Getting into riding an Ebike

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
So, coming from 7 years riding regular MTB over around 15,000 miles l find myself on an E-MTB for the first time.

l don't know if others had a similar experience, but here's how it's gone for me.

Finally caved in and bought ebike

Started riding on the minimum assistance settings "l've got to still feel like l've done a bike ride"
Riding with the motor off where possible.

Eventually had a go with the "trail" setting and found that l could ride about twice as fast.
Did a few rides alternating between "eco" and "trail"

Still did 90% of the ride in "eco" pushing away on the pedals on the hills, got to exert myself, or it's not a bike ride

Started using "trail" more, climbing faster and getting further on rides....this is a lot of fun actually

Sod it, "trail" all the time (except on the road where "eco" is fine)
Smash everything, get home with huge grin on face and battery at 4%
Or battery expired on last hill

l think l've nailed this ebike thing!

l don't care if it's "cheating" and l go out for fun, not fitness (although it's great to keep fit and l still get home knackered having done twice the distance)
that's what it's all about, having some fun when you can.

l've renamed my regular bike "Dusty"
lt's hung on the wall in the garage, l've not been in there for days.
 

Winger

Member
May 28, 2020
111
49
Birmingham
The reality is...it’s just evolution, i’ve No doubt all those with a horse and cart said the the same about the internal combustion engine....
 

The Hodge

Mystic Meg
Subscriber
Sep 9, 2020
3,975
8,459
North West Northumberland
Bugger all that ..."Tour " mode from the start as a default setting ..eco on flat road sections ..emtb on long grassy climbs ..Turbo if I have quite a bit of battery left nearing the end ( very rare ) ..and yeah its all about the fun factor ..?
 

Winger

Member
May 28, 2020
111
49
Birmingham
Have done 2500 miles in the last 12 months, with the Levo just set it at 80% of turbo and never alter it, covers everything from cruising to guns ho.
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
Turbo or "boost" setting on the E8000 is useless as it's all or nothing, with no modulation.
Unless l am not using it properly. However "trail" mode is great.
 

Ricky_1973

Member
Mar 28, 2021
28
16
Netherlands
I've got the same with Bosch - Turbo is all or nothing - Emtb mode gives me a nice progressive feel with enough response to deal with. Tour is really keeping myself into the same pace... When I'm out of cadence for ashort moment for some reason, it will boost up a stroke (or 2) to get me back into the cadence I was - pretty awesome good tbh
 

flash

E*POWAH Elite World Champion
Patreon
Nov 24, 2018
1,050
986
Wamberal, NSW Australia
Turbo or "boost" setting on the E8000 is useless as it's all or nothing, with no modulation.
Unless l am not using it properly. However "trail" mode is great.

This is typical of the E8000. Trail is more progressive based on rider input. Boost is on or off. That's probably the major change to the EP8. You can get all the power in trail and retain the progressive feel.

Gordon
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
Well, fortunately "trail" mode is really intuitive and works well, including pedalling out of the saddle where my older Bosch powered hardtail used to surge.

After a lot of experimenting

l've got trail set to "medium" with eco set to "high" and it works well for me.
 

alan_sh

Active member
Aug 3, 2020
178
88
Rochdale
I don't have these fancy names, just numbers. 1 is an extra 60% of my leg power, 2 is 120% and 3 is 320% (according to the blurb from Decathlon). I tend to use 1 most of the time, 2 when the going gets a bit tough uphill and 3 on the very steep bits. I'm not sure how that relates to Eco, Trail, EMTB etc.
 

lightning

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2021
715
410
UK
l would say that those three modes relate fairly accurately to eco, trail and boost on my Shimano E8000
 

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