My New Commuter...

[FatMuz]

After almost 6 months as a 1 car family... I'd had enough. My wife and I are lucky in that we work within 5 mins of each othet, but about 40 km from home. My wife is however, far more dedicated to her profession than I am, hence I'm often in the car sulking while she just "finishes off a few things" before we can leave.
I decided we (meaning I) needed another source of transport. I quickly manoevered and pointed out some great motorcycle bargains, before being cruelly cut down mid-sales pitch. Hard to convince here after I was taken out on my Ducati 15 years ago by a 17 year old drink driver. So to cut a long story slightly shorter, when I then suggested an ebike... it wasn't greeted with a blanket "No".

Now I've done the e-mtb thing before (great rehab after 2 knee ops) but this time I wanted something to commute 80-90 km a day on road and bike path. I do sometimes commute on my bike-packing beast (Nordest Sardinha) but I now find in my mid 50's, backing up for multiple 90 km days hurts me more than it should. I looked at fitting a Bafang to the Nordest but decided the wider chain stays would be an issue with chainring clearance. I eventually stumbled on "the bike" on BikeExchange and contacted the Melbourne based store, did the deal and it arrived 3 days later (was expecting a long delay freighting from Melbourne to Sunshine Coast, Qld) to my delight. I tried to buy locally, but the local dealers wanted an extra $1000 and couldn't get me one till early 2021.

It's a BMC Alpenchallenge Amp Cross 1. I've done one test ride today... 25 km in a horrible gusty headwind... and loved it. Carbon frame, fork and seatpost. Shimano SLX drivetrain, Shimano hydraulic brakes. Shimano Steps E6100 motor 504 W/h battery. I think it's a great looking bike...

Cheers
Muz.

 

[hifiandmtb]

Hell yeah - perfect application for an e-bike! Can you please keep updating this thread as a blog...week by week experience, anything you can think of chatting about.

Awesome!

 

[ozzybmx]

It is a good looking bike !

How does it feel above the 25kph limit ? I see a female friend of mine has just bought a Spech Turbo creo roadie, was going to ask her how if feels departing from the 25kph help limit into pedalling for yourself.

The missus's Giant full E pro feels like pedalling on sand, its a lot of effort to get any additional speed without pointing downhill.

 

[FatMuz]

It is a good looking bike !

How does it feel above the 25kph limit ? I see a female friend of mine has just bought a Spech Turbo creo roadie, was going to ask her how if feels departing from the 25kph help limit into pedalling for yourself.

The missus's Giant full E pro feels like pedalling on sand, its a lot of effort to get any additional speed without pointing downhill.

No comment...

 

[ozzybmx]

No comment...

Yeah, that's unspoken option

 

[ozzybmx]

The French didn't mess about with tuning laws https://ebike-mtb.com/en/france-bans-illegal-emtb-tuning/

Australia has not allowed Speed-Pedelecs yet (45kph) but most European countries have. Having to register it shouldn't be too much of an issue to legally do 45kph on the road and still have warranty.

 

[FatMuz]

I’d never do it to an e-mtb...25 km/h is plenty for trail riding. On the road though, I reckon 30 km/h is much more standard. That said, in non-modded guise, pedaling past the 25 km/h limit is quite smooth and not tiresome...motor seems to disengage quite well. On a 40 km commute each way... I reckon the Speedbox mod is almost a necessity.

 

[ozzybmx]

I agree, the road versions should be able to do more than 25kph, even 35kph would be sweet.

Would be good if Aus legislated on the Speed-Pedalecs, as long as they didnt go all nanny and make the bikes display number plates.

Up to 45kph is a fair speed to commute at.

 

[FatMuz]

45 is way more than I need. I’ll be happy with 30-35 km/h

 

[FatMuz]

The extra burst of power is nice when the Maggie’s start showing interest.

 

[clockworked]

Where do you get those, and can the dealers tell if you've used one?

 

[Halo1]

Looks great. What is your time saving on the e bike commute now?

 

[FatMuz]

Looks great. What is your time saving on the e bike commute now?

Will let you know this week... first commute on it will be Monday. At this stage, not aiming for speed, moreso comfort and less 'shagged' after repeat days. Eventually I'd like to commute on the ebike somedays and my analogue bike on other days where I feel like it.

