Sunny and Warm Off Road Commute to Work

[georgehenry]

Just wondered if anyone else has been out on their bikes enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. I am a shift worker on late turn at the moment and have had the same job two days running, meaning setting off for work at around 11:45. Yesterday I finished at 22:46, but today was lucky to finish early at 18:15.



I usually ride 14 miles mostly cross country to work and then 10 miles back on the road. On both these journeys for the first time this year I was able to wear a T shirt and shorts and saw a top temperature on my display of 27 degrees today.



On Monday I rode home at just after 23:00 and there was a nip in the air necessitating leggings, long sleeved top, wind proof jacket, hat and gloves, but my early finish today meant T shirt and shorts on the way home, and riding earlier than normal had a bit of banter with a fast roadie who I caught on a long steady up hill section, saying hello and how nice the weather was as I passed him, but also saying I expected him to come past me on the steep down hill we were closely approaching. This he did with a grin and turned off just as I was about to overtake him again on anther uphill section.



Two lovely days of commuting to work in Summer like temperatures.

 

[gsm.terra]

Just wondered if anyone else has been out on their bikes enjoying the unseasonably warm weather. I am a shift worker on late turn at the moment and have had the same job two days running, meaning setting off for work at around 11:45. Yesterday I finished at 22:46, but today was lucky to finish early at 18:15.

View attachment 41610

I usually ride 14 miles mostly cross country to work and then 10 miles back on the road. On both these journeys for the first time this year I was able to wear a T shirt and shorts and saw a top temperature on my display of 27 degrees today.

View attachment 41611

On Monday I rode home at just after 23:00 and there was a nip in the air necessitating leggings, long sleeved top, wind proof jacket, hat and gloves, but my early finish today meant T shirt and shorts on the way home, and riding earlier than normal had a bit of banter with a fast roadie who I caught on a long steady up hill section, saying hello and how nice the weather was as I passed him, but also saying I expected him to come past me on the steep down hill we were closely approaching. This he did with a grin and turned off just as I was about to overtake him again on anther uphill section.

View attachment 41612

Two lovely days of commuting to work in Summer like temperatures.

if only we had similar weather in Scotland! Been rubbish here...

 

[georgehenry]

I look at forecasts, riding to work and back regularly as I do, and I had noticed that our mini heat wave down south was happening when Scotland and Northern Ireland were getting Rain. It does happen the other way round as well though.

 

[gsm.terra]

I look at forecasts, riding to work and back regularly as I do, and I had noticed that our mini heat wave down south was happening when Scotland and Northern Ireland were getting Rain. It does happen the other way round as well though.

Very nice commute you have there, beautiful countryside!

 

[georgehenry]

I moved to Surrey with my previous job and live in one Surrey Town and commute to another. On the road they are 10 miles apart.



I started commuting on the road using a 2011 Oxygen rear hub cadence sensor bike, but I have always liked mountain biking so I started adding easy off road tracks that the Oxygen could cope with on my journey to work. Then I added a few more and wanted to do some the Oxygen could not do.


All the other pictures are from my ride to work route but this one was taken on a lock down leisure ride.

After a while I decided I really needed to buy a hard tail crank drive electric mountain bike so I could ride to work almost completely off road and do more difficult tracks.



It takes longer to ride to work cross country but it is so much fun. I have two basic routes, one that is less muddy but still mostly off road for the Winter months, and another in the Summer on tracks that are waterlogged in Winter but dry out in the Summer.



After a bit of experimentation I now ride cross country to work on my Haibike on any days I have daylight to see by, and use my Oxygen road bike for my early shifts when it is dark on my ride to work. Also quite frankly my early shifts can be very early so riding to them is challenge enough and you definitely want to take the least time possible to avoid getting up any earlier, so the road trip is a lot quicker.



When I first got The Haibike I used it for all my trips to work and back and discovered that a crank drive bike wears out chains, cassettes and chain rings much quicker than my rear hub bike.



