Kalkhoff Agattu gear ratio's

[PED-AL]

This afternoon my wife and I went for the first ride out on our new Aggatu's to try to flatten the batteries as the first discharge in the new battery conditioning process.

Initially we shot off in 4th gear and then fifth feeling bionic and were very pleased with our new toys until I changed to 6th and then 7th gear and my wife pulled away from me without any great effort whilst I was spinning my pedals as fast as I could to no avail.

When we slowed down I went up and down the gears to find that 5th gear was actually higher than 6th and 7th gear, so we pedaled side by side to check our ratios against each others bike and sure enough 1st to 5th were the same but my 6th and 7th were lower than my wifes 4th gear.

We continued on our ride and I just left my bike in 5th and enjoyed the ride out with a view to checking it out when we got home.

After approx 10miles my wifes battery lights went from 3 to 2 and then in another 5 miles to 1 and then after another mile or so the remaining light started flashing but still gave enough assistance to get her the remaining 4 miles to home.

The lights on my bike dropped to 2 after approx 14 miles and at the end of our 20 mile ride it still has 2 alight.

I will need to report my wifes battery behaviour and my gearing problem to 50c but thought I would post these details for advise please.

I have just been out in my garage to check the distance my bike travells per revolution of the crank in each gear and is as follows 1st 102". 2nd 116". 3rd 131". 4th 158". 5th 175". 6th 148". 7th 143". showing that 6th is lower than 4th and 7th lower than 6th .

This all seemed a bit crazy to me and so I checked it again and again and the details are correct.

Can anyone throw any light on this - I have checked the dots line up on the hub change mechanism when the selector is in 4th gear but cannot imagine what can be wrong other than the hub has been wrongly assembled in some way and has the wrong ratio's in it.

PED-AL Allan

 

[tillson]

I will need to report my wifes battery behaviour and my gearing problem to 50c but thought I would post these details for advise please.

The batteries do strange things when new. You need to drain the battery until it cuts out a couple of times. The meter then behaves in a more linear way. You do need to take what the meter tells you with a pinch of salt because they are only a very rough guide to the charge level.

 

[flecc]

First, you must condition the batteries on both bikes with a full charge followed by nearly fully discharging them on the road, they won't have full capacity until you've done that routine twice. After doing that you'll have the full range on both.

Your bike has a known type of gear hub fault that can occur on these when very new which 50cycles can attend to for you.
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[PED-AL]

Hello Tillson / Flecc - Thanks for the advice on both problems - I will take my bike back for 50c to attend to the hub and run the batteries until the motor starts to cut out and then do it again.

I do not think we should go to far though with the light flashing on my wifes bike or should I just take a tow rope so that I can tow her home if it fails before mine !!!!!!

I must say though that I was very pleased to be able to ride 20 miles with relative ease and still feel capable of more.

You may remember that I am disabled and have numerous titanium pins, plates and screws holding my lower back and neck together and have not ridden a pedal bike for about 8 years.

Thanks again - Allan

 

[flecc]

You may find that the wife's bike range is very much better now though Allan, assuming you charged the batteries fully first before that run.
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[styx]

Can anyone throw any light on this - I have checked the dots line up on the hub change mechanism when the selector is in 4th gear but cannot imagine what can be wrong other than the hub has been wrongly assembled in some way and has the wrong ratio's in it.

PED-AL Allan[/QUOTE]

Hi Allan
I had the same problem twice with my Agattu. The first set of gears lost 1st, 2nd and third. The second set had the same problem as you are experiencing changing up from 5th was the same as changing back down to 4th and 7th the same ratio as 3rd.So I was on my third back wheel and needed a battery replacement within the first hundred or so miles.I had owned the bike for nearly three months before I completed a ride without any problems.Since then everything has been ok (touch wood).
regards Bob

 

[PED-AL]

Flecc

Yes both batteries were fully charged.
Do we need to complete the conditioning process a.s.a.p or can it be done in several shorter rides to get the battery fully discharged ?

I think what i am trying to say is can the conditioning be done by lets say a 20 mile ride and then several 5 mile rides over a couple of weeks until the battery is flat or cutting out and then repeat the process ?

Thanks - Allan

 

[flecc]

Yes, you can do it in more than one stage Allan. The first purpose of the process is to saturate the cell content with charge and by doing that, equalise the charge state throughout. The second purpose is to register a zero point of charge for the meter to read accurately subsequently, and that's why the battery should be emptied as much as possible on the bike. The second conditioning is to fully ensure the cells charge state is equalised at the maximum possible.

It's only those full and empty end points that matter so doing it in stages makes no difference.
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[PED-AL]

Thanks Flecc I understand what I am trying to achieve now from your explanation.

I will talk to Lloyd at 50c tomorrow re my hub, I will probably only need to take the wheel over to Loughborough and not the whole bike.

Allan