Some advice please

[Anfield800]

First of all, great forum. I've been reading the recent posts with much interest. My father pointed me here, he has two ezee Quandos at his home in France and we've just spent two weeks there and used the bikes every day. Great fun.

I've been looking to get myself an ebike for a while but can't decide which way to go. I've just ordered a Synergie Mistral for my wife to use for her journey to work, I'm hoping that if all goes well I might invest in something myself. I'll go into why the Mistral another time.

What I'd like to know is whether I should bother replacing the huge mountain bike tyres on her Mistral with something more suited to the road? A friend insists this will make a lot of difference to her commute which is 4 miles of main roads with only very gentle slopes, no real hills.

If I do this, do I need to replace the inner tubes as well, and what type of tyres should I be looking for?

Lee

 

[flecc]

Good tyres will make a big difference Lee, even against poor road tyres, but especially where knobbly mountain bike tyres were first fitted. Many of us in here like the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres as they have an extremely effective puncture resistant system, but they are extremely expensive, normal price around £25 each, but sometimes discounted to below £20.

Otherwise, I've recently found the Continental Cityride tyres to have very low rolling resistance, but any other road tyres from the Continental or Schwalbe ranges will be good. If you want to economise by buying cheaply from a local source, go for a tyre that has a continuous central tread band and with the outer tread pattern sections overlapping so that there is continuous level and even contact on the road. This style of tread gives the lowest rolling resistance, but the rubber compound is also important and that cannot be so easily judged.

I don't know the tube sizes in that bike, and you might need to change them. However, tubes are not particularly expensive. I use the Schwalbe low loss tubes at £3.99 each.
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[Anfield800]

Thanks Flecc, a quick look on the web has found a local shop with Continental Sport Contact tyres with inner tubes for £25.00.

I think I can stretch to that, if they will make a difference.

Thanks for the advice, now all I have to do is fit them.

Lee

 

[flecc]

They certainly will, the bike will roll along much more freely.
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[Anfield800]

Thanks. The only other slight problem I foresee is how to remove the back wheel. Is it going to cause me a problem? I haven't had a good look yet but it seems the power to the motor is routed through the axle of the hub.

 

[flecc]

Yes it is. You'll find that you can release the wheel from the dropouts and change the tyre without disconnecting the wiring, perhaps just releasing tiewraps, but be careful not to tug on the wiring.

I find it easiest done by releasing the wheel so it's ready to come out, then lay the bike on it's cable side. Then the wheel can be slid out and tyre change started in the horizontal position. With the wheel back in the dropouts the bike can then be brought into the upside down position and the tyre change completed in the usual way.

At what point you bring it to the upside down situation is what you feel comfortable with. I do it with just one side of the tyre on the rim and tube roughly in. Then the job can be finished and chain re-engaged correctly without risk to the wiring.
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[Anfield800]

Seems easy enough, I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again.

 

[halfmedley]

I too have a Mistral and all I can say is be very careful when removing the back wheel, there isn't much slack in those wires going to the motor. In fact I ended up cutting the wires (on purpose) and inserting 'chocolate block' connectors to facilitate easier tyre changing/puncture repair.

Not that I've had a puncture since replacing the factory tyres with Schwalbes. I can heartily recommend replacing the factory tyres, as those knobbly originals are just awful on roads, and don't corner too well either.

Good luck with the back wheel!

 

[Anfield800]

Thanks for all the help, tyres are now on. I disconnected the power lead inside the controller so didn't have a problem. I'm a bit worried about waterproofing now, the wires etc there seem to be very open to water.

Halfmedley, have you had any problems in the rain?

Lee

 

[halfmedley]

Hi Lee, glad you got the new tyres on, you should really notice a difference in handling and decreased rolling resistance. When I had the back wheel off I also removed the sturdy but weighty kickstand.

I rode the bike through most of last 'summer' and didn't have any problems with water, however I did liberally apply duct tape around the more vulnerable areas beforehand. Also I have found clingfilm to be effective at protecting the handlebar switch & LEDs. It got completely soaked in the weekend's deluge too, but I haven't had chance to test it again yet.

 

[rooel]

I wonder if halfmedley could tell me how many cables there are in the supply line to the Mistral motor, ie how many "ways" a connector should have, if a pluggable/unpluggable connection were to be made to make wheel removal safer and easier?