Terry Scott gets Badasse!

[Wolfie70]

Afternoon All,
Terry and I have been together a few weeks now...

http://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/threads/terry-scott-lives.23914/

He's my daily mode of transport for reasons detailed in my earlier posts. Rain or shine he's been looking after me on my daily commute of around 20 miles a day with significant hills and gradients both ways. So I thought I'd share my experience!

Terry got a Badasse 3.3 dongle installed soon after he arrived as I was continually riding above the 15mph assistance which kind of defeated the objective of getting an ebike. I wanted to get to work a little less sweaty than under my own steam. Fully loaded with two panniers and my good self he's a hefty beast and you soon know when the assistance has dropped off. I'm a keen mountain biker so not averse to a bit of effort but in this case I'm trying to stay efficient.

The dongle means I can cruise at around 20mph which I feel is perfect. I can go faster but the Alfine 8 runs out of gears at around 27mph making it a futile exercise. Hills drop me back under 20mph but still not under the 15mph threshold of the standard setup. I toggle assistance but mainly on the way home as I use that as training. On the way to work I use mainly high. I have a spare charger at work in case I fancy a detour on the way home but one charge will get me the full round trip using assistance all the way at different levels with me giving it some beans. Can't help myself!

I still get sweaty but maybe not as sweaty as my traditional bikes would get me. I can't help but think it wouldn't be much different on my full carbon road bike but then again that can't carry two panniers full of laptop, clothes, towel, sarnies and other stuff I need in the office.

The dongle means my Di2 autoshift is rendered useless as it confuses the firmware by halving the actual speed so I stick with manual. It's not a bad system at all so it's not a chore. The built in lights are brilliant! One less thing to worry about when the rain comes down. I've upgraded the pedals to spd and added bar ends for the head down time trial sections! Haha! Been told off by roadies for cheating as I sail past them. I tell them they'd cheat of they felt the weight of it.

But, it's doing a job, I'm enjoying my ride to work in any weather and it's still keeping me fit! Result!!!

Thanks all.

Dave n Terry!

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0hG6XBubGs0Dzx

 

[Yamdude]

Oh dear, you've mentioned the D word..... You'll have Herr Flud of the Pedelec Gestapo paying you a visit now.

 

[dinger19]

Oh dear, you've mentioned the D word..... You'll have Herr Flud of the Pedelec Gestapo paying you a visit now.

And don't forget Herr morphix.

 

[danielrlee]

Oh dear, you've mentioned the D word..... You'll have Herr Flud of the Pedelec Gestapo paying you a visit now.

Over an hour and nothing yet....

Probably out on his Heil-bike.

 

[Yamdude]

And don't forget Herr morphix.

Of course, how could i forget Herr Morphix...... and Herr Col.
They'll all be goose stepping in here soon.

 

[Yamdude]

Over an hour and nothing yet....

Probably out on his Heil-bike.

'Heil-bike'
I like it

 

[falmouthtony]

?

Over an hour and nothing yet....

Probably out on his Heil-bike.

Now, come on chaps, who's doing the goading now?

Let it be, and let's all maintain the peace and quiet.

PLEASE

 

[Nealh]

Loving the humour guys, brilliant.

 

[Alan Quay]

?

Now, come on chaps, who's doing the goading now?

Let it be, and let's all maintain the peace and quiet.

PLEASE

You started it.....

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

 

[Yamdude]

They started it..... they invaded Poland.

© Fawlty Towers

 

[Wolfie70]

Brilliant!

Dave.

 

[georgehenry]

Also loving the humour.

It is so nice to have a light hearted discussion about the use of a de restricted bike. It is not wolfie's fault that the legal limit in this country is 15mph and I am sure most people would have no issues at all if it was 20mph instead.

For leisure mountain biking 15mph is fine, after all you really need it to get you up the hills, though for leisure mountain biking I like to use my un assisted bike and enjoy getting up steep hills under my own steam (strange but true). 15Mph is probably also ok for stop start city committing or popping to the shops, but for a fitter person on a longer regular commute on the road carrying stuff that 15mph cut out happens too early.

I think that bit of extra speed makes for a safer riding experience on the road where cars are less frustrated by you and as a consequence more likely to overtake you in a considerate way, though obviously not always!

For different reasons I think wolfie and I ride our bikes in a similar way.

I only use my ebike (Yamaha 2015 sDuro) for a 23 mile return journey to work with two loaded panniers.

I want to be able to use my bike in as flexible way as possible. As well as allowing it to go faster I have changed the gearing to give me as wide a spread as possible using a 40 tooth chain ring (Two bigger than standard) with a 12 – 36 rear cassette.

On this gearing on the road coming home I cruise around the 20 /22 mph mark using eco on flatter gradients and standard on hills or where my speed drops below my 20mph ish target range. I turn it off on steeper down hills. In my more energetic moments (Nearly 55 now) I have been surprised that I can maintain 20/22mph for large parts of my 10 mile road journey (including the quite a few of the up hill bits) in the lowest eco setting pushing hard, but my legs are pretty tired when I get home and I can feel it the next day. In standard pushing hard I can maintain 15mph up a steep long hill carrying all my stuff, brilliant.

Where my flexible gearing comes into its own is on my off road route to work. (see page 68 of “How many people are using there bike off-road?” thread in the speed pedelecs forum). I don't need the bike to assist above the legal limit off road though I much prefer it not to artificially cut out.

For me the fact that my bike does not cut out allows the bike to work in a better way, so that rather than cutting out at any given speed there is gentle assistance all the time and your speed is limited by your own effort and the gradient just like a normal bike with some extra push.

I only use eco off road and have recently started turning the assist off for some sections. That low bottom gear helps to get my heavy loaded bike going! I always turn it off for the fun faster single track downhill sections, with the odd leap off a rocky step! Fun with panniers! And I do these sections every time I go to work by bike. Fantastic.

Even though I only use this bike to get me to work and back as a mountain biker I am having some serious fun on it and getting a lot of exercise in the process and no other bike could do what this one does. It is so much better than travelling by car, my only alternative. Unlike wolfie I can choose to use the car when my start times are too early (shift worker) or the weather puts me off (not often). I hope you get your licence back wolfie.

I have just completed five days of work, all by bike. 115 miles. I bought the bike on 20th March 2015 and am over 3000 miles now. I still use my regular mountain bike for fun in the Surrey hills.

Warning Faulty Towers quote coming up!

"Ah, wonderful! wunderbar! Ahh! Please allow me to introduce myself, I am the owner of Fawlty Towers. And may I welcome your war... your war... you wall... you all... you all, and hope that your stay will be a happy one. Now, would you like to eat first, or would you like a drink before the war...! Er... trespassers will be tied up with piano wire... Sorry, sorry!"

 

[Wolfie70]

Exactly! And just to dispel the traditionalist view that ebikes do all the work, mainly from "roadies" that I sneak past. I believe I'm actually losing a little weight!!! Something I've not managed in years of organic powered cycling.

Wolfie.