Using two bikes now, a rear hub for my road commuting journeys, and The Haibike for off road to work and road back seems to be the perfect electric bike commuting sweet spot. My shifts are roughly split 50/50 between early and late starts, so The Haibike only gets used when I can use my off road routes to work and as a consequence there is less overall maintenance to do.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

Last night was wonderfully warm, too. My bike is lightweight (less than 20kg, converted), I'm over 2.5 stones lighter now, so I did a speed run test on a level dirt track using throttle only - BBS01b on Dahon Helios P8... and with a full charge, it topped out at 22 miles an hour. It fell to 21mph after about 45 minutes, then settled at 20.4mph after about an hour and a half, on other level sections. I might manage more speed if I pumped the tyres up to their max PSI - at the moment, they're both 10psi lower to handle potholes better. I'll also swap the 42T chainwheel to a 52T sometime (leg strength permitting) and do another speed run test.

 

[georgehenry]

I am not light and The Haibike is not a lightweight bike and I carry full panniers.

My 2015 Yamaha motor is supposed to produce 60nm of torque which back in 2015 when I bought it was a very competitive figure and slightly more than the Bosch motor of that time.

My bike is not geared for top speed and I am not trying to ride it as fast as it will go but never the less it can easily hold speeds above 20 mph in my 12 tooth top gear/42 tooth chain ring.

Coming home after work is when I want to travel faster to get me home quicker after my shift and to do so I use a mixture of eco and middle assist of the three I have.

The aim is still to ride efficiently in respect of battery consumption but to average close to 20 mph for my 10 mile undulating B road journey.

So I am travelling faster than 20 mph on flatter slightly up slightly down gradients on the road, obviously faster down the steeper hills touching 35 mph briefly on one steep down hill with no assist other than gravity, and slower climbing hills, but using the higher middle assist level, I am still climbing relatively quickly to allow me to keep my average speed where I want it.

So a heavy rider, two full panniers, using off road tyres and at the rear a high drag 2.35 mud rear tyre run tubeless at around 25 psi, complete a 10 mile ride on the road in half an hour at an average speed of 20 mph. I really do not need to go any faster than this and it can vary a bit dependent on conditions, sometimes a bit quicker and sometimes slower.

After putting on that 2.35 mud tyre for this Winter I have needed to use a bit more higher assistance coming home on the road than I did using the previous mtb marathon plus.

I still use no more than half my 400Wh battery and usually around 40 to 45% as my original battery enters its seventh year of service.

Going to work is the complete opposite where I am not travelling quickly but enjoying the beautiful countryside and in places quite demanding off road sections.

Here I need my 36 tooth bottom gear to get up some of the more difficult and technically demanding tracks.

So going to work I ride the whole way in the lowest assist eco or completely off for quite a few sections.

I did not even know this when I bought it but the motor appears to add no resistance when ridden with all the assistance turned off which is actually a very useful attribute.

Back in 2015 when I bought my Yamaha Haibike a normal size chain ring on a crank drive bike seemed a novelty as all the Bosch bikes had small chain rings.

I was able to do a number of test rides before I bought my bike and attended a demo day with the dealership I eventually bought from and got to ride quite a range of crank drive bikes to decide which system I preferred.

Other people prefer the Bosch motor of that time but I much preferred the Yamaha. Being able to make a considered choice has meant that I knew I really liked the characteristics of the Yamaha motor before I bought it and as a consequence still really like my bike today.

I wonder what I will buy next? It can't last for ever.

I have just started my seventh year of commuting on it, still using the original 400Wh battery and have so far traveled 13,192 miles.

 

[Deleted member 33385]

I am not light and The Haibike is not a lightweight bike and I carry full panniers.

My 2015 Yamaha motor is supposed to produce 60nm of torque which back in 2015 when I bought it was a very competitive figure and slightly more than the Bosch motor of that time.

My bike is not geared for top speed and I am not trying to ride it as fast as it will go but never the less it can easily hold speeds above 20 mph in my 12 tooth top gear/42 tooth chain ring.

