JeffR

I have been riding a 2018 Gain allroad (now called D31) for 6 months. It provides decent assist between speed of 15-25kph. Below about 10, there is virtually no torque. Unfortunately. On steep hills, you are going below 10. I have a 16 % gradient hill going up to my house and I have to stand on the pedals on the lowest gear, which I increased to 42 teeth cog. If the battery is in the red, the voltage is too low to get up the hill and I walk it. Since the hills around my home tend to be steep, this is not the bike for me and I am selling it. Bought a Raleigh Tamland IE and it Has more than ample power to climb an 18% grade. The Orbea gain is for road riders who need a little extra help keeping their speed going up gentle inclines. It is marketed as like having a gentle tailwind and that is about right. If a gentle tailwind is all you need to climb a 16% grade, this is the bike for you!

I just posted a long detailed reply to how I did this. Orbea has not released the aux battery and as far as anybody knows, it could be a long way off and very expensive. I purchased a 6.4 AH Bottle battery off AliExpress for $180 USD. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/US-EU-No-Tax-Mini-Kettle-battery-36V-5-2ah-5-8Ah-6-4ah-7ah-ebike/32954359893.html?spm=2114.search0204.3.344.67f41bc2SybXvr&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10065_10068_10130_10890_5730315_10547_319_10546_317_10548_10545_10696_453_10084_454_10083_5729211_10618_10307_538_537_536_10059_10884_10887_100031_321_322_10103,searchweb201603_51,ppcSwitch_0_ppcChannel&algo_expid=cb227879-2406-463e-b5cd-40039a795dca-43&algo_pvid=cb227879-2406-463e-b5cd-40039a795dca and connectors off Amazon for $10 USD. Finding the connectors is the hard part since Orbea does not sell its proprietary charging connector . I used these and modified with a dremel to fit. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LCV8DXQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The battery fits directly into a water bottle cage. Run a short connecting cable between the battery and the Orbea charging port. Yesterday I did a 30 mile ride with 2000 ft vertical including one 18% incline and several long 12% grades. It felt that I had more power on the first ride, but on the second ride I realized that I was returning with 50% battery, which has more power, instead of trying to climb the hill with under 10%. This arrangement gives you more range but not more power Beware of polarity and voltage differentials - severe damage to the bike would occur if you connected the batteries in series, or connected a fully charged battery to a discharged one. If you dont have a mulitmeter (and know how to use it) you probably shouldn't try this. Presumably the Orbea brand battery (if it ever comes out) will have CAN network software that would prevent any damage form improper connection.

Getting back to the original purpose of this post - a spare battery. I am writing to say that you can do it and it is easy(ish). I bought a 36v 6.4AH bottle battery on AliExpress that fits into a water bottle cage. That is about the same capacity as the Orbea internal battery, which is 6.9 AH. It cost under $200 USD. After a few weeks it arrived with its own bottle cage, and charger. It is exactly the same dimensions as a large 21 oz water bottle, and about a pound heavier. . Then I purchased several types of connectors on Amazon and modified them with a Dremel tool. This took about half a day of trial and error to create an adapter cord to fit between the Bottle battery and the Orbea Charging port. Then I charged both Bottle battery and Orbea battery to full, and verified with a multimeter that the voltages on both batteries were within 0.25 volts of each other. (see previous post as to why). To check the Orbea battery, system has to be on for the port terminals to be hot - otherwise the terminals are cold. I plugged in the bottle battery into the Orbea charge port, flipped the switch on the side of the bottle and the iWOC lit up white, not pulsing. I proceeded to ride a 35 mile ride with 2000 ft vertical which in the past used up ALL of the Orbea internal battery. This ride I returned with 45% of battery, according to the app; in other words the external battery fed the internal battery to effectively double the capacity. It isnt perfect - when stopped for a rest, if I didn't turn the bottle battery off, the Orbea electronics froze up, but were reset by turning the bottle off, then the ORbea off, then turning both back on again with the bottle battery switch. Its not a simple parallel connection, there is some electronic switching in the Orbea BMS. But the point is it works, and I didn't cause any (apparent) damage in 35 miles, the cost is very affordable and it is attached and removed as easily as a water bottle. Building one requires a small modicum of electrical knowledge, a general purpose multimeter, and a good dremel tool with a variety of attachments. The charging port wiring can also be easily accessed by removing the black plastic cover on the bottom of the bike, exposing the wires. I am thinking of taping directly into these now that I know it works, to bypass the flimsy charging port, which was not spec'd to handle more than 2 amps. IF you did this, you would not need to customize a connector. Finally I would add that it seemed the bike had quite a bit more power in Red mode; I was able to climb steep hills 12%) more easily. I have yet to try it on the 16% grade near my home, which I could not climb with the stock system. I am going to experiment further, and consider ordering the 36v 10.2 AH bottle battery that runs about $300 USD. This is a bit longer than a standard water bottle but still fits into a bike bottle cage. This would make it possible to ride 100 miles with 6000 vertical, which on occasion my group does.

I think the X1 only has one cage size - medium. Anyway I swapped out the stock 11-36 with a SRAM PG 1130 11-42 with no other changes. Derailleur worked perfectly, chain did not need to be lengthened. I didn’t even have to adjust the b screw. Cost was about 50 GBP. Seems like the bike should have been spec’d with this cassette, the range with this 1X is about the same as with 2 chainrings. SRAM Rival works flawlessly - my other bike has SRAM Red and I really cannot tell the difference. Rival is a bit heavier, but on an ebike a couple of hundred grams doesnt really matter.

