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I don't know how many of y'all use rack-mounted Bosch Powerpacks, but I found someone on eBay selling the 400 Watt hour variety new, listed for $250. I offered $175 and they accepted. Got it today and it looks legit, seems to power up the bike. https://www.ebay.com/itm/124283182277 I'm happy to have a second battery so I can swap between the two and go longer distances. The closest campground to me is *just* on the edge of my 500 Watt hour battery's range, and it would be nice to go camping when it gets a little cooler.
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Aug 15, 2020 00:28
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After much hemming, hawing, and probably two years of consternation, I ended up buying a Riese & Muller Charger3 Vario HS in the 2020 model year (Bosch gen 4 motor). While that thing is freaking expensive and has a long fulfillment time (I ordered it last week, it'll be here mid-October!), I'm pretty pumped up at getting into the saddle. I did a test ride against an R&M Nevo3 and a Tern GSD and the best overall feel was the Charger3, so getting it with a belt drive will be pretty dope. One of the things that stuck out to me was the level of paranoia that the bike shop put into me regarding battery care. To my knowledge and what Bosch recommends, it's something like: - Wait 30 minutes post ride - Charge batteries but only for a couple of hours, don't leave them plugged in for the entire course of a day (use a plug timer or similar) - Don't charge when it's too hot or cold, charge in a climate-controlled environment, ideally - Don't use anything other than the Bosch charger, there are no aftermarket chargers that are approved to charge and will void the warranty That said, the shop also had no idea the Bosch Quick Charger exists, even though it's noted in the 30-some page battery care guide. Even though the world is in hell quarantine and I don't have an office to commute to now, I'm expecting at some point in the future to bike commute to downtown Austin, which is about a 20-25 mile round trip. I'd also like to do some easy touring, so the extra power will be welcome there. Are these battery sizes and form factors consistent, or only the load cells and connectors are? What are my options on spare batteries if I wanna just Keep Going but I'm 50+ miles from everywhere?
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Aug 19, 2020 20:49
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aldantefax posted:Even though the world is in hell quarantine and I don't have an office to commute to now, I'm expecting at some point in the future to bike commute to downtown Austin, which is about a 20-25 mile round trip. I'd also like to do some easy touring, so the extra power will be welcome there. Hello fellow Austin potential commuter. Let us work together to fund the white bike they'll put out in honor of us beside Mopac some day. I really think the only person you can completely trust on battery charging and interoperability would be an independent electric bike shop, which is still pretty rare. I've heard a lot of things and I'll vomit it here but I don't put too much faith in it. Regarding charging: The final take I got on that was a lot of the ritual over charging mattered much more in the earlier part of the decade. The technology implies a certain amount of coddling, but more recent batteries are generally going to live their quoted lives unless you habitually drain them dead. Extreme heat and cold are still concerns. If you want to honor the old rituals and/or want to get, like maybe 15% more performance lifetime out of them, then you want a 3rd-party charger that lets you control the voltage as a way of controlling how "full" it is. You charge it mostly to full using a lower voltage so you can walk away from it, but then give it the last bit of love right before taking it out for a ride. Regarding battery interoperability: I don't have a full experience with this, but it looks like there are standard connectors favored by each company that makes controllers. So Bosch motors with their Bosch controllers will have a certain type of port it's planning to use. Bafang will use something else. So within that family you have some choice. You worry about this when you're worrying about the mount for the battery, which is what you worry about when you can't find your manufacturer's battery any more and have to switch. The specific battery shapes are all whatever-what-the-heck. Sure, there are specific families of batteries, but I can't expect to interchange this company's stem-style battery with this other company's stem-style battery. Just looking at the flat, rear batteries, I saw tens of different dimensions, of which none were compatible with the mount I had for this electric trike. My only choice would be the manufacturer's specific brand, which was out-of-stock and not very powerful anyways. So I've been looking into just changing out the mount and have been worried too that I'll just get myself some other proprietary shape. Regarding range: Given a ~48-52V batttery, assume 1Ah per mile you want to travel if you want to be comfortable. My opinion is 40 miles is about what you can sustain this way with a pair of 20Ah batteries unless you do something really comical. The batteries I use are kind of bulky and eat into what I'm packing. It's like I'm riding around with a spare 10-pound, black baguette I have to strap somewhere to the bike. I usually only have the one battery and have some 19-mile round trips. At the end, my 1000W motor is only pushing out around 560W at full-assist on the return trip. I didn't charge it at my destination.
