My Gtech eBike Sport review!.

[Nealh]

A thumb throttle or twist throttle can be added qiute easily if the controller has the spare/unused throttle wire connector If you are able to check the controller hopefully there will be a spare connector with 3 wires attached possibly red/black and any other colour foir the signal. Which bike do you have and a few pics of the controller wiring.

 

[Jean bradshaw]

Hi I have a btwin original 700 but don't know where to look where the spare connector is .

 

[D8ve]

Jean You need to tell us just what bike you have then someone will help.

 

[Jean bradshaw]

I have a btwin original 700 from decathlon

 

[Nealh]

With the battery removed there should be a controller box at the front of the rack somewhere, if a spare connector exists it will be in there.

 

[Jean bradshaw]

Thanks My battery is on a rack at the back of the bike will take it off tomorrow and have a look .

 

[Nealh]

The main multi connector looks like it splits in to two and enters the front of the battery rack from underneath then from there I see another wire loop which looks like the battery feed from the controller to the battery docking point. You probably won't see much with the battery removed so will need to carefully remove the controller box and have a look inside, to do this you will probably have to remove some screws to remove an end plate.

AK in southern frogland has a decathlon he may be able to confirm if the controller may have a spare throttle loom to he controller and accessability.

 

[anotherkiwi]

His friend has one. I am taking it to bits this week (water in motor from the sound of it) so I will have a look.

 

[Arkwright01]

I just wish to add my comments to this thread as I've had a Gtech on trial for a week and have used it going to/from work.

First of all, I agree 100% with KeithMac's original comments and there isn't much to add really except to say that I get similar battery results. I too ride around 16 MPH, leave it on maximum assist and as it stands at the moment, I've completed 20.9 miles and the battery is still on 2 bars. One of my rides back from work was against a pretty strong headwind and I used the battery more than I normally would have. I plan to have a ride out tomorrow (Saturday) and see if I can fully deplete the battery or get 30 miles, whichever comes sooner!

My commute is only around 25 miles per week (several inclines/hills) so I'll be happy to get that and only have to worry about charging it up at weekends.

I would say that this is pretty much perfect as a commuter bike, I like the absence of any gears and not having to lube the chain is a real boon. Only time will tell how it copes with the sometimes harsh weather conditions we get in Northern Scotland.

UPDATE: Just been for a ride, mostly cycle path but also road with quite a few inclines and around town. I wanted to give it as much varied conditions as I could. Although not windy, this was near the coast so always a breeze! I intended to ride until the battery gave out but after 14 miles I gave up. So, this has now done 35 miles on a single charge and is still flashing on one bar. Gtech say that the distance between bars is approx. 7 miles but it's done at least 9 miles on the last one. I say at least because I could only tell when I stopped, one criticism is that you can't see the LED's in bright sunlight. Anyway, I just wanted to say that Gtech claim a 30 mile range and I've got 35 miles and it's not empty yet.

 

[Supertag]

My Wife and I tried out the City and the Sport bikes this weekend. We were very impressed with the performance but the main problem we both faced was the lack of suspension so with the thin tyres it was pretty uncomfortable on the roads around where we live. We will however be buying Electric Bikes in the near future but with Bigger knobbly wheels and suspension.
The big problem is the huge choice.....
That is why I have just signed up here.

 

[D8ve]

Welcome supertag,

Which city and sport bikes did you try and what do you want?

 

[Supertag]

Hi D9ve, Sorry I should have mentioned it was the two GTECH bikes. Will go for a good all terrain or Mountain bike as mentioned above. Any advice appreciated.

