Hi Martin
Thanks Frank.
So without wishing to open a can of worms. I realise the Panasonic system has the least amount of drag, but of the hub motors which would you say was best with the power off.
ps How do I just show a small section of quote, rather than the whole thing?
Martin
Easiest one first
- to cut unwanted text when quoting, simply delete what you don't want from between the {QUOTE} and {/QUOTE} markers (for { } read [ ]
) when typing your reply: only what you leave there will be quoted
.
Your other question would be better answered by someone with more experience of different bikes than me, but in short there can be quite a difference between bikes & motors in that respect. I find my Torq (brushless, geared motor) to be acceptable as fairly 'minimum' drag when freewheeling or riding with power off, given that the internal gearing cogs are always engaged, whereas I found noticeably more retardation freewheeling downhill on an Ezee Liv (brushed motor) for instance, and maybe even the Ezee Cadence (same motor as Ezee Sprint I think).
If you see the nano motor/tongxin threads, that motor apparently has quite low freewheel drag (no cog gears), but can slip in high torque situations. The Giant Suede & Twist 2 motor doesn't have a freewheel to isolate the motor so is harder to pedal unpowered, from what I hear, and I recall a member saying some of the Synergie bikes had very apparent drag when freewheeling.
So maybe the best thing is to try some out if you can and hopefully other members will have more experience on other bikes to comment on this
. Also, best try to find a bike thats reliable, electrics & parts-wise, and with sufficient range to get you home, to avoid the situation if possible
or just get one which rides like a bike unpowered i.e. a panasonic! They seem likely to be very reliable too.
In the context of your original question though, I agree with Frank's post and although I'd rather be riding a panasonic if my battery was flat, I've ridden the Torq ok in that way, though much depends on rider fitness and gearing (my Torq has modified & rather lower gearing than the original standard) and terrain - my area is much flatter than flecc's, so not so much the last straw here!
Stuart.