how much faster by eBike.....???

ok, so tonights the night.

 

I'm going to try my commute on an eBike for the first time to see what difference it makes.

 

Commute is

 

15.9 miles, 1165ft of climbing on the way home

 

and

 

15.2 miles with 1154ft of climbing coming back in the morning.

 

so here's the question.

 

I normally do it on a road race bike, and try pretty hard, so if I have a go on a road legal 2014 bosch equipped bike do you think it'll be faster?

 

Or will it be a case of me just having more energy left when I get to work tomorrow?

 

I'm genuinely interested to see how this pans out.

 

If you want to see my commute its on Strava:

 

homeward bound:

 

Bike Ride Profile | 26 kilometers near Dobcross | Times and Records | Strava

 

into work:

 

Bike Ride Profile | 25 kilometers near Huddersfield | Times and Records | Strava

 

not set the world alight this month with riding, so my times aren't that fast. So we'll see what happens when I download my Garmin tomorrow morning.

Knowing nothing of your fitness, or bloodymindedness, I'd suggest you'll average slightly quicker overall.

 

The climbs 'll be considerably faster, which'll mean you'll be fresher on the flat, but on a slower bike & descents will be about the same.

 

My gps tracks generally show I maintain a good proportion of my speed on the flat into the climbs:

 

But then, I'm a knackered old fart.

I think the ride into work will see the most gains. Your ride home tonight will have been good at the start and then I imagine a mixture of feeling slower at times and a little frustrated. A very similar time I imagine, especially given what I imagine will have been some tailwind tonight.

 

You'll feel much more positive about it when you arrived at work in the morning, especially if you have a headwind to battle against, 10 minutes quicker.

It all depends on the wind. It was strong enough today to stop you dead on any bike. The rain really made my face sting. Going up one 10% hill, I was more or less free-wheeling up it without even using the motor.

I'm not going to upload the data until I get into work tomorrrow so I can screen grab the results on Strava before the rides get pulled for being on an eBike.

 

But as predicted, the first climb, was pretty fast, didnt drop below 27 kph the whole way up... then didnt really tough the assist for more than a couple of minutes on the rest of the ride.

 

Will be interesting to have a look at the numbers on the segment times and compare to my ride home on Sunday because the weather was pretty similar.

 

The bike wasn't fully charged when I set off and range was 50km, now I'm home its 55km.

 

it rolled pretty fast for an MTB on the road, hit 70kph on the way down from the top of the A62.

 

will upload all the data tomorrow.

29er?

 

Mine is significantly easier-rolling on road & trail than the 26er.

It all depends on the wind. It was strong enough today to stop you dead on any bike. The rain really made my face sting. Going up one 10% hill, I was more or less free-wheeling up it without even using the motor.

 

Of course if you present an aerodynamic profile like mine which has been honed in a wind tunnel, headwinds are less of a problem:rolleyes:

 

Slightly off tack.....tack lol, get it? I was riding into the teeth of a howling gale on Saturday wearing thermals, waterproofs, soggy trainers and a grimace when a guy came round the corner towards me on a non powered bike wearing only shorts and polo shirt:eek: being propelled only by the wind, I almost shouted that's cheating, but he smiled politely and was gone before I got a chance

ok, just been thought the stats on my Garmin, and here are the results.

 

Bike used was a 2014 KTM Macina Action mountain bike - 29er with Bosch Active drive. It had standard mountain bike tyres.

 

Conditions were similar to the previous day when I'd ridden a standard road race bike home.

 

Homeward bound.

 

Normal Bike: 55.13 minutes. Average Speed of 17.3mph and average heart rate of 152

 

looks like I had a bit more of a headwind when I rode home on Sunday, because last night with the eBike I did.

 

45.25 minutes. Average Speed of 20.8mph, but I had to work harder for it, average heart rate was 163

 

For the ride into work.

 

Normal bike takes 1 hour 13 minutes. average speed of 12.5mph average heart rate of 156

 

eBike took 1 hour exactly, average speed of 14.9 mph with an average heart rate of 158

 

---------------------------

so basically it knocks 10 minutes off each way, using a similar amount of energy. I went pretty hard, keeping my heart rate at about the level I'd normally commute to see the effect.

