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[flecc]

Hello Falco, welcome to the Forum, and congratulations on your new Salisbury. Don't worry, this is the right place to post.

NiMh batteries are best when used to empty, but that's not important every time, as long as you use to empty or nearly so occasionally, say one in ten times they last a long time.

Once the charger light goes green, the battery is fully charged and can be unplugged. Subsequent charges like this are normally much shorter than theory indicates, since there's still quite a lot in the battery despite it seeming to be fairly empty on the bike. The bike will cut usage while the battery still has around 1.1 volts in each cell to protect them from excess discharge.

Basically, just use and enjoy, and rest happy in the knowledge that Powacycle's replacement batteries are by far the cheapest on the market.

Many of us buy them to use the insides to recell other batteries or to use as backup batteries on other bikes.
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[Falco]

Thanks for your welcome.
I think I'm probably over-worried about getting everything "just so".
But you're right - I won't be too fussy, and just settle down to enjoying the bike!

[JamesC]

Thanks to Peter, Flecc and Ian for explanations and guidance.

My Torq is now re-geared with 45T chainwheel, 12-32 cassette and Alivio derailleur. Also fitted the Schwalbe M+ 38C tyres with Schwalbe AV17 tubes, and reset Velo5 to the 619 circumference.

All went well - I was pleased to find on Flecc's site that the plastic plate behind the Shimano cassette is the cause of windup in the chain - the new cassette fouled on the plastic, causing lots of slack on top run of chain in freewheel. Removed the plastic and the freewheel is fine.

In all other respects, no hitches, and a pleasure to ride today. Feel is much more like my road bike of many years past, and now able to provide some useful assistance when motor slows on hills.

"Confort grips" with throttle mod next.

James

[flecc]

Well done James, there's nothing to equal a personalised bike for riding contentment and performance.
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[Chris]

Hello all-Im a decrepit 67 year old, totally unfit,wishing to become fitter and recapture my youth
Am considering buying a Forza,but from scouring web I understand it is vital to take gradients into account.
Living in Ombersley (Worcestershire) the hills range thro 7%-9-14-16-and 20% and am hoping for your advice and comments as to if the Forza (or any other bike) can cope with my 6Ft 92Kgs bulk.Also Im after comfort with a sit up and beg . Look forewords to your comments.

[flecc]

Hi Chris, welcome to the forum, and be assured that you are a mere youngster to many of us, 71 years in my case.

The Forza is about as powerful as e-bikes get, peaking at near 700 watts of power, that's almost one horsepower. Most e-bikes peak around 400 watts, so the Forza is a good choice for a hub motor bike.

However, you will need to make a reasonable contribution to handle an 18% or 20% hill, since these are electric assist and not autocycles. That won't mean an impossible effort if you are just moderately fit, but if very unfit, you might struggle a bit.

It does have throttle control, so if you hit an odd very steep bit that you feel the need to walk up, you can walk easily alongside and use the left hand twistgrip throttle for the bike to take it's own weight up the hill. This makes things very different from the old days of hard work pushing the bike as well. You can rotate the handlebar extension up so that a sit upright position is possible for someone with good reach, which your 6 foot should provide ok.

In theory it's better for steep hills to have a bike with a motor that drives through the chain and gears, so that a change down is possible as in a car. They are as rare as hen's teeth these days, the lowest price example being the Gazelle Easy rider at about £1450. However, it uses the not very powerful Panasonic motor system (390 watts max) and has a 1/1 system. In other words, you have to equal what the motor puts in, and in any event, climbing is very slow on steep hills. That said, given enough time it will climb just about anything.

The only other really powerful bike that can climb steep stuff is the Powabyke, but that's a very heavy bike, not in the same class as the others and is still a bit less capable than the Forza and also nothing like as fast.

Hope that's some help to you.

I'm also in a hilly area with up to 20% not uncommon, the odd 22.5% and even a tiny stretch of 33%. I have a drive through gears bike with the Panasonic system and also two hub motor bikes and prefer the latter pair as they climb what they can much faster than the first. Neither of them is as powerful as the Forza, but I'm more like 70 kilos and quite fit, so I still get up the hills ok.
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[Chris]

Flecc-Thank you for your comments-very helpful.The Easy Rlider,I keep seeing Easy Glider-is this the sme bike?
What do you think of the Quando.Any further comments would be much apreciated.

[flecc]

Yes, I think Easy Glider may be correct, I only usually use Gazelle for short.

I very much like the Quando and it was one of my bikes, but I've now converted it into my Q bike. The Quando is a great hill climber on motor alone, but as it only has one gear of nearly 70", the rider can only help between about 8 and 14 mph. As a result, it can't handle the steepest hills. It can carry my 70 kilos up 12% without pedalling and can even restart on that without help on that. When the battery is freshly charged it can do it on 14%, but even with me helping with a lot of effort, 20% is a bit too much with that high single gear. With your extra weight it would probably be impossible.

I therefore did a major conversion to add gears and make many other changes, but that's not easily done as you'll see here if you're interested.

You can also read about it in it's original Quando form on my web page here.
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[PaulC]

Hi,
I'm based in Auckland in New Zealand and thinking of buying an electric bike. Originally I read a great book about the development of GM's electric car, the EV1, and wanted to build an electric car. However the cost was too much (see the website Gav's New Zealand Electric Vehicle Conversion for another NZer who is doing this) and I settled for the idea of an electric assisted bicycle as I have always owned bicycles (currently a Brompton and a Dutch roadster, just sold the Raleigh Sports).
Hence I've been using this forum and website to find out all about buying and running an electric bike. It's great information as electric bikes in NZ are very rare beasts and our local bike shops are totally unaware - there is just not the demand there is in England, the USA and Europe.
Cheers
Paul

[flecc]

Hello Paul, welcome to the forum, and I think you may be our first Southern Hemisphere resident member, though we do have some NZ ex-pat members with us in the UK.

Do you know what e-bikes are available in New Zealand, I'd imagine the choice might be limited? Even though you're on the edge of the water, it looks on Google Earth as though you have some serious hills around to contend with, so something quite powerful called for if an easy life is wanted.

Let us know about the available bikes and your intended use, we're always interested in other's areas and experiences, and I hope you'll be able to get e-biking before long.
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