Newbie in the Hills

[Mnkyno4]

Morning Everyone

I'm Phil living juust in the Hills of the Peak district , I'm looking at investing ( well you know, buying) a pedelec as way of getting into work. It's about 26 mile round trip and I was wondering if anyone here makes a similar length commute to see if it's realistic.

On paper it sounds great, as I can buy one from a local shop, through the cycle to work scheme, however I'm not a strong cyclist so if anyone can share the experiences good and bad I'd appreciate that.

Phil

 

[Artstu]

I imagine you'll need to charge the bike at work if you're not putting much effort in. However that all depends on your route to work and how much elevation you have to climb. Can you share your route, or perhaps use this site to plot your route and then tell us how much climbing is on the route.

http://app.strava.com/routes

 

[Mnkyno4]

Hi ArtStu,
Yes I think you're right about charging it at work. My Route would be from Furness Vale to Wilmslow in cheshire. Using the A6 rather than going too cross country. It;s quite a climb back up, the last 6 miles maybe 100m in elevation, and not being familiar with how much the bikes "help" I was wondering if I'd be klling myself or if it'd be ok.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You shouldn't need to charge at work. I used to do a slightly hilly 30 mile commute with a 9ah battery. I took the charger with me the first couple of days, but I soon realised that I didn't need it, even when I was quite unfit. It doesn't take long for your fitness to improve, so you should soon be able to do it with plenty in reserve.

 

[Artstu]

As Dave says you should be okay without needing to charge at work. You'd be best with a 11 ah battery as a minimum I'd say. High lane is pretty minor in all honesty, a friend of mine does a similar commute on her old Raleigh most days with leg power only.

https://app.strava.com/routes/1480878

 

[Mnkyno4]

Thanks for the replies, I'm not that hardcore at cycling I'm afraid, going up the A6 from Hazel grove at the weekend nearly killed me on my normal bike, I'm not heavy just out of shape I guess.
The bikes I've narrowed it down to have 10ah batteries as standard, with the option of 2ah incremental upgrades. So I could start off with a 12 to avoid teh work recharge. It wouldn't be a problem to top up at work at all, it's if in you opinions that climb would be possible on one charge or if it would keep the battery healthier if I charged it every 13 miles ( at work and at home)
Ta

 

[RobF]

Those couple of extra ah on the 12ah battery would be worth having.

But there's no need to worry about charging at work for battery health.

Batteries don't like to be run dead flat, but you won't be doing that on the round trip, particularly if you have 12ah to start with.

 

[JuicyBike]

Hi Phil
Knowing the wheel size would help work out the likely range of the standard 10ah battery.

A charge at work would keep a10ah battery / 26" wheel combination at less than 50% discharge, improving longevity.

However a 20" wheel with the same battery would use just over 50% on each leg of the journey, stressing the battery and reducing the likelihood of 5+ years.

There's very little in it, between the two wheels and I'm using quite cautious range quotes, but I'd strongly recommend the 2ah upgrade for the smaller bike.

But, for that fairly ambitious commute (hats off to you), the larger wheel size would be far more comfortable.

 

[Mnkyno4]

Thanks JuicyBike. I had considered a small, folding bike but it seems to make more sense to go for a 26" wheel. Now if the wind would just drop and the sleet stop I'd be more encouraged to try again on my push bike.

 

[D8ve]

A recumbent would be best but that is probably outside most people's comfort zone.
So if it's a diamond frame bike go for a good road machine with 700c wheels. Disk brakes are best. And hub gears also help reduce maintance and ease use.
Expect over an hour each way until you get the legs and even then 45 mins would be fast.

 

[NZgeek]

Charge at work, if you can:

The terrain makes a MASSIVE difference.

I have a 12AH LiFePO4.

On my commute TO work, it's 6 miles, cumulative elevation around 120M.

On my commute home, it's 6 miles, cumulative elevation about 180M - the first half is mostly downhill/flat too! The uphills are quite long and steep, with a brief high-speed downhill rest in between

There are a LOT of ups and downs at my home end.

I can cycle to work with a LOT of assistance, and even get halfway home if I forget to charge, as long as I'm very careful on the way home...

BUT even fully charged at work, I can also run my battery low enough for it to cut out from voltage sag when climbing the last hill if I'm not frugal on the throttle on the way home. I'm very gentle on the throttle, and back off and slow down to about 12-15km/h on the hills to save the battery a bit. and only use it to get up to speed, but geberally cruise under my own power.

My overall average speed is just under 25km/h.

Overall, I found this calculator http://www.electricbikerange.info/Electric_bike_range.html to be surprisingly accurate for me (although the range for the trip home didn't quite work out).