Hi all.
;TLDR; - I love it but I need to find some cheap batteries!
I'll come right out and say that I've been a lycra road bike warrior for the last 5 years and looked at eBike with contempt and scorn. Until I was put in the unfortunate position of facing a rather hefty bill to fix the gearbox on my car, and hating the commute to work on the train. So I started to seriosuly consider an eBike as a viable method of tranport as a replacement for the car.
I have cycled to work on many occassions but a 50 mile commute back to back over the course of the week (notching up 250 miles) along with weekend club rides nearly killed me so I usually only take the raod bike into work once or twice a week.
I started reading reviews for various eBike and lurked on this very forum before dropping some notes on a Haibike sDuro Trekking 5.0 which, although is about as far away from my 7kg carbon fibre Di2 bike, appeared to tick all the boxes as a commuting machine.
It was delivered last Friday afternoon. I cycled home with the biggest grin I've ever had on my face. It propelled itselft and my 110kg of mass effortlessly up some of the steeper climbs on my route and I actively went off course to try some steeper gradients, much more than I'd do on my normal commute. I ended up clocking 40 miles on the way home (nearly twice as far as I needed to go!) and loved it.
The only negative for me was the very restrictive 15mph speed limit. I regularly cycle the commute on the road bike at an avergage of about 17mph and have done it at over 20mph a few times so feeling the bike bog down as the motor stopped assisting was a bit frustrating.
I *may have* therefore reloacted the speed sensor and magnet to the point where I no longer have any concerns about the bike bogging down at the speed.
This has brought me some puzzlement...
The battery is rated at 500WH, and the motor is a 250W Yamaha motor.
Theoretically, I should get 2 hours out of the battery under full load.
My commute this morning was about 70 minutes at about 3/4 power (that's the power assistance indicator showing about 3/4 up the chart for most of the way). The battery and range indicator was dropping ridiculously quickly. Before I set off, I was getting an idicated 45 mile range (on HIGH assist level) and by the time I got to work it was reading 6 miles. So the faster I go, the less range I have to play with. I can accept that, but it was touch and go on whether I'd get to work assisted or whether I'd have to do some pedalling! and still doesn't explain the whole 500WH/250W thing - I reackon I'd have got another 5 minutes out of the battery at most before it t was completely drained.
I then started looking at battery options. Maybe having one at work fully charged and carrying a fully charged spare with me just in case. That is until I saw the phenominal prices of these battery's - £800 for the Yamamha 500W battery, and another £150 for another charger. A bit excessive for what is a bunch of 18650 LiPo's.
Which left me wondering whether or not a homebrew battery pack could be made compatible with the Yamaha system?.... has anyone successfully done this?
;TLDR; - I love it but I need to find some cheap batteries!
I'll come right out and say that I've been a lycra road bike warrior for the last 5 years and looked at eBike with contempt and scorn. Until I was put in the unfortunate position of facing a rather hefty bill to fix the gearbox on my car, and hating the commute to work on the train. So I started to seriosuly consider an eBike as a viable method of tranport as a replacement for the car.
I have cycled to work on many occassions but a 50 mile commute back to back over the course of the week (notching up 250 miles) along with weekend club rides nearly killed me so I usually only take the raod bike into work once or twice a week.
I started reading reviews for various eBike and lurked on this very forum before dropping some notes on a Haibike sDuro Trekking 5.0 which, although is about as far away from my 7kg carbon fibre Di2 bike, appeared to tick all the boxes as a commuting machine.
It was delivered last Friday afternoon. I cycled home with the biggest grin I've ever had on my face. It propelled itselft and my 110kg of mass effortlessly up some of the steeper climbs on my route and I actively went off course to try some steeper gradients, much more than I'd do on my normal commute. I ended up clocking 40 miles on the way home (nearly twice as far as I needed to go!) and loved it.
The only negative for me was the very restrictive 15mph speed limit. I regularly cycle the commute on the road bike at an avergage of about 17mph and have done it at over 20mph a few times so feeling the bike bog down as the motor stopped assisting was a bit frustrating.
I *may have* therefore reloacted the speed sensor and magnet to the point where I no longer have any concerns about the bike bogging down at the speed.
This has brought me some puzzlement...
The battery is rated at 500WH, and the motor is a 250W Yamaha motor.
Theoretically, I should get 2 hours out of the battery under full load.
My commute this morning was about 70 minutes at about 3/4 power (that's the power assistance indicator showing about 3/4 up the chart for most of the way). The battery and range indicator was dropping ridiculously quickly. Before I set off, I was getting an idicated 45 mile range (on HIGH assist level) and by the time I got to work it was reading 6 miles. So the faster I go, the less range I have to play with. I can accept that, but it was touch and go on whether I'd get to work assisted or whether I'd have to do some pedalling! and still doesn't explain the whole 500WH/250W thing - I reackon I'd have got another 5 minutes out of the battery at most before it t was completely drained.
I then started looking at battery options. Maybe having one at work fully charged and carrying a fully charged spare with me just in case. That is until I saw the phenominal prices of these battery's - £800 for the Yamamha 500W battery, and another £150 for another charger. A bit excessive for what is a bunch of 18650 LiPo's.
Which left me wondering whether or not a homebrew battery pack could be made compatible with the Yamaha system?.... has anyone successfully done this?
