So my sister (55yo) is doing an organised coast to coast e-bike ride in June (mixture of roads and off road). She currently has a 12 year old plus KTM Macina with rim brakes , hub gears and a Bosch Classic+ mid motor and a PowerPack 400 Frame battery that she uses for commuting to work.
So each day of the 3 day ride they do around 50 miles and the first day there is 4500 ft of ascent (slightly less on subsequent days). She recently did a 15 mile ride in the North York Moors (with 1600 ft of ascent) with her friend which took them 2 hours 24 minutes and the battery was down to 2 green lights (out of 4). So she will definitely need another battery. I suspect, if she is down to 2 green lights, it is around 1/3 battery left (she charged it up before I could get there with my meter !) She weighs around 85 kg. She has constant problems with the hub gears especially going up hills, trying to change down.
So I got to thinking
1) Could get another PowerPack 400 battery (around £300) and then charge both batteries overnight on her trip
2) Do these early Bosch motors have locked canbus batteries , if not, possibly replace with a "generic" 36V 20 or 25 Ah battery with branded cells ?
for options 1) and 2) the rim brakes are sub optimal and the hub gears need adjusting (don't know how) and she won't be able to use it while I'm fiddling with it
3) Instead of a new battery, could put the money towards buying a bike off facebook marketplace and I'll convert - possibly a 48V controller/motor and 20Ah battery
4) If answer to 3) is yes, Hub or mid drive ? Just a little worried at the average speed they were going and the amount of hills, that the hub motor might not be at its most efficient. Thinking 48V Bafang G020 or AKM-128 for hub drive or TSDZ8 for mid drive
So each day of the 3 day ride they do around 50 miles and the first day there is 4500 ft of ascent (slightly less on subsequent days). She recently did a 15 mile ride in the North York Moors (with 1600 ft of ascent) with her friend which took them 2 hours 24 minutes and the battery was down to 2 green lights (out of 4). So she will definitely need another battery. I suspect, if she is down to 2 green lights, it is around 1/3 battery left (she charged it up before I could get there with my meter !) She weighs around 85 kg. She has constant problems with the hub gears especially going up hills, trying to change down.
So I got to thinking
1) Could get another PowerPack 400 battery (around £300) and then charge both batteries overnight on her trip
2) Do these early Bosch motors have locked canbus batteries , if not, possibly replace with a "generic" 36V 20 or 25 Ah battery with branded cells ?
for options 1) and 2) the rim brakes are sub optimal and the hub gears need adjusting (don't know how) and she won't be able to use it while I'm fiddling with it
3) Instead of a new battery, could put the money towards buying a bike off facebook marketplace and I'll convert - possibly a 48V controller/motor and 20Ah battery
4) If answer to 3) is yes, Hub or mid drive ? Just a little worried at the average speed they were going and the amount of hills, that the hub motor might not be at its most efficient. Thinking 48V Bafang G020 or AKM-128 for hub drive or TSDZ8 for mid drive