Idle question - how do you use the e in your eBike?

Electrically assisted bikes, trikes, etc. that are legal in the UK
tenbikes
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Joined: 11 Jan 2009, 6:41pm

Re: Idle question - how do you use the e in your eBike?

Post by tenbikes »

Vantage wrote: 9 Aug 2024, 7:41pm My bafang is set with 9 power levels. Each one increases by 11% except for level 1 which is set to 6% (which I use to push it up the steps to my house (walk mode is mediocre in power) and 9 which is 100%. Those percentages are from a 750 ish watt motor.
Generally, on a flat road with no wind I can pootle along without power assist but otherwise I rarely need to go about level 4 or 5. Mostly in level 2 which gives me round about 200w. For short bursts of extra power, I just press the throttle whilst pedaling and that adds another 50% (very roughly). Very oddly, I have it set to the legal 15.5mph limit but if I need a bit of extra speed, pressing the throttle gives a short boost to about 18mph.
You can select 3,5 or 9 levels on a Bafang.
The throttle is not speed limited. And is legal in conversions and grandad rights bikes.
Vantage
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Re: Idle question - how do you use the e in your eBike?

Post by Vantage »

tenbikes wrote: 8 Dec 2024, 10:01am You can select 3,5 or 9 levels on a Bafang.
The throttle is not speed limited. And is legal in conversions and grandad rights bikes.
It depends on the display. Some are limited to 3 or 5 levels.
If you use the motors software to tweak things, you have 2 options to set it's speed limit. One is by the handlebar display, the other is an independent limit set by the software itself.
Ime so far having tried both the software limits and display limits, the throttle nudges the speed limit 2 or 3mph beyond what it's set to, albeit only briefly.
Bill


“Ride as much or as little, or as long or as short as you feel. But ride.” ~ Eddy Merckx
It's a rich man whos children run to him when his pockets are empty.
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bikes4two
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Re: Idle question - how do you use the e in your eBike?

Post by bikes4two »

@Colyer said
I wonder whether the walk button is street legal in the UK? I suspect not (at least if the bike is being ridden), as it would mean that the motor was providing power while not pedalling.
Walk mode up to 6 kph is entrely legal as can be seen in the extract from BS-EN15194 below where they use the term Start-up assistance mode. No peddlling required and you can be on or off the bike.
bike.jpg
Back to the original question by the OP:
> when in my late 60's a health issue saw me go for my first ebike conversion (a TSDZ2 BTW) and out of the 5 modes of assist, level 3 was the norm.
> over the next couple of years the e-bike allowed me to not only redicover the joys of cycling but to also recover some of the lost cycling fitness.
> my favourite ride is now a converted carbon frame road bike (front hub motor AKM 100sx) where for the most part I run in assist level 1 or even off, on flat/downhill stretches but have never needed more than the middle assist level (3 of 5) on the steepest of hills here in the South Downs area.

What I'm getting at is that how one uses the 'e' in their bike varies enormously from those wanting max assistance all of the time down to those needing just a bit of assistance in the hillier/headwind situations.
Without my stoker, every trip would only be half a journey
GrahamJ
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Joined: 18 Nov 2020, 8:15am

Re: Idle question - how do you use the e in your eBike?

Post by GrahamJ »

I don't know how I'm going to use my e-bike yet because I only bought it two days ago. It's a 2025 Cube Kathmandu Hybrid One 800.

I've lived in North West Scotland for 40 years. I'm glad I did a lot of touring on the West Coast of Scotland when I was younger and the roads were emptier. I now feel pushed into the margins by traffic - mornings, evenings, winter. It's a windy area especially in the winter, and very exposed - no trees or hedges. Mainly I want an e-bike for headwinds. I'm in good health for 65, but slowing down and I was never fast.

I'll use the e-bike to go out on days when the wind would put me off. More ambitiously I want to go touring and I figured the only way to find out whether I like e-bike touring is to buy an e-bike and try it. I'm used to taking a mountain bike, going off road, and camping in the middle of nowhere. Hotels etc are few and far between and quite often fully booked. Booking in advance means that there's a risk that a headwind will stop me getting there or at any rate it becomes too stressful for a holiday.

I'm pleased so far, after 74 miles. With the lowest Eco level it looks like I'll get about 90 miles range in calm weather and take about 2/3 of my normal time. It has been light winds which are forecast to continue for a week, so can't properly test it for its intended use for a bit.
Nickly
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Joined: 21 Mar 2021, 5:00pm

Re: Idle question - how do you use the e in your eBike?

Post by Nickly »

I have had a Yamaha Wabash (500Wh) for a month and I'm still trying out the assistance levels (Eco+, Eco, Std, High and Auto). Eco helped me to do 60miles along the Pilgrims Way to Canterbury with 12 miles left in the battery (↑4000ft). I've only used Std (Standard) mode for a 15 mile route, returning using Auto mode for comparison. Auto and Std modes have similar ranges, but Auto adapts the electric assistance to the terrain so you don't have to keep changing it yourself.

So far, I'm happy using Eco. I mainly got the bike to go further than I felt I could go on my unpowered Trek tourer. I'm in my mid-60s and I'm enjoying using the Wabash to visit British Cycle Quest (BCQ) locations.
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