Lightweight e-bikes, capabilities and transport

[Rolfe]

I should probably have confessed that I ordered the thing on Saturday. So my credit card is in for a nasty shock in about six weeks. (Apparently the manufacturers in the Basque country are waiting for another batch of frames to arrive from their supplier.)

Yes, it's a bit heavier even than the Urrun. But I realised that the bike was so perfect, that it ticked so many boxes, even boxes I wasn't expecting to be ticked, that I just had to have it. I'll get it in the car somehow. I've never had to resort to strategies to get a bike into the car before, and there are possibilities I can try - even starting with a bath towel over the lip of the load bed.

Physically it's not that much bigger than Hilda - it's just a lot more sturdy. It's going to be the same height because that's dictated by my riding requirements. If the handlebars are a bit wider this will be compensated for by taking the front wheel off. Lengthwise Hilda is about 1.45 metres to the front of her front brake disc, and the Kemen is a bit under 1.6 metres (longer wheelbase). Caliban's load bed is 1.8 metres maximum, so it ought to fit.

I had thought of taking the bus to the shop to collect the new bike (the village bus service into Edinburgh passes the door) and riding the bike the 16 miles home. But that would leave me on my own to get it into the car the first time, whereas if I take the car to collect it, one of the guys in the shop will be able to manipulate it and find the best way to get it in and get it to fit. Getting a bike out is always a lot easier than getting it in.

If it all turns out to be too difficult I'll need to go back to what I said right at the beginning that I didn't want to do. An external bike rack. Hopefully it won't come to that. But there's an intriguing warning in the detailed specs document about that.

Maybe if you're in Spain this is practical (except on the plain, I suppose), but have they seen Scotland? What is a driver supposed to do. Park up and wait for the rain to go off? That could take a week.

 

[Archev]

I sold both of my diesel Berlingos with towbars and electrics fitted. I also had a rack to fit on the towball to carry goods / bikes. Gosh I wish I’d hung on to them now.

 

[Archev]

I should probably have confessed that I ordered the thing on Saturday. So my credit card is in for a nasty shock in about six weeks. (Apparently the manufacturers in the Basque country are waiting for another batch of frames to arrive from their supplier.)

Yes, it's a bit heavier even than the Urrun. But I realised that the bike was so perfect, that it ticked so many boxes, even boxes I wasn't expecting to be ticked, that I just had to have it. I'll get it in the car somehow. I've never had to resort to strategies to get a bike into the car before, and there are possibilities I can try - even starting with a bath towel over the lip of the load bed.

Physically it's not that much bigger than Hilda - it's just a lot more sturdy. It's going to be the same height because that's dictated by my riding requirements. If the handlebars are a bit wider this will be compensated for by taking the front wheel off. Lengthwise Hilda is about 1.45 metres to the front of her front brake disc, and the Kemen is a bit under 1.6 metres (longer wheelbase). Caliban's load bed is 1.8 metres maximum, so it ought to fit.

I had thought of taking the bus to the shop to collect the new bike (the village bus service into Edinburgh passes the door) and riding the bike the 16 miles home. But that would leave me on my own to get it into the car the first time, whereas if I take the car to collect it, one of the guys in the shop will be able to manipulate it and find the best way to get it in and get it to fit. Getting a bike out is always a lot easier than getting it in.

If it all turns out to be too difficult I'll need to go back to what I said right at the beginning that I didn't want to do. An external bike rack. Hopefully it won't come to that. But there's an intriguing warning in the detailed specs document about that.

View attachment 45533
Maybe if you're in Spain this is practical (except on the plain, I suppose), but have they seen Scotland? What is a driver supposed to do. Park up and wait for the rain to go off? That could take a week.

All sounds pretty good so far.

 

[T1 Terry]

Over here, rain isn't the problem, it's dust, but these waterproof covers should solve the bike rack problem Wohnmobilen, Wohnwagen, Wohnmobil, hinten, wasserdicht, Schwarz, 210D, extra starke Fahrradabdeckung, bis zu 2–3 Fahrräder - AliExpress 34 .....

T1 Terry

 

[Rolfe]

I hope it won't come to that!

 

[decrep]

Just had a look at your ratios, "and I'm an amateur at this".
low is 3.63 and 3.2.
High is 0.8 and 0.62.
So lowest gear isn't much different, but top gear is.
That's about 25% higher for your bike but around 10% different for the low gear.
your bike has 11 speed and the other 12 speed.
So your bike has a bigger range of ratios but less steps between, the other has much closer steps. How does that tie in with motor power? Would you actually notice much difference?
Have I got that right?

 

[Rolfe]

Gears.

Hilda: 11-speed, 11T to 42T, with a 42T chain wheel.
Kemen: 11-speed, 11T to 50T, with a 40T chainwheel.
Urrun: 12-speed, 10T to 51T, with a 32T chainwheel.

Forget the Urrun because I decided not to buy that. I'm not sure how much better these gears might have been compared to the Kemen for the sort of riding I want to do, but the Kemen's many other advantages sealed the deal.

Hilda's lowest gear is a 1:1 ratio and her highest is 42:11 which is 3.82.
The Kemen's lowest gear is 40:50 which is 0.80 and its highest is 40:11 which is 3.64.
[The Urrun's lowest gear is 32:51 which is 0.63 and its highest is 32:10 which is 3.20.]

So Hilda has the highest top gear (thanks to her having the largest chainwheel). The Urrun is the most suited to climbing with a lower spread in general. However, would I actually be able to utilise that very low bottom gear? The Kemen is still lower than Hilda at the bottom and still in touch in top gear. Looks like a good compromise.

Assuming I've got this right, which may be a rash assumption.

 

[Archev]

Gears.

