Cycling UK Forum

A bespoke designed bottle battery they can charge/market it up to what they feel, contents cells will be about £60 retail but a lot cheaper to Orbea most likely. 36v 5.8ah 10s 2p config battery only going to have 20 cells inside and most likely Panasonic PF 18650 2900mah cell.

Could it be a DIY job for someone with the knowledge to make?

Sadly not me

There is also the Battery Management System (BMS) in the battery ... still only another £10 or so. Sometimes the controller is integrated with the battery as well. A 36v 5.8ah battery is pretty low power too, even in that market.

Lots of threads about building batteries at https://www.pedelecs.co.uk/forum/forums ... ussion.42/
I'm certainly not going to try to build my own either.

The Orbea uses an APP so BMS may be a smart one in which case the BMS will be more costly then the cells used. How the extra range battery connects is another issue, if it is stand alone use then it may also have a controller in situ. You can't simply deplete a battery then switch to another without out turning the first one off, any large voltage imbalance of more then 0.5v will cause major heat issues with wiring and battery components.


I build all my own cell packs using only quality 10a or 20a cells from Panasonic, Sanyo or LG.
The likes of the Orbea are a more bespoke bottle design and probably has comms protocols that need to be read to work.

The Orbea uses an APP

Technophobe question - does this mean that a smartphone is needed to make use of the extra battery?

Not afaik, I think the main aim of the app is you can use your phone to read or customise settings instead of having a permanent lcd cluttering the bars. It enables you to change power settings and get other info like mileage and battery status, etc.

The batteries probably use some sort of comms protocol so just like Bosch or Yamaha etc,etc you simply can't use a third party battery and are tied to using the more costly custom option.

Orbea Extra Battery

I found this link on another forum with the poster claiming it's the same battery as eBikemotion will be offering, but at a lower price. I don't know if this is true or not, but the specs look similar, however as far as I can see it's not offered with an Orbea compatable connector:-

https://www.e-booz.it/prodotto/e-booz-b ... 7ah-250wh/
There is also a link to a higher capacity version at the bottom of the page.

Does anyone know a source for the Orbea style connector?

Due to lower back issues I am considering an electric road bike to allow me to get up hills and overcome headwinds, which used to be no issue, but now are a bit of a struggle. The Orbea Gain is very tempting, but I am concerned the geometry may be a bit too aggressive. Another option could be a Cannondale Synapse Neo, which appears to have more of an endurance geometry, plus more of a range (albeit it’s a heavier machine). The trouble is, the Synapse is a bit more expensive and there seem to be a lack of real world reviews. As I’m struggling to find any nearby dealers with Orbea’s in the right size I was interested in the views of any Gain owners on the ride position. My current bikes (Trek 1.2 and Giant Anyroad) have the saddle and seatpost roughly level.

Pete D wrote:Due to lower back issues I am considering an electric road bike to allow me to get up hills and overcome headwinds, which used to be no issue, but now are a bit of a struggle. The Orbea Gain is very tempting, but I am concerned the geometry may be a bit too aggressive. Another option could be a Cannondale Synapse Neo, which appears to have more of an endurance geometry, plus more of a range (albeit it’s a heavier machine). The trouble is, the Synapse is a bit more expensive and there seem to be a lack of real world reviews. As I’m struggling to find any nearby dealers with Orbea’s in the right size I was interested in the views of any Gain owners on the ride position. My current bikes (Trek 1.2 and Giant Anyroad) have the saddle and seatpost roughly level.

I have a Gain D40 - riding position with the original over-long stem was too low/stretched out for me so I changed it for a 60mm with a slight rise - much better (in fact all of my regular use bikes now have 60mm stems)

Rob

Pete D wrote: . . . . .. I was interested in the views of any Gain owners on the ride position. . . . .

I ride a carbon Gain. Geometry is more relaxed than the "D" Gains. Although being 5' 11" I chose the 54cm (medium) frame. It was only today, I was in LBS saying how comfortable and how well the Obrea handles.
Is it good ? . . . . I compare it to my Trek Domane SLR (surely the smoothest ride around) if slightly disengaging? Can't recommend the Gain enough. I just don't notice the extra weight over a conventional road bike.

Thanks for those comments on the geometry - sounds very encouraging. Will have to sort out a proper test ride before I bite the bullet.

After months of research looking for an e road bike I thought I’d finally settled on a D40, especially with a local retailer knocking 10% off the rrp. This week I’ve noticed that Evans have knocked £6000 off the Cannondale Stnapse range bring a synapse NEO 3 down to £2400.
I can’t seem to find many (any!) real world reviews of this bike to inform my final choice. Does anyone have experience of the synapse neo range? I realise they are heavier than the D40 with a trade off seeming to be an increased range, a bit more motor torque and a more relaxed geometry. I guess I’m asking are they worth the extra £400? Thanks for any thoughts.

I have a D40. I've just had a look online at the motor spec for the NEO3 Bosch motor. It's torque is 50NM as opposed to the D40's 40NM.
The battery on the NEO3 is 500Wh as opposed to 280Wh on the Orbea.
The new Orbea range extender battery is due out imminently, priced at £549 I would expect 10% discount on that. This unit gives another 230Wh.
My LBS owner was at the Orbea factory last week and saw the finished irems. They've just got to despatch them.

The only thing to do is have a test ride. Have you seen the new Boardman with the Fazua motor, very reasonably priced.

I live in lumpy Derbyshire and can get about 1% per mile using green mode only when I have to, switching to full power red on the last hill home.
Average speed 9-10mph. Sunday's ride was 60 miles 4500ft ascent, 60% battery used. I do ride quite a bit with the power off.

I was going to buy a Gain ,partly because of its lowish weight ,but mainly because it looks like a 'normal' bike !
However I came to the conclusion (reluctantly) that it didn't have the range/power that I need. (Dickey ticker)
So, I bought a Cannondale Synapse Neo 2 . It is heavy but this seems immaterial when riding it.
I am really pleased with it,think I made the right choice for me. Head overruled weight weenie heart for a change!
If you go on Pedelecs forum and search Cannondale Synapse Neo you will find an interesting thread with some very pleased Neo owners. Lots of superlatives to describe the bike but deserved in my humble opinion.
Cheers, Rob

am I the only one who finds it surprising that this thread has been running for over a year and the title has not been corrected?...

cheers