Do many members ride a Woosh bike ?

[Mike63]

Anyway,be up your way in a couple of weeks at the Manifold Trail event,Wetton Mill Tea Rooms,April 13,perhaps you can come along and say hello. I would like to generate interest in ebike ownership by way of a northern ebike show similar to the southern Redbridge event, perhaps you would like to join up with Kudos in organising such a meet,are there other ebike suppliers up north who would be interested in such an event?
KudosDave

.......good suggestion that......perhaps you could bring one of you popular models for me to see

.....Mike

 

[Mike63]

Hi Mike, I am in West Yorkshire and own a Wooosh Zephyr, you are more than welcome to take a look at it

Hi....thanks for that but not interested in a folder...don't think it would suit my style of riding.
....pity you don't have a Sirocco CD

.....Mike

 

[Mike63]

You may be able to test a Woosh bike out, , they have a scheme where a customer can be a demonstrator, so if you contact Woosh there may be a demonstrator in your area

....thanks Annie but sadly no....not in my area...not even in the whole of West Yorkshire

cheers.....Mike

 

[jackhandy]

lol. If it didn't pass that test it would've gone straight back six months ago.

Blimey - If both wheels spin ok but you can't pedal it past the 15.5mph assistance point something's not right:

Have you pumped-up the tyres?

 

[Marctwo]

Yeah, I have them about 30psi... but I like your thinking.

 

[jazper53]

Yeah, I have them about 30psi... but I like your thinking.

Sound a bit low, I have mine at the max stated on tyre which is about 65psi

 

[Marctwo]

Nah, 30's fine... I'm only 10 stone.

 

[colonel]

Mike63

I live near Preston and have a Sirocco 2, my first ebike. I have no connections with Woosh except as a satisfied customer. The bike has performed beyond my expectations, regularly achieving 40km rides with 1500-2000ft climbing. It has a twist throttle that allows you to cruise on the flat or shallow gradients without pedalling. I beleive it is only harder to pedal unassisted due to the additional weight of an ebike, it freewheels no problem. I have not experienced any of the issues suggested by Marktwo.

I have previously uploaded Strava route profiles that map my routes/elevations for a couple of local rides.

The bike serves two purposes for me:
1. Allows my, non regular cycling, wife to ride alongside me when I am on my normal mountain bike without stopping or slowing me down.
2. Allows me to commute 9miles each way in the same time, BUT without arriving in a sweaty heap.

To this end, it is predominently riden in max assist mode.

The maximum distance covered, with some life still in the battery on the flat, was from fylde coast to Caton, near Lancaster and back. This is a relatively flat route following old railway lines, but was approx 65km (didn't have Stava running)

On reflection, the new CD model may have been better for the steeper hills we sometimes encounter, but I prefer the style of the Sirocco 2 and wanted to purchase late last year when the CD wasn't available.

Hope this helps.

 

[flecc]

Nah, 30's fine... I'm only 10 stone.

I'm the same weight as you and have the same experience with most hub motor e-bikes over a number of years, not easy to pedal and not remotely like a good normal bike, despite using much higher tyre pressures than you. Quite a few are absolute pigs, despite having free spinning hub motor wheels. So it's not all about the hub motor, though it sometimes is. Often the bikes themselves fall short in a number of ways, poor tyre types, poor frame design or general geometry making for inefficiency in cycling etc.

The better crank drive bikes are mostly better for cycling without power, some much better. One I owned for a few years, a Giant Lafree Twist, was so good that I never turned on the power on leaving home until I got to a hill, which could be up to three miles from my home in one direction.

Another approach that can pay off is to start with a good road bike and add a kit hub motor that's known to be very free running. The Cytronex company have always used this approach with the Tongxin motors and their bikes are noted for their free running characters and often used with power off. They only have a tiny 4.5 Ah bottle battery giving 20 miles range for most with reports of up to almost 40 miles for some bearing witness to that.

Whenever I or anyone else posts about the poor cycling character of most hub motor e-bikes, the same comments are received about brakes binding, freewheeled motors etc that you have received, but having spent some years in the cycle trade and having over half a century of knowledge about adding power units to bicycles, I obviously know more about those issues than most. The fact is that you are not mistaken, few hub motor e-bikes ridden without power switched on are remotely like good unpowered bikes.

So why do so many insist they are? One reason is of course that personal cycling strengths/abilities/experiences vary very widely, which makes the experience of others often irrelevant. Also many of today's cyclists scarcely even know what a good bike is like, since their cycling years and experience after an inefficient childhood Raleigh Chopper have been through a thirty-four year era of the "mountain" bike, most of which have been and still are very poor as on-road bikes. Another reason could be that knowing a hub motor has a freewheel and finding that it spins freely when static tested, they make the assumption that the bike must be free running and believe that assumption rather than the evidence of the actual experience.

There may be as ever some furious rebuttals of what I've posted here, but I probably won't bother to respond to them, since past experience on this subject shows that is mostly a waste of time.

 

[trex]

Nah, 30's fine... I'm only 10 stone.

I share many of flecc's views. Other members may want to correct me here but I would add that the 8-Fun motor in your bike has two disadvantages compared to CD motors: 1. your 8-Fun motor has planetary gears whose friction increases rapidly at speed, and 2. the 8-Fun motor's maximum RPM is designed for 15mph with 26" wheels (about 320RPM). Basically, motors become VERY inefficient when you approach their design limit. Go CD if you are a good cyclist.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

We've debated this subject to death, but just to keep it in balance, I'll give my opinion again.