 

[rowdyflat]

Just converted one of my mtbikes with a solar bike rear wheel motor kit for commuting on wet days when I usually drive to work.
We have a steep up to 18 % x 2 km long driveway so good for that.
Seems to work like an electric motorbike , so goes as fast as you like .
Will upgrade the brakes though to front Shimano zee 4 pot.

 

[rowdyflat]

Biggest problem is finding the right IS caliper holder and setting up the rear 140 mm disc brake .
2 nd problem is the cluttered handle bar with the left hand shifter, has 30 and 40 T front chainrings for pedalling.
May eventually go NW x1 on the front.
I bought the smallest motor and battery for the weight considerations.

 

[Steam powered]

My experience on an E bike for commuting.
I have a 38.4 km (each way) commute. To work its ~ 300m elevation gain to work, ~ 440 home.
I can and have done the commute on both a road bike and a “commuter” bike. (not much though because I started this job in the COVID lockdown.)
The Road bike is a carbon endurance road bike, weighs around 8.9 kg ready to ride, and I’ll ride with a backpack (tube, tools, keys access cards etc. that weighs around 2kg)
The commuter bike is an older aluminium disk brake 26er with 29er wheels and 28x700c tyres. It has a pannier rack and I ride this if I need to transport my work laptop. All up, ready to ride with laptop plus tools keys access cards etc. weighs around 20 kg.
Me. 52yo. ~105kg (but should be ~ 90). Reasonably fit considering age etc.
The issue is that while I can do the commute on a normal bike, it can be a bit tough / tiring to do regularly.
I contemplated an E bike but noted my average speed inbound was ~ 27.2 km/h (Roady) and 24.4 (Commuter). Road legal E bikes are assist limited to 25 km/h here in Aus.
So I bought one anyway….
A Cannondale Synapse Neo 2. A “Road” eBike, 19kg 32 mm tyres. Bosch Gen 3 Active line (250W)
First ride in, it took ~ 7 minutes out of the roady commute, but with the same average heart rate
First ride out it took 17 minutes out of the fastest commuter outbound (noting, 1) I haven’t done outbound on the roady and 2) no laptop in the commuter.) and a BPM average of 14 lower. Just over 7 min slower out than in, so a pretty good result.
General observations.
The eBike is obviously significantly heavier than the roady. It rolls pretty well considering the wider tyres and fat downtube.
It’s faster uphill where on the roady, I would be below 25 km/h. (This is the obvious one.)
Hills (or rises) where I’d be riding greater than 25 km/h on the roady, it’s a little slower because its heavier and the assistance is done by 25 km/h.
Slightly downhill, its slightly slower until the gradient and weight overcomes the slight aero and rolling resistance disadvantage (bugger all difference really).
Past that point downhill it’s faster. I had not properly considered this, and I think this gave me a reasonable portion of the time advantage.
Inbound ride. Setting “Turbo”. 147 BPM average for 1:17:34 Comparable roady time 1:24:46, 147 BPM, so about 7 minutes faster. Same level of effort, but over a shorter time. There were quite few points where the ebike was assisting. Est 10 times. No change to the battery indicator.
Outbound:
Setting: “Turbo” 128 BPM average for 1:24:27.. Outbound not done on the roady . Closest “commuter” ride 1:41:31. 142 bpm.
I intentionally backed off slightly on hills where I could have gone, let’s say 27~28 km/h, let the bike do the work at 25 and save the effort for the flat or slight downhill when the ebike was not assisting. Finally got 1 (of 5) battery indicators to go out ay 64.6 km (26.2 km outbound.) so I should easily get two commutes out of a charge when the initial battery freshness wears off.
Limited comparison as I’ve only done one commute on the ebike, two on the commuter and ½ on the roady.

 

[rowdyflat]

It’s faster uphill

I have commuted 3x with the ebike .
Faster uphill but still pedalling thats the main thing I have noticed and that has reduced my travelling time.
My heart rate is lower and feel less sweaty so good for humid or above 40 deg days.

