e-Road

[Mabman]

In the e-Zesty thread it started to drift off into the use of the Fazua system for drop bar bikes. Obviously this segment of the eBike market is coming on strong and there are several different takes on the motor systems, whether a hub drive or mid drive, that are appearing on the different brands. However most as noted in the other thread are looking to make as stealthy a system as possible which means a small watt motor mated to a small wh battery in the hopes of keeping the overall weight reasonable. However the ads stating longer rides possible doesn't really make sense when you consider that most road rides are meant to be long, say in the 100km range, and that would mean an average use of 2.5wh/km which is a pretty frugal use of the energy on board.

Even if you only used the assist for the odd hill or headwind at that time you would be needing probably the full amount of assist available which would be using substantially more wh/km. So you would then turn it off for the downs and flats and be pedaling along on a heavier bike than normal as the speed limiter would be in effect anyway. All good but in reality is there any real advantage to having the extra weight of the assist system on board at the end of the ride? Everyone will have different views on this but in my experience using eDropbar bikes the last few years it wouldn't be for my needs.

As to what this category means to the EMTB community there will be some cross over because a properly setup eDBB can actually do off piste trails as well as pavé and gravé. I have been using mine as such since I first figured out is was possible and fun even. The new Gravel sector bikes mostly are plenty able to do trail work with their wider rims and tires run at low psi.

 

[R120]

I thought this vid was pretty good, and interesting, on the Pinarello Nytro

 

[mark.ai]

I wouldn't mind an e-road bike I can imagine myself just using the assist for the final hill(s) on the way home. When I'm totally knackered and have to slog up a hill for 18mins in my lowest granny gear at max sustainable heart rate then any kind of assistance would be welcome!

Just not having to worry about the pain of upcoming hills when I'm on my EMTB is one of the things I enjoy most about it

 

[flash]

The new Focus weighs 13kg with motor and battery and has no drag when the motor engages. So it’s heavy for a modern road bike but not overly so. That’s why you get more range. It’s a much lighter system and 70-80km should be quite possible on slick tyres.

The motor and battery are also removable giving you a 10kg road bike.

The Paralan2 will probably be my next bike. Just haven’t decided on the spec yet.

Gordon

 

[pgtips]

That Pinarello Nytro looks great...... very tempted!

 

[MikeDee]

I bought an Orbea Gain M30 about a month ago. It's awesome.

 

[Mabman]

My cycling background is well rooted in mtb and I am more than happy to pedal but my primary two wheeled road use has been based on motorcycles over the years and when I decided to put together an eRoad bike I was looking for the best of both worlds.

My last moto was a KTM SXC625 that I was using to commute into the city with 25 miles one way. On the way home there were routes I could take up into the hills that had lots of twisty bits and I would ofttimes take those routes to sort out the end of the day. At the time I was living on a large island outside the city of PDX that didn't have much trail system but had two lane county roads and even more gravel leading into wild life management areas. I used the moto to explore these as well.

But I still would ride my mtb into the management areas and the farm access to the inner parts of the island that the moto couldn't access. It wasn't single track but it was pedaling. The closest trail system was 1/2hr by car away and was quite good but I didn't always want to shuttle over there. I would want to go out and get some fun on however and so any bike ride was better than none.

One day I was contemplating what was the adventure du jour and considered the moto but wanted the exercise I knew the bicycle had waiting. At that time I wondered if it was possible to combine the two and when I came up with the idea to put together a road type bike with e assist. I had been messing around with motor assist on bicycles for years, both gas and electric and had a pretty good idea of what would work for me so I set about putting it together.

I knew I wanted to be able to travel at a decent rate of speed to get my moto yah yah's and in order to do that over what I felt I could achieve manually I went with a 1000w front hub motor, actually 1000w is legal in my state, with a 48v 10ah battery @ 20A which actually is more like 960w. I ordered up a Bikes Direct drop bar bike that would handle wide 45mm tires that ran me $600. I got the hub/controller/battery/display for around a grand and I had a Schlumpf High Speed Drive in stock that was part of my master plan to be able to pedal at any speed the bike might end up being capable of.

