Need help choosing a bike for 19 mile commute

[soundwave]

depends what bike it is model wise and how much the parts cost on there own but you will pay more for RM/haibike over say a cube bike.

if you stick a dongle on it it will go faster than a sclass motor anyway 35mph

 

[4bound]

To give you an idea of what can be done here is a ride I did with two 17AH batteries. The second one was still about 50% charged at the end. https://www.strava.com/activities/1243570906 . Don't anyone say it wasn't steep!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

if you stick a dongle on it it will go faster than a sclass motor anyway 35mph

Just to be a bit clearer on that, any bike will do 35 mph if you chuck it off Beachy Head.

You need around 1000w of output power to do 30 mph on an typical MTB, and probably a lot more of you have one with plus sized wheels and tyres. A typical Bosch/Yamaha/Shimano dongled motor can give approx 550w of output power, so 35mph is only possible downhill, with a strong wind behind you, or with extreme pedalling.

 

[soundwave]

that is on the flat

 

[Artstu]

that is on the flat

18 mph is nowt to brag about

 

[soundwave]

18 mph is nowt to brag about

avg speed 18.1 max speed 31.8 tho you need to spin at 120rpm and have the right gearing for it.

 

[Ryan Yorke]

- Soundwave. Oh right, I thought a restricted bike derestricted would get around 22/23mph at a reasonable rate, but would assist to 28mph if you pedal like mad, is that the same for s-pedelecs?

- 4bound, good effort, that’s quite a trip! And definitely puts my mind at ease regarding my “hills”, thank you. Just out of interest, what bike was that on?

 

[Artstu]

- Soundwave. Oh right, I thought a restricted bike derestricted would get around 22/23mph at a reasonable rate, but would assist to 28mph if you pedal like mad, is that the same for s-pedelecs?

As standard they assist to around 16 mph, so a x2 gadget gives assistance to around 32 mph, then you have the x3 gadgets that assist to 48 mph.

No idea who this is looks like they have an old style Bosch motor

 

[4bound]

[QUOTE="

- 4bound, good effort, that’s quite a trip! And definitely puts my mind at ease regarding my “hills”, thank you. Just out of interest, what bike was that on?[/QUOTE]
Well that was on my Kalkhoff Endeavour Impulse S11 Alfine ( an S-Pedelec) but many here will tell you the Impulse Motor fitted to it is very unreliable. I wasn't trying to make a point about the bike, but about the potential of e-bikes.
Many of the hills were >20% potholed, muddy, narrow but the e-bike made its way up all of them without falter. I could have ridden faster, but was obviously taking it steady to conserve battery life.

 

[anotherkiwi]

This might help:

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

...
Many of the hills were >20% ...

You need 1300W to climb a 20% gradient at 15 mph

Sunday I was exploring in the Pyrenees and came across a 12% hill about 5 km long. I regularly ride 7% with 13-15% in spots but I can't imagine riding up that 12% bit of road without some difficulty. 20% over how much distance?

 

[4bound]

I can't imagine riding up that 12% bit of road without some difficulty. 20% over how much distance?

This is North Wales not the Pyrenees. The mountains are comparatively small and steep. Inclines over 20% are not unusual, but are generally only that steep for a few hundred yards at most. Whereas the roads you ride in the Pyrenees will be generally carefully engineered, North Wales older roads, just go where people used to walk - so if there is a small valley they just go down one side and up the other.
I didn't say I did it without some difficulty! I have a Garmin Edge 1000 and use that to assess the %incline.

If you look at this segment for example you will see it is 12% average, but this is by no means steady so in places yes it will be 20%. https://www.strava.com/segments/9357190

 

[Artstu]

If you look at this segment for example you will see it is 12% average, but this is by no means steady so in places yes it will be 20%. https://www.strava.com/segments/9357190

Like Winnats https://www.strava.com/segments/808824

 

[4bound]

Like Winnats https://www.strava.com/segments/808824

Yes, with the segment I quoted and the one from Artstu, the average is 12% but if you run the cursor over the graph of the incline it shows the spot incline and these are over 20% in both cases for short distances.

 

[anotherkiwi]

OK I sacrificed my honesty for science and did a quick blast to my GF's and back with the cutoff set to 45 km/h:

Peaked at 43.7 km/h in town and in traffic
688 W peak (12S battery rules!)
7.5 Wh/km - this is a very flat ride

Some car drivers may have been injured (hurt feelings) during this experiment

Turned it down to 37 km/h on the way back, a much more comfy ride. Will test like that for a while to see what the Wh consumption is like.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

- David (Amps), Just out of interest, how much are you asking for the Charger and the Roadster?

Charger £1,850.00

Roadster £1,450.00

Both practically as new.

All the best, David

 

[Ryan Yorke]

Sorry d8veh, I replied before your message had loaded! Thanks for the clarification. The Bosch motor on the RM is rated at 350W output, does that mean that the 45kph is unrealistic in the majority of circumstances too? I assumed it meant 45kph is as sustainable as the 25kph of a restricted bike. At 550W I’d guess a derestricted bike is indeed faster than an s-pedelec?!

- 4bound, I have heard about the unreliability of the impulse motors. I’m sure the issues aren’t as widespread as they appear, and you obviously have confidence in it to take it on such a journey, but I think the seeds of doubt have already been sewn for me for fear of being one of the unlucky ones! Thanks again for showing the potential for range.

- anotherkiwi, that sounds like a nice option to have! I’m sure the regulations were very well considered and are totally safe and rational, but it would be nice to get around them more easily! Which I suppose you can to an extent, but a high 20’s average speed would be great!

 

[soundwave]

the only difference between the 250w and 350w motors are the cut off speed,the motors them self are the same inside and out.

thus why a dongle only removes the speed limit.

 

[4bound]

This average speed thing is widely misunderstood. Many people think that if they are cycling at - say 20mph much of the time then their average will be around 20mph. In fact it is more likely to be around 15mph. Consider that every time they stop - traffic, junctions, etc they will spend time slowing down and then stopped, then gradually accelerating to get back to 20mph.

There is also the effect of hills and headwinds. Lets take an example - say you come to a large hill - instead of doing 20mph your speed drops to 10mph, but on your way down you do 30mph. Then it seems as if you have kept up your 20mph average. ( average of 10 and 30 is 20?)

But no! Say the climb is 30 miles long. It will take you 3 hours to ride up, but only 1 hr to come down. So now you have done 60 miles in 4hrs - yes 15mph, not 20mph. Of course it makes no difference how long the hill is, the result is the same.

 

[4bound]

the only difference between the 250w and 350w motors are the cut off speed,the motors them self are the same inside and out.
thus why a dongle only removes the speed limit.

That makes no sense at all IMO. Of course its true that a dongle that removes the cut off limit will not increase the power. But a 350W motor is going to be more powerful than a 250W motor. Watts are a measure of power so more Watts equals more power! SO you will be able to go faster up hill etc. IMO!

 

[soundwave]

the motors output way more power than 350w more like double that.