Riding home after the donkey gives up

[lightning]

So, on my ride yesterday the battery went to 1 bar (from 5) so l assumed that meant 20% remaining.
l carried on, as l was in the middle of nowhere.
l managed three more rocky technical climbs and a steep road climb.

Then, on the last hill, another fairly steep road climb, the battery display started flashing.
About 60 seconds after that the motor died.

Now, l was expecting a harder time grinding a 24kg bike up a hill, but it felt like l was riding through six inches of soft clay.

lt's not like the feel you get from a heavy bike, like my old Raleigh Lizard which weighed about 18kg.

lt's like you've applied the brakes. I tested the pedalling with the bike on my track stand and while there is a little bit of resistance from the motor, it's barely anything.

So it must be just the weight. How did we ever manage as kids on our Raleigh Choppers (with 3 speed hub gears) and steel framed 5 speed "racing bikes" that were so heavy that your dad had to lift them out of the car?

 

[fenwick458]

I ran out last weekend for the first time, after 45km, with only 5km to go with only a few slight climbs before i was home
so after 35km I was in eco, and that sort of takes the edge off, when the battery died and I had to pedal up hills with no battery it wasn't so much of a shock, it was harder but only slightly harder than eco.
I remember a few times when I have a full battery I have just dropped it into eco on a climb to see what it's like an it instantly feels like your riding up a 10% climb in sand, and then quickly switched back to power!
you get used to it eventually

 

[steve_sordy]

The big soft heavily treaded tyres don't help either.
In addition of course, my legs have gone soft because I have got used to pedal assist. I used to use Eco mostly, now it's Trail mostly.

 

[lightning]

Yeah my Kona is fitted with 2.8 tyres and they are currently at 20psi

l guess part of it is the sudden change from assisted to non assisted feels unnatural.

On flat roads (no gradient) it rides pretty much like a regular MTB when you turn off the motor assist.

 

[Mikerb]

If you run out of battery and you carry a pump or Co2 it is definitely worth inflating tyres to 30 psi or even more in the rear tyre depending on your weight and either locking out or at least dialing up LSC on the fork/shock. Use a low gear and keep a high cadence.

It will reduce the drag on the bike and as a by product remind you what it was like riding your old steel framed bike with no suspension!!

 

[lightning]

Hey that's a great piece of advice, l will certainly do that in the future, thank you.

With the Shimano display having a five bar battery range indicator like an old Nokia phone, once you are down to the last bar there's no knowing how much charge you have left.

Apart from the fact that it's going to be less than 20% !

 

[Pdoz]

. How did we ever manage as kids on our Raleigh Choppers (with 3 speed hub gears) and steel framed 5 speed "racing bikes" that were so heavy that your dad had to lift them out of the car?

Have you ever returned to that " really big hill" that you walked the chopper up?

That's where flat earth theory comes from. People silly enough to buy their kids a raleigh chopper can breed. After a couple of generations, IQ has dropped low enough and those flat hills are a conspiracy.

 

[DtEW]

Then, on the last hill, another fairly steep road climb, the battery display started flashing.
About 60 seconds after that the motor died.

Now, l was expecting a harder time grinding a 24kg bike up a hill, but it felt like l was riding through six inches of soft clay.

lt's not like the feel you get from a heavy bike, like my old Raleigh Lizard which weighed about 18kg.

lt's like you've applied the brakes.

When the battery depleted, did you just continue to pedal without missing a beat?

Because it's likely you were dragging your motor along, because the (prior loaded) sprag clutch didn't release. I observe a similar phenomenon when I go on-the-fly from any level of assist to no-assist. To release the clutch, I backpedal half-a-stroke. Then the bike will just feel heavy, not draggy.

You won't replicate this phenomenon with the bike on a stand, as there is no normal force going through the clutch to have it bite hard and fail to release.

 

[Mteam]

I find the suspension on my ebike very 'bobby' when pedalling with the motor off, so much so that the shock climb switch makes a major difference to motor off pedalling efficiency.

A high speed smooth cadence also helps a lot, its way more critical to pedal at high ish speed and smoothly on my ebike than my normal bike.

It may or may not be the same for your bike.