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Aug 19, 2020 21:23
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:Hello fellow Austin potential commuter. Let us work together to fund the white bike they'll put out in honor of us beside Mopac some day. Indeed, I was paranoid enough about range that I decided to opt for the double battery pack option which gives about 1150 Wh on the Charger3. In terms of spare battery carry, I see that Ortlieb has started rolling out ebike-specific panniers that have a battery sleeve, which could be potentially useful on those longer excursions. I'm going to have to see how things go once the bike is actually here and I can put some miles on it on what the 'reality of ebiking' is going to be. I did look at an aftermarket charger like the Luna, and the shop said it voids battery warranty, it's the Bosch way or the highway, essentially.
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Aug 19, 2020 23:15
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Congrats on your purchase! Welcome to the Bosch crew! My bike came with the 4A Bosch charger (I'd be _really_ surprised if a R+M shipped with a 2A charger). I probably charge the bike once a week and it takes a few hours. Basically I just peek at the battery level whenever I walk by until I realize it's full. It seems like the battery management chip knows when the battery is fully charged, so it's not like it sits there and trickles and overcharges the lithium ion cells. I thought I'd try to get a 2A charger to sit under my desk at work (when that's a reality again...), but I don't think that's necessary now. Part of me wants to crack open the spare battery I got on ebay to reverse engineer the charging port. It's probably not *that* complicated. Do you have a link to the Ortleib e-bike bags with the battery sleeves? That sounds awesome.
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Aug 20, 2020 03:27
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aldantefax posted:Indeed, I was paranoid enough about range that I decided to opt for the double battery pack option which gives about 1150 Wh on the Charger3. quote:In terms of spare battery carry, I see that Ortlieb has started rolling out ebike-specific panniers that have a battery sleeve, which could be potentially useful on those longer excursions. I'm going to have to see how things go once the bike is actually here and I can put some miles on it on what the 'reality of ebiking' is going to be. quote:I did look at an aftermarket charger like the Luna, and the shop said it voids battery warranty, it's the Bosch way or the highway, essentially.
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Aug 20, 2020 04:48
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This Bosch battety thing is like printer ink cartridges.
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Aug 20, 2020 07:49
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aldantefax posted:After much hemming, hawing, and probably two years of consternation, I ended up buying a Riese & Muller Charger3 Vario HS in the 2020 model year (Bosch gen 4 motor). While that thing is freaking expensive and has a long fulfillment time (I ordered it last week, it'll be here mid-October!), I'm pretty pumped up at getting into the saddle. I did a test ride against an R&M Nevo3 and a Tern GSD and the best overall feel was the Charger3, so getting it with a belt drive will be pretty dope. aldantefax posted:- Don't charge when it's too hot or cold, charge in a climate-controlled environment, ideally I wouldn't use anything but the bosch charger (not the quick charger, multi-C charging kills your cycles if the pack isn't temp-controlled). If you want more range you buy another pack. If you want something fabricobbled together you don't buy a bosch mid-drive, there's plenty of DIY systems where you'll control every element. Safety Dance posted:Do you have a link to the Ortleib e-bike bags with the battery sleeves? That sounds awesome. If that pack sleeve can only mount in the very middle of the pannier that makes the whole thing sorta useless. It also appears to be QL2.1 so I hope you don't have to walk far. evil_bunnY fucked around with this message at 08:25 on Aug 20, 2020 |
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Aug 20, 2020 08:19
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my bosch battery and manual are full of warnings like "don't open the battery! don't try to repair the battery! don't plug the battery into anything that doesn't say bosch on it! this is a highly calibrated system and all its parts are designed to work together! if we detect that you are even thinking about trying to tune it, you'll be hosed!" and i am just not sure how much of that is basic legal disclaimers to comply with regulations, vs actual poo poo that could ruin my ebike. but since this battery is packing more lithium ions than are allowed on a commercial airplane anywhere in the world, i figure i had better listen to the manufacturer
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Aug 20, 2020 20:38
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It's nothing really special. It's just a series of lithium cells with a charge controller. Cracking it open will void your warranty however.
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Aug 20, 2020 23:44
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 This is my 400W pack. It's just a bunch of LG 18650 cells once you crack it open (buh bye warranty sticker). Your biggest risk is shortening the life of the cells by getting them too hot or too cold; it's really doubtful they'd catch fire or explode. Nitrousoxide posted:Cracking it open will void your warranty however.
