Can and should you ride an e-bike without a battery?

[bikey850]

Hi,

I have tried the search but could not find this asked here.

I am about to purchase an e-bike (thanks to all here for their advice) primarily for commuting to make the journey less knackering before the day has started.

However, I also ride for leasure and will not always need battery assist. I appreciate that a large proportion of the weight of an e-bike is the battery.

It is feasible to remove the battery and leave it off the bike on the days I wish to use it as a traditional bike? Will this cause the motor any extra wear and tear or is this completely fine.

Will there be additional resistance or is an ebike without power as hard/easy to pedal as a regular bike other than the weight?

Many thanks,

 

[Deleted member 4366]

No problem at all on any legal ebike.

 

[clintyboy12]

No problem at all on any legal ebike.

On my bike I've run out of battery and it was very hard to pedal. Is a crank drive (bosch) and is definitely harder than a regular bike.
If you have a hub drive I guess that might be a different experience.

Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

 

[earthmover]

I asked the same question about removing the battery on mine. No problem at all, just make sure the battery space doesn't get full of crud. The Specialized pedals surprisingly easily without assist, with no noticeable drag from the motor. I'm not sure that I would want to use it as such, I still have my non-assisted bike for that.
Mark

 

[pn_day]

Just a couple of minor caveats
This won't work if you have a direct drive hub motor ( although if you have one it is unlikely to be 250W)
Also not great if, like me, you have all your lights wired into the ebike battery!


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[Gringo]

I to have a Bosch crank drive and am only riding under power for about15-20% of the time. Some rides usually upto about 20miles I don't turn it on atall. Yes it's harder to pedal than a normal bike but it's nice to know the powers there just incase

 

[anotherkiwi]

On Mondays ride the motor was providing no power for 32 whole minutes!

 

[bikey850]

Thats great many thanks.

 

[Steve A]

same here. i often ride with zero power or eco mode as you can squeeze a nice 80 mile ride out of bike with some battery life left