I've recently electrified my wife's bike. I did my research and fitted a Bafang 250W mid-drive motor with 40T Lekkie 'bling-ring', whilst upgrading the rear shifting to 11-speed in order to get a low-as-easily-possible bottom gear via an 11-51T cassette. It's great, she can now ride up anything Derbyshire County Council cares to spread tarmac on and a lot that they don't - although we haven't yet tried it on Bamford Clough!
That's provided Helen can start somewhere flat-ish and doesn't have to stop for anything partway up. For good reasons I won't go into here, although she's a most experienced rider, starting off has never been easy and lately she's become unable to launch into the saddle until the bike is well under way. I hoped that E-assist would help with that too, but it hasn't. If anything, the extra weight has made starting more difficult - especially uphill.
Here's what happens: the right pedal goes down, the bike goes forward and does receive a nice little electric boost - that immediately dies away, because the pedals are not moving any more, so the bike slows down again before she feels sufficiently confident to commit. A higher gear works better, that and max assist gives enough of a push, enough speed that lasts just long enough on a slight upward slope, for Helen to feel that the bike is moving well enough to risk putting ALL of her weight on that downward pedal, sit on the saddle and find the left pedal with her other foot, then PEDAL! That's improving her starting confidence, but I can't see it ever being enough for the really steep hills, where the the bike stops very promptly once the right pedal is down and there's no more power. By the way, I have set the controller so that power kicks in after only one pole has passed the cadence sensor.
I thought that walk-assist ought to do the trick. If the bike would just go at walking pace, that should nevertheless be enough for Helen to commit and pedal on. But sadly, the Bafang mid-drive's walk assist mode seems to be limited by chainwheel cadence, rather than actual road speed, to a slow enough motor rpm to ensure that 3.7mph is not exceeded even in the highest gear that any receiving bike is ever likely to be equipped with! As Helen's bike is geared quite low, it goes even slower than that, even in top - strolling rather than walking pace. And the torque also seems to be limited in walk-assist mode, to just enough to move the bike, not both bike and rider and certainly not in top gear up a steep hill!
Can anyone suggest some way of getting into the deep settings of the controller, so as to make walk-assist more speedy and powerful? The display is model 500C.
I realise that the simple solution would be to fit the throttle that came in the kit. But Helen doesn't want anything illegal on her bike. And all she really needs is a starter button delivering full power and any legal speed for say three seconds, then cut. I expect you'd get that result by briefly connecting two of the three wires in the redundant-in-UK throttle cable dangling temptingly from the handlebars. But can one buy such thing as a Bafang starter button ready made? I realise that would be illegal too, but a stronger argument could be made for such a gadget, especially if it were designed so it couldn't be pressed continuously and timed out for say 30 seconds, before resetting.
I know another cyclist who's lately got an E-bike - that gets him up the hills but doesn't get him started. He's a very strong rider on the flat (we all tuck in behind when Dave gets rolling!), but that's all thanks to his left leg. His right leg has nerve-damage and isn't sufficiently strong or controllable to push the pedal down for a hill start, or to stand on while his left leg does the job. So he points his bike down the hill then does a U-turn. Not easy on any road, very tricky on a steep hill and possible only if the road is wide enough, which most steep hills aren't! A starter button is exactly what Dave needs too and if E-bikes are supposed to help less able cyclists, I think he should be allowed to have one. So does anyone know if it's possible to add such a feature to a Ribble E-road bike equipped with the Mahle hub?
That's provided Helen can start somewhere flat-ish and doesn't have to stop for anything partway up. For good reasons I won't go into here, although she's a most experienced rider, starting off has never been easy and lately she's become unable to launch into the saddle until the bike is well under way. I hoped that E-assist would help with that too, but it hasn't. If anything, the extra weight has made starting more difficult - especially uphill.
Here's what happens: the right pedal goes down, the bike goes forward and does receive a nice little electric boost - that immediately dies away, because the pedals are not moving any more, so the bike slows down again before she feels sufficiently confident to commit. A higher gear works better, that and max assist gives enough of a push, enough speed that lasts just long enough on a slight upward slope, for Helen to feel that the bike is moving well enough to risk putting ALL of her weight on that downward pedal, sit on the saddle and find the left pedal with her other foot, then PEDAL! That's improving her starting confidence, but I can't see it ever being enough for the really steep hills, where the the bike stops very promptly once the right pedal is down and there's no more power. By the way, I have set the controller so that power kicks in after only one pole has passed the cadence sensor.
I thought that walk-assist ought to do the trick. If the bike would just go at walking pace, that should nevertheless be enough for Helen to commit and pedal on. But sadly, the Bafang mid-drive's walk assist mode seems to be limited by chainwheel cadence, rather than actual road speed, to a slow enough motor rpm to ensure that 3.7mph is not exceeded even in the highest gear that any receiving bike is ever likely to be equipped with! As Helen's bike is geared quite low, it goes even slower than that, even in top - strolling rather than walking pace. And the torque also seems to be limited in walk-assist mode, to just enough to move the bike, not both bike and rider and certainly not in top gear up a steep hill!
Can anyone suggest some way of getting into the deep settings of the controller, so as to make walk-assist more speedy and powerful? The display is model 500C.
I realise that the simple solution would be to fit the throttle that came in the kit. But Helen doesn't want anything illegal on her bike. And all she really needs is a starter button delivering full power and any legal speed for say three seconds, then cut. I expect you'd get that result by briefly connecting two of the three wires in the redundant-in-UK throttle cable dangling temptingly from the handlebars. But can one buy such thing as a Bafang starter button ready made? I realise that would be illegal too, but a stronger argument could be made for such a gadget, especially if it were designed so it couldn't be pressed continuously and timed out for say 30 seconds, before resetting.
I know another cyclist who's lately got an E-bike - that gets him up the hills but doesn't get him started. He's a very strong rider on the flat (we all tuck in behind when Dave gets rolling!), but that's all thanks to his left leg. His right leg has nerve-damage and isn't sufficiently strong or controllable to push the pedal down for a hill start, or to stand on while his left leg does the job. So he points his bike down the hill then does a U-turn. Not easy on any road, very tricky on a steep hill and possible only if the road is wide enough, which most steep hills aren't! A starter button is exactly what Dave needs too and if E-bikes are supposed to help less able cyclists, I think he should be allowed to have one. So does anyone know if it's possible to add such a feature to a Ribble E-road bike equipped with the Mahle hub?