I have had the D31 (drop bar single chainring wide tyres) for about 2 months. I've taken it on some serious off road trails but ride mostly on tarmac. You get all the gears you need with the Rival x-1 ; if you swap the standard 11-36 Casette for an 11-42, its even better for extreme hills, which I have to contend with. The Rival deraileur and hydraulic brakes are a huge upgrade over the Shimano Altius. All the Orbea Gain models use the same motor and battery. The difference in the frame is Carbon or Aluminium - otherwise the frames are all the same. The only real differences is how they are set up. I find the D31 to be the best of all worlds. It is called AllRoad and that is a perfect description. The level of power assist on the Gain is MUCH LESS than what is available from mid-drive motors. The Gain will NOT get you up very steep hills without very significant input from the rider. It is fine for rolling hills or long gentle inclines. THe most I've ever eeked out of the battery was 30 miles.

Orbea Gain D20 First Ride Report I received my new Gain D20 (now called a D31) yesterday, assembled it and took it for its maiden voyage today. I'm not allowed to start new posts since I don't have 25 posts yet so here it is. I am in the USA where the Gain is not yet available, so I purchased from E-bikeshop.uk which claims to be the best ebike shop on the island. I pre-paid in Full in May and received at the end of August. Apparently Orbea is a little bit behind on filling its orders! It was packed to survive a tactical nuclear strike, which fortunately it didn't have to. I was told that Orbea makes its bikes large and was strongly advised to order a size smaller. Turns out this isn't true; I am 186cm and 100 kgs, normally a large, and ordered a medium 55 cm. Top Tube measures 55.5 cm, which is 1% oversize. Oh well, a trip to the bike store for a new stem and seat post, made it fit. Handlebars are still too narrow, but that is a bigger job than I wanted to do. For its maiden Voyage I took it on a very familiar loop that is 22 miles and 2200 vertical feet, with several climbs 12% grade and the gran finale at 16% grade. The bike is absolutely rock solid downhill and frisky on grades less than 10%; above 12% the motor really struggles and at 16% it just gives up and I walked the last hill. The stock cassette is 11-36 and I have ordered an 11-42 which it should have been fit with in the first place. I came home with the IWOC blinking red meaning I had less than 10% power left. The carbon fork with the 40 mm tyres really tame the rough stuff, and I took a little detour through pea gravel to prove the point. This is a great all-road bike. While not unique to Orbea, the SRAM Rival X1 kit is absolutely brilliant, especially the brakes with those huge handhold hoods - beats Shimano hands down. Orbea promotes the Gain as Just enough Power, just enough energy; I would describe it as not quite enough power, almost enough energy. If I were 25 kilos smaller, it might be just enough. Definitely going to need an external battery. The mid drive has a unique advantage over the hub drive on very steep hills; it uses the gears on the bike to keep the motor RPM optimal. The Hub Drive is geared for its sweet spot at 10-15 MPH road speed, so on very steep hills where the speed drops to under 5 MPH, it just cannot put out enough power. On rolling hill terrain, it works fabulously.

Ordered my Gain D20 ( now called D31) in May, and it’s supposed to be delivered this week.has anyone ventured forth with an external bottle battery as discussed earlier in the thread? The Ebikemotion website now describes a 200 wH bottle battery that is limited to 2 amps; in other words it trickle charges the main battery when you are riding above 25 kph or coasting; this would suggest that the circuitry is more sophisticated than a simple parallel connection

I think that is exactly what this forum is for; sharing ideas, tips and tricks. 10 years from now this technology will be totally mature, but right now we are still experimenting. What is a “shorting switch”? I have read that connecting li-ion batteries in parrallel is fine as long as they have the same voltage and approximate same discharge cycles; thus the concern. I plan to use the onboard battery most of the time, about three times per week deep dishcharge, while the external battery would be used twice a month. The onboard battery is going to have 6 times as many use cycles.

I have an Orbea Gain D20 on order for delivery in July. I had a heart attack about a year ago and cycling is a big part of my cardiac rehab program. I still get angina on the climbs with my pals; Ebikes are the answer, and after riding a frumpy city commuter for a year I'm excited by the Gain to actually ride a real drop bar road bike again. The onboard battery will serve most of my daily rides but about twice a month my group does a ride for 80-100 miles with 6-7000 feet of vertical. For those occasional long rides I have sourced a battery (Lunacycle.com, 36v, 13.5AH), but I am perplexed about the connection. Even if I can source a connector (or more likely open the charging port and run jumper wires) there is still the issue about switching. CAN bus is a technology unto itself and I assume there is a chip inside the (unavailable) Orbea battery that allows it to play well with the onboard battery. The charging port is simply held in place by two screws, so accessing the underside of the connector is not a problem; figuring out how to connect the external battery without destroying the onboard battery is the problem. On my current bike, I have a spare battery and for long rides I simply swap them out; no conflict. That won't work on the Orbea since the onboard battery cannot be removed. Has anyone tried connecting an external battery like the ones above? How have you done that? I am told that if you connect unequal Lithium batteries in parrallel that the stronger battery will try to charge the weaker battery at very high currents, resulting in fire.