I just looked the winning bid was £1000 (there was only one bid). That's nearly 50% loss in 6 months.
2018 ORBEA GAIN
- Thread starter willcee
- Start date
It doesn't say it was sold on ebay with the successful bidder etc. but that the listing was "ended"
I'd suggest that it may not have sold but was withdrawn - possibly as the seller may have had an "off ebay" offer and taken that to avoid the fees - or that it wasn't close enough to what the seller wanted so withdrew it saying that it was "sold".
But perhaps I'm just a cynic?
Rob
I'd suggest that it may not have sold but was withdrawn - possibly as the seller may have had an "off ebay" offer and taken that to avoid the fees - or that it wasn't close enough to what the seller wanted so withdrew it saying that it was "sold".
But perhaps I'm just a cynic?
Rob
I've never bought anything from ebay so don't really know the ins and outs of it. You know where it says the listing has ended, in the box above that it says winning bid in small writing and then next to it in bold writing it says £1000.
I assumed that means someone bid £1000 and got the item, if that's not the case then I've no idea how this all works.
What actually happened is someone on ebay offered me £1200 ahead of the auction. I agreed, but bids started at £1000. So he had to bid at £1000 and transfer the rest separately.
Just to add to the various Gain experiences on the forum - I've had a Gain D10 (2018 model - Ultegra) since July 2018. I live in Barcelona and so far I've done just shy of 1000km on it around the hills of Catalonia - an average of 60km with 1,250m of climbing per ride and I've never had any issues with running out of battery - I generally get to amber or very occasionally red. I have reached the red flashing stage of the battery (less than 5%) but this was on the longest rides I've done - around 85km with around 1600m of climbing. However I would be interested in the bottle battery (if it ever happens), since I'm thinking of using the bike as a tourer, although meanwhile I'll probably take the charger with me (which isn't very heavy) and rely on the kindness of bar owners en route...
Like others, I too tend to leave the assist off completely on the flats and just turn it on for steeper hills - I find it rides nicely without the power on, I hardly notice the extra weight (it's about 3kg heavier than my steel fast touring bike), although it's certainly not as responsive.
It's a brilliant bike and one that adds another dimension to my riding - I agree with Captain Sisko that I'm not losing fitness by using it, in fact I'm probably gaining it. I still love to take the 'old' (stream driven?) bike out as well - that lightness and responsiveness is still something I love.
Getting back to the original purpose of this post - a spare battery. I am writing to say that you can do it and it is easy(ish).
I bought a 36v 6.4AH bottle battery on AliExpress that fits into a water bottle cage. That is about the same capacity as the Orbea internal battery, which is 6.9 AH. It cost under $200 USD. After a few weeks it arrived with its own bottle cage, and charger. It is exactly the same dimensions as a large 21 oz water bottle, and about a pound heavier. .
Then I purchased several types of connectors on Amazon and modified them with a Dremel tool. This took about half a day of trial and error to create an adapter cord to fit between the Bottle battery and the Orbea Charging port.
Then I charged both Bottle battery and Orbea battery to full, and verified with a multimeter that the voltages on both batteries were within 0.25 volts of each other. (see previous post as to why). To check the Orbea battery, system has to be on for the port terminals to be hot - otherwise the terminals are cold.
I plugged in the bottle battery into the Orbea charge port, flipped the switch on the side of the bottle and the iWOC lit up white, not pulsing. I proceeded to ride a 35 mile ride with 2000 ft vertical which in the past used up ALL of the Orbea internal battery. This ride I returned with 45% of battery, according to the app; in other words the external battery fed the internal battery to effectively double the capacity.
It isnt perfect - when stopped for a rest, if I didn't turn the bottle battery off, the Orbea electronics froze up, but were reset by turning the bottle off, then the ORbea off, then turning both back on again with the bottle battery switch. Its not a simple parallel connection, there is some electronic switching in the Orbea BMS. But the point is it works, and I didn't cause any (apparent) damage in 35 miles, the cost is very affordable and it is attached and removed as easily as a water bottle.
Building one requires a small modicum of electrical knowledge, a general purpose multimeter, and a good dremel tool with a variety of attachments. The charging port wiring can also be easily accessed by removing the black plastic cover on the bottom of the bike, exposing the wires. I am thinking of taping directly into these now that I know it works, to bypass the flimsy charging port, which was not spec'd to handle more than 2 amps. IF you did this, you would not need to customize a connector.
Finally I would add that it seemed the bike had quite a bit more power in Red mode; I was able to climb steep hills 12%) more easily. I have yet to try it on the 16% grade near my home, which I could not climb with the stock system.
I am going to experiment further, and consider ordering the 36v 10.2 AH bottle battery that runs about $300 USD. This is a bit longer than a standard water bottle but still fits into a bike bottle cage. This would make it possible to ride 100 miles with 6000 vertical, which on occasion my group does.
I bought a 36v 6.4AH bottle battery on AliExpress that fits into a water bottle cage. That is about the same capacity as the Orbea internal battery, which is 6.9 AH. It cost under $200 USD. After a few weeks it arrived with its own bottle cage, and charger. It is exactly the same dimensions as a large 21 oz water bottle, and about a pound heavier. .
Then I purchased several types of connectors on Amazon and modified them with a Dremel tool. This took about half a day of trial and error to create an adapter cord to fit between the Bottle battery and the Orbea Charging port.
Then I charged both Bottle battery and Orbea battery to full, and verified with a multimeter that the voltages on both batteries were within 0.25 volts of each other. (see previous post as to why). To check the Orbea battery, system has to be on for the port terminals to be hot - otherwise the terminals are cold.
I plugged in the bottle battery into the Orbea charge port, flipped the switch on the side of the bottle and the iWOC lit up white, not pulsing. I proceeded to ride a 35 mile ride with 2000 ft vertical which in the past used up ALL of the Orbea internal battery. This ride I returned with 45% of battery, according to the app; in other words the external battery fed the internal battery to effectively double the capacity.
It isnt perfect - when stopped for a rest, if I didn't turn the bottle battery off, the Orbea electronics froze up, but were reset by turning the bottle off, then the ORbea off, then turning both back on again with the bottle battery switch. Its not a simple parallel connection, there is some electronic switching in the Orbea BMS. But the point is it works, and I didn't cause any (apparent) damage in 35 miles, the cost is very affordable and it is attached and removed as easily as a water bottle.
Building one requires a small modicum of electrical knowledge, a general purpose multimeter, and a good dremel tool with a variety of attachments. The charging port wiring can also be easily accessed by removing the black plastic cover on the bottom of the bike, exposing the wires. I am thinking of taping directly into these now that I know it works, to bypass the flimsy charging port, which was not spec'd to handle more than 2 amps. IF you did this, you would not need to customize a connector.
Finally I would add that it seemed the bike had quite a bit more power in Red mode; I was able to climb steep hills 12%) more easily. I have yet to try it on the 16% grade near my home, which I could not climb with the stock system.
I am going to experiment further, and consider ordering the 36v 10.2 AH bottle battery that runs about $300 USD. This is a bit longer than a standard water bottle but still fits into a bike bottle cage. This would make it possible to ride 100 miles with 6000 vertical, which on occasion my group does.
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