Ebikes: Advice for people considering getting an ebike

This year, we have two new bikes with electric assist. I have learned a lot about such things. Telling about my experience, others often say they are considering getting an ebike. Typically people don’t know much about them. I have learned a few things worth sharing.

Before buying an ebike, ride it with the motor turned off. If the experience is unpleasant, range anxiety will be a much bigger concern than if the unpowered bike is pleasant to ride. Both of our bikes are bike models which are made for use with or without a motor. Sometimes I don’t bother turning the motor on. Note: you can ignore this advice if you only ever intend short rides and are not fussed about having something which is only pleasant with electrical help.

Consider having a motor and battery added to your existing bike*. If you have a bike that you enjoy, adding a motor and battery is an option that will result in a cheaper and lighter weight bike that you enjoy, with or without electrical help. If in Melbourne, I highly recommend Rebecca at Rev-Bikes in Nunawading, a business with strong ethical, environmental and safety standards that can make any bike into an ebike. They also sell new bikes with ebike components added and factory ebikes.

Rev-Bikes are also familiar with recumbent bikes, so this is the business where we take our bikes. They added hydraulic brakes to both our bikes, and identified and rectified other issues: chain stretch due to use of a standard chain rather than a stronger ebike chain; absence of gear-change sensors which stresses the system like changing gears in a manual car without a clutch.

Mid-motor versus hub motor: Many people believe ‘mid-motors are better’. This is false as a general statement. Many cyclists do not change gears frequently, and specifically do not change to low gear before stopping. Mid-motors use the gears of the bike. Bikes with mid-motors should start in low gear and gradually gear up, like driving a manual car. Starting in high gear strains the motor, just as starting a manual car in high gear strains the motor/gearbox system. If you are a regular cyclist and do not routinely change to low gear before stopping, don’t choose an ebike with a mid-motor. Your habits will not change with an ebike. You are better off with a hub motor.

Our bikes both have mid-motors and I am a cyclist who usually changes down to low gear to stat up from stationary. However, I am also a cyclist largely used to riding a bike with internal hub gears that can be changed when stopped. I am much more comfortable with the Trigo hub gears (so I can change to low when stopped), than with the Ahoogah derailleur gears (with which I need to change down prior to stopping).

I wish I had insisted on hub gears when the Ahoogah was being made. Aside from gear-changing advantages of hub gears, derailleurs are delicate components that can be damaged negotiating sharp bends like the one outside our house between the footpath and the ramp up to the bike path, especially with a bike that is long, wide, and low. If you don’t know about hub gears, and many cyclist do not as they are rare, they are a feature I love, and highly recommend. But they are outside the scope of this post.

Torque sensors versus cadence sensors: Most ebikes do not have torque sensors. Cadence sensors give more assistance at higher speeds. This can be annoying when cycling down gradual hills because the motor control system wants to give you more assistance at a time you do not need it. (On steep hills when braking, brake sensors will prevent motor assistance.) With cadence sensors it is like you are being pushed or pulled along. Torque sensors, in contrast, feel how hard you are pushing the pedals. The harder you push the pedals, the greater the assistance provided. I understand that they feel like your legs are ultra-strong. (I haven’t ridden a bike with a torque sensor, but it is a feature I would look for if buying an ebike.) My brother Jim has an ebike with a torque sensor and he loves it.

Range: A common question is ‘What range do you get?’. It depends on how we ride. We can set to five different levels of assistance. Changing level at any time changes the remaining range displayed. With the highest level of assistance, range is lowest. I typically ride both bikes at level 3, changing to 4 or 5 for climbing steep hills. I only use levels 1 and 2 when I am trying to conserve battery in order to not run it down to zero before getting home.

I prefer no assistance descending steep hills. For hilly terrain, I change the motor controller from 5 levels to 9. Set to 9 levels, levels 2, 4, 6, 8 & 9 correspond to levels 1-5 when set on 5 levels. I have had Rev Bikes program the controller so that levels 3, 5, and 7 turn off the motor. That allows me to easily turn off the motor for descents without having to go through many other levels one by one to get to zero. For our normal riding, we keep the controller set at 5 levels.

Batteries: The battery is likely the biggest, heaviest and costliest component of an ebike. A battery replacement might cost half the cost of the bike. They vary internally and it is virtually impossible to know about battery quality.

Our Ahoogah came with a Cap Rouge battery. Rebecca at Rev-Bikes used to source batteries from Cap Rouge, and insisted that high quality fuses be installed in them. When Cap Rouge changed hands, the new owner was unwilling to continue to supply batteries with the quality fuses Rebecca insisted on, so she changed her supplier to one willing to supply to her high standards.

Old ebikes had lead-acid batteries like cars – very heavy. Modern ebikes mostly have lithium-ion batteries which are much lighter. Battery size is a trade-off. The bigger they are, the more range they will provide, but bigger batteries are heavier. On both our bikes, the batteries weigh about 5kg – for 20Ah and 24Ah batteries. Jim’s bike has a much smaller and lighter battery. His bike is light-weight and fun to ride with or without electrical assistance, so he is unconcerned about range.

Transport: We chose our Ahoogah partly because it was the only side-by-side bike we could find which was low enough and light enough for transport on the roof of our car. The manufacturer knew that when we ordered the bike and gave advice about roof carrier design. Despite that history with them, when we picked up the new bike, they recommended not carrying it on the roof of a car. It was only much later that I learned some actual advice about transporting an ebike outside a vehicle at car speeds (from Rebecca at Rev-Bikes):

• 110 km/h is much faster than ebikes travel. Being in a 110km/h wind moves water horizontally – a direction not necessarily designed for.
• Always remove the battery before transporting an ebike. This removes the risk of water entering the battery when travelling at high speeds. (It also makes the bike lighter to load.)
• Add silicone around electrical wires where they enter the motor or other casings – to prevent water ingress, especially on the upwind side.
• To the extent you can, cover electrical components with a waterproof bag.

These suggestions apply whether an ebike is being transported on a roof-top carrier, a towbar carrier, or on a caravan or trailer. The expected direction of wind will differ for these different modes of transport.

Legalities

Throttles: Legally in Australia, ebike throttles should not function faster than 6 km/h. I mostly use throttles to assist to accelerate from stationary, like starting after traffic lights or a stop sign. I like to be able to accelerate like the motor vehicles around me. Coming from a cycling background, it does not occur to me to use a throttle instead of pedals. But I do see many ebike riders who ride that way. My main low-speed throttle use was after a flat tyre – wheeling the bike home with Antigone on it, the low-speed throttle was a great help.

Motor-size: The maximum legal size for an ebike motor for road use in Victoria is 250W average continuous output. Both of our bikes have 250W motors. Rebecca at Rev Bikes thinks 250W is underpowered for the heavy Ahoogah which might be pushing a load of 200kg. Her view is that the 250W limit is for a 1-person bike and that 500W would be more appropriate for our bike.

Speed: Legally, ebike motors can only assist up to speeds of 25 km/h. This does not mean that ebikes cannot go faster than that. Like all bikes, there is no maximum speed. It just means that over 25 km/h, power comes from pedalling and/or gravity rather and not from the motor. Motor controllers typically have settings that can be changed to specify the user’s desired maximum speed for motor assistance. Thus, legal ebikes can be made illegal.

*A Word of Caution for Victorians: Unfortunately, Metro Trains Melbourne recently decided to ban carrying all bikes with motor assist added, rather than just the shonky ones. If you intend to take your bike on Melbourne Trains, a factory ebike may make more sense for you.