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Aug 20, 2020 23:49
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Aside from that kind of odd battery pannier, there is also this thing, which lights up: https://www.ortlieb.com/usa/e-glow-1+F8231A I have thought about using some 3M reflective tape to plaster over the frame everywhere so that in the evening with my reflective gear on the new bike looks like a bizarre space alien. I was also looking at helmets, and apparently there is an ebike helmet rating, NTA 8776? I think it might be comparable to having MIPS on a helmet designation, where it's designed for the higher speeds you would get on an ebike. I kind of would like one that has Bluetooth for turn by turn, but I could probably just slap a speaker on the bike somewhere since I'm not exactly trundling along in quiet neighborhoods.
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Aug 21, 2020 00:25
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aldantefax posted:Aside from that kind of odd battery pannier, there is also this thing, which lights up: https://www.ortlieb.com/usa/e-glow-1+F8231A I have every reflective thing on my bike   They are not as shiny as you think, cause only direct 90 degreee head beam will create that kind of reflective. The cheapest and most visible things are still 1 the biggest blinking red rear light you can find, 2 a cheap $5 neon green vest. You don't even need to wear the vest, just tie it to your bag. I also just got this, looking forward to wear it. stephenthinkpad fucked around with this message at 01:33 on Aug 21, 2020 |
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Aug 21, 2020 01:27
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There was a kit Bolton sells that unfortunately doesn't work on the Foxbat for lighting. The lighting is not much of an upgrade other than the front being a bit brighter and the rear tapping from the main battery. The real fun is the horn. It seems to be car-grade, just kind of hanging naked on the bike. Loud as gently caress. More practically, I think I just need a nice bell for the rare overtake. I suspect phone speakers won't work for turn-by-turn. I have a cell phone mount and tried to listen to podcasts, but the whooshing made it unintelligible. My real thing I am looking for are helmet lights: front and back. I can't see my current gear and my beam is kind of narrow so I figured a front light would be smart. My wife wants me to have something pointing downwards behind me to better illuminate my whole back.
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Aug 21, 2020 06:38
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Helmets are not designed to have things mounted to them that could crack the foam before it should break.
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Aug 21, 2020 06:45
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Would really really lovely lights work?
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Aug 21, 2020 06:52
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When you sat you can’t see your gear, which parts are you talking about?
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Aug 21, 2020 06:55
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kimbo305 posted:When you sat you can’t see your gear, which parts are you talking about? My shifter in particular. I have no idea what the current gear is after dark and I already figured out I suck at counting and remembering it.
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Aug 21, 2020 06:58
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Rocko Bonaparte posted:My shifter in particular. I have no idea what the current gear is after dark and I already figured out I suck at counting and remembering it. Why would you need to see it? Wouldn’t you just shift if the gearing was too hard or too easy?
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Aug 21, 2020 13:08
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When I'm coming to a stop I like to glance down and check my gear indicator to make sure I haven't screwed myself over when it's time to go again.Rocko Bonaparte posted:There was a kit Bolton sells that unfortunately doesn't work on the Foxbat for lighting. The lighting is not much of an upgrade other than the front being a bit brighter and the rear tapping from the main battery. The real fun is the horn. It seems to be car-grade, just kind of hanging naked on the bike. Loud as gently caress. More practically, I think I just need a nice bell for the rare overtake. Buddy of mine attached a car horn to his Van Moof. I'll ask him and see how he did it. I pipe podcasts and directions up to bluetooth earbuds. They don't seal well enough to cut out traffic noise, like, I can hear cars behind me. But they cut out the wind noise nicely. Regarding lights, I have an Ion 120 attached to my helmet (I think using a separate helmet mounting dealy that I bought with it at REI). It isn't ideal, but it puts out a good deal of light and makes me more visible. I'm more likely to strike the side of my head in a crash than the very front anyhow. Some companies also make helmets with integrated lights, but I don't know too much about those.
