Bafang wins at the 24 hour E-Bike race at the Nurburgring

tommie

Esteemed Pedelecer
Mar 13, 2013
1,760
600
Co. Down, N. Ireland, U.K.
Apparently Bafang used their Max Mid Drive System for this. Seems to be a torque sensing 36v 250-350W item with 80nM torque - looks interesting.

Anyone with any experience of this motor?
 

Kinninvie

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 5, 2013
907
415
Teesdale,England
Not sure I fancy a "longstanding ring experience" !!
Good to see it lasted the distance though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jonathan75

EddiePJ

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jul 7, 2013
4,632
4,011
Crowborough, East Sussex
www.facebook.com
Well done Bafang that was a real test !
Unlike the annual ride up a hill in Bristol for the so called "World Championship".
That has certainly become a bit of a standing joke. :D

It kind of reminds me of being a world champion in your own lunch break.

Another more meaningful World Championships below. Oxygen didn't make this one either. KTM came third though.

http://singletrackworld.com/2015/06/e-bike-worlds/

http://www.elektrorad-magazin.de/nachrichten/wheeler-bionx-sieger-e-bike-weltmeisterschaft



.
 
Last edited:

SteveRuss

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2015
566
263
57
Bristol, Uk
A bold track to take on for sure. Shame though that this world championship seems to be just against a Bafang motor and the Bosch motor..
 

oldtom

Esteemed Pedelecer
Has anybody seen the invitation list circulated to all the potential attendees? What I'm interested to know is whether or not the makers or suppliers of EAPCs powered by motors from sources other than those quoted were ever asked if they'd like to participate.

Not unlike the American baseball tournament known as 'The World Series', this gathering of seemingly selected participants cannot really be taken seriously if half the interested parties from around the world don't even merit an invitation.

Tom
 
  • Like
Reactions: SteveRuss

One_Box

Pedelecer
Jul 29, 2014
174
66
Leominster
Maybe the other major manufacturers didn't have enough confidence in their products. It seems unlikely they were not invited.
 

SteveRuss

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2015
566
263
57
Bristol, Uk
Maybe the other major manufacturers didn't have enough confidence in their products. It seems unlikely they were not invited.
I would have thought that Panasonic, Yamaha and Impulse motors would have wanted to have a go.

It sounds more like the 'Bosch World Series' than anything. Obviously with the lone wolf being the winner which didn't work out so well for Bosch..!
 
Last edited:
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
Well done Bafang that was a real test !
Unlike the annual ride up a hill in Bristol for the so called "World Championship".
Actually, the short Brisol climb gives a much more realistic view of the difference between the bikes and is more meaningful to the average forum member. I'll tell you why.

All the bikes in both tests are limited to 25 km/h, so no advantage there. Put a fit cyclist on any of the bikes and he can pedal above 25 km/h most if not all the time. In the Tour de France, they average well over 30 km/h for a 100 miles a day, and that includes climbs that would terrorise us. Racing round the Nurbourg Ring with a team of trained cyclists therefore tells you more bout the cyclists and the bikes than the motor system.

If you had watched the Bristol event, you would have seen that in most races, the guy that won was the one that got his power down earliest to get an immediate 10 meter lead. That's why a non-cyclist beat semi-pros. He simply opened the throttle and left the crank-drives with torque sensors trying to find the right gear. In most cases they caught up about about 75% of the way up, but by then they were nackered because of the extra efort they needed o catch up. With not enough energy to get the maximum torque on their pedals, they flagged and the non-torque sensored bike pulled away again. That's why a non-cyclist won. The bike that gets its power the easiest and quickest has the advantage on a race like that.

That's more meaningful than a load of trained cyclists racing around above the assist limit. I bet Team Sky would have trounced the lot of them in the same race on their bikes without any power at all. It would be nice to get the data of the actual lap speeds from that race.

Whatever race anybody does for electric bikes, you have to be careful about drawing conclusions from it. The more different races they do, the better because people learn things which drive development.

I can now do my hilly 37 mile circuit on my road bike at a higher average speed than I can on my electric bike. Let's say I put a 3v motor on it and a couple of AA batteries, so that you could call in an electric bike, and then raced myself round the same circuit on the two bikes. The road electric bike would win. Would that make it the superior electric bike? Would it be more efficient? Which one would you describe as the best?
 

SteveRuss

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 12, 2015
566
263
57
Bristol, Uk
Actually, the short Brisol climb gives a much more realistic view of the difference between the bikes and is more meaningful to the average forum member. I'll tell you why.

All the bikes in both tests are limited to 25 km/h, so no advantage there. Put a fit cyclist on any of the bikes and he can pedal above 25 km/h most if not all the time. In the Tour de France, they average well over 30 km/h for a 100 miles a day, and that includes climbs that would terrorise us. Racing round the Nurbourg Ring with a team of trained cyclists therefore tells you more bout the cyclists and the bikes than the motor system.

If you had watched the Bristol event, you would have seen that in most races, the guy that won was the one that got his power down earliest to get an immediate 10 meter lead. That's why a non-cyclist beat semi-pros. He simply opened the throttle and left the crank-drives with torque sensors trying to find the right gear. In most cases they caught up about about 75% of the way up, but by then they were nackered because of the extra efort they needed o catch up. With not enough energy to get the maximum torque on their pedals, they flagged and the non-torque sensored bike pulled away again. That's why a non-cyclist won. The bike that gets its power the easiest and quickest has the advantage on a race like that.

That's more meaningful than a load of trained cyclists racing around above the assist limit.
I've ridden up Park street many times and would tend to agree with you that it's a much better example of the steep (albeit short) hill that normal ebikers would face. World Championship? I don't think so but that's just a cheeky bit of wording.

I did read up further on this endurance race and it looks like it's sponsored by Bosch and they require that the European 25kph speed restrictor needs to be functional.

They claimed that the ebikes were around 16 miles ahead of the non assisted bikes due to superior hill climbing.
 
Last edited:

mfj197

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jul 18, 2014
553
160
Guildford
I can now do my hilly 37 mile circuit on my road bike at a higher average speed than I can on my electric bike.
Well done d8veh! Good work, and I'm impressed. What sort of average speed are you doing then?
 
D

Deleted member 4366

Guest
14 mph. It doesn't sound much, but every part of the 37 miles is up or down finishing with a 7 mile climb. If I were to derestrict my electric bike and turn it up to level 5, I'd be able to beat that speed, but then I'd need two batteries. I'm comparing with most of the way on level 1 and level 3 for the hills with maximum assist set to 15.5 mph.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mfj197

One_Box

Pedelecer
Jul 29, 2014
174
66
Leominster
Sorry d8veh I think we are coming from the thread title from different perspectives. My admiration for Bafang was based on the endurance element of the race i.e. 24 hours rather than a quick blast up Park Street in Bristol.

People will draw whatever conclusions they wish when looking at the results of these races. Personally I regard the annual event at Bristol as a bit of fun for the spectators and hopefully competitors as well. This is not to detract in any way from the bikes or people competing. Yes I have done that hill on a number of different e-bikes and to be honest ( living in South Wales ) I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. :p

Regarding your references to the Tour de France, Thibaut Pinot completed stage 20 to l'Alpe d'Huez at an average speed of 33.6 Km/hr (20.875 MPH) a simply outstanding achievement.
Chris Froome completed the whole Tour de France course ( 3358.3 Km ) at an average speed of 39.62 Km/hr ( 24.62 MPH ).
Now that is a race !
Chapeau :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: trex