Hilda: 11-speed, 11T to 42T, with a 42T chain wheel.
Kemen: 11-speed, 11T to 50T, with a 40T chainwheel.
Urrun: 12-speed, 10T to 51T, with a 32T chainwheel.

Forget the Urrun because I decided not to buy that. I'm not sure how much better these gears might have been compared to the Kemen for the sort of riding I want to do, but the Kemen's many other advantages sealed the deal.

Hilda's lowest gear is a 1:1 ratio and her highest is 42:11 which is 3.82.
The Kemen's lowest gear is 40:50 which is 0.80 and its highest is 40:11 which is 3.64.
[The Urrun's lowest gear is 32:51 which is 0.63 and its highest is 32:10 which is 3.20.]

So Hilda has the highest top gear (thanks to her having the largest chainwheel). The Urrun is the most suited to climbing with a lower spread in general. However, would I actually be able to utilise that very low bottom gear? The Kemen is still lower than Hilda at the bottom and still in touch in top gear. Looks like a good compromise.

Assuming I've got this right, which may be a rash assumption.

Lost me a bit at “gears “

 

[Rolfe]

I've often wondered what the gear ratios of my non-electric bike are. But I don't remember getting any literature with it that might have included that information and I didn't ask at the time. It was the first derailleur bike I ever had, the one before that was Sturmey Archer. It would be a big ask to count the teeth, the way the bike is constructed. But I'm certain that its lowest gear is higher than Hilda's, because the largest wheel on the rear axle is smaller than the smallest one at the pedal crank. I'm also certain that its highest gear is lower than Hilda's because I can feel her still being propelled at speeds where the other bike (who really deserves a name but doesn't have one) is freewheeling. I used to lament that the highest gear on the Sturmey Archer was higher than the Giant could muster. Hilda's gears are better than the Giant's, and she's lighter, so she is really a nice ride. Until you hit the steeper gradients or very uneven going.

My next door neighbour has acquired a VW Transporter van, and it has a rail to transport a bike on the roof. I just saw him life a full-suspension mountain bike on to it. (Although he said it was a lot of effort.) Sigh.

 

[Archev]

I've often wondered what the gear ratios of my non-electric bike are. But I don't remember getting any literature with it that might have included that information and I didn't ask at the time. It was the first derailleur bike I ever had, the one before that was Sturmey Archer. It would be a big ask to count the teeth, the way the bike is constructed. But I'm certain that its lowest gear is higher than Hilda's, because the largest wheel on the rear axle is smaller than the smallest one at the pedal crank. I'm also certain that its highest gear is lower than Hilda's because I can feel her still being propelled at speeds where the other bike (who really deserves a name but doesn't have one) is freewheeling. I used to lament that the highest gear on the Sturmey Archer was higher than the Giant could muster. Hilda's gears are better than the Giant's, and she's lighter, so she is really a nice ride. Until you hit the steeper gradients or very uneven going.

My next door neighbour has acquired a VW Transporter van, and it has a rail to transport a bike on the roof. I just saw him life a full-suspension mountain bike on to it. (Although he said it was a lot of effort.) Sigh.

I have two of those roof rails but couldn’t find a supplier of the Charles Atlas physique to get the bikes up there. It was bad enough with the low MG5
But the Berlingo is just out of reach.

 

[Rolfe]

If it proves impossible to fit the Kemen inside the car, I'll have to look at one of these towbar bike racks. When I stayed with friends in Oban last year my friend pointed out one fitted to a car parked next to theirs, and explained how it worked. I really hope it won't come to that, but I will if I have to. This bike is too perfect to back off at this stage.

They do cause problems with CalMac, but these are not insurmountable with a little bit of money.

 

[5teep]

Drivers of some large vans have pulley systems for getting ladders up onto the roof. There must be a way to make that work for bikes.
Mounting brackets on a base frame that slides on and off the rack and can be locked in place?

 

[Rolfe]

I ain't putting it on the roof anyway!

 

[MG Clive]

I ain't putting it on the roof anyway!

Just out of interest, are there any folding e-bikes on the market, such a thing would seem ideal for you?

 

[Rolfe]

There are. Low-powered things for taking on the bus. Not at all what I need.

 

[5teep]

I decided to upgrade my ebike too. I'm not in for the X thousands of pounds for a bike so I was happy to see a mid motor bike going for under £1000

The Hitway BK-U1 - now I just have to wait for it to appear.

 

[Rolfe]

Looks like a sturdy and capable steed. How big is the battery? What sort of torque does it produce?

OK, I looked it up. Looks good. But it makes 25º hills feel like flat ground? A bit hyperbolic maybe?

 

[5teep]

Looks like a sturdy and capable steed. How big is the battery? What sort of torque does it produce?

OK, I looked it up. Looks good. But it makes 25º hills feel like flat ground? A bit hyperbolic maybe?

Heh probably, 70nm torque, had to look up the motor itself to get that since the Hitway site didn't show it. Torque was one item I used to compare different models. 27kilos is far from light but lighter than my current Engwe by about 25%. Range is quoted at 70 - 100 miles which is significantly more than most in that price range. I'm not a long distance rider so I will probably never find out if that range is true.

 

[Rolfe]

27 kg is fine if you're not an elderly woman trying to lift the thing single-handedly into the back of an MG4. I've seen e-bike manufacturers whose range claims are based on a 60 kg rider (undoubtedly male and super-fit) riding on a dead flat surface at 37ºC. But if you know the capacity of the battery you can make a decent guess. (My Ribble's estimate uses more reallistic parameters, but I reckon I barely get half the advertised range. On the ride round Loch Katrine I emptied the 210 watt-hour range extender and just over half of the 250 watt-hour integral battery in 37 miles.)