Big day out on a Kenevo planned wondering if the battery will make it . Advice please

[chris edwards]

We are planning a big days ride at Afan and would like to know if any other members that ride a Kenevo have done similar and how best to manage battery life . I imagine we will be back at the Skyline cafe at lunch time but don’t think an hours stop will be enough to charge for the rest of the day .

I’m happy to pedal in eco as much as possible but my other half will no doubt enjoy using trail and turbo when she can . I found recently I achieved about 4 hours on a ride here in Norfolk at a downhill venue we have just using trail and eco to uplift quickly , I’m thinking 4 hours won’t be enough to complete our rides at Afan.

Having not played much with mission control would it be best to use smart control ?

 

[Nifty 56]

You shouldn't calculate rides on time with ebikes but should be planned on distance and elevation.

 

[Doomanic]

You could always swap batteries if the boss's is looking a bit marginal.

You could also use the MC app to turn down her assist levels and not tell her...

 

[Scoobaru]

You shouldn't calculate rides on time with ebikes but should be planned on distance and elevation.

Totally agree, vertical height and distance are the best indicators for new trails. You also need to factor in your weight and be honest about much pedalling effort you will be putting in.

 

[dfkenevo]

This is a recent ride, close to 30 miles and almost 5,000 ft of climbing. Rode all the time using Eco set at 15% finishing with 30% of battery left.
My weight is 140lb.
I hope you can get some conclusions checking this info.

 

[Kernow]

Done a lot at afan this year , you’ll cover the longest trails easily on a battery , even with the long climb up depending where you start from . Study the maps you can take in some great rides covering a combination of the trails and do a lunch stop at a choice of 3 cafes inc the one that’s often open at the top of the red trail called Bryn Betws they would all happily put your battery on charge .
There’s also a great hotel about a mile up the main road from the visitor centre don’t be put off because it looks posh , its main aim is to cater for mtb riders it does the best food and isn’t expensive the owner will welcome you as a mountain biker and help you with route questions etc , he even drew on a free map for us .
Everything is laid out in such a away that most of the climbing is done on the start of the trails and you roll back to iether of the centres .
The place is so well suited To ebikes as each cafe stop is at the bottom of the biggest trails and you could easily ride down to the mountain bike centre Then on down to the visitor centre without even switching your motor on
Don’t be put of by the high black route where the you are here arrow is ,w2 Parsons folly link it’s not a black , it merely connects the two ends without losing any height , it’s an easy ride mostly scenic fire road and easy paths so you can leave one centre and drop down to another with a tarmac connection between if required .
Beware some of the colour codes have been mixed up on recent Re labelling , mainly blade is in black but labelled red , the decent to mtb centre is a black for sure as are other parts of it .

 

[chris edwards]

Thankyou that’s terrific advice great to hear about the other cafe destinations too . We will be carrying our chargers with us enroute I like the some pubs / hotels / cafes welcome ebikes who need to recharge too , we are all for supporting them too whilst out there.

Good to learn we can make it round safely with sufficient power we still plan on being economical , the bikes are just so much fun to climb though the temptation to boost that accent will no doubt be great.

 

[Nifty 56]

This is a recent ride, close to 30 miles and almost 5,000 ft of climbing. Rode all the time using Eco set at 15% finishing with 30% of battery left.
My weight is 140lb.
I hope you can get some conclusions checking this info.

Is this on a Kenovo? Is 140lbs you fully kitted up to ride? If it is, I can see why you can get 4754ft with 30% left.

 

[dfkenevo]

Yes, It is a Kenevo and 140/145lb kidded Up! Did the same ride another day using trail mode at 40% the last 3 steep long miles and I had no red lights so more than 20% left.

 

[Kernow]

Thankyou that’s terrific advice great to hear about the other cafe destinations too . We will be carrying our chargers with us enroute I like the some pubs / hotels / cafes welcome ebikes who need to recharge too , we are all for supporting them too whilst out there.

Good to learn we can make it round safely with sufficient power we still plan on being economical , the bikes are just so much fun to climb though the temptation to boost that accent will no doubt be great.

The owner of the hotel gave us a route leaving the mtb centre and up through the town to get onto the skyline route without having to follow the long technical climb that takes you to the other trails that normally lead onto skyline . It enabled us to do that longest trail without repeating the battery sapping part at the beginning , also different scenery of the adjoining valleys . Take a map with you and he’ll mark it for you in pencil

 

[TPP]

You should check out the range calculator on the specialized website Turbo Calculator App | Specialized.com
If you use mainly use eco/trail then you can get very good range. I'm 115Kg in kit and recently did a 35KM ride with 1750m climbing using 95% of the battery on my Kenevo

 

[Tim69]

After more than a year on my 2018 kenevo, and I lot of "battery anxiety" at first..
I can say that now it's not as complicated as it seemed at first. And verry rarely do I worry about my battery not lasting a ride, even on long 40-50km desert treks.
It's verry similar to calculating miles per gallon in your car..
You just need to know your average consumption per km on your bike, and your riding style...
For me, I'm almost 90kg full kit. And my average consumption is:
Around 9 kw/km for cross country, light trail riding with moderate climbing(300m)
Around 10 to 11 kw/km for more aggresive style single track techy "all mountain" riding with over 400to 500m climbs.
Around 12 to 13 kw/km for full blown all out "balls to the walls" crazzy fast aggresive riding with up to 1000m climbing!
So just pick your style, multiply by the expected length of the ride.. and you've got a pretty good estimate of your expected battery usage.
Example: for regular all mountain trail riding with roughly 500m of climbing multiply 11 times your expected ride length in km.. you get the battery wattage you need.
Or conversely: I have a 500wh battery..so 500 divided by 11wh/km should give me around 45km on a full charge.
That's a hell of a ride! In the mountain trails..
Or if commuting or cross country riding I could get 500/9= 55km range! Probably more.. as I wouldn't use the motor all the time.
So, as you see, you just need to get used to your ride, and you get a feel for it. Or it's verry easy to calculate once you know your average consumption.
I use:
Eco 15%
Trail 27%
Turbo 65%
And attached is a screenshot from yesterday's group ride with some emtb freinds, that were really "pushing it" so as you can see my consumption was verry high 12.5wh/km, but still did 900m climbing and almost 40km on 75% batt.

Cheers!
Tim