Recharging in the field on multi-day trips? Possible?

[The Flying Dutchman]

I'm planning a Multi-day trip to do the The Old Ghost Road | Official Website in March, which is a 2-3 day ride without any power sockets. May just do it on my normal bike but curious to hear if anyone has attempted (successful or not) to recharge their bike in the field with portable solar panels, generators or whatever.

note: I thought about getting a 2nd battery but there must be better (and cheaper) way.

 

[dirt huffer]

Justin Lee did a "Suntrip" through Europe last summer. It was on road but the same principles apply. Although he and his GF used a massive solar panel to charge the batteries. You can read about his journey halfway down the page

Blog

 

[Julio]

We were talking about taking eBikes through Old Ghost Road, but someone said that there is a stretch of steps where you need to hike a bike. I am not sure if this is true, as I have not ridden there, but if so an eBike would be pretty heavy...

 

[Julio]

Found the reference: “You’ll need to carry your bike down 60m of narrow and winding steps before climbing back into the saddle for a flowing descent into Stern Valley and you arrival at Stern Valley hut.”

From theoldghostroad.org info for cyclists page.

 

[craig landau]

would be worth looking into a dynamo generator , use it when braking to charge the battery

 

[mark.ai]

Justin Lee did a "Suntrip" through Europe last summer. It was on road but the same principles apply. Although he and his GF used a massive solar panel to charge the batteries. You can read about his journey halfway down the page

Blog

Wow, loving that tandem they created - especially the rowing position on the rear!

 

[Scapel24]

Hey mate, I rode the old ghost road over New Years with my family and it was fantastic! My wife and I plus my 9 year old son and 13 year old daughter and nana and her partner. We all rode normal mtb’s but I was wondering if it would be possible to get an ebike through it. The skyline steps would be a nightmare to carry a 20 plus kg bike down! Tricky without a bike but I wouldn’t say impossible. If you carried a spare battery and rode in eco mode with a low resistance I think it could be done. Walk mode would be a must have as there’s some really gnarly sections that would be pretty tough to ride. I’ve been riding mtb’s for 30 years and the ghost rd is by far one of the best rides I’ve ever done!

 

[Mike F]

The Old Ghost Road is on our list and is about the only reason we are keeping our non electric MTBs.
Just got a spare battery for my e160 but think logistics is just too hard for this ride.

 

[Scapel24]

The Old Ghost Road is on our list and is about the only reason we are keeping our non electric MTBs.
Just got a spare battery for my e160 but think logistics is just too hard for this ride.

One of the problems I thought of is that your overall rider weight would increase with a large backpack (one or two nights worth of food and clothes, sleeping bag, spare battery etc) which would affect your estimated range. In saying that the first day is mostly climbing (30km) and the second day is a short climb up to the skyline and then it’s pretty much downhill with a few steep pinches here and there. Total distance is 85km. I’m pretty sure it could be done ?

 

[ChrisB NZ]

I've rigged up a system to charge our Shimano batteries (Merida E-one Sixty) using a solar panel, caravan house battery and 12V to 230V inverter. This uses the standard Shimano charger. But this requires a large 12V battery, solar panel and in my case an 800W inverter. All up cost was less than NZ$1,000.

There's no way you could carry this on your ride. It all weighs about 40Kg!

The standard Shimano charger draws about 200W - so that equates to more than 15A from a 12V battery. And it would need to supply this for say 3 hours. Way beyond the capabilities of any system you could carry.

We rode about the first 10 Km's and return of the Old Ghost Road in December. It's a brilliant trail. You'd probably do it fine with a spare battery provided you were careful with level of assist.

A small portable solar trickle charger would be good - but would take a long time to charge the battery. And it wouldn't work at night which is probably when you'd need it!

Bring on nuclear powered e-bikes LOL.

 

[ChrisB NZ]

Hey mate, I rode the old ghost road over New Years with my family and it was fantastic! My wife and I plus my 9 year old son and 13 year old daughter and nana and her partner. We all rode normal mtb’s but I was wondering if it would be possible to get an ebike through it. The skyline steps would be a nightmare to carry a 20 plus kg bike down! Tricky without a bike but I wouldn’t say impossible. If you carried a spare battery and rode in eco mode with a low resistance I think it could be done. Walk mode would be a must have as there’s some really gnarly sections that would be pretty tough to ride. I’ve been riding mtb’s for 30 years and the ghost rd is by far one of the best rides I’ve ever done!

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What a fantastic family adventure! Well done.