 

[binner]

After almost 6 months as a 1 car family... I'd had enough. My wife and I are lucky in that we work within 5 mins of each othet, but about 40 km from home. My wife is however, far more dedicated to her profession than I am, hence I'm often in the car sulking while she just "finishes off a few things" before we can leave.
I decided we (meaning I) needed another source of transport. I quickly manoevered and pointed out some great motorcycle bargains, before being cruelly cut down mid-sales pitch. Hard to convince here after I was taken out on my Ducati 15 years ago by a 17 year old drink driver. So to cut a long story slightly shorter, when I then suggested an ebike... it wasn't greeted with a blanket "No".

Now I've done the e-mtb thing before (great rehab after 2 knee ops) but this time I wanted something to commute 80-90 km a day on road and bike path. I do sometimes commute on my bike-packing beast (Nordest Sardinha) but I now find in my mid 50's, backing up for multiple 90 km days hurts me more than it should. I looked at fitting a Bafang to the Nordest but decided the wider chain stays would be an issue with chainring clearance. I eventually stumbled on "the bike" on BikeExchange and contacted the Melbourne based store, did the deal and it arrived 3 days later (was expecting a long delay freighting from Melbourne to Sunshine Coast, Qld) to my delight. I tried to buy locally, but the local dealers wanted an extra $1000 and couldn't get me one till early 2021.

It's a BMC Alpenchallenge Amp Cross 1. I've done one test ride today... 25 km in a horrible gusty headwind... and loved it. Carbon frame, fork and seatpost. Shimano SLX drivetrain, Shimano hydraulic brakes. Shimano Steps E6100 motor 504 W/h battery. I think it's a great looking bike...

View attachment 367179
Cheers
Muz.

mmmmmm.. i'd like to know more about this too...keep use in formed in the weeks /month to come....

 

[clockworked]

I ride my cargo ebike in jeans and boots in turbo and don't sweat at all. I don't bother pushing past 26km/hr when the assistance wears off. On turbo with me, and my kid on the battery lasts about 1.8 full commutes, so i just charge it every night. Our spring winds in hobart can prevent it from reaching 25km/hr on gentle inclines. The tasman bridge and wind can drop it as low as 16km/hr in turbo mode. Bosch performance line motor on a tern gsd.
Overall i like it a lot. Gives me winding down time which I generally use to plan things in my head. Am seriously considering chipping it though. I've ridden it nearly every work day since august

 

[Scotty T]

I agree, the road versions should be able to do more than 25kph, even 35kph would be sweet.

Would be good if Aus legislated on the Speed-Pedalecs, as long as they didnt go all nanny and make the bikes display number plates.

Up to 45kph is a fair speed to commute at.

I think the good middle ground is 35km/h 500w no licence or insurance which is what Canada has, and in practice would roughly match the average of what fit roadies do, thus no need to insure.

The watt limit is a bit silly, a 750w mid drive and a 350w hub drive have roughly the same acceleration (I've ridden both) to their respective limits which is ~45km/h on the 750, ~33km/h on the 350. The 350 can draw >1000w peak under full load. 750 would allow @clockworked to hold 25km/h in a headwind uphill with cargo (or kid) and is no more dangerous overall than the 350 if both are limited to 35km/h.

Because I have an infinitely tweakable setup I've found a pretty good commuting setup on the board tracker with single speed is a 250 watt limit (it will peak around 350-400 in this mode for a few seconds to get off the line) and a 27km/h speed limit. Most of the time it won't actually push over 26km/h because it's only putting in 250w. The legal bikes I've ridden will go slightly over 25km/h on flat ground before completely cutting out. On the flat when pedalling mine will drop below 200w, I also have a 150w setting and toggling between the two extends battery life. I have a throttle, which is good when I hit hills in these modes as it overrides the 250w limit and I generally put in about a 400-700w burst on a decent incline to maintain a decent pace, there are three spots on my 14km commute where I will use it. This "illegal" mode is actually slower than I can ride a ~12kg commuter bike on the same route, but I don't sweat or get my heart rate up.

It's sad that a non powered bike with a powerful human on it can average faster and is only slower on quite steep inclines, and that powered scooters which are much less stable than bicycles have the same speed limits, and allow a throttle. Our laws are outdated and never really made sense for road/bikepath commuting.