 

[SSentif]

I just wanted to give my review of the Gtech bike too. I didn't learn to ride a bike as a kid and actually got a 'normal' bike a couple of years ago. I do a lot of journeys that are 1-2 miles and whilst I might be time pressured enough not to want to walk them I got frustrated at using the car all the time so decided the time was perfect for me to get a bike.
Sadly it was a bit of a disaster. Learning to ride a bike in your mid 40s is not fun. Despite every encouragement (and abuse) from my husband I just could not stand up on the pedals. That meant no power and therefor very slow acceleration and no chance of getting up the Leeds hills. It is a pretty hilly city and I just couldn't get enough power and ended up having to walk up the steeper bits.
We then moved house and my 1 mile walk to work has changed to 3.5miles. I couldn't cycle it with my 'normal' bike so we decided to trial the Gtech city bike.
It has been a revelation. If you want a bike as a vehicle rather than a sport then this is it. Despite a hilly commute I arrive fresh and not sweating - important as we have no shower at work. I have to cross two busy roads but this is no problem - the extra oomph you get when you first start means you can easily get away and remove yourself from danger. No gears means there is nothing to worry about - just pedal and use all your focus on surroundings and potential dangers.
I have grown so much in confidence I can very nearly take a hand off the bars to make hand signals.
This bike may be expensive (I paid £995) but it is a lot less than a second car which was the alternative. My next challenge is the rain - I have been lucky so far with the weather but it is only a matter of time before I will be cycling to work in the rain.

 

[Danidl]

I just wish to add my comments to this thread as I've had a Gtech on trial for a week and have used it going to/from work.

First of all, I agree 100% with KeithMac's original comments and there isn't much to add really except to say that I get similar battery results. I too ride around 16 MPH, leave it on maximum assist and as it stands at the moment, I've completed 20.9 miles and the battery is still on 2 bars. One of my rides back from work was against a pretty strong headwind and I used the battery more than I normally would have. I plan to have a ride out tomorrow (Saturday) and see if I can fully deplete the battery or get 30 miles, whichever comes sooner!

My commute is only around 25 miles per week (several inclines/hills) so I'll be happy to get that and only have to worry about charging it up at weekends.

I would say that this is pretty much perfect as a commuter bike, I like the absence of any gears and not having to lube the chain is a real boon. Only time will tell how it copes with the sometimes harsh weather conditions we get in Northern Scotland.

UPDATE: Just been for a ride, mostly cycle path but also road with quite a few inclines and around town. I wanted to give it as much varied conditions as I could. Although not windy, this was near the coast so always a breeze! I intended to ride until the battery gave out but after 14 miles I gave up. So, this has now done 35 miles on a single charge and is still flashing on one bar. Gtech say that the distance between bars is approx. 7 miles but it's done at least 9 miles on the last one. I say at least because I could only tell when I stopped, one criticism is that you can't see the LED's in bright sunlight. Anyway, I just wanted to say that Gtech claim a 30 mile range and I've got 35 miles and it's not empty yet.

Hi I note your comment about allowing it to discharge fully before recharging it. Can I suggest that this is exactly the wrong approach.? It was the proper advice when the battery was made of Ni CD cells, or even to a lesser extent with Ni MH but not now. It is best to keep it charged up. Apparently best practice for Li ion is to charge the battery to 80 % or 90 % and to recharge frequently for the longest lifetime. . If you plan on doing a longer journey then of course 100% charge before going is optimum. The argument is that a full charge puts the substrate under stress.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Apparently best practice for Li ion is to charge the battery to 80 % or 90 % and to recharge frequently for the longest lifetime

That advice is taken out of context and doesn't apply to the typical electric bikes that we have here. It's a bit like Chinese whispers. Somebody had a good idea, and each time it gets passed on, it changes a little until today, we have this myth floating around.

You should always charge your battery until the charger tells you it's full (green light normally). If you do not charge to 100%, the balancing system will never operate, so your battery will go out of balance and lose capacity.

 

[Trevormonty]

Hi D9ve, Sorry I should have mentioned it was the two GTECH bikes. Will go for a good all terrain or Mountain bike as mentioned above. Any advice appreciated.

