Orbea Gain

[youngoldbloke]

Over 2100 miles now - chain not reading 0.75 yet. 2018 D30 10 speed Tiagra.

 

[Scaleyback]

I must be putting so much power through the pedals my chains are wearing quickly ?

 

[youngoldbloke]

Range extender thoughts ..... seems that the eventual introduction of this long awaited device emphasises that ebike manufacturers have not yet solved the problem of where to hide a high capacity battery. A major factor in my buying a Gain was it's 'stealthy' appearance, with the battery hidden in a fairly normal looking down tube. Install the ugly lump that is the range extender and it screams 'EBIKE'. I suppose there's no real solution until technology improves?
(edit: No, I won't be getting one)

 

[robgul]

Range extender thoughts ..... seems that the eventual introduction of this long awaited device emphasises that ebike manufacturers have not yet solved the problem of where to hide a high capacity battery. A major factor in my buying a Gain was it's 'stealthy' appearance, with the battery hidden in a fairly normal looking down tube. Install the ugly lump that is the range extender and it screams 'EBIKE'. I suppose there's no real solution until technology improves?
(edit: No, I won't be getting one)

Yes - it does look ugly and at a massive price. So far I've not had my battery below 25% left by a mix of powered and unpowered riding - although I have on one occasion taken the charger and had a squirt of electricity at a friend's house for half an hour.

I suppose the ultimate is an induction wire embedded in the roads

Rob

 

[Solom01]

Hi folks. Quick question, can you guys confirm the battery capacity of the main battery in your Gains from the information given in the engineering mode section of the eBikemotion app? I'm a bit worried about battery longevity because even though I never let my battery go below 30% and try to not charge it to 100% the weather here is really hot and humid which is not great for lithium batteries. I keep the bike inside, but when I ride the temperature is often at or near 100 degrees F. My current capacity is 237.2 which is a bit below what it's supposed to be (but well within normal variances I guess) and it has remained at that amount since I started looking, but I was just wondering what other bikes are showing. Thanks

 

[arao99]

Hi folks. Quick question, can you guys confirm the battery capacity of the main battery in your Gains from the information given in the engineering mode section of the eBikemotion app? I'm a bit worried about battery longevity because even though I never let my battery go below 30% and try to not charge it to 100% the weather here is really hot and humid which is not great for lithium batteries. I keep the bike inside, but when I ride the temperature is often at or near 100 degrees F. My current capacity is 237.2 which is a bit below what it's supposed to be (but well within normal variances I guess) and it has remained at that amount since I started looking, but I was just wondering what other bikes are showing. Thanks[/QU

My current capacity is 238.6 after 283miles

 

[Solom01]

Thanks. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up until it cools off here in November.

 

[Zeek48]

Well, it does what it says on the tin. It recharges the main battery as you ride along! I know that sounds like stating the bleeding obvious, but it does it smoothly, unobtrusively and if you didn't know it was only the main battery that could power the motor you'd swear it was the Range Extender Battery (REB from now on) doing it as the Iwoc power display on the bike stayed on White for the entire ride with the REB display slowly going through the change what's left colous as it used up its juice.

With both batteries powered up the phone app says 200%, you don't get a breakdown by battery, maybe one for the suggestion box. The bottle cage and glorified elastic band held everything in place, no rattles and I couldn't feel the extra weight when riding. Looking down to see what colour the Iwoc button on the REB became a new habit and it turned from White to Green at about 15miles. When it eventually died at 46miles (and if the button on the REB did the red flashing thing for less than 10% power left I didn't notice), but when I did noticed it had expired I stopped and looked at the power in the main battery on my phone. It said 95%. The REB could have died anytime in the last mile, but I was riding uphill on a busy and narrow country lane and I had other things to concentrate on.

The ride today wasn't particularly hilly, I average 13mph with 1,600ft of climbing in 50.2miles (and yes, I had to ride around the block to get that magic extra couple of fractions of a mile in). I rode mostly on Green Level 1 with the occasional foray into L2 or L3 for the odd hill or two, but boy was it hot today. 30deg C the weather man says and I believe him. For those of you who live in warmer climates that may not sound much, but to us Lilly White Brits, trust me, that’s hot. I’ve just had a tot up, I got through 3⅓ litres of water out on the ride, plus tea before and several large glasses of water when I got home.

So, my conclusion (albeit after only one ride with a REB); Well as I said previously it’s an ugly bugger, but the REB does what it’s supposed to do. 46miles down and with 95% left in the main battery I know I, (no I’ll rephrase that), I know a rider with better legs than me could easily have ridden 100 plus miles using power assistance, and that's an extended range. How it would cope with more climbing and/or steeper hills I don’t know, but as it stands, for my type of riding, at my speeds and for the gentle undulating terrain in my part of the world, it does what it says on the tin, and does it very well.

Thx for your battery extender report. I have one on order and scheduled to arrive mid September. Not sure how much I will use it but would like to do 4-6 Century rides a year. I have been able to manage most of my rides just fine so far by only using power on hill or into big winds. I'm 71 and most of the people I ride with are 10-15 yrs younger.

My average group ride ranges from 60-100kms with 300-600M elevation. I usually on use A1 but will sometimes treat myself to A2 getting closer to home.

I just completed 2 of my hardest rides last weekend with a 2 day charity ride of 110km/850m, first day and 103km/1044m. Was turning power off/on all day and finished with just less than 25% both days. Had I had the battery extender, I probably would've used the power more often.

Probably also wouldn't be ridding with out the E-assist.

 

[Scaleyback]

Hi folks. Quick question, can you guys confirm the battery capacity of the main battery in your Gains

From memory I think my battery capacity is 244w when fully charged ?
Like you I no longer charge to 100% but I will charge to 100% next time and check it and report back.

P.S Better ignore my 244w. Just logged on to my ebikemotion account and I see the
nominal capacity of the battery is 244.4 Wh. I guess this is the number I was remembering ?
However I will still check mine.

 

[Solom01]

Thanks guys. My capacity is a bit lower, but it seems like that could easily be manufacturing variance. It's also possible that because I'm in the US the battery sat around discharged while it was shipped; that our higher assisted limit of 20 mph is harder on the battery; or that the insane weather conditions here are hard on it. I'll keep an eye on it to see how quickly it looses capacity, but I'm not too worried about it. By the time it's toast I'm sure there'll be some new technology available that makes this look like a relic.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Just checked - capacity "249.4 wh/250.2 wh" in the app. Is that what I'm looking for? That's after 2198 miles. Always charged back up to 100%.

 

[Solom01]

That's it. Thanks for checking.

 

[G3CWI]

Has anyone successfully used the ebikemotion app with a HRM to control the level of assist given by their Gain? That looks like a really handy facility - if it works. I'm awaiting my Gain M21.

 

[Storck]

Has anyone successfully used the ebikemotion app with a HRM to control the level of assist given by their Gain? That looks like a really handy facility - if it works. I'm awaiting my Gain M21.

It works, however it's slow to respond ie. Cresting a hill, your HR is still high, so more power assist is applied even though you are desending.

 

[G3CWI]

It works, however it's slow to respond ie. Cresting a hill, your HR is still high, so more power assist is applied even though you are desending.

Thanks. I look forward to experimenting with it.