To E, or not to E. That is the question.

[Optimusmiles]

Hello guys and girls. My name is Miles and I live in Dorset, UK.
I have not yet purchased my emtb and was hoping for some real world advice.
(I hope this is the right section since i am a newbie)
My question is about real world range. I currently have a trail bike and tend to go out for all day rides in the Purbecks. I like to take a bag with all my food, drink etc with me and normally do about 40 miles.
My worry is that on an emtb I will do this kind of ride in half the time and then be out of gas and unable continue for the rest of the day, or at least a few hours more.
I'm looking at the cube stereo hybrib with the 625 WH battery. I'm pretty confident I will be able to stay in eco mode all of the time which is a bonus.
So I reckon I will need the bike to do around 50-60 miles. Is this totally unrealistic or is that kind of range possible? Thanks in advance for any advice offered

 

[Jamy]

I purchased the Cube SL 625 in November last year. I use the bike every day for commuting to work. 40 miles per week. The battery is on 5% by the end of week 2. I ride eco all the time. the surface i'm riding are roads and my weight is 95kg. the range may be slightly better once the temperature warms up.
I also ride at the weekend mainly offroad. I did a 31 mile trip and the battery went from 100% to 57% as soon as the weather picks up I going to extend the ride to Chesterfield making the round trip 55miles off road. I think the bike will do it easily

 

[Binhill1]

Hello guys and girls. My name is Miles and I live in Dorset, UK.
I have not yet purchased my emtb and was hoping for some real world advice.
(I hope this is the right section since i am a newbie)
My question is about real world range. I currently have a trail bike and tend to go out for all day rides in the Purbecks. I like to take a bag with all my food, drink etc with me and normally do about 40 miles.
My worry is that on an emtb I will do this kind of ride in half the time and then be out of gas and unable continue for the rest of the day, or at least a few hours more.
I'm looking at the cube stereo hybrib with the 625 WH battery. I'm pretty confident I will be able to stay in eco mode all of the time which is a bonus.
So I reckon I will need the bike to do around 50-60 miles. Is this totally unrealistic or is that kind of range possible? Thanks in advance

Hello guys and girls. My name is Miles and I live in Dorset, UK.
I have not yet purchased my emtb and was hoping for some real world advice.
(I hope this is the right section since i am a newbie)
My question is about real world range. I currently have a trail bike and tend to go out for all day rides in the Purbecks. I like to take a bag with all my food, drink etc with me and normally do about 40 miles.
My worry is that on an emtb I will do this kind of ride in half the time and then be out of gas and unable continue for the rest of the day, or at least a few hours more.
I'm looking at the cube stereo hybrib with the 625 WH battery. I'm pretty confident I will be able to stay in eco mode all of the time which is a bonus.
So I reckon I will need the bike to do around 50-60 miles. Is this totally unrealistic or is that kind of range possible? Thanks in advance for any advice offered

I have Levo Expert I have had 42mls with 1000mtrs acsent using eco mode and had 10 percent left in battery I weigh 15.5 stone this was 3 .75 hours of cycling not including stopping time . I could tweek mine to use less assistance using smart mode where you set in miles you want to do and it adjusts accordingly . 700 battery i have got. Sure I read on here people had 60 .

 

[Optimusmiles]

I have Levo Expert I have had 42mls with 1000mtrs acsent using eco mode and had 10 percent left in battery I weigh 15.5 stone this was 3 .75 hours of cycling not including stopping time . I could tweek mine to use less assistance using smart mode where you set in miles you want to do and it adjusts accordingly . 700 battery i have got. Sure I read on here people had 60 .

 

[Optimusmiles]

Thanks guys. Just had a test ride on a habit neo and loved it! I think I’ll stick with the cube though as think the 625 battery is a must for me.

 

[GrahamPaul]

Why not play with Bosch's distance calculator? Everyone is different. We all have different weights, tyres, terrain, weather... the calculator lets you play with all of these.

eBIKE RANGE ASSISTANT

 

[GrahamPaul]

One other thing: why not pack a fast charger to plug in while you are having your lunchtime pint/coffee? It's easy to drop the battery out of the Cube.

