Salisbury lacks oomph ??

[averhamdave]

Still looking to purchase a budget e-bike for my wife. Earlier in the year she sold het Powabyke Shopper as it was awkward and not only heavy bu dangerously (for her) top heavy.

I/we tried a fiends Powacycle Salisbury yesterday and given their imminent availability at a cheap price from Makro, this seemed a good option.

However we were both slightly suprised and disappointed in it pulling ability. As she says, she only needs help with hills and is quite happy to pedal along under her own steam on the flat but this bike seemed to offer a steady cruising ability on the flat but we suspect the sight of a decent hill would find it wanting.

Our trial was only a couple of hundred yards and thinking about it I'm not even sure the battery was fully charged etc. Have we assessed correctly? My other thought was towards the Alien Unisex.

Her journeys will be for leisure only, mainly when away in the motorhome and ussually on undulkating countryside. Probably journeys up to 12 miles.

Salisbury, Alien or what? Thanks

 

[flecc]

The Salisbury is the lowest powered mainstream e-bike on the market, only suitable for moderate or flat terrain and a poor choice for serious hills.

The Alien is a medium powered design with about 50% more peak power than the Salisbury, while the eZee range are the most powerful, some models having well over double the peak power of the Salisbury.

The majority of e-bikes and kits are like the Alien, falling in the middle for power.
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[Rach]

I've been using a Synergie Mistral for commuting to work since March this year. Admittedly I haven't tried another bike, but I can honestly say it's the best £500 odd quid I've ever spent.
It's more than adequate for slight to moderate hills. Can't praise it highly enough.

Rach

 

[emissions-free]

The Salisbury is the lowest powered mainstream e-bike on the market, only suitable for moderate or flat terrain and a poor choice for serious hills.

The Alien is a medium powered design with about 50% more peak power than the Salisbury, while the eZee range are the most powerful, some models having well over double the peak power of the Salisbury.

The majority of e-bikes and kits are like the Alien, falling in the middle for power.
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Flecc,

I'm curious to know any figures you may have which demonstrate your comments and how they have been quantified. Please don't take that as I don't believe what your saying, I wouldn't dare and have the upmost respect for your opinions and knowledge I'd just like to have some concrete figures to compare against.

Thanks
Paul

 

[flecc]

Hi Paul. Some while ago before everyone got coy about these maximum powers for legal reasons, there was a published figure for the Windsor/Salisbury of 272 watts on NiMh. This adjusted for the Li-poly battery is 294 watts, extremely low when most bikes produce in the region of 400 to 450 watts.

There have previously been various sources for the figures on e-bikes, A to B magazine once used to publish them and manufacturers also had brief releases online of data or power curve charts, but as said, many are very coy about doing this now. However, many of us in here have done our own measuring when a bike is in our hands, as Fecn has just done on his Panasonic unit and reported in an adjacent thread.
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[NRG]

Interesting Flecc, out of say the eZee Forza and Torq which would be the better hill climber or are they pretty much the same....

 

[flecc]

With the current eZee motor and if it's the Torq 2, pretty much the same, but this changes with previous motors and Torq models. Let me know if you have any second hand ones in mind since the specifications for both have changed several times.
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[NRG]

I was thinking of going new from Cyclepoint, the Forza is listed at £995 and the Torq at £600 but without battery....

 

[flecc]

Those are largely the current models, though in stock for some while and they cannot supply the batteries which have to come from Onbike. If you are thinking of a Li Ping lithium iron phosphate battery, the power of the motors really demands the large 20 Ah battery for full performance, at least the 15 Ah to be acceptable, since they don't like high discharge rates.
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[NRG]

Oh, that's disapointing... the Forza does come with a bettery I think but if its not man enough for the job it seems a bit of a waste of time

 

[fishingpaul]

Both would be up to the job,the ezee torq is quite a big bike and my 29 inch inside leg with size eleven feet only just makes it.i would have thought an ezee sprint step through frame would probably be better though for a lady,ezee bikes have been selling rather cheap second hand it may be worth looking at this option.

 

[flecc]

Oh, that's disapointing... the Forza does come with a bettery I think but if its not man enough for the job it seems a bit of a waste of time

eZee'a own 10 Ah battery is up to the job for performance since it's a Li-polymer one, it's the lithium phosphate ones that some are buying and fitting on the carrier that don't like such powerful motors unless they have loads of capacity.

However, I understood that Cyclepoint had no eZee batteries at all for their stock, so I'm puzzled as to where that one has magically appeared from.
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[NRG]

I may have been putting 2 and 2 together Flecc and getting an answer of 5!

I'll need to call them to find out.

 

[flecc]

I think you'll find the Forza at that price also has no battery.
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[NRG]

Yes, you're right Flecc. The Forza is listed at OnBike for £1400....Do you know what the peak W of the motor is? I can build my own battery for under half the price. Mounting it and interfacing the wiring might be a challenge though...

 

[flecc]

It's probably similar to the original Suzhou Bafang motor that it had. That was listed at 720 Watts gross, but it could drain current at a rate indicating peaks ofbaround 1000 watts, so you definitely need a continuous capability of 20 Amps and preferably a very short term capability approaching 30 Amps.
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