Confused about the range of a folding bike...

[Nutmeg]

I'm (still!) looking at all the different types of electric bike.

Swaying between getting a folding bike and a non-folding bike. Looking at the Woosh Gale folder, this seems to have a very good spec, at a reasonable price, with good reviews. However, on their website, Woosh state that it is not suitable for return journeys of more than 15 miles, but it has a stated range of 30 - 36 miles on flat roads. Is it just an issue of 20 inch wheels being less comfortable to ride? My cycling commute to work would be a 23 mile round trip - there is no way I could manage that at the moment, just in terms of my fitness levels, but one of the main reasons to get an electric bike is for exercise, so if I did eventually get fit enough to cycle that far, would the Woosh Gale or another 20 inch folder be suitable?

I also really like the Juicy Bike Compact Click, but the same question applies.

I could charge the battery at work.

At 5'5' in height, I find that that 26 inch wheel bikes seem so large. Maybe I should look to try one of the petite range, with 24 inch wheels, although I don't believe any of these are folding bikes.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The range of a bike depends more on you than the bike. Comparing different bikes is easy. You only have to look at the battery. The key things are the volts (V) and the amp-hours (Ah). You multiply the two together to get watt-hours, so Wh = V x Ah. The more Wh you have, the futher you go. Sometimes the listing for the bike shows the Wh directly, so you don't have to calculate.

How far you can go with those Whs depends on many things, but mainly how hard you pedal, your weight and the hills. Provided that you can pedal an unassisted bicycle on normal roads without significant hills, you should be able to get a consumption in the range 10 - 15 Wh per mile.

A 36v 10Ah battery will have 360Whs, so that would give a range of between 22 and 36 miles. This looks a bit tight for your 23 miles; however, after about 10 commutes, your legs will become much stronger, so you will soon work your way to the 10Wh/mile figure, which should mean that a 36V 10Ah battery would be sufficient. A bigger battery would mean that you are sure to complete your commute, but then you have to deal with the additional weight.

 

[RobF]

I had no cycling fitness at all when I bought my 10ah Brompton Nano, but managed round trips of a little over 20 miles on it.

At your height, you must be a fair bit lighter than me, so for that reason alone I think you will be OK from day one on a 10ah bike.

Nothing to stop you taking the charger to work to start with as a bit of insurance.

You would only need to charge for an hour or so to be certain of having well over half battery capacity for the return journey.

The 20" bikes are remarkably comfortable for what they are.

I've done day rides of up to 60 miles on my AVE MH7.

It costs about £2K so is a much nicer bicycle than a £600 generic Chinese folder, but the wheel size is the same.

As a general point, your commute will mean an hour or so on the bike each way.

Leaving aside wheel size and batteries, that's quite a long time, particularly in poor weather.

Only you can decide if that's realistically doable for you, day in, day out.

Presumably you are already getting to work somehow, so there's nothing to stop you aiming to commute on the bike two or three days a week to start with.

 

[Nutmeg]

I'm intending to be very much of a "fair weather" cyclist! I currently drive to work but the traffic is heavy and it probably wouldn't take me that much longer to cycle it, and there is a long off-road cycle track too, which would make it more pleasant.

I may invest in a spare charger to keep at work, just in case.

Good to hear that I could go further on a 20 inch wheel folder, but I know that I would certainly need to build up to it, fitness wise.

Size wise, I weigh 10st, so relatively light to ride an electric bike.

 

[trex]

it's more of a question of comfort. The 20" folders tend to have a wheelbase of around 120cm, against 150cm+ for full size adult bikes. The longer wheelbase, larger wheels and tyres, bigger suspension fork, all contribute to stability and comfort. There are also differences in components: longer cranks, better non folding pedals, better gear inches, better headset, stem and handlebars on a full size bike.
For one 15 mile return trip, the difference is not much but over time, your back and knees are going to thank you for choosing a full size bike.

 

[RobF]

.

Good to hear that I could go further on a 20 inch wheel folder, but I know that I would certainly need to build up to it, fitness wise.

Size wise, I weigh 10st, so relatively light to ride an electric bike.

At your weight, even unfit, I cannot see you needing a spare charger.

Some ebikes belonging to us guys have to drag along nearly twice as much as bulk.

My Bosch bikes have 11ah batteries, so a tiny bit bigger than the one on the folder you are thinking of.

But just to illustrate how wide range can be, I - as a strapping lad - can get more than 40 miles from a Bosch bike.

As regards 20" comfort, trex (above) makes good points.

The behind the seat post battery on the Woosh folder lengthens the wheelbase which will make the bike more comfy.

 

[JuicyBike]

Play safe and get a12ah battery option?
No need to be restricted to Costa Coffee style "small or large"!

 

[trex]

the woosh Petite now has 10AH or 15AH battery. May worth a look.
There is also a Petite in the woosh second hand page.

 

[jwm]

20" is doable over that distance, I spent a couple of weeks using a 20" folder on my 27 mile round trip to work. Though I must say when I got my regular bike back the 26" wheels make it more comfortable for me to ride, just depends on if you want a folder or not.

John