electric assisted bikes??

Hello all,

Some questions on electric assistance.

My wife has never done much riding. She wants to ride the bikes downtown to
do our shopping (petrol saver). We tow a trailer which the child rides in.
The trailer add a lot of weight, which makes the uphill heavy going.

Wondering how the electric assist motors go? Anyone use one? Have seen the
Avanti Electra front wheel for sale - anyone use one or have any tips?

We really want electric assistance only - pretty much for when we use the
trailer. Want the bike to be easily rideable for fitness the rest of the
time.

On Sun, 25 May 2008 20:11:27 +1000, Rex wrote:


Wondering how the electric assist motors go?

AIUII, really great if you ride fas, aka 15km/h+. Not much help if you
don't and definitely a standard one would be of no use with a
weighted trailer going uphill.


We really want electric assistance only - pretty much for when we use
the trailer. Want the bike to be easily rideable for fitness the rest of
the time.

Have you considered improving the gearing by getting a triple with a low,
low range?

Kinda a bummer if home is back up the hill.

Rex wrote:
Hello all,

Some questions on electric assistance.

My wife has never done much riding. She wants to ride the bikes downtown to
do our shopping (petrol saver). We tow a trailer which the child rides in.
The trailer add a lot of weight, which makes the uphill heavy going.

Wondering how the electric assist motors go? Anyone use one? Have seen the
Avanti Electra front wheel for sale - anyone use one or have any tips?

We really want electric assistance only - pretty much for when we use the
trailer. Want the bike to be easily rideable for fitness the rest of the
time.


I've ridden one recently. As a general rule, you get what you pay for.
The lighter lithium-ion units have better performance but cost more.
The lead-acid type I checked out could manage an unassisted 12 k/mh up
my hill, which is a 1 in 10 grade. With 30 kg of trailer and shopping on
board, however, you'd need every bit of power, both motor and pedal, you
could get.
Weight is certainly an issue, the EV weighs about as much as my touring
bike with a load on board. With the motor assist, this is no problem.
Without the motor it would vary from good work-out to impossible
depending on the gradient.
I enjoyed riding the EV, but I'm probably still about 10-15 years away
from the point where I'd actually want and/or need one.
Cheers,
Ray

On Sun, 25 May 2008 22:54:50 +1000, terryc wrote:

Have you considered improving the gearing by getting a triple with a low,
low range?

There is a limit to how slow you can go and maintain balance, and I'd
suspect that anyone who isn't a regular cyclist would find the balance at
low speed issue a bigger problem than those of us who trackstand because
we don't like clipping out at the lights.

22-34 is a very low gear, and is reasonably standard on mountain bikes.
Low end bikes may be more like 22-30, which is still pretty low. That's
already a gear where you need to spin reasonably well to make progress at
a rate where balance doesn't take more energy than pedalling.

--
Dave Hughes -
Random miscellany, as opposed to that other kind of miscellany
- Patrick Shaughnessy

ray wrote:

Rex wrote:
Hello all,

Some questions on electric assistance.

My wife has never done much riding. She wants to ride the bikes downtown to
do our shopping (petrol saver). We tow a trailer which the child rides in.
The trailer add a lot of weight, which makes the uphill heavy going.

Wondering how the electric assist motors go? Anyone use one? Have seen the
Avanti Electra front wheel for sale - anyone use one or have any tips?

We really want electric assistance only - pretty much for when we use the
trailer. Want the bike to be easily rideable for fitness the rest of the
time.


I've ridden one recently. As a general rule, you get what you pay for.
The lighter lithium-ion units have better performance but cost more.
The lead-acid type I checked out could manage an unassisted 12 k/mh up
my hill, which is a 1 in 10 grade.

Gees, 1 in 10 is a steep hill, and you get 12kph?

If your weight and bike weight = 90kG, the power is about 200 watts.


With 30 kg of trailer and shopping on
board, however, you'd need every bit of power, both motor and pedal, you
could get.
Weight is certainly an issue, the EV weighs about as much as my touring
bike with a load on board. With the motor assist, this is no problem.
Without the motor it would vary from good work-out to impossible
depending on the gradient.
I enjoyed riding the EV, but I'm probably still about 10-15 years away
from the point where I'd actually want and/or need one.
Cheers,
Ray

But if you yourself produced 150 watts, you'd have 350 watts at your
disposal,
and that's enough to go dangerously fast and keep up
with the local senior clubmen on sunday "recovery rides" as they like to
call them.

I reckon you might get spotted trying to lead the bunch.....

Patrick Turner.

On May 25, 8:11*pm, "Rex" wrote:,

snip for brevity

Wondering how the electric assist motors go? Anyone use one? Have seen the
Avanti Electra front wheel for sale - anyone use one or have any tips?

We really want electric assistance only - pretty much for when we use the
trailer. Want the bike to be easily rideable for fitness the rest of the
time.

Bought a secondhand one on ebay a while ago. Aluminium frame but heavy
NIMH batteries which you can remove. No twist grip. Power steering on
the pedals if you see what I mean. Can turn the electric stuff on
while you're riding if you see a hill coming up..

Very pleased with it.