You only have to spin the motor-wheel to see if there's any resistance. it spins, there's no motor resistance. Logical and simple!

Some take a a hundred miles or so to loosen up fully.

I've got three crank-drive bikes at the moment and I can't tell any difference from hub-motors. Neither does the extra weight of an electric bike make much difference to me. It's the difference of about 120kg to 128kg between electric and non-electric. That's about 7% extra effort to climb hills. Obviously a lighter person will notice the difference more.

I'm not very fit, nor a strong pedaller, but I managed to ride my Giant with full suspension and 500w BPM motor to Ellesmere and some of the way back, a distance of about 42 miles, before I switched on the power. This, for me, also destroys the myth about suspension being less efficient. I've also done more than 40 miles on my old Sunlova hub-motored bike without power.

Tyres can make a difference, and so can gearing, worn/badly adjusted wheel-bearings, jammed motor clutches or binding brakes. Apart from the tyres, you'd see the other problems when you spin the wheels in the air.

Both Saneagle and myself have bikes with hub--motors in both wheels (2WD), and we still ride them without power sometimes.

The planetary gears turn so slowly when free-wheeling (about one turn every 3 secs at 15 mph) that they don't contribute any significant drag. You can see that by spinning the wheel in the air and seeing how long it takes to stop.

 

[jackhandy]

I am certainly not a Good Cyclist, although I was much better years ago but I have no problem whatever pedalling my 8fun equipped mtb well past 15.5mph.

This is why I cannot get my head round the need many seem to have, to be assisted beyond this point. That is what my legs do.

 

[Marctwo]

I am certainly not a Good Cyclist, although I was much better years ago but I have no problem whatever pedalling my 8fun equipped mtb well past 15.5mph.

This is why I cannot get my head round the need many seem to have, to be assisted beyond this point. That is what my legs do.

So why do you want assistance upto 15.5mph then? Surely your legs can do that too?

 

[flecc]

So why do you want assistance upto 15.5mph then? Surely your legs can do that too?

Similar was my reaction to Dave's (d8veh) post above Marc. If he can easily ride 40 plus miles unpowered on his e-bikes, why on earth is he riding those 24 kilo or more e-bikes instead of a good 10 kilo or so road bike which are so much more pleasant to ride. It's an issue that genuinely puzzles me, since I used to immensely enjoy my good unpowered bikes in my very hilly area before eventually needing e-assistance, accepting the downsides of e-bikes.
.

 

[Marctwo]

I think there's a time and place for all sides really. If I'm out for a slow 5 hours by the canals then I'd rather a light, easily managable unpowered bike I guess. But when I'm going to and from work, I definitely want a bit of extra power helping me out.

 

[flecc]

I think there's a time and place for all sides really. If I'm out for a slow 5 hours by the canals then I'd rather a light, easily managable unpowered bike I guess. But when I'm going to and from work, I definitely want a bit of extra power helping me out.

That's true. I certainly get the case for e-bikes when daily commuting. When tired at the end of a tough day, and/or when the weather is being unhelpful, these can certainly make the assistance especially more welcome.

 

[Mike63]

Hi all....after checking out the Woosh web site and reading the various Woosh threads I'm thinking that I really like the Sirocco CD.
....unfortunately I must buy mail order...sight unseen....despite the impressive web site and all the positive comments I find that a bit scary.

....I am coming up tpo 73 years old...overweight and not too fit.
I am not particularily bothered about the throttle, I anticipate pedalling all the time, albeit gently.
...perhaps after riding 25 miles and approaching home I might be glad of the throttle

...does it matter that I don't anticipate riding many hills ?
....can I ride it with just enough effort so there is no pressure on my knees as I do now on my current bike ?
....will I easily get used to the intricities of the crank drive ?....remember I've never ridden a CD.

.....any more advice anyone can offer would be much appreciated.

.....many thanks....Mike

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Similar was my reaction to Dave's (d8veh) post above Marc. If he can easily ride 40 plus miles unpowered on his e-bikes, why on earth is he riding those 24 kilo or more e-bikes instead of a good 10 kilo or so road bike which are so much more pleasant to ride. It's an issue that genuinely puzzles me, since I used to immensely enjoy my good unpowered bikes in my very hilly area before eventually needing e-assistance, accepting the downsides of e-bikes.
.

The answer's simple - nothing to be puzzled about. I did it to see if it could be done.

 

[103Alex1]

The answer's simple - nothing to be puzzled about. I did it to see if it could be done.

I bet you needed a bevvy or two afterwards

 

[flecc]

The answer's simple - nothing to be puzzled about. I did it to see if it could be done.

Understood Dave, this highlights the differences between individuals. My much greater enjoyment of unpowered cycling over assisted cycling during many years means that if I could ride a 24 kilo plus e-bike for 40 plus miles unpowered, there's no way I'd do it. Instead I'd much prefer to have carried on with good unpowered road bikes. Adopting an e-bike at 67 to assist when towing heavy trailers actually started to spoil my fitness and ability to ride unpowered as I got more used to the assistance, leading to e-assistance only within three further years.