 15mph, so you don't need to change down and revs are kept the same. If you go quicker than 15mph, a single speed of about 70" is more than capable of coping with 20+ mph and above this, you can just freewheel.

So why don't they make e-bikes single speed and somehow use the braking/descending to recharge the batteries to extend the range?

Ebikes - road legal ones - need gears for the same reason you do.

The combined power of the motor and the rider will not be enough to get up a steep hill in a high gear.

A fairly fit rider could manage easy terrain on a single speed.

The Gtech is just such an ebike, it works well in the right application.

Regeneration doesn't work due to energy losses.

Using the mains charger takes hours to charge a battery, and is inefficient, the charger draws more power than the battery stores.

Braking/coasting will produce a weedy amount of power, but the bigger problem is you can only do it for seconds at a time, or for a minute or two over the course of the ride.

Even if you were producing plenty of charge, those two minutes would not charge the battery sufficiently to give any measurable increase in range.

 

[CXRAndy]

I like and understand the concept of an e-bike, but I fail to understand why they are making them to look so much like a conventional road bike.
For instance, why do electric bikes have gears? The e-assist kicks in I presume when speed drops below 15mph, so you don't need to change down and revs are kept the same. If you go quicker than 15mph, a single speed of about 70" is more than capable of coping with 20+ mph and above this, you can just freewheel.

So why don't they make e-bikes single speed and somehow use the braking/descending to recharge the batteries to extend the range?

I presume its to do with torque of the little motor. I know my wife's Ebike conversion might shred the sacrificial gear in the drive if too much torque was forced through. It has a 8 speed internal gear hub.

70" is quite tall a gear for climbing gradients. That's why ebike have gears to reduce torque.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

looking at the spec of the motor - its way below the likes of orbea and cannondale on torque......

this s works has 35nm......not good if your a big chap, where as the orbea as 40nm and the cannondale has 50nm and both are a hell of a lot cheaper than that sworks......

looks good though

I thought they had a reputation for being leading edge - is it just that others have stolen a march in this area?

 

[Sharky]

Ebikes - road legal ones - need gears for the same reason you do.

The combined power of the motor and the rider will not be enough to get up a steep hill in a high gear.

A fairly fit rider could manage easy terrain on a single speed.

The Gtech is just such an ebike, it works well in the right application.

Regeneration doesn't work due to energy losses.

Using the mains charger takes hours to charge a battery, and is inefficient, the charger draws more power than the battery stores.

Braking/coasting will produce a weedy amount of power, but the bigger problem is you can only do it for seconds at a time, or for a minute or two over the course of the ride.

Even if you were producing plenty of charge, those two minutes would not charge the battery sufficiently to give any measurable increase in range.

I like the concept of the GTECH bike. Simplicity and is not trying to emulate TdF bikes.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Regeneration doesn't work due to energy losses.

I think it would work, but there is the downside to consider, the extra weight, if it's a crank motor you'd have a to develop a system where the freewheel is on the crank cogs & not the wheel cogs as the chain would have to continue turning, which in turn means it will be pulling along the bottom of the chain & causing all sorts of problems with the derailer, a hub motor would be far easier to make regen. But at this time I suspect it's the cost, to develop & convince a customer to buy, to me ebikes are already hugely expensive, but then again I think all bikes are way overpriced.

 

[Smudge]

For instance, why do electric bikes have gears? The e-assist kicks in I presume when speed drops below 15mph, so you don't need to change down and revs are kept the same. If you go quicker than 15mph, a single speed of about 70" is more than capable of coping with 20+ mph and above this, you can just freewheel.

You've answered your own question there. The motor is 'assistance', its not like a motorcycle. You need to put in some effort yourself with an ebike. Its easier on hills and pulling away to put that bit of effort in if you have gears. Although ebikes dont really need as many gears as an unassisted bike, I only ever use the top three or four gears.
If you ride one, you'll get it.