i ride ebikes for reasons too long to get into here, but i supply the vast majority of the power myself, like 90-95% over a 70 mile ride, only turning the motor on for hills. my current bike is 1x11, 46 up front and 11-42 in the back.
today i made the mistake of test riding a non-e road bike (aethos) and
it was freaking awesome. the difference between a 28lb bike and a 14lb bike was/is more than i expected. i rode it about 5 miles, 300' of elevation with a max grade of 13%, felt OK climbing but absolutely had to use the lowest gear (36-32). i averaged about 7mph up a stretch which averaged 8% grade, which pretty much exactly matches what my power meter always tells me, sustained output of around 225-250w. i was very sad to give it back.
stock lowest gear on this bike is 1.13 (32 in the back 36 up front), which is virtually the same as my creo at 1.10. with a wider range cassette in the back, it seems like i could potentially dispense with the motor and just spin very slowly up the hills. in practice, what's the speed beneath which it's just not feasible to ride a road bike up a hill? am i missing something in calculating the gearing here - 46 up front and 11-42 in the back on the creo gives 4.18<->1.10 whereas 36-52 up front and 11-32 in the back gives 4.73<->1.13.
(i wouldn't get this spec and color, a little too rich and flashy for my tastes...)
