eBike for commuting quandry

Walowiz said:
so they honour the manufacturer motor and battery warranty with an aftermarket "chip" box ?
Click to expand...

That is what they told me when I bought the bike. But it is only valid if they supply the bike and fit the speedbox at time of purchase. The chip put's no extra strain on the motor or battery and for me it would be worth it regardless of the warranty issue. 15 mph is not slow and you can spin along in eco and sit just below that threshold but I bought the bike for fun and for me when I'm on the road I find that in tour/embt mode 18 mph is the sweet spot. Riding on the edge of the limiter is not fun as the power drops in and out (to be fair the new Bosch motor deals with this better than most). You pays your money as they say.
 
spm0912 said:
That is what they told me when I bought the bike. But it is only valid if they supply the bike and fit the speedbox at time of purchase. The chip put's no extra strain on the motor or battery and for me it would be worth it regardless of the warranty issue. 15 mph is not slow and you can spin along in eco and sit just below that threshold but I bought the bike for fun and for me when I'm on the road I find that in tour/embt mode 18 mph is the sweet spot. Riding on the edge of the limiter is not fun as the power drops in and out (to be fair the new Bosch motor deals with this better than most). You pays your money as they say.
Click to expand...

I got my bike from there, so what’s the chip, and I’ll ask about getting one on mine?
 
I have a cyclo cross bike, with a spare pair of wheels that I swap in when I want a road bike. The wheels were not expensive second hand and it's all of 3 minutes to swap them over.

So to me it would seem that the e-mtb with spare wheels would be a good solution.
 
Last edited:
spm0912 said:
Be a waste of time for you, I thought you spent most of your time with the motor off:D:D


Speedbox 3. £150 plug and play
Click to expand...

I don’t really need it tbh, but will ask them if I happen to go back one day.
 
spm0912 said:
I have a new gen 4 Bosch motor. I can assure you it can be chipped.

In emtb mode I can rattle along the tarmac around 18-20 mph with relative ease. I can go faster but you’ll Soon run out of gears.
Click to expand...

Did you fit a speedbox 3 if so how easy was it to set up.
 
Walowiz said:
That’s interesting, not too hilly from home to central London office.

I would have expected you to be quicker on the ebike ?
Click to expand...

You are right up until your fit enough to average over 15mph, and with the ebike you have the extra weight to lug along the flats at above 15mph.
 
The Nutty Duke said:
Just get a full sus eMtb and lock out the suspension for road riding.

I have two main routes that I do for fun; one is mainly off-road, with probably 5 miles out of 40 being on road, and the other is around 40-50% on road, so about 20-25 miles on tarmac.

The Nobby Nic tyres it came with are good off-road, and not too loud on the road, so you could easily commute during the week, then hit the trails at the weekend. I wouldn't want to be pissing about changing wheels all the time, but I guess if you're only changing them at the weekend, you could have a set with just road tyres on.
Click to expand...

I had my local bike shop make me a nice shiny new pair of heavy duty road wheels with dedicated road tyres on for my emtb. :thumb2 I can change BOTH of them out within 30 seconds! Trust me, it’s well worth the investment. It makes a world of difference if you’re doing a road ride. Mine cost just over £500 for the pair but that’s using top quality heavy duty ( cos of the extra weight of the Ebike ) components. :thumb2:thumb2

An as previously mentioned you can lock out the rear suspension so it acts like a hard tail but has the benefit of full suspension for the trails. Best of both worlds. :thumb2
 

Attachments

  • 4FA2E479-4E6D-4B84-BAF7-64937B7138A4.jpg
    4FA2E479-4E6D-4B84-BAF7-64937B7138A4.jpg
    272.4 KB · Views: 125
  • 8F42F029-E74E-4238-B47F-DC159AAC8087.jpg
    8F42F029-E74E-4238-B47F-DC159AAC8087.jpg
    271.7 KB · Views: 120
  • 8F8AE368-8F26-4AFF-B0FE-D1C1CE5AA213.jpg
    8F8AE368-8F26-4AFF-B0FE-D1C1CE5AA213.jpg
    285.9 KB · Views: 125
  • 590D449B-BAB6-4331-BFC9-3DBBA7536A32.jpg
    590D449B-BAB6-4331-BFC9-3DBBA7536A32.jpg
    260.8 KB · Views: 114
Cabby said:
S'cuse my ignorance but couldn't you just have fitted the road going tyres on the original wheels ?
Click to expand...

Technically yes, but no! :D

It’s not such an easy job if you’ve gone tubeless. It’s VERY messy if you start swapping tubeless tyres about. It can be a right pain in the arse getting the tyres to seal correctly too. Plus the gearing is very different with the road wheels because you don’t need the huge hill climbing sprockets. I now have a closer ratio cassette on the road wheels. I also wanted to be able to swap them out quickly and easily. It cost a few quid but I now have the best of both worlds without the huge expense of buying a dedicated road bike. I don’t do many miles on the roads here in the uk but do / did when I was in the Alps and France. Nice flat empty roads. :thumb2
 
Udders said:
I had my local bike shop make me a nice shiny new pair of heavy duty road wheels with dedicated road tyres on for my emtb. I can change BOTH of them out within 30 seconds! Trust me, it’s well worth the investment. It makes a world of difference if you’re doing a road ride. Mine cost just over £500 for the pair but that’s using top quality heavy duty ( cos of the extra weight of the Ebike ) components.