 

[Optimusmiles]

Thanks for that calculator link. Really interesting. I put in my stats and it came up with 105km which I’d be happy with.?

 

[B1rdie]

On the shimano 8000 that powers my spectralon I have , after one year, come to the conclusion that 30 miles with 3000 foot gain is the limit from where I will cary the extra batterie along in order to guaranty the fun factor of the ride.

 

[MattyB]

Hello guys and girls. My name is Miles and I live in Dorset, UK.
I have not yet purchased my emtb and was hoping for some real world advice.
(I hope this is the right section since i am a newbie)
My question is about real world range. I currently have a trail bike and tend to go out for all day rides in the Purbecks. I like to take a bag with all my food, drink etc with me and normally do about 40 miles.
My worry is that on an emtb I will do this kind of ride in half the time and then be out of gas and unable continue for the rest of the day, or at least a few hours more.

Beautiful part of the world - we holiday in Swanage nearly every year and I always try and sneak in a couple of rides over to Old Harry and along Nine Barrow Down to Corfe

Back to your question... I would say that loaded up for the day 40-45 miles is likely to be the limit of your range using a mix of the lower assistance modes, less if you are climbing the Downs multiple times in the ride. I don’t think your ide would be done in half the time though; you would have to stay in eco mostly so the climbs won’t be rocket ship pace, and everywhere else the ebike will have no real speed advantage over your trail bike. The only way to tell for sure would be to hire one and see how it goes - does Charlie still hire bikes? He did have a couple of eebs last time I was in the shop a couple of years ago...

 

[miPbiP]

50-60 miles is a big ask, depends a lot on how heavy you are and how much assistance you use.

I also find range is more about vertical than horizontal.

My bike has a 500Wh battery and I get 1000 metres vertical out of it going full gas. I weigh 80 kilos.

 

[Optimusmiles]

Yes I think I can hire one from Corfe from the day, I guess that would give me a good idea of range.
It’s the only thing I’m worried about. I don’t want to spend all this money only to then find I’m unable to do these semi epic rides.
I’m about 82kg and my usual ride in the purbecks has about 4K ft of climbing.
Wondering if I’d be better off saving myself a grand and buying another acoustic Bike ?

 

[miPbiP]

coupla thoughts:

* you might be better on a bio bike if range anxiety is going to mar your rides
* you can still pedal these things, it's not like they become immobile lumps when the battery runs out. my 48lb Levo is perfectly pedalable on downs flats and gentle climbs. You'd probably be pushing on some of the Purbeck climbs, but you'd get home and still have a great day.

 

[Optimusmiles]

I think I will end up biting the bullet and giving the cube a go. Worst case scenario I can just sell up and lose a few quid.
Not the end of the world. Doesn’t seem very likely after reading all the glowing EMTB reports!

 

[MitchF]

Looking at a brand with the bigger batteries , 625 Cube, 700 Specs or Focis with the range extender.
Best I’ve had on my 500 bat was 42 mls, that was a relatively flat off road tour. Sub 24 mls is my average, that’s all off road with big climbs and I’m 104k
A good option for you would be to strike a deal with a spare battery, then have on in the rucksack ??

 

[Gazzaaitken]

2068 ft climbed, mostly in eco, and still had 32% battery left, bike orbea wild fs 2020

 

[Optimusmiles]

Wow that’s a decent ride, I’d be happy with that. Love the Orbeas, can’t quite stretch to a wild though. If I end up going non E I’ll get an occam if I can get hold of one.
My LBS is offering 10% off most bikes at the moment which a good incentive.

 

[Gazzaaitken]

More screen shots

 

[Optimusmiles]

Thanks, very useful. Are these shots from the Bosch app?

 

[Gazzaaitken]

I'm just trying different things just now to get an idea of what the bike can do.
Did a day at Glentress And completed 39 miles with over 5500 ft climbed with 3% battery left.
Also did Innerleithen, gypsy glen and a small bit of Glentress that was 34 miles and 4144 ft climbed and still had 40% battery left at the 29 mile point.