There were a lot new middrive eMTBs in bike manufacturers 2017 ranges. Plus size tyres (2.8-3.0 inch) seem to be new rage. These should start appearing in shops over next few months.

Checkout this site for reviews and updates.

http://ebike-mtb.com/en/

 

[Tomtomato]

Ideally, battery charge should be kept between 40% and 80%. Therefore, it may be better to charge the battery more regularly, instead of letting it drop below 40% for a long time.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Ideally, battery charge should be kept between 40% and 80%.

How will the balancing system ever work if you don't go over 80%? Wthout balancing, the capacity will go down and down.

I think you've misunderstood the theory. Any individual cell will last longer if you keep it between 40% and 80%, but that doesn't apply to a battery unless it's a 1SxP configuration. Most of our ebike batteries are 10SxP, and they need regular balancing.

Nevertheless, if your point is that it's not a good idea to keep running your battery right down, that's correct and good advice, though it won't be easy if you have a Gtech because the battery is so small.

 

[Tomtomato]

and I think you are making me say things I didn't say...

I said: battery should be ideally kept at a charge between 40% and 80%. If you charge it (at 100%), it means it should ideally be used right away, as opposed to being stored that way for a long time.

I guess therefore that the ideal scenario is to charge the battery just after using it (if well depleted) to about 80%, and then do 100% just before using it (to balance the cells), although it could be difficult to manage.

 

[warmrain]

Range vs Battery (AmpHour / WattHour) capacity in bike reviews.

There is a very important aspect of simple physics which I feel is not given enough attention and that is simply the large and significant Potential Energy (qv.) involved in lifting any ("average", not overweight) rider of, say, 80kg up through a change in ground height. This has to come from somewhere and if not the battery, then from the rider's pedal efforts.

Therfore I think an important point not sufficiently emphasised or noted is the rider weight and the total hill climb height tackled on rides. This can outweigh all other energy draws on the battery and these numbers perhaps should be stipulated and made clear on all reviews, even if the elevations tackled are a very very rough estimate.

For example:
To raise an 80kg individual plus 25kg bike weight up to the top of a half dozen 100ft hills (182.88m height change) will require
[105 x g x 182.88] = [105 x 9.8 x 182.88] = 188,184 Joules.
(g is the grav. constant near the earth's surface = 9.8 m/sec/sec).

A typical 300Wh battery has the energy equivalent of 1080 KiloJoules.

Therefore even assuming 100% efficiency in energy conversion through the motor, using a hub motor with a throttle (no pedal effort input), you would use up over 17% (188.14/1080 = 0.174) of the energy in your battery. And if the rider is, say 125kg, then this would use up 25% of your battery. Or put another way your battery (under ideal circumstances and inputting energy on its own) would be one quarter depleted just getting you up one 500ft hill plus one 100ft hill. And this is considering only the energy needed for change in vertical height before the adding in of other frictional energy losses and less than 100% energy conversion by the motor. One can also see why the weight of the rider makes such an enormous difference in the calculations, including consideration of number of stop-starts (building up kinetic energy of the bike+rider and then losing it). Without substantial energy input from the rider, the bike+rider would never manage any slopes for any distance. The 'average' fit looking 5'10" man would weigh around 80kg; just going up to 125kg in the rider probably mandates a 50% or even doubling of the battery capacity if it is a hilly area -- or the rider should get him/herself fit more quickly to get a reasonable range!

Some might wonder what happens to all that Potential Energy acquired when you get to the top of the hill. Well, unfortunately it is all lost in heat (wheel braking) and air resistance drag when you go down the other side. You might be able to utilise a little bit of the acquired Kinetic Energy to carry you a short distance up the consecutive hill or along the flat at the bottom, but to all intents and purposes 99% is lost when you go down a hill. Still, the wind in your hair temporarily whipping past is a bonus!.

Some physics info below (if it pastes alright..) I hope others also find I have done the arithmetic right in my first post to this forum....!

Regards
WR