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Aug 21, 2020 15:09
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Speaking of gearing, are there any major thoughts on the stepless gearing featured in an nuVinci / Enviolo setup vs. your standard chain and derailleur? I heard that it's easier for newer riders and you can do stationary gear changes to a degree, but I'm not sure if I am missing any other features that are good to know about it. I opted to ignore the Rohloff gearing just because it added a lot to the bike's cost, but I might consider one in the future for another bike. I did pick up a Kali helmet and that has an integrated rechargeable light on the back of the helmet, which is nice, but I was looking at the higher end Giro helmets like the Camden etc. since it also has a tinted face shield (something that I would have thought pretty silly but these days might be more appealing while riding) and lots of air vent options, which, considering the weather that will be here in Austin. I also found this interesting video about belt drives, basically they are good all the way up to 30K km? That seems nuts, but I'd believe it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SKeQ6B2UTk
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Aug 21, 2020 15:59
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Literally Lewis Hamilton posted:Why would you need to see it? Wouldn’t you just shift if the gearing was too hard or too easy? Safety Dance is on the case: Safety Dance posted:When I'm coming to a stop I like to glance down and check my gear indicator to make sure I haven't screwed myself over when it's time to go again. When I downshift to decelerate to a traffic light, I'm more likely to screw up at night and not downshift very thoroughly. I'm don't feel the gears during that deceleration and I wanted visual confirmation. Fixating on that as an X instead of Y thing is ignoring that I want to be able to look off the side of the road and identify that skunk that's preparing to cross the road without having to, like, wiggle my front end to get a quick peek with the headlight. Some of my riding is in areas that aren't illuminated at night at all. aldantefax posted:Speaking of gearing, are there any major thoughts on the stepless gearing featured in an nuVinci / Enviolo setup vs. your standard chain and derailleur? The primary bike I was trying before I settled down was using one. I think they're okay for Class 2 e-bikes but they can't sustain themselves at higher ebike speeds. I ran into some glitches with mine and ultimately gave up on it; it would keep losing track of what it was doing and I was just stuck in whatever gear. It's enclosed and you can't really do anything about it. The parts you can do stuff about are rather fickle, and that's just for repair. The only method to adjust anything is your crank sprocket, which just makes everything faster/lower-torque or slower/higher-torque. The first bike I got with that on it had a fully-working transmission and it was fine other than tapering off around 16mph. I had to return that bike because the headlight wiring had been crushed inside the controller/motor housing. I'm saying that so you don't think they all are broken. It was convenient when I wasn't going fast. You could set a cadence you wanted and it would shift to maintain it. It just turned out with a 750W motor that gear was almost always the fastest gear anyways so I wasn't really taking advantage of it. I decided against changing my crank's sprocket to increase speed because I needed to keep the slowest gear if I didn't have any power. aldantefax posted:I also found this interesting video about belt drives, basically they are good all the way up to 30K km? That seems nuts, but I'd believe it: Yeah they're pretty cool. People complain that if they're shot that you can't do a spot repair on them. The counter is to just keep a spare belt, because who the hell replaces a chain link on the side of the road anyways. I'm thinking of switching to a belt system after I've chewed through this transmission I'm using with a direct-drive motor.
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Aug 21, 2020 17:30
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See if your ebike has a throttle, you don't have to worry about where you gear is in front of the red light.
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Aug 21, 2020 17:42
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Nah mang, if you're trying to win a The Fast & The Electric style e-bike street race you gotta flip through the gears
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Aug 21, 2020 17:49
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Man I wish the Brompton electric bike was better. It has a terrible user interface to control the motor, especially at it's price point.
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Aug 21, 2020 17:59
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stephenthinkpad posted:See if your ebike has a throttle, you don't have to worry about where you gear is in front of the red light. Tell that to my poor mid-drive chain.
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Aug 21, 2020 18:02
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Oh yeah I forgot about hub drive. Jam on the throttle if you got a hub drive, do whatever
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Aug 21, 2020 19:22
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So I did a thing today. Southern end of the Henry Hudson Trail in Freehold.  The furthest north you can get to in Sandy Hook on a bike trail.  My end to end trek on the Henry Hudson Trail. My total ride today started in Aberdeen (next town over West of Hazlet) going down the trail to Freehold, then Northward to Atlantic Highlands, walk to Sandy Hook from there to take a break from riding for so long, and then back on the bike through Sandy Hook. All of that was effectively without power assist (really only used it as a boost start after waiting at intersections) and boy are my legs feeling it. I jog about 6km five to seven times a week so I was not expecting it to get that bad. I was definitely grateful for the power assist on the trek home. It's also why I didn't end up taking any other pictures because I was pooped by the end of Sandy Hook.
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Aug 23, 2020 02:52
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Edward IV posted:So I did a thing today. Hell yeah nice trip report! I just ticked over 300 miles on my Gazelle, and aside from some minor issues it's a wonderful bike. Fingers crossed that I can double that before I (maybe) have ankle surgery later this fall/winter.  I also got the Race Face pedals spwrozek recommended installed. The grip is still great and they don't cut up my shins. They kinda clash with the paint on the bike, but I don't mind so much.