 

[Gazzaaitken]

Yip bosch app

 

[Binhill1]

I'm just trying different things just now to get an idea of what the bike can do.
Did a day at Glentress And completed 39 miles with over 5500 ft climbed with 3% battery left.
Also did Innerleithen, gypsy glen and a small bit of Glentress that was 34 miles and 4144 ft climbed and still had 40% battery left at the 29 mile point.

Yes have to get down there on ebike only been on ordinary bike great area

 

[stiv674]

Out of interest, can you adjust the individual assist modes on the bosch motor, like you can on the Shimano and Specialized?

 

[Jamy]

Out of interest, can you adjust the individual assist modes on the bosch motor, like you can on the Shimano and Specialized?

no you can't although to be honest I don't think I'd want to. All Eco does is negate the weight difference between my normal bike 10kg and the electric bike 23kg. I get just as tired riding in eco as I do riding my analogue bike

 

[Gazzaaitken]

Yip I agree with that, you get a good workout in eco.

 

[stiv674]

That's good to know that eco is quite low, I try to use it as much as possible on my Focus to improve range, considering an Orbea as my next bike, finance depending...

Anyone got any experience of the new G4 motor and the Shimano E8000 for comparison?

 

[Janc]

Hi and welcome.
Have you settled on a bike yet?
I'm in Purbeck and at 105kg easily get 35 miles serious off road riding in a mix of modes (often using teh higher assist levels near the end of teh ride as I tire on steeper hills. . I'm Shimano 504w powered and usually stay in eco as it gives a great level of assist while still giving me plenty of exercise. I've tried gentle mostly road rides and can easily get 45 plus with 60 range indicated. I tend to ride with non ebike friends and that certainly means not using power modes.
I have done Haldon recently with my son and used boost to push him up all the climbs so we could do runs several times (he's 85kg) and we managed 25 miles with about 3 left. That was impressive. That is the only time I have pushed a battery on a single charge on a single ride. Oh, it was absolutely freezing, about 2C with a biting wind and lots of standing water, which I'm sure impacted battery life but not as much as pushing 225kg uphill at 12mph!
Battery management is like car fuel economy, it can be managed to get significantly more than the manufacturer recommended range. It can also get significantly less if you rag it using boost on steep climbs. It is down to understanding what eats the battery. Remember, turning the motor off on descents , flat and even small inclines gives massive range. If you are doing an easy pace all day 40 mile ride that is totally different to trying to rag it around in 3 or 4 hours.
I bought Commencal and didn't pay anywhere near £5k and got Fox factory shocks.

 

[Optimusmiles]

Thanks for the info ?
I have decided to go down the bike route.
I’m going to get a 2020 cube stereo hpc race hopefully in two weeks time.
Just need to save those last few pennies!

 

[Optimusmiles]

Well Ive finally bitten the bullet.
Picked up my new Cube stereo hybrid 140 hpc race yesterday. I did originally want it in the blue but the Matt green looks so much nicer in the flesh.
Heading up into the purbeck for my daily exercise/maiden voyage this morning.
(I live there, I can ride straight out of the garden)
My route is 45 miles long so we’ll see how we go.
I’ll post some pics if I can work out how.
Thanks again for everyone’s help.

 

[Janc]

Well Ive finally bitten the bullet.
Picked up my new Cube stereo hybrid 140 hpc race yesterday. I did originally want it in the blue but the Matt green looks so much nicer in the flesh.
Heading up into the purbeck for my daily exercise/maiden voyage this morning.
(I live there, I can ride straight out of the garden)
My route is 45 miles long so we’ll see how we go.
I’ll post some pics if I can work out how.
Thanks again for everyone’s help.

It's very dry out there in most part but I did find a couple of mud spots!. Very quiet as all the car parks are closed. Did a loop from my house yesterday and did't see many people at all. It should be fun.