Opinions on Strong GT-S210

[AndrewFleming]

Hi,

Ontario has just legalised electric bikes and I'm considering buying one. It's very flat where I live (old sea bed) and range is the biggest issue for me as ideally I'd like to be able to do a 70km round trip without a recharge.

Canadian Tire (big retail store) are selling a Strong GT-S210 for 1000 CAN (about 450 sterling) + tax (15%) which they claim can do 100km round trip. But I know these figures are theoretical maximums. The run I'm looking at is flat all the way and winds above 20km are rare, do you reckon this might be up to 70km in such real life conditions.

The CT page on the bike is at http://tinyurl.com/2qw6we I can't find any other info on the bike online

 

[AndrewFleming]

opps

Should have looked harder first, the manufacturs web site includes the owners manual. Also I see the standard setup is with a lead battery but a li ion one can be bought for extra. Apart for the weight saving what othe advantage might this have?

Web site is at Strong Canada • Vélo électrique • Electric bicycle

 

[flecc]

Depends on the capacities of each battery Andrew. The li-ion one of the same size can be expected to give a longer range than the lead-acid as well as being lighter, but the range figure they are quoting does not match the realities that we know in our mature electric bike market.

Without looking at the bike's weight which is bound to be high with dual suspension etc, and bearing in mind the battery's physical size size, I'd expect a maximum range of around 20 miles in mixed country, possibly 30 miles in very flat terrain. In kilometres about 30 to 50, but unlikely to be as much as 70 kilometres.

Bear in mind as well that battery capacity, and therefore range, declines over time, and a Li-ion can lose up to 30% in one year. Since they don't like full use to nearly empty, that's the sort of decline you can expect with your run. lead-acid declines more slowly, but they do lose just the same and the chances of that bike doing 70 kilometres with that size of lead acid battery are vanishingly small.

We also suffer idealised range quotation in this country, but have got used to halving whatever we read now! Once in a while now, an enlightened manufacturer does get realistic, but I'm still surprised on the odd occasion that I see it.

 

[AndrewFleming]

Without looking at the bike's weight which is bound to be high with dual suspension etc,

The manufacture's site says 41k with the lead battery, the li ion is 9k lighter I think. Is the main disadvantage of lead a much greater weight for the same output then?

 

[nigel]

nigel

Hi
andrew with hindsight i would not reccomend anybody buying a electric bike that is over 25 kilos because if the battrey went flat on you you still need to ride back home anything over that weight it is very difficult. nigel.southampton.

 

[flecc]

I did check that weight after posting the above, and my suspicion of high weight was confirmed, as that 41 kilos is just over the UK legal limit. These days we expect electric bikes here to be between 20 and 29 kilos, only a few dinosaurs still having the high weights. The lead-acid disadvantage is a bit more than that Andrew. By their nature, lead-acid can only release about half their onboard charge. The other technologies can release all of theirs, even to the point of self destruction, hence the presence of low voltage protection circuitry, either in the battery as with Li-ion, or in the controller as with NiMh. Of course when they don't give the capacities, it doesn't help us much. At a guess, the capacity of it's lead-acid battery is about 15 Ah, and an equivalent size Li-ion might be about 13 Ah, though the latter can give up all it's charge of course. Don't read into that a huge increase in range with Li-ion though, there are other factors like chemical exhaustion in Li-ion which can level the playing field, and as said, Li-ions do lose capacity at quite a speed.

That bike has some things in common with the Powabyke which has the same weight and similar size lead acid battery and a reputation for long range, although it's not styled quite the same. That can just about do 30 miles (48 kilometres) with care, but owners generally report up to 26 miles (42 kilometres), well short of the 74 you desire. Powabyke don't do a Li-ion option so I have no comparison for that.

 

[AndrewFleming]

H'mm so from those figures the best I could hope for is doing that trip one way, recharging and then coming back. But if as you say the battery will lose 30% of capacity over a year then after a while even that wouldn't probably work out.

From the manual another issue I note is weather temperture. It -6c here at the moment and will stay around 0 for the next 3 months with drops down to -10 at times (I'm in the warm bit, its -40 elsewhere). From the manual it appears those sort of tempertures would damage the battery so it would have to spend the winter indoors.

 

[Flying Kiwi]

H'mm so from those figures the best I could hope for is doing that trip one way, recharging and then coming back. But if as you say the battery will lose 30% of capacity over a year then after a while even that wouldn't probably work out.

Theres the beauty in having a light weight electric bike because if the battery runs out with just a few miles to go, you can easily pedal the rest of the way home.

From the manual another issue I note is weather temperture. It -6c here at the moment and will stay around 0 for the next 3 months with drops down to -10 at times (I'm in the warm bit, its -40 elsewhere). From the manual it appears those sort of tempertures would damage the battery so it would have to spend the winter indoors.

It feels almost that cold over here in England today (they're forcasting a cold spell for a few days but still above zero). Although you would need to keep the bike inside for storage, it's not just to prevent the battery electrolyte from freezing, other parts wont like cold weather (eg things with grease in them and tyres which will tend to stiffen - not to mention sitting on a - 6 C concrete-like seat ).

 

[flecc]

And there's another issue you've raised Andrew, which I should have thought of for Canada. Battery efficiency drops rapidly as temperatures near zero, and that's especially true of lead-acid, so the European figures I've been using for comparison are somewhat optimistic in those conditions.

