Throttle-only up Lady Lane....11.8%
For those who prefer not to pedal too much, I carried out some throttle-only rides up Lady Lane on the Tonaro BigHit. Rider weight, 72 kgs dripping wet.
Lady Lane in North Swindon is now traffic free, and part of an extensive network of safe cycling routes. In the poor quality capture below, you can see the steepest point occurs just opposite the field containing the Roman Villa site, this discovered by the Time Team some years ago.
Preparing for the first of three runs up this moderate incline.
At this point the motor was slightly warm to touch. The machine was ridden to the site in my normal way, that of a cyclist who enjoys a little assistance. Today, the road speed sensor was switched out of line. I made a bit of a hash of this first climb, changing gear several times and trying to resist the temptation to help out with the pedals when the motor started struggling. The second run was very similar, but included a successful restart in third gear at the steepest point.
Ready for the final run, starting off in third gear and low assist.
What I was looking for is which gear and mode switch position could be used for climbing the hill without gearchanges, the rider just holding the throttle wide open. The settings mentioned above proved an ideal combination, the machine slowing to 4.8 mph at the steepest point (11.8%) and then cruising up the less steep part at 9 mph. Arriving at the top for the third time, I found this brave little motor was hot to touch, enough punishment for one day, time to give it a rest.
Of interest to those who have an understanding of controller strategy, It made no difference to the pulling power whichever of the three assist modes was selected. As I mentioned further up the thread, with the road speed sensor switched off, the assist tails off at 14 mph in low assist, 17.5mph in medium and around 19 mph in high mode. My understanding is, the mode switch sets the maximum motor speed rather than limiting the amps demand in the two lower settings.
This test would have been more interesting had I had one of those lovely old Powabykes with me. Unfortunately I didn't have one to hand so was unable to make a comparison. The Powabyke's motor gearing is biased towards hill-climbing rather than high assisted speed on the flat, it would intersting to see if it would climb this hill without any help from the rider.
By the way, this method of riding beats the living daylights out of the battery, almost certainly shortening it's life expectancy.
All the best
Bob