An as previously mentioned you can lock out the rear suspension so it acts like a hard tail but has the benefit of full suspension for the trails. Best of both worlds.
Click to expand...
Absolutely correct in the wheel department. Swapping is the only way.
However, re. locking out rear and change of sprockets.
Why bother? It's an Ebike. The damn thing provides enough assistance to ignore the benefits of locking out the rear suspension in favour of comfort. Sprockets: Enough assistance to not need the alternative ratios available, and the top gear is the same.
My thoughts after a year on an ebike.
(Do have 2, 1 trail & 1 road. There was a transmission problem with the Nuvinci controls on the road bike, so I rode the trail bike on the road for a couple of months)
 
Udders said:
Technically yes, but no! :D

It’s not such an easy job if you’ve gone tubeless. It’s VERY messy if you start swapping tubeless tyres about. It can be a right pain in the arse getting the tyres to seal correctly too. Plus the gearing is very different with the road wheels because you don’t need the huge hill climbing sprockets. I now have a closer ratio cassette on the road wheels. I also wanted to be able to swap them out quickly and easily. It cost a few quid but I now have the best of both worlds without the huge expense of buying a dedicated road bike. I don’t do many miles on the roads here in the uk but do / did when I was in the Alps and France. Nice flat empty roads. :thumb2
Click to expand...

Ah gearing of course, I ddin't even look properly at the rear to see about a cassette.
 
Walowiz said:
so they honour the manufacturer motor and battery warranty with an aftermarket "chip" box ?

That's got to be the exception.
Click to expand...

Turns out the the guy who runs ebikescotland lives about 200 yards from me and is a Bosch ebike motor certified engineer and when I mentioned today about a dealer fitting a speedbox and saying they would honour any warranty he laughed and said he could guarantee that Bosch would under NO circumstances allow warranty to be granted with any tampering of their motor.

His words, not mine.
 
I have a 4 month old Cube Stereo full susser and although I don't commute I regularly do 25 to 30 miles, mostly on tarmac but also some gravelly, some muddy trails. Just have the standard 29" knobbly tyres and it feels fine on the tarmac. You can lock the forks - not sure about the rear but can certainly turn up the compression to stop the bounce. Plus point is it's a 625wh battery rather than a more common 500wh. Doesn't seem much but my mate on his Haibike with the smaller battery is more nervous on long rides than I am!
25 miles today mixed tarmac, dirt and plenty of hills and only used 50% battery using a mix of Tour andeMtb mode. That's a useful thing to look for as it gives less assistance on flatter ground but if you suddenly need a spurt of power you don't have to faff around changing power modes.
 
Hmm I specifically asked for the EMTB mode not to be installed on mine when they checked for upgrades. My reasoning being I’d like to be in control of the modes. I try to use only Tour and Eco mode anyway even when offroad unless its necessary.
Maybe I'm wrong


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Not wrong, but you're probably fitter than I am! I have MS and run out of energy pretty quickly so a normal mtb is out of the question. E power opens up a whole world that I gave up when I had to sell my trail bike. I try to stay in Tour mode on tarmac unless there's a big hill and an impatient car driver up my arse
 
Myke Rocks said:
Absolutely correct in the wheel department. Swapping is the only way.
However, re. locking out rear and change of sprockets.
Why bother? It's an Ebike. The damn thing provides enough assistance to ignore the benefits of locking out the rear suspension in favour of comfort. Sprockets: Enough assistance to not need the alternative ratios available, and the top gear is the same.
My thoughts after a year on an ebike.
(Do have 2, 1 trail & 1 road. There was a transmission problem with the Nuvinci controls on the road bike, so I rode the trail bike on the road for a couple of months)
Click to expand...

If you’re only riding on roads then locking out the rear makes quite a difference. Well it does to me anyway. You lose that slight bounce from the rear of the bike on every pedal stroke. On a fairly longish ride there’s a lot less tiredness on my legs / knees.
Yes, the top gear is the same along with the assistance the motor gives but if I’m riding on the road I turn the power off most of the time but having a closer ratio I can keep my cadence going by having a closer gear set to switch between on slightly different gradients. Again it’s a personal preference. Not everyone would feel the same.
 
vRSG60 said:
Hmm I specifically asked for the EMTB mode not to be installed on mine when they checked for upgrades. My reasoning being I’d like to be in control of the modes. I try to use only Tour and Eco mode anyway even when offroad unless its necessary.
Maybe I'm wrong


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Can’t think why someone would do that?:confused: Hey ho. EMTB setting only gives what you ask so if you’re just gliding along it’ll only be in eco anyway? Push slightly harder and tour comes in etc. Having it removed seems a bit daft to me. Each to their own I guess. :thumb2
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Hatcho
New emtb added to the stable
Replies
10
Views
691
earthmover
earthmover
SiRich
Emtb Advice Specialized Levo & Levo SL
2
Replies
31
Views
2,123
stonehenge
Stolen GS1150 - replace with what?
Replies
17
Views
855
lewishamlad
Aidan1150
Weekend in London. Getting about.
2 3 4
Replies
63
Views
2,701
Wapping
Wapping
DSAA
Moving back to the UK
Replies
18
Views
724
MartinK


Back
Top Bottom