TheChosenOne

I remember a while back people said some electric bikes take a lot of effort to pedal yourself without any help from the battery while other electric bikes are easy to pedal manually. I'd like to know which bikes are easy to pedal without any battery assistance because sometimes I might want to do all the work and sometimes the battery might run out. If it runs out I don't want to use twice as much energy than a regular bike.

2old

To a varying degree, direct drive (DD) motors cause drag when they are "off", while geared motors, which have a clutch, don't. Of course the weight (size) of the motor is another consideration. Look at Chas58's build(s) for some "pedalable" examples. Also, read the tutorials at ebikesca for more information.

Doc_Wui

Tire tread, width, and weight, and wheel diameter, also will affect ease of pedaling.

To be honest, I expected to feel some drag with production ebikes like the Stromer and Evelo that use 500W direct drive motors, but I could tell much difference unless they were put in regen mode. Then they were ugly. However, I've read enough posts about 1000W ebay kits where the owners called for an uber rather than try to struggle home w.o power. Much of that is trying to apply radial acceleration to a 16 pound wheel.

I have a geared 500W motor right now on a test stand. It will spin for 4 seconds if I flick it, while a regular wheel will spin for almost a minute.

Similarily, if I pull the chain off my mid drive bike, the pedals will spin for abouut 5 seconds. I thpuight that was great until someone pointed out that regular pedals spin for a minute too.

Khb

Regen mode is handy to have, especially if you are lucky enough to cleverly place your downhill segments where you can usefully use the recharge (Stromer, for example, doesn't use the regen until you are below 74ish% SoC). The drag on my ST-1 isn't terribly bad; but between the weight of the bike, the weight of my usual panniers (and stuff) makes pedaling without at least the lowest level of boost annoying. On the plus side, when riding with my kids I can make the downhills feel like up hills with some appropriate application of regen ;>

More than the kind of motor, it seems to net out to "quality of implementation issue" where the better bikes feel less "draggy"; at least in my experience.

tegnamo

As far as mid-drives, Shimano e8000 (maybe e6000?), Bosch Active Line, Fazua, maybe some Bafang mid-motors all have minimal pedaling resistance when they're turned off. Brose too? Not sure on that one...

fietsbob

I saw one* that sits over the front wheel , friction drum drives the tire, so lifting it off the vtire would mean only its weight remains .

*was in the folding bike posts... mechanism type, , already used in Velosolex Mopeds. there a 2 stroke motor gives the energy..

linberl

The eventually "coming" Shareroller lifts and has zero drag. Also, add-e and go-e friction drives.

fietsbob

Guess the IT crowd, pulling down the big bucks, is not feeding their Gofundme Enough, yet..

Dunbar

Go ride a 50-60lb ‘regular’ bike and you’ll have an idea. It’s not fun. Once my ~55lbs. e-bike died 7 miles from home and it was absolutely brutal to ride home unassisted. And my ebike has a geared hub motors that free wheels with almost no drag and pretty low rolling resistance tires. Most e-bikes have an ‘eco’ or very low assist setting that uses very little battery power. I would highly recommend you use that setting versus trying to ride an e-bike with the assist turned off.

billp91311

I have the Hal eboost Motobecane ebike and have pedaled it up a fairly inclined grade without assist and there is no drag from the motor so I would assume all Shimano E8000 bikes are the same.

drowling23

Yamaha PW can be pedaled just fine without any significant resistance. Bosch CX, on the other hand, is extremely painful to pedal. I think Bosch have themselves realized how much drag a small front cog is causing, and they are working on fixing this. Yes, with a larger cog.

justin70

I'm doing a lot of research before buying a e-mtb...but have never ridden outside of brief parking lot test rides. Anyway, the internet sites I've seen say the mtb motors for Yamaha, Shimano, and Brose, all pedal pretty easily, while the Bosch CX is a pig when the battery dies. Can't comment on the commuter versions because I'm not researching those.

MikeyMK

My old e-bike's small 250w rear hub didn't drag at all, but my new one (part of a 1500w kit but now drawing a full 2000w) does have some drag.

I never use it unassisted, though - i have 2x10 gears but only ever use 20th. Full XT set-up, complete waste of money that was!