Answered Could you win a Tour de France time trial?

[Beekeeper]

I looked up the distance of a random Tour de France time trial stage and the figure of 22 miles came up. As far as I know these stages are pretty flat.

Could a derestricted EMTB win such a stage?

 

[Zimmerframe]

There's a segment near here which is straight but undulates.

I went out this winter when it was really storm with a 70kph tail wind to try and beat the tdf times on the kenevo...

Nowhere near !

 

[Zimmerframe]

Found it ..

Ride segment (TDF riders mainly)

Moisan Straight - Est | Strava Ride Segment in Sainte-Brigitte, Morbihan

www.strava.com

E-bike ... lots and lots and lots of wind assist ....

🟩 Moisan Straight - Est | Strava E-Bike Segment in Sainte-Brigitte, Morbihan

www.strava.com

 

[Beekeeper]

There's a segment near here which is straight but undulates.

I went out this winter when it was really storm with a 70kph tail wind to try and beat the tdf times on the kenevo...

Nowhere near !

but in 2019 the TDF time trials were 28 mph approx average speed. That would easily be obtainable on a derestricted ebike

 

[R120]

I cant even beat the roadies up the local road climbs! A few years back I was doing so off-road laps of Box Hill, and was using the Zig Zag to get back up, I was using turbo and holding 16mph and still has some of the roadies going by me.

 

[GrahamPaul]

but in 2019 the TDF time trials were 28 mph approx average speed. That would easily be obtainable on a derestricted ebike

Easily obtainable on pretty much any motorbike I should think. (Let's face it, a derestricted ebike has more in common with a moped than with a pushbike).

 

[Beekeeper]

I cant even beat the roadies up the local road climbs! A few years back I was doing so off-road laps of Box Hill, and was using the Zig Zag to get back up, I was using turbo and holding 16mph and still has some of the roadies going by me.

Oh yes, I’m often destroyed by roadies going up the ZigZag in turbo. I try to go up in eco for a bit of a workout these days (but rather slowly).

 

[Gary]

Dressed in a full body condom skin suit , pointy aero hat, lowered stem, tri bars and aero rims shod with 25s and a derestricted E8000

Yes.

I'd be banned of course. Which is kinda ironic

 

[Gary]

TBF I prefer recreational enhancing substances

 

[OldGoatMTB]

but in 2019 the TDF time trials were 28 mph approx average speed. That would easily be obtainable on a derestricted ebike

But "average" doesn't win.

 

[Zimmerframe]

but in 2019 the TDF time trials were 28 mph approx average speed. That would easily be obtainable on a derestricted ebike

You say that, but in the real world it doesn't quite work that way. Your bike is restricted to 15mph, but your average speed for every ride isn't 15mph because even with assistance and pedalling hard they'll be times when you and the bike just don't have the power to overcome all the weight and drag of a chunky MTB. So de-restricting the bike so it can go faster won't necessarily result in you going that much faster.

If you use the emtb strava group as an example and look down the recent activity, the average speeds aren't all 15mph for the rides. If all the bikes on there were de-restricted, it wouldn't suddenly result in all the average speeds going up 10 kph, not unless there was also an increase in motor power at the same time.

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[boBE]

Win? Maybe not. Place well? Possibly. Maybe not a eMTB but a Creo or Vado SL with their 28 mph limit. If we can do 160 watts for an hour and the bike adds 240 we are at pro level power. Bradley Wiggins set his hour record with 440 watts.

 

[OldGoatMTB]

I cant even beat the roadies up the local road climbs! A few years back I was doing so off-road laps of Box Hill, and was using the Zig Zag to get back up, I was using turbo and holding 16mph and still has some of the roadies going by me.

Just as I am passed by the occasional push-bike on the trail. Fortunately I didn't buy my ebike to win races, but to enjoy riding more, and to enjoy more riding.

 

[Gary]

If we can do 160 watts for an hour

If?

160w for an hour is piss easy

 

[boBE]

If?

160w for an hour is piss easy

For you maybe. <yoda> When this old you get, ride that fast you will not. </yoda>

 

[Gary]

How old are you?

 

[Gary]

Found it ..

Ride segment (TDF riders mainly)

Moisan Straight - Est | Strava Ride Segment in Sainte-Brigitte, Morbihan

www.strava.com

E-bike ... lots and lots and lots of wind assist ....

🟩 Moisan Straight - Est | Strava E-Bike Segment in Sainte-Brigitte, Morbihan

www.strava.com

Those TDF times are not solo TT efforts, it's the entire peleton spinning along together, I'm guessing you've never ridden in a large road peleton? If not, trust me, it's not half as difficult to maintain 25mph on the flat when being dragged along by 30 other riders as it is when riding on your own. Nevermind 130 riders, some of the guys in that leaderboard are only outputting 180w for the segment. that's an easily achievable effort for any club roadie.

In the interest of fairness. Next time you go for it get a mate to drive a van/truck infront of you.
Asuming the Kenevo is fully derestricted and you have suitable gearing, you'll WIN strava that day.
Bear in mind your heavyAF mtb tyres at lower pressures are also giving away well over 30w each to a tour riders tyres. (even more if you run a soft compound)

 

[Jackware]

Next time you go for it get a mate to drive a van/truck infront of you.

Or you could slipstream one of those oversize pets of yours galloping in front of you but beware of the high speed emissions.

 

[Gary]

I don't have any pets unless you mean women. but none of those are oversized

 

[Jackware]

I don't have any pets unless you mean women. but none of those are oversized

Lol, no the comment was aimed at @Zimmerframe the muppet trying to get TDF KOMs on his Kenevo

 

[Mabman]

I looked up the distance of a random Tour de France time trial stage and the figure of 22 miles came up. As far as I know these stages are pretty flat.

Could a derestricted EMTB win such a stage?

On my drop bar 1000w hub motor bike I have averaged 30mph pedaling a 150" gear, courtesy of a Schlumpf High Speed Drive, on flat terrain with no wind influence using 30wh/mi. But I only did that a few times just to see if it could be done as it wasn't much fun and fun is why I ride bikes.

Having a high enough gear to pedal effectively at speed is key and even the 28mph bikes I see don't have what I feel they would need to maintain speed on level ground and certainly mtb's don't.

 

[Gary]

On my drop bar 1000w hub motor bike I have averaged 30mph pedaling a 150" gear, courtesy of a Schlumpf High Speed Drive, on flat terrain with no wind influence using 30wh/mi. But I only did that a few times just to see if it could be done as it wasn't much fun and fun is why I ride bikes.

not trying to trump you here but 30mph is perfectly capable on the flat on a 90" gear with a 250w mid drive if derestricted.
but it's perfectly possible in a 90" gear with no motor... you just won't be able to hold it for as long

 

[Gary]

Having a high enough gear to pedal effectively at speed is key and even the 28mph bikes I see don't have what I feel they would need to maintain speed on level ground and certainly mtb's don't.

even on 27.5s you only need to pedal at 110rpm to reach 30mph (36x11)

 

[Mabman]

That's cool Gary, just not my experience as I don't like to pedal like a hamster and I'm physically past my prime.

My other drop bar bike with a regular Schlumpf (1.65/1 45t in high) with a similar 1000w motor starts to hamster at around 26mph. The high speed drive (2.25/1 60t) you can still feel pedal engagement with the drive at 30 plus. My eMTB is a 750w derestricted is a 42/11 and it starts to fade out at about the same speed.

There are plenty out there that don't need any motor to do what I did for sure. Here in the US 200mile gravel races are won at a 20mph average which quite frankly I don't always achieve on my 40-50 mile rides using 500w's of assist.