Stroud (Glos) Hills

[Just Jules]

Hi everybody.
I've been researching varous bikes for use in the Stroud area. There are lots of hills around and there is a 1:8 hill and a 1:12 hill approaching my home, so pretty steep. Age is 61, not fit and have arthritic hips. Weight 17 Stone, say 110 kilos, but hopefully this will reduce after I get a bike. I think the exercise will help the hip issue.

I'm interested in the Woosh Big Bear and the Woosh Santana CD and appreciate the latter will be better on the hills but more problematical with the gears. I see a few Pedego models around but don't want to spend that amount. I'm also interested in the Freego range.

Is there anybody out there with electric bike experience in Stroud, particularly with a Freego or Woosh?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The Woosh Big Bear ST won't have any trouble with those hills.You'll get a much more relaxing ride than any of the alternatives you've mentioned.

 

[soundwave]

i thought my bike was heavy thats 5 kilos more than mine

 

[trex]

The Santana CD has the new CD motor, it'll climb anything on throttle alone.
both the Big Bear and the Santana CD have a large motor and 15AH battery, mudguard, rack, lights etc. hence the extra weight.

 

[soundwave]

x4 less than mine tho price wise

 

[Benjahmin]

Welcome Julian.
My wife has a Big Bear step through. We live in west Wales so lots of hills. I can confirm that it's hill climbing torque is prodigious and battery life is good. So far 41 miles on one charge.

 

[Just Jules]

Thanks to all for the replies and advice. It looks as if the score is still
Big Bear 1 - Santana CD 1.
Hatti from Woosh said the Big Bear would make my 1:8 hil but would need some hard pedalling. I was surprised to hear the comment that the Santana would climb it on throttle alone as I thought the crank drive was the key advantage as it allows the low gear and low speed pedalling on steep hills with the motor running at its optimum rpm.
Any more thoughts please? Any Stroudies out there?

 

[Just Jules]

Welcome Julian.
My wife has a Big Bear step through. We live in west Wales so lots of hills. I can confirm that it's hill climbing torque is prodigious and battery life is good. So far 41 miles on one charge.

That's good to hear. Do you know the gradients of the steep ones? I suspect I'm a lot heavier at 17 stone which might make the BB struggle?

 

[trex]

the problem is some high gradients you have in your area. The BB is brilliant for anything up to about 8%, even hauling 17 stone. As the speed decreases rapidly with gradient, the BPM motor loses equally rapidly its efficiency. At above 9%-10% average gradient, more input energy is converted to heat than transferred to the wheels.
The Santana CD can cope with steep hills more easily when you switch to low gear where it can keep spinning at high rev and maintain its maximum torque easily without losing much power to heat. Both bikes have the same battery and 20A controller, the difference is down to keeping the conversion efficiency when the climbing is tough.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Hatti's right. The Santana can get up steeper hills without pedalling; however, you'll still be able to get up a 12% hill on the Big Bear with minimal pedal effort. The motor won't overheat unless you're riding in the Alps. The rest of the time, the Big Bear is more relaxing. Remember that your 1 in 8 hill will account for maybe 1% of your riding. You should think about the 99% ton the BB,you don't have to worry about what gear your in: The motor gives its power regardless. It's very awkward when you get caught in the wrong gear on a crank drive bike.

 

[selrahc1992]

Hi everybody.
I've been researching varous bikes for use in the Stroud area. There are lots of hills around and there is a 1:8 hill and a 1:12 hill approaching my home, so pretty steep. Age is 61, not fit and have arthritic hips. Weight 17 Stone, say 110 kilos, but hopefully this will reduce after I get a bike. I think the exercise will help the hip issue.

I'm interested in the Woosh Big Bear and the Woosh Santana CD and appreciate the latter will be better on the hills but more problematical with the gears. I see a few Pedego models around but don't want to spend that amount. I'm also interested in the Freego range.

Is there anybody out there with electric bike experience in Stroud, particularly with a Freego or Woosh?

I have a BPM kit on a bike - i think it may be less powerful than teh big bear (mine outputs 15A at 36V), i h ave a friend with an old santa ana with a TCM crank drive. Ive tried both on steep and medium hills. I think 110 kilos would be too much for my BPM up a steep hill - teh reason woudl be that i carry a serious lock (5kg), laptop and stuff (another 5kg) - im light but i once deliberately overloaded teh BPM bike to see when teh steep hill near me became too much and it seemed around 110kg all up weight. the downside of a crank drive to me is that it's slower up hills (in TCM form at least), on medium and even moderate hills a bpm flies up at 15 plus mph.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The difference between 15A and 20A is very significant. The BB has 33.3% more torque than your bike, so it would climb a 33% steeper hill for the same effort, or to put it another way, if your bike can manage a 9% (1 in 11) hill, the BB can manage 12% (1 in 8).

 

[trex]

I reckon the BPM gives about 50-55NM max with a 20A controller. To compare BPM against CD TCM, you factor in the front to rear ratio. On the old Santana CD, the TCM gives 60NM max at the cranks, 60NM*34T/44T=46NM at the rear wheel. The BPM will trounce it in all cases except when stalling. The Santana CD with the new TCM and the same 20A controller gives 90NM at the cranks, or 69NM on first gear, 57NM on second gear (28T). Climbing on first, second or third gear (24T), the new Santana CD (and the Krieger) will do better than the BB.

 

[Just Jules]

I think both the Woosh Big Bear and the Woosh Santana CD have a walk mode. I think this means if pushing a bike, the motor takes care of the bike weight, leaving the owner to walk beside and steer. Does anybody have experience of this and know how the bikes sense the owner's walking speed?

 

[soundwave]

my haibike has a walk button on the left hand side goes 3mph when pressed

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The walk mode is a fixed 6km/h. I doubt that you'd ever need to push either of them.

 

[Benjahmin]

That's good to hear. Do you know the gradients of the steep ones? I suspect I'm a lot heavier at 17 stone which might make the BB struggle?

You're right, she's a sylph like ( I know which side my breads buttered!) 10stone. However carrying two panniers full of shopping she stays in the saddle going up some 1:6 to 1:8 long hills with nasty switch backs where the inside line is ridonculous.
Her BB (26" wheels) climbs faster than my Ezee hybrid conversion (700c wheels), that thing is pure grunt. However mine will outpace hers on the flat.

 

[Just Jules]

Thanks everybody - I'm leaning towards the Big Bear. I was hoping there might be somebody local with one, but it looks like I might be 'wooshing' alone in this area! Having said that I'd still like to hear other Big Bear ownership experiences. I was looking at the low step model and understand these are currently out of stock.