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Aug 23, 2020 22:40
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I rode about 10 miles up and back on the South County Trail in West Chester, New York yesterday: https://parks.westchestergov.com/images/stories/pdfs/SCT2017TrailwaysMap.pdf  The section of the trail in Van Cortlandt Park was closed, so I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get onto the trail. The best way was some sketchy path north of the park down streets that were busier than I would have liked. The trail itself was really lovely with the exception of some patches up north where the pavement was torn up. I decided to mess with carrying multiple batteries. Started on my 400Wh and ran that down until the range said 10 miles. Carrying the 500Wh in my pannier was easy, and swapping it over was very smooth. I still might get one of those Ortleib battery panniers because my regular pannier felt stuffed with battery + water + U lock. Also experimented with taking my bike on the subway. Not too bad on a Sunday morning when the train cars weren't crowded. Getting my bike through the accessibility gates was a pain; I think I need to just go through the regular turnstile then pop the gate open to drag my bike through. Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 15:28 on Aug 31, 2020 |
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Aug 31, 2020 15:25
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Safety Dance posted:I decided to mess with carrying multiple batteries. Started on my 400Wh and ran that down until the range said 10 miles. How many miles did it start at?
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Sep 1, 2020 06:09
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kimbo305 posted:How many miles did it start at? 40-some? I used that battery for errands earlier in the week, and the trail started with a long rear end climb so range numbers were all over the place. I bumped the assist up from Eco to Tour on the way back so that "10 miles" isn't an apples-to-apples comparison.
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Sep 1, 2020 15:13
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Safety Dance posted:40-some? I used that battery for errands earlier in the week, and the trail started with a long rear end climb so range numbers were all over the place. I bumped the assist up from Eco to Tour on the way back so that "10 miles" isn't an apples-to-apples comparison. So how much milage can you get out of the 2 batteries on a flat terrain touring day?
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Sep 1, 2020 17:31
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I've only run the 400wh battery through one cycle so I don't know it yet, but if I had to guess I'd say about 90, all on Eco (assuming I was fit enough to comfortably ride 90 miles in a day). Maybe 50 if I bumped it up to Tour.
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Sep 1, 2020 18:07
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90 miles in 5-7 hours seem pretty doable, you would have to stay in a motel or campsite with hookup to recharge them.
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Sep 1, 2020 18:16
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stephenthinkpad posted:90 miles in 5-7 hours seem pretty doable, you would have to stay in a motel or campsite with hookup to recharge them. Yeah. It's been too hot for me to spend more than a few hours riding per day until recently. I've got an overnight camping trip planned out (about 60 miles each way), just need to find the time to do it. It might not happen until the spring.
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Sep 1, 2020 21:45
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Safety Dance posted:Yeah. It's been too hot for me to spend more than a few hours riding per day until recently. I've got an overnight camping trip planned out (about 60 miles each way), just need to find the time to do it. It might not happen until the spring. Off topic, just got back from a KOA cabin trip with 2 other families from Delaware Watergap, loved it. Booked another trip 2 weeks from now. I would ride more if I don't have a kid. But here in NY there is not a lot of bike lane that can connect to any beach or camp site. I would love to drive to Cape Cod and cycle for a couple days, but my wife doesn't like Cape cod for some reason.
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Sep 2, 2020 00:07
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How often do you all go through tubes? I just had my ride on the Henry Hudson Trail cut short because the tube on the rear powered wheel literally popped. And this is the second time I've had the rear tube fail and I've only had the bike for less than a year. The front tube is still original. I've never had tube failures this frequent. I wonder if it's because of the extra mass of the motor, the small diameter of the tire, the lack of a rear suspension so the tire takes the full brunt of the weight of myself and the battery, or a combination of those. At least I have a spare tube which I was intending to use for the front when it fail. Edward IV fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Sep 5, 2020 |
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Sep 5, 2020 18:51
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I change a pair of slime tubes every year. Usually before a leak happen.
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Sep 5, 2020 18:59
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Yeah, I had two rear tubes fail within two weeks of each other. This is partially because the first replacement I bought was too small, and partially (according to the Bicycle Maintenance thread) because I needed to swap to cloth rim tape. I'm running a Slime tube on my rear now and it seems to have lasted a month at least.
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Sep 5, 2020 22:15
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