Moving Off at Traffic Lights

[Nealh]

Of course one can overcome all of this by having a throttle set to pedal first, rotate the cranks 0.25 - 0.5 of a turn then wang the throttle to take over.

 

[budsy]

Of course one can overcome all of this by having a throttle set to pedal first, rotate the cranks 0.25 - 0.5 of a turn then wang the throttle to take over.

Moving off at traffic lights use your feet and push at the ready but stay within safety

let cars rule when at lights and you should be safe ..But again why a throttle on a bicycle
bikes are meant to be for people to get fit without all this throttle stuff or are you talking about a motor bike ?

 

[mike killay]

Moving off at traffic lights use your feet and push at the ready but stay within safety

let cars rule when at lights and you should be safe ..But again why a throttle on a bicycle
bikes are meant to be for people to get fit without all this throttle stuff or are you talking about a motor bike ?

Sadly misinformed. Bikes are for transport. If you want to get fit, take up jogging.

 

[georgehenry]

Low gear and unrestricted legal throttle at the ready on my 2011 Oxygen Emate.

An unrestricted throttle is very useful in lots of circumstances, not least having full instant power available when pulling away or indeed whenever it is needed.

Why did they make unrestricted throttles illegal?

 

[flecc]

Why did they make unrestricted throttles illegal?

They were never made legal, it was just an oddity of British law that how the power was applied wasn't specified originally. That was rectified in 2015. The general international view is that to be regarded as a bicycle it must be like a bicycle with propulsion only applied by the pedals.

They are after all electric assisted bicycles, not motorised bicycles. That's why if motorised regardless of pedal action they become motor vehicles in law.
.

 

[georgehenry]

So my lovely throttle that came as fitted on my 2011 electric bike is illegal?

I do also have a crank drive Haibike mountain bike that I love for its off road ability. But it is less user friendly to pull away on from a standstill. You whizz through bottom gear in a blink of an eye, change gear with a little pause in pedaling power losing a little momentum in deference to the cogs in the rear cassette, and repeat, all a bit less smooth and disjointed than the geared rear hub 7 speed with that unrestricted throttle.

I come from a motorcycle background so am used to a twist grip hand throttle and find it very useful, but mostly for pulling away and some other maneuvering as well as adding full power in an instant if you need it.

But a motorcycle my Oxygen certainly is not, and I am also pedaling hard nearly all the time as well and for the vast majority of time no throttle is in use. Just for the bits it is useful for t is very useful.

 

[Nealh]

David is 100% legal as the legislation for twist and go throttle only came in to force for bikes produced post 01.01.2016, pre this date one has grandfather rights.

Post 01.10.2016 the legislation is ambiguous as it ruled out twist and go from a standing start so now there is a pedal first option. The throttle only works for a boost whilst one is initiating a pedal/crank movement.

 

[georgehenry]

I knew there wasn't anything dodgy about David apart from the price!

 

[flecc]

So my lovely throttle that came as fitted on my 2011 electric bike is illegal?

No, because it was the older law that created the omission, that bike has grandfather rights and is legal.

I do also have a crank drive Haibike mountain bike that I love for its off road ability. But it is less user friendly to pull away on from a standstill. You whizz through bottom gear in a blink of an eye, change gear with a little pause in pedaling power losing a little momentum in deference to the cogs in the rear cassette, and repeat, all a bit less smooth and disjointed than the geared rear hub 7 speed with that unrestricted throttle.

I come from a motorcycle background so am used to a twist grip hand throttle and find it very useful, but mostly for pulling away and some other maneuvering as well as adding full power in an instant if you need it.

But a motorcycle my Oxygen certainly is not, and I am also pedaling hard nearly all the time as well and for the vast majority of time no throttle is in use. Just for the bits it is useful for t is very useful.

Mine was also an early motorcycle background. A pedelec with a light acting torque sensor also makes full power available off the mark, but not all makers use those, some needing quite a lot of input. That's the designers fault of course.

Delivery being less smooth and disjointed has mainly come about with much more power on the later crank motor e-bikes like your Haibike. The original Panasonic moderately powered Lafree from 2001 was very smooth acting but it allowed full power from a standstill without any throttle. Tweaking it to double the power completely spoilt the smooth power delivery, it becoming much more jerky.
.

 

[georgehenry]

I think the fact that my rear hub pushes the bike along taking pressure of the bicycles transmission has something to do with it.

The torque system of the Haibike multiplies the power of the motor with the power of the rider and that can be a lot of power for a bicycle transmission to cope with without complaining a bit.

 

[Nealh]

David aka Supersub was and is likely the best bargain ever in pedelecs history.

 

[georgehenry]

I got very lucky when I paid a £100 for it, and its a great bike to ride, and although it got little use with the first owner before I got my hands on it, I am doing my best to make up for that and enjoying every minute.

 

[sjpt]

Low gear and unrestricted legal throttle at the ready on my 2011 Oxygen Emate.

I absolutely agree with the low gear for starting point mentioned by several people (and should have been mentioned by me in my earlier post). If you have too low a gear that can be an issue too, as you are still going slowly while pedalling fast, which can contribute to wobble.

Not helpful as you already have the bike, but hub gears have the big benefit you can change them while stationary. Not practicable with rear hub motors (for now anyway).

 

[Michael Price]

On occasion I have ended up in the wrong gear at traffic lights - for example if the lights change suddenly when I was expecting to sail through at speed.
If necessary I just flick the down change while stationary, life the rear wheel off the ground and spin a pedal while standing beside the bike.
That is normally enough to change down 1 gear at a time.
Doesn;t look 'cool' but does get the gear changed!

 

[TedG]

My Volt Infinity (and possibly all other hub geared ebikes) automatically selects 2nd when I am stationary so a straightforward progress from lights etc.

 

[Nealh]

This where geared hubs like Alfine or Nexus are good, one can change gear whilst at stand still.