Hi Southerners,
I have not had mine long but it rides perfect when not switched on, though the extra weight of the motor/battery was soon felt on anything less than flat or a head wind. I also switched off completely when trying to eliminate the drag I'd been suffering. This worked but disconnected me from the emotion app. That was the only downside for me thus far.
After reading through this very informative thread I now have it switched on at all times, it uses little or no power from the battery when in zero mode so no point in leaving it off...
Cannot say I have ever read anything about 'issues' when riding with the power off. Not sure why you would do that ?
unless you wanted to tackle a hill 'unassisted' of course.
Thanks for the replies, Touchingcloth and Scaley. And TouchingCloth welcome to the community. I am glad you are enjoying the Gain experience. It has been a godsend for me.
Living at the top of a hill (the only way is down) I often jump on the bike and start cycling without thinking about turning it on. I forget about it until I hit a hill whereupon I notice how heavy the bike is and how much my back, hip and knee hurt. I turn it on to get up the hill then rather than press the iWoc button repeatedly to cycle through the lights to setting '0' I just turn it off. I guess it is only laziness. It is not until later into the ride as I tire that I leave it on permanently.
Touchingcloth, I don't use the emotion app other than at the end of a ride to see how much battery power is left. Although the app is useful, I have a garmin triathlon watch which records my route and uploads the data to Strava automatically for me, and I use that for keeping a record of my cycles, runs and swims so that it is all in one place. I use a Mio Cycle as a gps during my cycle with my route uploaded onto it which I create in Komoot. The Mio Cycle has all the data I need for my ride and I figure that when out on the ride there is nothing I can do about how much battery power I have left so there is little point worrying about it or even knowing, so all of this negates the need for the emotion app. Thus, I never use it on a ride anymore.
With regards to the drag after using setting '3', yes I get that and I notice it considerably. The only thing that I have found that works for me to get around the issue is, once over the hill, to set the iWoc to setting '2' for 30 seconds or so and then adjust it to the setting I want.