 

its was only a bit quicker on the climbs... 2 minutes on a 13 minute climb. Because I normally go pretty hard on the climbs. So it looks like most of the time was made up on the slow speed sections where I'm accelerating away from lights etc etc.

 

Personally its made me realise there is little point in road legal e Road Bikes, ie 700c wheels with drop handlebars and skinny tyres. They simple roll to fast that I'd be over the speed for support for so much of the time that it wouldn't be worth having.

 

Having a mountain bike means the riding is more comfortable and more fun and actually a bit safer in traffic. I'm sure if my commute was more stoppy starty, there would be even more advantages.

 

But I was impressed, I've saved essentially 20 minutes off my commute per day, using the same amount of energy. So if I used this bike every day, that would give me 1 hour 40 extra per week of my life at home to do something better then commuting.

 

Or equally I could ease off a bit on the effort I put in, so the ride takes the same amount of time, but I'll be using loads less effort which will mean I'm fresher in the evenings or weekends to go on actual rides.

Edited January 7, 201412 yr by KTM Bike Industries UK

I've just been comparing the 4 rides myself pretty much what I expected. People who are much less fit benefit from legal speed e-bikes the most. As you've found backing off a lot can be the way to ride a bike like that, the trouble is, it isn't in our nature to ride like that

 

Don't forget that was a massive 7.05 gain on the Standedge climb alone.

Edited January 7, 201412 yr by Artstu

 

Don't forget that was a massive 7.05 gain on the Standedge climb alone.

 

I've not mentioned that because I've not really had a proper go at that climb on my road bike, so its not really a fair comparison, I've only ridden that climb a couple of times as its a new route for me, and I've just spun up. If I rode it at the same heart rate I road it today on the ebike, I think the gain would be 3 minutes max.

Ah OK, I drove down there after picking my wheel up from you, a bit of a detour to take in the sights.

 

I guess on the right e-bike there's a 20 minute ish gain to be had on your commute each way for the same input from yourself as you'd give on the racer.

I'm not going to upload the data until I get into work tomorrrow so I can screen grab the results on Strava before the rides get pulled for being on an eBike.

 

 

Strava don't pull rides on Ebikes, if they did my strava dashboard would be nearly empty. They don't pull car trips either it would seem if you see the top speeds on some people's dashboard.

Strava don't pull rides on Ebikes, if they did my strava dashboard would be nearly empty. They don't pull car trips either it would seem if you see the top speeds on some people's dashboard.

 

they only pull them if someone complains, and that only really happens if you steal someones KOM.

Indeed, Strava is self policing. Stay off the top spot and you're unlikely to get flagged, however having said that it really isn't in the spirit of things to leave good e-bike rides on the leader board.

Indeed, Strava is self policing. Stay off the top spot and you're unlikely to get flagged, however having said that it really isn't in the spirit of things to leave good e-bike rides on the leader board.

 

I'll be pulling mine off later today once I've saved all the results. My aim is to try to beat my eBike time by the summer

Thanks for sharing about the effect of going electric on your commute, very intersting.

You also mentioned your heart rate. What did you use to measure that?

Thanks for sharing about the effect of going electric on your commute, very intersting.

You also mentioned your heart rate. What did you use to measure that?

 

I've got a Garmin 810, cycle computer with a built in heart rate monitor. Its not a cheap bit of kit, but there loads of cheaper options.

I'm in a different league to you - 64 years old, 90kgs and riding purely for enjoyment, mostly on country lanes & trails, but...

 

It's interesting to compare how different users perceive the benefits of ebikes: Your comment about heat-rate gave me pause.

 

Assistance on yours is delivered on a torque-governed basis - The harder you push the more grunt you get.

My Ezee kit is speed-governed, so that the slower I go the more grunt I get.

 

I've only had this setup for a couple of months & I only realised yesterday that I've never ridden it properly on full assist. Just being out for a short run, I whacked it up to level 5 for the hill up through the village: It flew; and interestingly, my effort increased proportionately, so that I was blowing just as hard when I got home as if I'd taken it in my normal manner on level 2. But the last 10 minutes only took 5

 

I generally pootle about on level 2, averageing about 12mph & use level 3 if I want to step on a bit or keep up with traffic, or if I want an easy ride: The odd thing is that I never actually seem to avail myself of that ease & always seem to up my effort & end up with a 14mph average.