Coming home after work is when I want to travel faster to get me home quicker after my shift and to do so I use a mixture of eco and middle assist of the three I have.

The aim is still to ride efficiently in respect of battery consumption but to average close to 20 mph for my 10 mile undulating B road journey.

So I am travelling faster than 20 mph on flatter slightly up slightly down gradients, obviously faster down the steeper hills touching 35 mph briefly on one steep down hill with no assist other than gravity, and slower climbing hills, but using the higher middle assist level, I am still climbing relatively quickly to allow me to keep my average speed where I want it.

So a heavy rider, two full panniers, using off road tyres and at the rear a high drag 2.35 mud rear tyre run tubeless at around 25 psi, complete a 10 mile ride on the road in half an hour at an average speed of 20 mph. I really do not need to go any faster than this and it can vary a bit dependent on conditions, sometimes a bit quicker and sometimes slower.

After putting on that 2.35 mud tyre for this Winter I have needed to use a bit more higher assistance coming home on the road than I did using the previous mtb marathon plus.

I still use no more than half my 400Wh battery and usually around 40 to 45% as my original battery enters its seventh year of service.

Going to work is the complete opposite where I am not travelling quickly but enjoying the beautiful countryside and in places quite demanding off road sections.

Here I need my 36 tooth bottom gear to get up some of the more difficult and technically demanding tracks.

So going to work I ride the whole way in the lowest assist eco or completely off for quite a few sections.

I did not even know this when I bought it but the motor appears to add no resistance when ridden with all the assistance turned off which is actually a very useful attribute.

Back in 2015 when I bought my Yamaha Haibike a normal size chain ring on a crank drive bike seemed a novelty as all the Bosch bikes had small chain rings.

I was able to do a number of test rides before I bought my bike and attended a demo day with the dealership I eventually bought from and got to ride quite a range of crank drive bikes to decide which system I preferred.

Other people prefer the Bosch motor of that time but I much preferred the Yamaha. Being able to make a considered choice has meant that I knew I really liked the characteristics of the Yamaha motor before I bought it and as a consequence still really like my bike today.

I wonder what I will buy next? It can't last for ever.

I have just started my seventh year of commuting on it, still using the original 400Wh battery and have so far traveled 13,192 miles.

I think your motor is more powerful than mine - I'm quite content with 15mph, I only did the speed test out of curiosity. I'm happy with the BBS01b's easier and cheaper repairability too, much as I admire the power of the Bosch and Yamahas.

 

[georgehenry]

Sounds like the latest version of your motor is quite a bit more powerful than my 2015 Yamaha.

https://www.brightonebikes.co.uk/store/p112/Bafang®_BBS01B-ETM_36V_250W_motor_kit_(DPC-18_display)_with_Samsung_35E_cell_36V_14Ah_downtube_battery.html

 

[Deleted member 33385]

Sounds like the latest version of your motor is quite a bit more powerful than my 2015 Yamaha.

https://www.brightonebikes.co.uk/store/p112/Bafang®_BBS01B-ETM_36V_250W_motor_kit_(DPC-18_display)_with_Samsung_35E_cell_36V_14Ah_downtube_battery.html

Yes, I would have bought that one, had I known. With a much bigger battery (because I'm exceedingly lazy). If I was a speed nut, I'd swap out the controller on my BBS01b for a 750W, the battery for a 48V, and burn out the motor jumping over hills...

 

[georgehenry]

This is my second Yamaha motor as the first one developed play in the bearings right at the end of the two year warranty, but the dealer I bought from was very good and replaced it free of charge.

I think the bearings on the first motor began to wear because of water ingress, and I think that was probably caused by washing rather than riding the bike.

I have been careful to keep water away from the bearings of the second motor and have enjoyed having an excuse not to wash the bike as I am lazy too!

However I am probably on borrowed time now with this motor as it is now just over four years old and has completed over 7,000 miles.