I did the first hill (longhurst lane out of marple bridge towards mellor - I think you're familiar with it?) on yesterdays ride with the motor off, as a bit of a warm up . My fastest time up there on my normal bike (a 2018 yt capra) is 13 mins 25 seconds, on my ebike with motor off my best is around 16 minutes ( 7 minutes with motor on in turbo!). Quite a difference .

 

[lightning]

lt sounds like you are on my doorstep!

To answer the above, yes l did just carry on pedalling, you could well be right about the motor not disengaging, l never thought of that, l will give it a try next time.

 

[Gary]

You won't replicate this phenomenon with the bike on a stand, as there is no normal force going through the clutch to have it bite hard and fail to release.

If you wanted to you could replicate it on a stand very easily by simply dragging the rear brake.

 

[Tooks]

I had a Raleigh Grifter as a kid, weighed about the same as a full size metal farm gate, with a boat anchor on it, but less rigid! ?

 

[ggx]

BAr´s indicator are not proportional and support weakens at the end.

 

[blackteaonesugar]

To be fair it's not just when the battery dies on an eeb. I rode my regular bike up the canal thee other day after a few weeks of an ebike.
I had to keep stopping as I was convinced my brakes were stuck on! ?

 

[lightning]

l think it's partially the different feel you get riding an ebike, going back to unassisted riding initially feels unnatural, as if your brakes are stuck on.

 

[Janc]

Hey that's a great piece of advice, l will certainly do that in the future, thank you.

With the Shimano display having a five bar battery range indicator like an old Nokia phone, once you are down to the last bar there's no knowing how much charge you have left.

Apart from the fact that it's going to be less than 20% !

In my Experience if my range is about 35 miles on a 504w battery of mixed mode use but mainly eco, once I hit a single bar I don't expect much more than 5 cautiously used miles on my e8000. I'm 100kg. So I'm always heading for home once I've got 2 bars left. My son on his 635w EP8 can do a good 10-15 miles on 2 bars.

 

[RickBullotta]

Did you try kicking the donkey?

 

[EebStrider]

I normally ride with the bike switched off most of the time, unless going up steep hills, or my old joints start aching towards the end of a ride, so am used to riding with no power. Once you get used to it, it’s fine.

 

[lightning]

l did that at first but now l leave it in "eco" and ride faster.
lt still feels like l've done a bike ride when l
get home.

 

[Supratad]

To be fair it's not just when the battery dies on an eeb. I rode my regular bike up the canal thee other day after a few weeks of an ebike.
I had to keep stopping as I was convinced my brakes were stuck on! ?

A lot of that would be water resistance and the soft clay bed though.

 

[Supratad]

I normally ride with the bike switched off most of the time, unless going up steep hills, or my old joints start aching towards the end of a ride, so am used to riding with no power. Once you get used to it, it’s fine.

Seems an awful lot of money to spend to not use the e-assist. Why not set the eco bit to give a slight assist to cancel out the extra weight, if it's an acoustic riding experience you desire.

 

[Tonybro]

Seems an awful lot of money to spend to not use the e-assist. Why not set the eco bit to give a slight assist to cancel out the extra weight, if it's an acoustic riding experience you desire.

That's what I've done. Using STunlocker, I have de-tuned ECO and TRAIL modes by enough to make me work but enough to keep me moving!

 

[Zimmerframe]

That's what I've done. Using STunlocker, I have de-tuned ECO and TRAIL modes by enough to make me work but enough to keep me moving!

I have mine set in reverse.

Lets face it, riding an EMTB with the power turned off on chunky tires isn't really much of a challenge and there's no fun unless you're really suffering.

Now mine has the option of Eco workout, Trail workout and full on almost die Turbo workout - fortunately the bike has a freewheel or I'd be going backwards half the time.

I wish I could get walkmode to engage backwards properly for when I'm pushing up un rideable bits. It seems like such a waste feathering the brakes all the time to make it a decent workout.

 

[Supratad]

I can achieve very similar by simply buying a Specialised e-bike.

 

[lightning]

Specialized lightweight ebikes are great, but expensive.
They seem to be the best of both worlds but the cheapest is over £6,000.
Maybe next time.