E-bikes vs tourers and "lycra" bikes..

[Mussels]

Hi Mussels, "The European version of 906" is this the bigger framed 906xc you are interested in? I am still not sure re front hub motors but the 8 speed gearbox is attractive plus all the other quality kit..........But it is rather expensive!

I have sold by 905 so in the market for something new

Yes and no, I thought the 906xc was a higher spec than the 906 Aplino? I'm thinking of the 906 Alpino primarily for the larger frame, as I've become more experienced I notice things that aren't quite the right fit for me and there's not much I can do about the frame. With the variety of hills around me the wider gear range will also be very welcome. Hub gears will be easier on maintenance I hope especially if I can fit a Loobman* to it.
I'm not so keen on a front motor or the feel of hub gears but other benefits make it worth it for me.

* Poor website but a well thought out low-tech alternative to Scottoiler. These are chain oilers for motorbikes that make quite a difference to chain wear if you can put up with the mess they make.

 

[eddieo]

Yes and no, I thought the 906xc was a higher spec than the 906 Aplino? I'm thinking of the 906 Alpino primarily for the larger frame, as I've become more experienced I notice things that aren't quite the right fit for me and there's not much I can do about the frame. With the variety of hills around me the wider gear range will also be very welcome. Hub gears will be easier on maintenance I hope especially if I can fit a Loobman* to it.
I'm not so keen on a front motor or the feel of hub gears but other benefits make it worth it for me.

* Poor website but a well thought out low-tech alternative to Scottoiler. These are chain oilers for motorbikes that make quite a difference to chain wear if you can put up with the mess they make.

yes you are right! Looks a lovely bike. I guess this is not as high tech as 906 xc with the carbon fibre frame etc...

906Alpino City S: 37V 14A £ 1,799.00

 

[Wisper Bikes]

906xc Tourer / 906Alpino

Hi Guys

All Wisper Bikes that end in O6 have the Afine8 hub gear box and Dapu drive system and electronics.

The Alpino's are all white, 706 and 906 have larger frames and 28" wheels.

The 906xc Tourer is a 26" bike with premium equipment such as a Carbon Matrix frame and cranks, carbon saddle case, bottle holder, handle bars and seat post, Shimano Alfine disc brakes, Vogue magnesium air front fork shocks with remote lock out and adjustment, CNC chainwheel, upgraded chain and upgraded Alex disc style rims.

The 906xc Tourer costs £2,399.00 although expensive it is superb value for money, as to keep the price of the bike this side of the stratosphere we have had to work on reduced margins! Not good for Douglas's heart!

Best regards

David

 

[HarryB]

Hi Guys

All Wisper Bikes that end in O6 have the Afine8 hub gear box and Dapu drive system and electronics.

The Alpino's are all white, 706 and 906 have larger frames and 28" wheels.

The 906xc Tourer is a 26" bike with premium equipment such as a Carbon Matrix frame and cranks, carbon saddle case, bottle holder, handle bars and seat post, Shimano Alfine disc brakes, Vogue magnesium air front fork shocks with remote lock out and adjustment, CNC chainwheel, upgraded chain and upgraded Alex disc style rims.

The 906xc Tourer costs £2,399.00 although expensive it is superb value for money, as to keep the price of the bike this side of the stratosphere we have had to work on reduced margins! Not good for Douglas's heart!

Best regards

David

Does the 906 have an off road switch?

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Off Road

Hi Harry

None of our bikes have off road switches any more now we comply to the new EN15194 regulations. However for those who will not be using the bikes on the road, an off road switch is available FOC for retro fitting.

Best regards David

 

[Alex728]

will there eventually also be smaller frames made for the shorter folk?

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Smaller frames

Hi Alex, nice to hear from you, how are you getting on with your 905?

Yes we have already made the 705 frame shorter by about 2" on next years bikes and are looking at ways of making the 905 saddle height by the same amount.

All the best

David

 

[Alex728]

Hi Alex, nice to hear from you, how are you getting on with your 905?

all good - it makes the journey to work or anywhere else enjoyable even in headwinds, lots of my friends in the countryside are impressed by it (I have a strange feeling that I probably dont live that far away from Straylight but travel the opposite direction to him!)

Yes we have already made the 705 frame shorter by about 2" on next years bikes and are looking at ways of making the 905 saddle height by the same amount.

All the best

David

it was the 906 types I was more curious about, although I will be keeping the 905 for a few years yet I have always liked 700c wheeled bikes (they are what I usually ride as unpowered bikes) - I think we are about the same height and I remember you saying the 906 current frame was a bit big...

 

[Wisper Bikes]

700c

Yes Alex they are a little big for me, however others at the same sort of height in Germany who are used to the 700c wheels say it is fine.

I guess it's what one is used to.

Thanks for your support!

Regards David

88

 

[HarryB]

Yes Alex they are a little big for me, however others at the same sort of height in Germany who are used to the 700c wheels say it is fine.

I guess it's what one is used to.

Thanks for your support!

Regards David

88

So how tall are you both then - just so we have an idea if it will fit those around 5'8 ish? Also is the bike limited to 25kph or does it drift a bit above this speed?

 

[Wisper Bikes]

Vertically challenged!

So how tall are you both then - just so we have an idea if it will fit those around 5'8 ish? Also is the bike limited to 25kph or does it drift a bit above this speed?

