Love them Hills?

[Footie]

I thought I would start this thread to show pictures of the hills I have to deal with while riding my electric bike - 4-mile trip to Tesco's.
The valley hills knock "seven bails" out of my battery.

Gonvena Hill
GonvenaHill_top on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

West Hill
WestHill01_halfway on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
WestHill02_top on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

What are your hills like?
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[flecc]

Looks familiar to me, living surrounded by the steepest area of the North Downs. I don't have so many of those long middling climbs. More a mixture of the short to middle distance very steep ones, the very long gentle ones that go on for miles and a smaller number like those you show.

The effect is the same though, often much shorter ranges than others get in their areas with given bike models. The only bikes that successfully get round that are those with the Panasonic motor. When I bought my Lafree years ago, A to B in the very flat Somerset levels where they used to be got a range of around 20 to 22 miles from that, and I assumed mine would be much shorter in my hilly area.

In fact I was astonished to find I had exactly the same range, 20 to 22 miles. That's just down to the clever software, since not only were my conditions much hiller, but I am more than 20 years older than David at A to B, and nowhere near as strong a rider.

And of course, the Kalkhoff has now performed the same magic. Mind you, they do make one work a bit harder. Unlike with a hub motor, the rider has to do their half, there's no copping out.
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[Footie]

Been out and tested the new battery to cut-out.

Had a lovely view from the hills

LiFePo4 Test on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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[Footie]

No hills today (stayed away from them).
Instead I opted to cycle the Camel Trail to Padstow and back.
12 miles round trip and all three lights were still lit up (normally one goes out at around 10 miles).
I took some photos on route.
The early morning sea mist made the air heavy with salt - it was great

CamelTrail_1 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!.
CamelTrail_2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
CamelTrail_3 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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[Kal]

I like the look of your e-bike Footie..

I went for a ride this morning on my Synergie Mistral. I covered 33 miles of hilly terrain in pedelec mode. I pedalled along steadily letting the hub motor (200w brushed) do as much work as possible and averaged 12 mph. I weigh 65 kg (10.5 stone) and the bike is powered by the standard Li-ion 36V 10Ah battery (Phylion). The first indication I got that the battery was running out was at around 25 miles and three of the five battery condition neons were still lit when I got home. This is my longest ride to date. I don't think the battery would have lasted much longer.. anyone like to guess how many more miles I could have travelled before the battery ran out completely?
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[Footie]

Hi Kal,
33 miles is a good distance and one that some electric bikers would kill to get.
Sounds like you had a really good long ride out
Your average speed is similar to mine, so your hills are knocking you back as mine do.
One good thing is your reasonably light, so that helps your distance.
I’ve spent the last few weeks conditioning my LiFePo4 battery (riding to cut-out), so today was just a short play.
It seems my battery has settled around the 18-mile to 19-mile mark.
Far better than the old SLA - 7.5 miles
I wanted a minimum of 15 miles and I’ve got 18 miles, so pretty good considering the North Cornwall hills.
The new battery has given the bike a whole new feel. The weight loss (shedding the SLA batteries) has made a real difference to hill climbing - I’m finding I can cycle up moderate hills in second gear at 9 mph - before it was first gear at 6 mph.
The greater distance means the bike is seen out more and I do get a lot of looks and comments about the bike – so far all complementary
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[Kal]

Hi Footie,
Yes, I'm very pleased with distance I get. I too live in a picturesque area.. near Saunderfoot, South Wales. I don't push too hard on the pedals because the motor seems to select it's own speed and if you try to go faster with this hub motor it's hard work for very little extra speed. I'm down to 5 mph on some of the very steep hills but they're manageable at that low speed. I can understand you wanting to change your battery if you were only getting 7.5 miles. 18-19 miles is a good distance and I can understand you being so pleased.. I usually only do around 12 miles per trip but I was curious to see how the battery performed. I used just pedelec mode to-day but I often cruise around on the flat using the throttle saving my energy for the hills. The ride didn't knock me out to-day though because I cut the lawn when I got back. (I'm 66yrs). I had a nose round your personal homepage.. interesting.. thanks. I can understand you feeling mad.. you'll know what I mean. You say you get comments about your bike.. so do I.. people are so curious lol. What surprises me is the number of people that ask whether the battery charges itself.. now that would be nice.
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[Footie]

I decided to take on part of the A39 today.
I tried it a few weeks ago but thick sea fog made it too dangerous for me and I had to turn back
This time I made it out to the large roundabout at Winnards Perch - 15 mile round trip.
If you follow the link below there's more details on my flickr picture site - the elevation rise is interesting and shows just how hilly it is here

Winnards Perch on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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[oldosc]

I decided to take on part of the A39 today.
I tried it a few weeks ago but thick sea fog made it too dangerous for me and I had to turn back
This time I made it out to the large roundabout at Winnards Perch - 15 mile round trip.
If you follow the link below there's more details on my flickr picture site - the elevation rise is interesting and shows just how hilly it is here

Winnards Perch on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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Hi Footie
hope you have recovered well yr bik loks gud
( I thought I would try it out ((text not the bike))
We live bit nearer the coast bit more hilly..will try to get some pics together (then we could do a "call that a hill, where I live we call that a slope" etc

 

[Footie]

.... We live bit nearer the coast bit more hilly..will try to get some pics together (then we could do a "call that a hill, where I live we call that a slope" etc

A lot of people don't cycle in hilly areas – makes sense really
The original SLA battery was far too heavy for my hilly area and killed any decent cycling. However, even with the new battery the hills take their toll. I have learnt that the best roads here are the main 'A' roads (even if they are full of traffic). If you go off on to the 'B' roads or the 'unclassified' roads here in North Cornwall (with it's deep valley’s) it's not long before you are faced with an impossible to ride hill
There are many such hills close to were I live - so I just take the long route round
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[Mandy]

Nice

Nice looking bike Footie.
Colours are cool and those front forks look impressive too.
I do love Cornwall and know how hilly it is but not tried on an electric bike yet. I did however tackle some on a normal mountain bike from Mousehole to Lands end with my son some 12 years ago about 10 miles in total and it nearlly killed me!!

Round me it is not too bad and just have some short steep hills and it certainly hasn't got such pleasant scenery!

Mandy

 

[Footie]

Leisure Ride - Outskirts of the town

I managed to get out on the electric bike today – clocked up 13 miles over the lovely Cornish hills. Toured the outskirts of the town. Unfortunately, the strong westerly winds (17mph) meant the head winds reduced my speed down to 10-12mph on the rare open flats. The temperature was a non-freezing 8 degrees centigrade and the roads were mostly clear of ice. However, there was one section where I just missed a very localised hail shower minutes before.
I would liked to had gone further but as my maximum range is only 18 miles I didn’t want to get caught out by the battery going flat – Cornish hills are killers
The average time for the trip was 1 hour.
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[Blew it]

Hi Footie,

Just got back in myself, just a gentle breeze left over from last nights gales. A bit chilly to start with but soon warmed up on the pedals.

All of my ten mile ride was on cycle routes, some tarmac but other parts are hardpack. When wet, the highly abrasive grit flicked up from the latter plays havoc with rim brakes, so I took one of the disc braked bikes...much better for rural riding.

Delighted to hear the Ping is still performing well, this being confirmed by many users on the ES forum using Pings over a year old now.

There's nothing like a short 'n' fast "frostbiter" to blow the cobwebs out...I'm still glowing now!

All the best

Bob

 

[Barnowl]

A couple of 18 mile runs this weekend myself. Cool, a bit windy but marvellous sunshine and blue skys . I agree, it does blow the cobwebs away.