Woosh Sirocco CD or Big Bear?

[Kudoscycles]

As Jim has noted the LifePo4 is a flat voltage curve (or best described straight line),it gives full power until close to exhaustion. The LiMno4 of the Typhoon is more of a curve,the voltage will drop off 5 miles from exhaustion.
The LifePo4 is very long life....many Kudos bikes are now 4 years old,I dont think we have had a battery wear out yet,but its heavy and not suited to the Performance range,where light weight was a priority.
KudosDave

 

[CameraDealer]

I've ordered a Big Bear LS (step through). The reasoning is that if my wife has a problem with the gears on the Santana we can do a swap!

The other advantage is that if her Santana is ever out of action she can ride the Big Bear. She's had a new knee and has problems with a crossbar.

My friends will call me a sissy for having a girl's bike but I don't care!

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Wise choice. I don't think you or she'll be disappointed.

 

[hoppy]

I've ordered a Big Bear LS (step through). The reasoning is that if my wife has a problem with the gears on the Santana we can do a swap!

The other advantage is that if her Santana is ever out of action she can ride the Big Bear. She's had a new knee and has problems with a crossbar.

My friends will call me a sissy for having a girl's bike but I don't care!

Please keep us informed how you get on.

 

[JohnCade]

I switch power levels from 5-4-3-4-5 on the Typhoon. Power level 5 takes the bike up above the cut out speed on anything up to about 6 percent with no effort from me until it cuts out. On steeper hills 5 is the fella. I get about 30 miles.


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Jim. How do you get 30 miles from your battery? You live in a hilly area I think so you use it at 3 most of the time? I think the Typhoon has got a 10.4ah hasn't it and your bike is the same sport MB type as mine and about the same claimed weight.

Thanks Jackhandy and Jim for the lights info.

I couldn't really work out why they were going off sooner than they did before and a post above seemed to say that the lights on this battery were pretty specific. In that when one was out 40% was left. I'll just have to flatten the battery to find out. Which will leave me with a hard slog to get home whichever way I go. I still don't really know why the lights are going out quicker than they did before though.

Today I went on the same route as before the bike went back for repair and only one light was out after 10 miles then, and this time one light was out after 4.3 miles, and two out at 6.6 miles. I went just 10.1 miles with a 2hrs 31sec total recharge time. I was using 5 all the time and going faster and keeping it in a higher gear, and riding it like my old road trainers. At least I'm starting to get my bike handling skills back now. After not riding for a few years it's taken a week or so.

So as trex says about 15 to 17 miles is likely using max assist around here. There is a watt meter that can be fitted isn't there?

 

[trex]

jimod is an athlete, his max speed is 35mph, mine only 24mph. Basically, it's down to maximum heart rate.
By kind of extension, if I can get 24 miles out of my battery, he'd get 35 miles out of the same. You can always test your max speed for 2 minutes pedalling flat out and keep the record to see how much your fitness improves, for that, you need to derestrict the bike and find a long easy and quiet stretch of road.
I calculated 17 miles range from your typical outing - but as your fitness improves, your range sort of stretches out too.

 

[Jimod]

Jim. How do you get 30 miles from your battery? You live in a hilly area I think so you use it at 3 most of the time? I think the Typhoon has got a 10.4ah hasn't it and your bike is the same sport MB type as mine and about the same claimed weight.

First off, forget the lights on your battery. I don't know how I get about 30 miles on the Typhoon. I just know I do. When I first got it I went to the forth bridge and on the way back I reached a cafe 5 miles from my house and the battery went flat. It had started to go slower about 3 or 4 miles before that and was pretty much done in at 30 miles.

Another time I had done 30 miles when I reached home and although it wasn't dead I think it was finished

Now I have a spare battery and change them over after 20 miles.

I ignore battery lights and just know by bitter experience that I need to have 2 batteries or be home by 30 miles.

 

[CameraDealer]

Please keep us informed how you get on.