 

You'd think I'd know better by now.

with a HR of 150/160 you must be pushing quite hard pretty continuously, or....you are still in your early 20's???....220 minus your age, is the rule of thumb for max (maybe unfit) HR, in my memory

 

with that many watts of personal power, you must be beyond the assist speed almost completely, so inevitably you will have to buy one of Martin's Dongles....or move to central London, and then find that you get stopped by every traffic light, when e-assist comes into its own

As to whether a person is quicker by ebike depends on each person and the route traveled. If I commuted to work by bike I'd be as quick if not quicker on my Merida non electric bike. On the commute home I'd be home in about a third of the time by ebike. The normal bike would take me ages, the ebike would take about 20 minutes.

 

When I'm out playing, I'm quicker over a distance if I take the Kudos. The Kudos goes at a consistant speed when I'm tired/fatigued. The Merida slows right down when I'm tired.

 

You have to love those little Chinese hamsters.

This is all an excellent thread.

 

I have taken this on board and done a similar test myself and here are the results:

 

Bike 1 - 1995 21 speed Trec with no electric power: Distance to destination: 4.5 miles. Time taken: a trillion years. Reason: Mind refuses to even attempt to cycle up Wimbledon Village hill without assistance (and dog on front). Heart rate: 60 (I remained sat at home). Dog's mood: Not happy can't go for a walk on the Common.

 

Bike 2 - Tres expensive Haibike with oodles of electric power. Distance to destination: 4.5 miles. Time taken: 15 minutes (with dog on front basket). Heart rate: 61. Dog's mood: Much better.

 

I therefore conclude that electric bikes are at least a Trillion times better than regular bikes.

 

Scientifically concluded I might add.

Well your heart rate shows you are certainly putting extra effort in,maybe without realising it in order to try and beat the unassisted bike times, so the results are not really a fair test result,how is this any better than a regular unpowered bike. on my bike i could probably beat,my unnassisted times without pedalling by those margins.and whilst pedalling beat most lycras easilly.

Edited January 7, 201412 yr by fishingpaul

yes, my HR does show that from that one example. But that was my first ever time commuting by eBike so I didn't really have anything to go off. It was dark, so I could see what my heart rate was whilst I was riding.

 

So yes it appears I was putting in a bit more effort than the day before when I'd used my road bike. However the increased heart rate could have also been down to the stinking cold I've had all week.

 

Anyway, I kept on using the eBike all week. So rode well over 100 miles on it, and I've not got some more thoughts on it.

 

The weather was shocking, and I was ill, so without the Bosch tailwind I definitely would have chosen the car to commute.

 

I've produced some graphs to show the results and I'll put together a full post when I get into work tomorrow.

 

It would be really good if others could perhaps do a similar thing with their commute and give a scientific comparison between using an eBike, normal bike / and I'll also do my car when I next drive in.

 

just saying it feels faster I don't think is enough, as an industry we need to give our retailers and customers real world examples of why eBikes have a place in the UK market.

I'm really looking forward to see that data mr. KTM as my ebike will be arriving soon and I'm trying to figure out my average commuting time needed.

 

Now my calculations estimate that the ebike driven with average of 22-25 km/h could match (or even beat) car's time in peak hours. That would be astounding for me. And there's that excercise thingy...

 

One question for you: how hard you need to pedal on +20 kg bike when going >25 km/h? Considering you're fit unlike me, I can't see myself going beyond the motor assistance limit for longer periods.

One question for you: how hard you need to pedal on +20 kg bike when going >25 km/h? Considering you're fit unlike me, I can't see myself going beyond the motor assistance limit for longer periods.

 

A lot depends on the tyres too, my KTM Macina cross on standard tyres can be hard work above the assist level, especially on any uphill, including slight up hills, but then on some flat sections it isn't too bad. Some faster rolling tyres may help a bit.

 

I often find myself riding at about 18 mph working very hard, and the temptation to ease off and drop down into the assist level is huge.

 

I was riding up a hill only the other day when the battery went flat and my speed went from 16 mph down to about 5 mph!