My reason for going with a front hub motor was due to my experience with one years ago and how it provided front wheel drive but also kept my manual drive system separate from any motor influence so I could feed the pedal input I wanted in my natural state. It was only a taste though as the battery tech back then didn't allow for any real saddle time.

The controller/display I use allows for me to set my thumb throttle at any wattage I want similar to cruise control and I can pedal in any gear appropriate up or down the range. It works very well for my needs as I don't like the faux effect that PAS can feel like at the higher cadence I use on the road. I might note that my eMTB has a torque sensing PAS and I wouldn't have it any other way for that use with a lower cadence.

I have since built another with a different and lighter DD front hub motor that I run on 52v @ 20A. Both bikes weigh in the 45-50lb range but have more than enough wattage to make that melt away and handle well up into the 40's downhill with a tailwind. I get the advantage of regen also using the DD type motors and that makes a good drag brake for checking speed on the dh's.

I have done runs averaging as high as 30mph for 18 miles on flat terrain and as long as 50 miles averaging 19mph in hilly terrain with 500wh+/- batteries but the bottom line is that I sold the KTM and was able to do the same routes on the bike and it totally changed the experience and provided me with the thrill of speed and endorphins also. My commute time was 45minutes and the best time I ever got with the moto was 35minutes. The hills I used to ride moto on were way more fun on the bike both getting up, across and down and the island roads became my cycling oyster. Mission accomplished.

So that is just my perspective having not come from a roadie background but after riding my bikes in terrain from sea level to 9000' on all types of surfaces I think that there is potential for more than just lightweight, low power, low wh road type bikes, they just have to be made.....

 

[R120]

I like the look of the new Cairn E-Gravel bike

 

[MattyB]

Interesting Fazua-ness from Whyte...

The new Fazua powered Whytes are on their website now - look pretty nice, but have awful names and are a fair chunk more expensive than the Boardman - £3k for the flat bar Hoxton (presumably they will only sell you one if you have a hipster beard... ), £3300 for the drop bar Winchelsea and £3500 for the slightly higher specced Gosford:

View attachment 15899
View attachment 15900

Whyte Fazua E-Bikes

 

[Gary]

I started a thread about my interest in e road bikes a few weeks ago but came to the conclusion heavy roadbikes are horrible (for me)
E road bikes? What's around? (Boardman content) - EMTB Forums

so I compromised

It's still horrible compared to a normal hardtail and even more so to a normal roadbike... but it's a bit more versatile/playful (read manuals better )


only real changes from stock
38T upfront (tubeless)
2.0 tyres (Schwalbe Big Ben)
44.8lb (Full bike incl pedals)

it'll be getting an 11-36 cassette on Monday
The 42 is pointless. (for me)

 

[paquo]

So that is just my perspective having not come from a roadie background

I could never get on with the low narrow bars but something like this might work

 

[R120]

I have ridden the BMC Alpencross and its a great bike, 15kg or there about. For bombing around on its a lot of fun

 

[R120]

The fact its stupidly expensive is what prevents me getting one.

 

[Snoozeboy]

A friend of mine has that one, but with mudguards. It's about 16kg.

I couldn't see the point until I realised that the Shimano e8000 probably has little drag over the limiter. It'd make a very good commuter for an area with hills.

Still crazy pricey for what you get, but that's BMC for you.

 

[Gary]

probably has little drag over the limiter.

it actually doesn't. not noticeably anyway.
The drag you feel when the limiter cuts assistance is down to three things:
Wind resistance
Gravity
Rolling resistance.

 

[skyfree]

I bought an Orbea Gain M30 about a month ago. It's awesome.

I'm looking at the M30 as well. Test rode that, a D40, and M20 yesterday and think that's the sweet spot. With the new range extender, you can get get 450wh of power which should give plenty of range. What level assist do you usually ride it in, and how long are your rides? How about pedaling beyond the cutoff speed? I'll have more personal experience with it in the next week as I plan to pick up a demo bike and keep it for a few days.

 

[Fivetones]

The BMC is reduced in Evans

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