I will but it may be a couple of weeks. I go into hospital on Friday for an operation on my hand (Dupuytren's Contracture) so I'll have stitches and bandages for a while.

 

[Jimod]

jimod is an athlete, his max speed is 35mph, mine only 24mph. Basically, it's down to maximum heart rate.
By kind of extension, if I can get 24 miles out of my battery, he'd get 35 miles out of the same. You can always test your max speed for 2 minutes pedalling flat out and keep the record to see how much your fitness improves, for that, you need to derestrict the bike and find a long easy and quiet stretch of road.
I calculated 17 miles range from your typical outing - but as your fitness improves, your range sort of stretches out too.

I am far from an athlete I assure you. I did do 35 mph but it was stupidity that made me do it. It didn't last long and I thought I was dying after it.

The conditions were right and the wind was favourable instead of being against me so I just went for it. The pedal speed was very fast and too fast for a man of my age and condition.

I just go out and play on my bike, sometimes I go hard sometimes I go slow. I never worry about stuff like calculating what a battery should do, I simply go out and play. You soon learn that no matter what calculations you'd make, the real world will do it differently.

There is only 1 way to see how far you can go and that's to just go.

John doesn't need to de restrict his bike to see how fast he can go, he simply needs to pick a road and time and do it. It's not the bike he's testing, it's himself.

I'm definitely NOT an athlete and I'm not very fit. I can't keep those crazy stunts up for long but I do seem to recover quickly and can carry on.

Some of the daft things I do on my bike are why I choose pedal sensors and not torque sensors. I can rest by just slowly turning the pedals and the bike will carry me on.

John, get out and see how far you can go. It's the only way. All you need is a back-up plan. Mine is a wife, a car and a Thule bike rack. I've only called her twice. Once you can read about on here. The thread was called Kudos Typhoon versus real Typhoon.

 

[jackhandy]

I just go out and play on my bike, sometimes I go hard sometimes I go slow. I never worry about stuff like calculating what a battery should do, I simply go out and play. You soon learn that no matter what calculations you'd make, the real world will do it differently.

There is only 1 way to see how far you can go and that's to just go.

Popped in to town (6 miles away) yesterday & managed to get my battery down to the red 5 miles from home!

In mitigation, I did bumble off to Mevagissey, on the south coast, for lunch & ended-up doing 27 miles - Brain fart time again

The bike was still pulling like a train & it's all uphill (over 1000ft) so several miles left in it.

 

[JohnCade]

I don't want to have to worry about pedalling this lump back up steep hills with a dead battery when I go out to play though. So I'll find out how far it will take me.

I'll probably need a spare too for what I want which is something I didn't really want to do. Because it's a hassle having to use a rucksack all the time, unless I can find a way to fix it on somehow without fitting a rack.

You seem to use about 11 wh per mile which is really low for hilly terrain. So you must be using a lot of leg power I should think.

 

[Jimod]

I'm beginning to become impressed with myself. I must be fitter than I gave myself credit for. Usually I cycle alone but when I'm out with someone else it's usually a racing snake in Lycra who weighs about 4 stone less than I.

This means that I 'up my game' a bit. The two of us also compete via Strava. I'm winning some of the climbs, he's winning others.

I went to Queensferry with this young chap and another guy on my Kudos Tourer. It's a 35 mile round trip. I took the spare battery but never used it.

I noticed the second man wasn't bike fit and in a lot of places, on the flatter sections, I had the Tourer switched off.

I might take my Merida out more often and see how I get on.

Coming back out of Queensferry is a long climb. It's not steep but it's long. Power level 5 and the Tourer was up the hill quicker than the youngsters. You've got to let them know who's boss

 

[jackhandy]

I went to Queensferry with this young chap and another guy on my Kudos Tourer. It's a 35 mile round trip. I took the spare battery but never used it.

Blimey Jim - 35 miles, three-up: That's impressive
Who was doing thw pedalling?