Hi Harry

I am 5'5" I think Alex is a little taller.

Re the speed the new EN regs insist on 25kph however they do allow a 10% error on that number, so you may find Wisper bikes will drift up to 27.5kph!

We will still supply the green button if you want to change the bike for use on private land.

Best regards

David

 

[Alex728]

I am about the same height as David, unless I use the Vladimir Putin scale of units

 

[HarryB]

I'm surprised there's such a big discrepancy between your experience and mine. I guess everyone has different number of hills and a different idea of what "quite a bit of effort is."

Your milage may vary (and by quite a lot!).

In answer to your question I think a lot of it is to do with the battery as much as anything else. I only do the journey into work and back on the cytronex and having just bought a new battery did some testing - remember this is exactly the same route taking more or less the same time so I will assume the same amount of effort is being made.

Old battery - usually the first cut out is on the path up my garage but occasionally on the hill just before I get there. This is 10.5 miles.

New battery - first conditioning discharge after charging 'till the green light came on - 8.5 miles (initially I thought there was something wrong with the battery).

Second conditioning discharge after charging overnight was 19.5 miles so it ran out just before the final hill to my house on the return journey. This is better than my original battery ever managed incidentally.

So you can see this is quite a discrepancy with same rider on the same route putting in the same effort. So goes some way to explain why two riders going on different routes will get very varied ranges. It also may mean that the original battery has lost up to 50% of its capacity (though I suspect it is not that much).

 

[themutiny]

I cycled from south london to Brighton on a Cytronex,on varied terrain and topography, using two batteries (and two bottle cages). I put a considerable amount of effort in. The first battery lasted 35+miles before expiry, the second only 25 - and I had a witness. The batteries are an identical age with almost identical usage/charge cycles. I think the main reason is that I was considerably more tired during the later part of the cycle, and leaned on the battery far more.

I guess the point here is that extent of the human assistance factor is very subjective.

 

[HarryB]

I cycled from south london to Brighton on a Cytronex,on varied terrain and topography, using two batteries (and two bottle cages). I put a considerable amount of effort in. The first battery lasted 35+miles before expiry, the second only 25 - and I had a witness. The batteries are an identical age with almost identical usage/charge cycles. I think the main reason is that I was considerably more tired during the later part of the cycle, and leaned on the battery far more.

I guess the point here is that extent of the human assistance factor is very subjective.

...and the fact that the first 35 miles was a 1000 m decend and the last 25 was a 1000 ascend had nothing to do with it! I am exaggerating of course but you get the point. That is why I added the line to rule out the varying levels of input.

...this is exactly the same route taking more or less the same time so I will assume the same amount of effort is being made.....

 

[Pedalo]

I wonder how much of the difference is due to your old battery wearing out Harry and how much is due to the new one just being a better battery. Perhaps Mark is using different cells now. Did you try the deep discharge on your old battery?

I think mine has probably deteriorated from when it was new and even a little in the time I've had it but it's hard to say how much because it normally completes my return trip on a single charge. I have noticed recently though that it cuts out on the final hill at the end of my 15 mile trip more often.

 

[HarryB]

I wonder how much of the difference is due to your old battery wearing out Harry and how much is due to the new one just being a better battery. Perhaps Mark is using different cells now. Did you try the deep discharge on your old battery?

I think mine has probably deteriorated from when it was new and even a little in the time I've had it but it's hard to say how much because it normally completes my return trip on a single charge. I have noticed recently though that it cuts out on the final hill at the end of my 15 mile trip more often.

I think it is the battery aging. I have done conditioning discharges with front wheel off the ground and it makes very little difference - it certainly wouldn't make 19 miles. I should add that I have no idea what the range of the old battery was when it was new as mine has had a new motor (the old motor may have been a miss-labelled 190 rpm). The new motors are significantly less powerful so I would expect the range to be better. I may look it up but from memory, the original 'conditioning' range was about 16-17 miles, which sort of make sense.

 

[Wisper Bikes]

I cycled from south london to Brighton on a Cytronex,on varied terrain and topography, using two batteries (and two bottle cages). I put a considerable amount of effort in. The first battery lasted 35+miles before expiry, the second only 25 - and I had a witness. The batteries are an identical age with almost identical usage/charge cycles. I think the main reason is that I was considerably more tired during the later part of the cycle, and leaned on the battery far more.

I guess the point here is that extent of the human assistance factor is very subjective.

Brilliant point Mutiny, we have managed to achieve 114 miles from our 905se with 504Wh battery. That was with a very athletic rider and over two days. I would achieve about 40/50 if I were riding the same bike over the same course, less if I did the whole ride in a day.





I read today in Bike Biz that an electric bike should be considered a hi bred between muscle and battery so unless you know the muscle energy and weight/fitness of rider how can anyone accurately predict range, hence we publish 57 miles and not 114!!

All the best David

 

[eddieo]

Those poor tyres!

 

[flecc]

I read today in Bike Biz that an electric bike should be considered a hi bred between muscle and battery

Yes indeed, they are true hybrids with two energy sources, human and electric, unlike such as the Toyota Prius to date which isn't really a hybrid at all, only having one energy source, petrol. (They are introducing external additional charging on the latest model though, so they will qualify then.)
.