 

[HarryB]

This looks suspiciously like a re-badged Eco Tornado. I used to run one of these 5 years ago and from my experience of riding around london the maximum range was under 20 miles (with the lead-acid batteries). There is a later version with an aluminium frame and Li-on battery (PowerScoots.co.uk Eco Tornado Spoked) but this cost the same as the Ezee Torq. I sold mine before the warranty ran out as I had some 'reliability issues' (also see the A to B mag reviews).

 

[pacerman]

This looks suspiciously like a re-badged Eco Tornado. I used to run one of these 5 years ago and from my experience of riding around london the maximum range was under 20 miles (with the lead-acid batteries). There is a later version with an aluminium frame and Li-on battery (PowerScoots.co.uk Eco Tornado Spoked) but this cost the same as the Ezee Torq. I sold mine before the warranty ran out as I had some 'reliability issues' (also see the A to B mag reviews).

Great find!!! Yes thats my Strong!!! Thanx for the info.

 

[pacerman]

Should have looked harder first, the manufacturs web site includes the owners manual. Also I see the standard setup is with a lead battery but a li ion one can be bought for extra. Apart for the weight saving what othe advantage might this have?

Web site is at Strong Canada • Vélo électrique • Electric bicycle

hi Andrew, I just bought a Strong from Canadian Tire, actually I just got my $100 price guarantee back because they are on sale for $899. I just installed a Schwinn digital speedo on it and took the back carrier off. I'm 240# and its no powerhouse but its able to pull steep hills with me in 1st or 2nd with the pedal sssist. The thumb throttle is good for very very slight grades or flat. Haven't checked the top speed with me on it yet, but I am getting used to it, althought I would like the handle bars higher and more towards me. So far so good and they have a pretty good warranty which doubled because I used my Visa to buy it.....

 

[electric.mike]

Life time battery (lead-acid) : 30 000 km, about 300 complete recharges. No need to wait for the complete
run down before recharging (memory free). Takes 8 hours for a complete recharge

pacerman
take this quote on lead acid further,dont let them run right down unless you need to, we have just replaced two sets after 15months,they had lost perhaps 40% of there ability, which may seem poor but they only cost £70 each to re cell.
we recharge after every day they had been used if it was 20miles or 4 miles.

mike

 

[Dere C Hebbes]

Derek C Hebbes

hi Andrew, I just bought a Strong from Canadian Tire, actually I just got my $100 price guarantee back because they are on sale for $899. I just installed a Schwinn digital speedo on it and took the back carrier off. I'm 240# and its no powerhouse but its able to pull steep hills with me in 1st or 2nd with the pedal sssist. The thumb throttle is good for very very slight grades or flat. Haven't checked the top speed with me on it yet, but I am getting used to it, althought I would like the handle bars higher and more towards me. So far so good and they have a pretty good warranty which doubled because I used my Visa to buy it.....

Hi pacerman, I was trying to find information myself about the Strong bike that is on special in Canadian Tire. So would you recommend buying one as they look like a very decent machine to a novice? Thanks for the tip about the Visa aswell,

 

[pacerman]

Hi pacerman, I was trying to find information myself about the Strong bike that is on special in Canadian Tire. So would you recommend buying one as they look like a very decent machine to a novice? Thanks for the tip about the Visa aswell,

Well I'm no expert myself, but was a mechanic for 40 years. I had a chance to buy a Fushida from a Cummins dealer , for the same price, and the Strong is by far a better built bike, having disc brakes and suspension and 21 speeds, The Fushida supposedly had a Li Ion battery but when I looked at the label it said Ni Cad???For 900$ I really don't think one can go wrong. I just need to raise the handle bars up and towards me, stay tuned on that project..... and 3 years warranty on the frame, 6 mos on the battery (cheaped out there), I think a year+1/2 on the motor??And a Real electric horn instead of a bell!!

 

[pacerman]

Great find!!! Yes thats my Strong!!! Thanx for the info.

Harry, what issues did you have with the Strong??

 

[Bert]

GT-S210 Electric Bike

I just purchased th GT-S210 Electric Bike, and it came without a user manual. I noted that Amdrew provided the link to their site...unfortunately its dead. Does anyone know where I can get a manual? I can't figure out how to use the bike, and Canadian Tire is not that knowledgable. It seems I can either pedal or use full electric power, but not both! So getting up hills is fun.. How do I use Power assist?
HEEEEELLLLLPPP
Bert

 

[aab1]

To any GT-S210 users: Does this bike have automatic pedal assist? I'm not sure that's what it's called so let me explain:

When my current bike used to work, there is a torque sensor in the rear gear cassette measuring the tension on the chain and the power sent to the motor was automatically calculated from the tension on the chain (if you don't pedal it won't do anything, when you pedal the motor kicks in and keeps splitting the job about 50/50 between you and the motor). There was also a manual throttle control which I never use.

So is the GT-S210 like this or not? Can you just pedal and the motor kicks in automatically? If not then I'll forget about it because I'm addicted to this feature and would never let it go (although I currently have no choice until I find either a new controller or a new whole bike with this feature).

Thanks

 

[slimtim]

eco bike/ climate change

I see why you are keen to limit climate change!! Any rise in sea levels could be interesting

... It's very flat where I live (old sea bed) ....